A Deep-Learning-Based Traffic Classification Method for 5G Aerial Computing Networks
Chen Chen, Ziye Liu, Yuejun Yu, Fan Jin, Wei Han, Stefano Berretti, Lei Liu, Qingqi Pei · IEEE Internet of Things Journal · 2025
With the rapid progress made in aerial computing technology and the increased popularity of fifth-generation (5G) networks, uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been playing a crucial role in real-time data collection, processing, and transmission. However, due to the diversity in traffic generated by UAVs in various mission scenarios, there is a significant challenge posed in traffic classification. Therefore, a novel traffic classification model is proposed in this article on the basis of the spatial attention-enhanced convolutional neural network (SAE-CNN). This model proves effective in improving classification accuracy and latency, particularly in the context of various 5G services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultrareliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and Internet service. Also, a 5G heterogeneous network platform is built to collect UAV-related aerial computing data, with extensive experiments performed to verify the superior performance of the SAE-CNN model compared to other state-of-the-art methods. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach enables effective traffic management and classification for the application of UAV in complex 5G environments.