This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3126207, IEEE Internet of
Things Journal
Cooperative Federated Learning and Model Update
Verification in Blockchain Empowered Digital Twin
Edge Networks
Li Jiang, Hao Zheng, Hui Tian, Senior Member, IEEE, Shengli Xie, Fellow, IEEE, and Yan Zhang, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—With the rapid development of Internet of Things
(IoT), digital twin is emerging as one of the most promising
technologies to connect physical components with digital space
for better optimization of physical systems. However, the limited
wireless resource and security concerns impede the deployment
of digital twin in IoT. In this paper, we exploit blockchain to
propose a new digital twin edge networks framework for enabling
flexible and secure digital twin construction. We first develop
cooperative federated learning through access point (AP) to help
resource limited smart devices in constructing digital twin at the
network edges belonging to different mobile network operators
(MNOs). Then, we propose a model update chain by leveraging
Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) blockchain to secure both local
model updates and global model updates. In order to incentivize
the APs to help in local models training for resource limited smart
devices and also encourage the APs to contribute resource in local
model update verification, we design an iterative double auction
based joint cooperative federated learning and local model update
verification scheme. The optimal unified time for cooperative
federated learning and local model update verification is solved
to maximize social welfare. Numerical results illustrate that the
proposed scheme is efficient in digital twin construction.
Index Terms—Digital twin edge networks, cooperative federat-
ed learning, blockchain, Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), iterative
double auction
I. I NTRODUCTION
Copyright (c) 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted.
However, permission to use this material for any other purposes must be
obtained from the IEEE by sending a request to pubs-permissions@ieee.org.
This work was supported in part by the National Key R&D Program of
China(2020YFB1807801, 2020YFB1807800), in part by the NSFC Programs
under Grants (61701125, 61901013, 61901067), in part by Project Supported
by Engineering Research Center of Mobile Communications, Ministry of
Education (cqupt-mct-202003).
Li Jiang is with Guangdong Key Laboratory of IoT Information Technology,
and also with Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing and
System Integration of IoT, Ministry of Education, School of Automation
in Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China (email:
jiangli@gdut.edu.cn).
Hao Zheng is with Guangdong-HongKong-Macao Joint Laboratory
for Smart Discrete Manufacturing, School of Automation in Guang-
dong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China (email:
2111904331@mail2.gdut.edu.cn).
Hui Tian is with State Key Laboratory of Networking and Switching
Technology, School of Information and Communication Engineering, Beijing
University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China (email:
tianhui@bupt.edu.cn).
Shengli Xie is with 111 Center for Intelligent Batch Manufacturing Based
on IoT Technology, and also with Key Laboratory of Intelligent Detection
and The Internet of Things in Manufacturing, School of Automation in
Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China (email:
shlxie@gdut.edu.cn ).
Yan Zhang is with University of Oslo and Simula Metropolitan Center for
Digital Engineering, Norway (email: yanzhang@ieee.org).
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ITH the increasing scale of Internet of Things (IoT),
W digital twin is one of the most promising technologies
enabling physical components be connected with digital space
by using different technologies of sensing, communication,
computing, software analytics, in order to provide configura-
tion, monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics for maintaining
physical systems [1]–[3]. According to Gartner’s survey report,
62 percent of enterprises who implemented IoT projects are
deploying digital twin [4]. It is anticipated that digital twin will
be prevalent in areas such as IoT [5], [6], and the forthcoming
sixth generation (6G) networks [7]. Digital twin construction
is the basis for its application in different areas. In traditional
cloud computing assisted digital twin construction, the cen-
tralized server collects data and constructs twin mappings of
physical components, which leads to much communication
load. In this context, digital twin edge networks, a new
paradigm that integrates edge computing and digital twin
to build digital twin models at the network edge, emerges
as a crucial area. In digital twin edge networks, the edge
nodes (e.g., Base Stations (BSs)) can collect running states
of physical components and develop their behavior model
along with the dynamical environment. Furthermore, the edge
nodes continuously interact with the physical components by
monitoring their states, so as to keep consistency with their
twin mappings. Hence, the networking schemes (i.e., routing,
scheduling and et al.) can be directly designed and optimized
in the constructed digital twin edge networks, which improves
the efficiency of networking schemes and reduces the cost.
In [7], W. Sun et al. developed digital twin empowered
air-ground networks to provide virtual representation of the
networks environment for schemes optimization. Digital twin
can also be exploited in space-air-ground integrated networks,
through collecting all network information from the idea of
software defined satellite networks, which was firstly proposed
by J. Bao et al. in [8], [9]. In [10], P. Bellavista et al.
leveraged digital twin in industrial edge environments to
dynamically manage network resources.
Although digital twin edge networks play an important role
in development of digital twin, there are new challenges for
digital twin edge networks due to the limited wireless resource
and security concerns. (i) The collection of the running state
of physical components may encounter impediment due to
limited wireless resource and traffic congestion in network.
As a result, the edge nodes cannot obtain enough data samples
for constructing digital twin models. (ii) Users with physical
devices may be not willing to upload the running states and
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3126207, IEEE Internet of
Things Journal
data of the physical devices by considering about privacy. (iii)
It is insecure for users to transmit the enormous amount of data
in untrusted and nontransparent wireless network environment.
To this end, state of the art demands new approaches for
a more flexible digital twin construction while satisfying
security and privacy protection requirements.
Federated learning is emerging as a distributed learning
method to preserve privacy by enabling users train machine
learning models locally and requiring the users to upload only
model parameters instead of sending original data to server
[12]. Due to the characteristics of distribution and privacy
preservation, federated learning has been envisioned as one of
the key technologies in IoT [13], [14] and 6G networks [15].
In [11], the authors leveraged federated learning to alleviate
privacy leakage in digital twin modeling. Specifically, each
client device trains local model based on their local dataset.
The BSs collect the trained models from the client devices and
construct the digital twin models of client devices. Moreover,
the BSs continuously interact with the client devices to keep
consistency, so that the established digital twin models can
give reaction to the states based on the rules and states of
physical devices. However, in digital twin modeling, the BS
which owns all of the physical devices digital twins may
mislead the behavior model of the users. Besides, malicious
physical devices may disseminate false data or low-quality
models to the BSs to adversely affect the digital twin mod-
eling. Additionally, the heterogeneous communication and
computing resources of physical devices and the stochastic
wireless transmission environment may hinder the digital twin
modeling process.
Blockchain is a promising solution to provide transparent
network environment and guarantee secure interactions among
untrusted users by maintaining a tamper-proof ledger [19]–
[23]. The integration of federated learning and blockchain
in digital twin edge networks has been studied in some
recent works such as in [27], where a blockchain empowered
federated learning scheme was proposed to strengthen com-
munication security and data privacy protection in digital twin
edge networks. Furthermore, users scheduling for local model
relaying and bandwidth allocation was designed to improve the
communication efficiency of the proposed scheme. Neverthe-
less, the proposed blockchain empowered federated learning
scheme is designed without considering a global network with
multiple mobile network operators (MNOs), which may not
adapt to the diverse Quality of Service (QoS) requirements
from a global view. In addition, in local model relaying policy,
it is difficult to establish a stable relaying link since the neigh-
bors may not be willing to help relaying the local model due
to extra overhead, such as bandwidth and energy consumption.
Some incentive schemes were designed in federated learning
[7], [17], [18], where an aggregator pays rewards to clients to
compensate for their resource consumption in model training.
However, the designed incentive schemes neglect the security
issues in federated learning, which cannot be directly applied
in our developed digital twin edge networks.
Moreover, the security and trustworthiness of blockchain
mainly depends on consensus process. It is noted that tradi-
tional proof-based consensus process, such as Proof-of-Work
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and Proof of Stake, suffers from limitations of throughput
and scalability. Therefore, a generic blockchain may not
be capable of processing a large number of model updates
micro-transactions in digital twin edge networks. Different
from generic blockchain, Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)-
based IOTA ledger [29] has been designed to process amounts
of micro-transactions simultaneously but asynchronously. It
fulfills the facilities of security and transparency provided by
the traditional blockchain, but also provides high through-
put and less resource consumption in verifying the micro-
transactions. However, with the vast and growing scale of
micro-transactions, the more wireless resource (e.g., band-
width, energy) are needed to achieve the consensus of the
entire network. This causes the DAG being compromised to
the scalability of resource constrained physical devices with
multiple uses cases. Recently, hybrid blockchain has been
developed to accommodate the different use cases in IoT by
integrating multiple blockchains [30]. In hybrid blockchain,
multiple sub-blockchains, which are similar with side chains,
are generated according to the different uses cases, and an
inter-connector framework is exploited to manage the sub-
blockchains, and also enhance the interoperability among the
different sub-blockchains.
In this paper, we leverage hybrid blockchain of DAG and
consortium blockchain to propose a new digital twin edge
networks framework for coordinating the wireless resource and
enabling secure digital twin construction at the network edges.
The main contributions are as follows:
• We exploit DAG and consortium blockchain to propose
a new digital twin edge networks framework, where
federated learning is leveraged to construct the digital
twin of smart devices at the BSs belonging to different
MNOs. Besides, to secure both local model updates and
global model updates, we design a model update chain in
which the APs and the smart devices verify local model
updates and reputation to form local model update tangle.
Then, the BSs confirm the global model updates to form
a main chain.
• To improve the performance of federated learning and
local model updates verification, we propose cooperative
federated learning through the APs to help resource
limited smart devices in local model training. Moreover,
APs cluster based multicast communication is developed
to establish links in local model update tangle so as to re-
duce wireless resource consumption in micro-transactions
consensus.
• To incentivize the APs to help in local model training
of resource limited smart devices, and also encourage
them to contribute in local model update verification, we
design an iterative double auction based joint cooperative
federated learning and local model update verification
scheme, where the controllers are responsible for solving
the optimal unified time for cooperative federated learn-
ing and local model update verification, and forwards the
decisions to the APs and MNOs.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In
Section II, we discuss the related works. In Section III, we
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3126207, IEEE Internet of
Things Journal

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Fig. 1: Blockchain empowered digital twin edge networks.
present the proposed blockchain empowered digital twin edge
networks framework and introduce the main components. In
Section IV, we formulate an iterative double auction based
joint cooperative federated learning and local model update
verification scheme. In Section V, we illustrate the perfor-
mance of the proposed scheme through extensive simulations.
Section VI concludes this paper.
II. R ELATED W ORKS
A. Federated learning for digital twin
Federated learning is one of the most promising distributed
machine learning framework, in which geo-distributed devices
train machine learning models locally and upload only model
parameters instead of sending original data to the server.
Therefore, federated learning mitigates the privacy concerns
of users and provides a machine learning framework for
distributed users [12]. However, the resource limited edge
devices and the stochastic wireless transmission environment
lead to signal distortion and aggregation error, which makes
the federated learning encounter the challenges of degraded
convergence rate and prediction accuracy. In [16], M. Chen
et al. derived optimal solutions of user selection and wireless
resource allocation to minimize the loss function of federated
learning. In [17], T. Le et al. formulated an auction game
based incentive mechanism to motivate users to contribute
their resources to join federated learning. In [7], W. Sun et al.
studied dynamic digital twin and federated learning for air-
ground networks, where an incentive scheme was designed
for federated learning based on Stackelberg game, in order
to motivate clients to collaboratively train the model. In [18],
J. Kang et al. proposed an incentive mechanism combining
reputation with contract theory to motivate high-reputation
mobile devices to participate in federated learning. However,
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these works didn’t leverage blockchain to secure both global
model update and local model update in federated learning,
thus they cannot be directly applied in our developed digital
twin edge networks.
B. DAG blockchain for digital twin
Blockchain has been widely utilized to address the security
and privacy issues associated with resources sharing and
trading among untrusted individuals [24], [25]. In [24], O.
Novo et al. leveraged blockchain to propose a new and
distributed access control mechanism for IoT. In [25], L. Jiang
et al. utilized blockchain of DAG and consortium blockchain
to develop a new distributed UAVs-assisted wireless power
transfer framework. When leveraging the federated learning to
construct digital twin models, the users might not be willing
to participate in learning process due to the untrusted and
nontransparent federated learning environment. In [28], Y. Lu
et al. proposed a blockchain empowered federated learning
framework running in the digital twin wireless networks to
improve the reliability and security of the system and enhance
data privacy. Nonetheless, the existing works of blockchain
and federated learning in digital twin edge networks are
designed without considering a global network with multiple
MNOs, which may not adapt to the diverse QoS requirements
from a global view. Moreover, the challenges associated with
incentivizing the clients to help in federated learning and
designing an efficient blockchain verification scheme have
not been well studied. Motivated by such considerations, in
this paper, we design blockchain empowered digital twin
edge networks framework and jointly optimize the cooperative
federated learning and model update confirmation procedure.
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Things Journal
III. B LOCKCHAIN E MPOWERED D IGITAL T WIN E DGE
N ETWORKS F RAMEWORK
The proposed blockchain empowered digital twin edge
networks framework is shown in Fig.1, which captures various
unique characteristics of the digital twin construction problem.
Accordingly, the main components of cooperative federated
learning and DAG blockchain are introduced in detail.
A. System Model
∆
There are a set P = {1, 2, ..., P } of mobile network
operators (MNOs). The operator p ∈ P has a set of Qp BSs.
Each BS is equipped with mobile edge computing server, thus
∆ and the quality of local model updates), so as to form local
has enough computing resource. Denote Q = {1, 2, ..., Q}
as the set of all BSs, where Q = ∪p∈P Qp . Each MNO
serves a group of smart devices that have different traffic
types and are randomly distributed in the coverage areas of
their associated BSs. The BS q ∈ Q has set of Nq smart
∆ establish the links among APs and smart devices, which will
devices, and N = {1, 2, ..., N } is the set of all smart devices,
∆
where N = ∪q∈Q Nq . Besides, a set J = {1, 2, ..., J}
of APs are placed at the different locations of the BSs.
Each AP can be a Wi-Fi or a femtocell access point that
is also equipped with edge server and operates in a sepa-
rate channel with the macro cellular network. The data of
smart device n is Dn = {(xn1, , yn1 ), ..., (xnDn , , ynDn )},
and D¦n is the data size. Additionally, © the data of AP j is
Dj = (xj1, , yj1 ), ..., (xjDj , , yjDj ) , and Dj is the data size.
Both the smart devices and the APs synchronize their data
with the corresponding digital twins that are maintained by
the associated BSs. Meanwhile, the BSs also have their own
twin mapping. The digital twins of smart device n and AP
j in the BS are represented as DTn = (Mn , Dn , sn (t)) and
DTj = (Mj , Dj , sj (t)), respectively, where Mn and Mj are
behavior model of the smart device n and the AP j, Dn and
Dj are static running data, and sn (t) and sj (t) are realtime
dynamic state, respectively. In order to reduce communication
cost and data leakage risk, we use federated learning to train
digital twin models instead of uploading all the raw data to
the BSs.
In federated learning, we consider each BS acts as server
and trains the task-specific global model individually. The
smart devices and the APs act as clients of their associated BS
and obtain a shared global model to train the local models over
their local data. Then the smart devices and the APs upload
the new local models to the associated BS for updating the
global model. However, the smart devices always have limited
computation and energy resource, which may be insufficient
for local models training and uploading. As a result, the
constructed digital twins may be inaccurate and cannot give
an efficient reaction as the real smart devices. In this case, the
APs can cooperatively train and aggregate local models for
the resource limited smart devices. We consider a general case
where each AP can serve more than one MNO, and each MNO
owns several BSs and may employ multiple APs at different
locations to help the local models training and aggregating
for the resource limited smart devices. However, AP owners
are expected to ask for compensation since participating in
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cooperative federated learning will consume APs’ limited
resource for their own traffic demand.
Moreover, we leverage DAG blockchain to develop a mod-
el update chain so as to enhance the security and privacy
preservation in digital twin construction. The BSs, the APs
and the smart devices act as nodes in the model update
chain. Each node has a unique digital identity consisting of its
public/privacy keys to ensure trust in digital twin construction.
The model update chain is maintained by all the nodes.
Specifically, the APs and the smart devices leverage the DAG
to verify micro-transactions, which include the identities of
both the APs and the smart devices 1 , and event records (such
as smart devices’ data sharing, local model training results
model update tangle and record a long-term reputation of the
APs. In order to reduce the wireless resources consumption
in achieving consensus of the local model update tangle,
AP cluster based multicast communication is introduced to
be illustrated in detail in part C of Section III. While the BSs
of different MNOs utilize the consortium blockchain and act
as verifiers to verify the global model update results to form
a main chain. This hybrid blockchain of DAG and consortium
blockchain provides both trust and efficiency for construction
of digital twin edge networks.
To adapt to the distribution of resources in digital twin edge
networks, many controller instances are placed in proximity
to edge nodes (i.e., BSs) to cooperatively manage the digital
twin construction in edge nodes. The controller is responsible
for designing the resource allocation strategy for digital twin
construction. We consider a digital twin construction mar-
ket, where the controller needs to design a proper incentive
mechanism that is essential for the MNOs to determine the
optimal reward for the APs to motivate them to contribute with
cooperative federated learning and coordination of local model
update tangle from their wireless resource, and also determine
the optimal reward for the verifiers to incentivize them to
contribute their backhaul resource in verifying the transactions
of global model update. Since in our previous works [20],
[25], we have studied the mechanism to incentivize the ver-
ifiers to participate in transactions verification in consortium
blockchain, here we mainly focus on the incentive mechanism
design to motivate the APs to cooperate in federated learning
and coordinate the consensus of local model update tangle.
In the designed incentive mechanism for cooperative feder-
ated learning and local model update verification, the AP own-
ers offer their services (i.e., participating time for cooperative
federated learning and for coordinating the local model update
tangle) in exchange of compensation. The MNOs declare how
much rewards they are willing to pay each AP for its service.
The controller collects the MNOs’ demands and the APs’
offers, and determines the service time of each AP for each
MNO and the corresponding reward so as to maximize the
social welfare of digital twin construction market. Then, the
controller forwards the decisions to the MNOs and the APs.
1 The smart device changes its identity (i.e., public key) after each micro-
transaction to ensure anonymity.
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Things Journal

However, in realistic scenario with asymmetric information, one sample of data for smart device. Hence, the computation
the controller may be not aware of the actual needs of the time of a local iteration in training data for Kj,q smart devices
MNOs and the APs due to the concern of their own interests. is denoted as
Therefore, we develop an iterative double auction mechanism
PK
to induce the MNOs and the APs to truthfully reveal their cmp
j,q
bn Dn cj
needs, which will be illustrated in detail in Section IV. Tj,q = n=1
, n ∈ Kj,q , q ∈ Q, (5)
fjC

B. Cooperative Federated Learning Model where bn is the batchsize for data Dn .

The goal of cooperative federated learning is to train a glob- When the AP j aggregates the local models of Kj,q resource
al machine learning model Mq iteratively at the BS q ∈ Q. limited smart devices according to (3), the required number
Specifically, in each iteration of cooperative federated learning, of CPU cycles to aggregate one unit of data is aj . Thus, the
the BS q distributes the verified initial model parameter wqini computation time for local models aggregation is
from model update chain to its smart devices and APs for PK
training. The resource limited smart devices send coopera- aggre
j,q
|wn | aj
Tj,q = n=1
, n ∈ Kj,q , q ∈ Q, (6)
tive learning requests, the BS q coordinates the cooperative fjC
learning link establishment, i.e., the BS q selects nearby APs
according to their reputation recorded in model update chain 2) Communication Model for Cooperative Federated
so as to assist the resource limited smart devices in local Learning: Each AP j ∈ J sends the aggregated local model to
model training. Considering the AP j ∈ J helps a set Kj,q the BS q by utilizing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple
resource limited smart devices training and aggregating local Access (OFDMA) technology. The AP j allocates Wj,q sub-
models, the cooperative federated learning process involves channels to send the aggregated local model for the BS q.
finding the parameter wq for global machine learning model Each sub-channel has the same bandwidth W0 . The data rate
Mq to minimize the global loss function f (wq ), which is from AP j to BS q is
denoted as
Wj,q  2
X s  s 
J
X
Kj,q Dn
X
Pj,q hj,q
1 1 Rj,q = W0 log(1 +  2 ), (7)
min fi (wq , xni , yni ), (1) P  
wq J Kj,q Dn s=1
j ′ ∈J \{j} Pjs′ ,q hsj′ ,q  + N0
j=1 i=1
s
where fi (wq , xni , yni ) is the loss function on data sample where Pj,q is the transmission power of AP j on sub-channel
(xni , yni ) with parameter wq . s, s ∈ Wj,q . hsj,q is the channel gain between AP j and BS q
P  2
The AP j helps smart device n ∈ Kj,q finds the parameter
wn to minimize the loss function on the local dataset by
utilizing distributed gradient descent method. In iteration t, the
AP j trains the local model wn (t) according to wn (t − 1) and
the local gradient descent ∇Fn (wn (t − 1)), which is shown
as
on sub-channel s. j ′ ∈J \{j} Pjs′ ,q hsj′ ,q  is the interference
from the other APs that transmit in the same sub-channel. N0
is the noise power. The size of the trained model parameters
of AP j for BS q is the same with the shared global model
parameter wq , i.e., |w1 | = ... |wn | = |wq |. Therefore, the
transmission time of a local model update is

trans Kj,q |wq |

wn (t) = wn (t − 1)−γ ·∇Fn (wn (t − 1)) , ∀n ∈ Kj,q , (2) Tj,q = , (8)
Rj,q
where γ is the learning rate of the gradient descent.
Then the AP j transmits the local models of Kj,q resource Based on the above analysis, the total time of one global
limited smart devices to the BS q to update the global model. iteration of AP j for BS q is
In order to reduce the transmission load, the AP j first  
gt 1 cmp aggre trans
aggregates the local models, denoted as Tj,q = log Tj,q + Tj,q + Tj,q , (9)
ϑj
Kj,q € Š
1 X
Λj,q = Dn wn , ∀n ∈ Kj,q , q ∈ Q, (3) where log ϑ1j is the number of local iterations [26], and ϑj
Kj,q n=1 is the local accuracy of AP j.
The aggregation of global model at the BS q is denoted as It is notable that according to (5)-(7) if the APs contribute
more computation resource in helping local model training and
J
X
1 allocate more communication resource (e.g., transmit power
Mq = Λj,q , ∀n ∈ Kj,q , q ∈ Q, (4) and spectrum) in local model transmitting, the convergence
J j=1
of the local model (2) and the global model (4) will be
1) Computation Model for Cooperative Federated Learn- faster. However, it also causes costs of APs since cooperative
ing: Each AP j ∈ J helps smart device n ∈ Kj,q training federated learning will consume APs’ limited resource and
local model. Denote fjC is the computation resource (i.e., broadband connection for their own traffics. In order to enable
CPU cycle frequency) contributed by the AP j for local model effective cooperative federated learning, it is necessary to
training, and cj is the number of CPU cycles required to train design a proper incentive mechanism for compensation.

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3126207, IEEE Internet of
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Fig. 2: Model update chain for cooperative federated learning
in digital twin edge networks.
C. DAG Blockchain based Model Update Chain
The DAG blockchain based model update chain is shown
in Fig. 2, which consists of local model update tangle and
global model update main chain. The BSs, the APs and the
smart devices become legitimate entities after registration at
a trusted authority. Furthermore, each legitimate node obtains
its unique digital identity including public/privacy keys and
certificates for data encryption and decryption. The elliptic
curve digital signature algorithm and asymmetric cryptography
are exploited to validate a transaction [31]. In particular,
the APs and the smart devices maintain the local model
update tangle by running a cumulative weight based consensus
scheme. In order to reduce wireless resource consumption in
achieving consensus of the local model update tangle, cluster
based multicast communication is introduced to establish the
links among APs and smart devices. Each AP and its severed
smart devices form a cluster. The AP acts as cluster head and
disseminates the latest local model update sub-tangle to the
smart devices and the other AP clusters by utilizing gossip
scheme. Additionally, a set of BSs belonging to different
MNOs constitute the nodes in the global model update main
chain and utilize a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) based
consensus scheme to verify a global model update transaction.
The local model update tangle and the global model update
main chain work collaboratively by using cross-chain com-
munication, so as to form an unified public ledger (i.e., model
update chain).
1) Cumulative Weight based Consensus Scheme in Local
Model Update Tangle: When the resource limited smart de-
vices request assistance from the APs for cooperative learning,
the APs generate local model update micro-transactions. Then,
the local model update micro-transactions are digitally signed
by using the private key of both the APs and the smart devices,
and are confirmed by our developed local model update tangle.
In order to add a local model update micro-transaction to
the local model update tangle, the AP has to verify two
previous local model update micro-transactions in local model
update sub-tangle by solving a simplified crypto-puzzle. After
validation, the AP appends the new local model update micro-
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transaction to the local model update sub-tangle by attaching
the hashes of the two validated local model update micro-
transactions to the new incoming local model update micro-
transaction. The latest local model update sub-tangles need to
6XEWDQJOH %6 be interacted among the AP clusters and the smart devices to
synchronize the sub-tangles.
The weight of a local model update micro-transaction ml (t)
is denoted as W (ml (t)), which is proportional to the model
accuracy and the amount of work that the issuing AP j invested
into it, which can be expressed as
%6 K
P j,q
Dn
n=1
W (ml (t)) = N
. sj . ϑj (ml (t)) , (10)
P
Dn
n=1
K
Pj,q
where Dn is the data size of Kj,q resource limited smart
n=1
devices accumulated at the AP j, sj is the local training slots
executed by the AP j, and ϑj (ml (t)) is the accuracy provided
by the issuing AP j. Here, we utilize accuracy ϑj (ml (t)) to
represent the reputation of AP j. Thus, the AP who provides
high accuracy earns high reputation.
To ensure the reliability of the local model update micro-
transaction, the cumulative weight CW (ml (t)) is used to
represent the authenticity of the local model update micro-
transaction, which is the sum of its own weight and its
accuracy estimated by other I local model update micro-
transactions, which is expressed by
I
X W (mi (t))
CW (ml (t)) = W (ml (t)) + , (11)
i=1
∆ϑi
where ∆ϑi = ϑi (ml (t))−ϑj (ml (t)) represents the accuracy
estimation deviation, and W (mi (t)) is the weight of local
model update micro-transaction mi (t) that directly or indi-
rectly verifies the local model update micro-transaction ml (t).
The confirmation of a local model update micro-transaction
depends on their increasing cumulative weight, which is
determined by a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo based tip selec-
tion algorithm [32]. Unapproved local model update micro-
transaction is referred to as a tip. Two walkers are placed
on the local model update tangle and independently perform
random walks towards the tips. The walkers prefer to go
through the local model update micro-transactions with a
higher cumulative weight for security. The confirmation delay
of the local model update micro-transaction ml (t) from it is
issued by the AP j to the stage of being confirmed by the
local model update tangle can be expressed by
conf comm accu
Tj,q (ml (t)) = Tj,q (ml (t)) + Tj,q (ml (t)) , (12)
comm
where Tj,q(ml (t)) is the cluster based multicast commu-
nication delay for dissemination local model update micro-
accu
transaction ml (t), Tj,q (mj (t)) is the weight accumulating
delay of the local model update micro-transaction ml (t).
comm
Specifically, Tj,q (ml (t)) can be expressed by
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comm
Tj,q (ml (t)) =
‚ 
P |ml (t)|
1
J+N max Rj,kj,q + max |ml (t)|
j∈J kj,q ∈Kj,q ,q∈Q j,j ′ ∈J,j̸=j ′ Rj,j ′
(13)
In (13), |ml (t)| is the size of the local model update micro-
transaction ml (t), Rj,kj,q is the data rate from AP j to its
served smart device kj,q , Rj,j ′ is the data rate from AP j to
AP j ′ .
accu
By referring to [32], Tj,q (ml (t)) in (12) can be repre-
sented by
accu
Tj,q (ml (t)) =
CWth −CW (ml (t))
2.84 · ln(2 (J + N ) εr) + r ,
where the first item denotes the delay in adaption, and the
second item denotes the delay in linear increasing of the cu-
mulative weight CW (ml (t)). ε is the reveal time of new local
model update micro-transaction. Here, ε is equal to the cluster
comm
based multicast communication delay Tj,q (ml (t)). r is
the arrival rate of new local model update micro-transaction,
CWth is the confirmation threshold of cumulative weight.
2) DPoS based Consensus Scheme in Global Model Update
Main Chain: We exploit the highly efficient DPoS [33] based
consensus scheme in the developed global model update
main chain. The delegates in the global model update main
chain are BSs belonging to different MNOs, which are voted
by the smart devices based on their stakes. Denote Zn as
the stakes of smart device n, where Zn ≥ 0. zn,q is the
stakes that the smart device n utilizes to vote for BS q,
and zn,q ≤ Zn . Therefore, the votes Vq of BS q can be
PN
−t
represented by Vq = n=1 γ zn,q , where γ > 0 is a
decaying factor. The top ϕ BSs with the most votes are chosen
as the delegates, where ϕ is an odd integer, such as 21 in EoS
[33]. The delegates are responsible for validating the global
model update transactions, generating and verifying the new
global model update blocks. In each global model update block
verification sub-slot, a leader that is selected from the delegates
broadcasts the block to the verifiers for verification. Then, the
verifiers validate the global model update transactions in the
block, and reply the audit results to the leader. According to
the Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus condition in [33], if
the leader receives commit message from more than two third
of the verifiers, the audited global model update block passes
the verification, and the leader sends the audited block to all
the BSs for storage in the global model update main chain.
3) Cross-Chain Communication between Local Model Up-
date Tangle and Global Model Update Main Chain: In the
developed model update chain, the local model update tangle
and the global model update main chain can interact with each
other by using cross-chain communication. The BSs in the
global model update chain play the role of the cross-chain
communicator to transfer the recorded data in the ledger. For
example, in the global model update stage, the BS retrieves
the verified local model updates from the local model update
tangle and executes the global aggregation. In the local model
training stage, the AP and the smart devices etch the latest
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global model updates from the BS in the global model update
main chain. Furthermore, it can be seen that the cluster based
‹Œ multicast communication in (13) has a significant effect on
, the confirmation delay of the local model update micro-
transaction. If the AP clusters allocate more communication
resource in local model update micro-transaction dissemina-
tion, the confirmation delay will be reduced.
IV. I TERATIVE D OUBLE AUCTION BASED J OINT
C OOPERATIVE F EDERATED L EARNING AND L OCAL
M ODEL U PDATE V ERIFICATION O PTIMIZATION S CHEME
In this section, we propose an iterative double auction based
joint cooperative federated learning and local model update
(14)
verification to motivate APs to contribute with local model
training and verification from their resource. Iterative double
auction [34] is widely adopted in economics in scenarios
of information asymmetry, where a broker design a proper
pricing scheme to induce both the sellers and the buyers to
bid truthfully to elicit their hidden information, and eventually
achieve equilibrium. It has been proved that the iterative
double auction possesses the economic characteristics of indi-
vidual rationality, weakly budget balance and higher economic
efficiency, it can enhance the scalability of network with many
buyers and sellers and accelerate signalling exchange.
In our designed iterative double auction based joint coop-
erative federated learning and local model update verification
scheme, the controller acts as a broker, and a set P of MNOs
and a set J of APs act as bidders. Considering that each
operator p ∈ P would like to require Tq,j
gt(−1)
time for one
global iteration through the cooperation of AP j ∈ J for
de(−1)
each BS q ∈ Qp , and require Tq,j time for dissemination
of local model update micro-transaction by the cluster based
multicast communication of AP j ∈ J for each BS q ∈ Qp .
We define the cooperative federated learning request time
€ Š
gt(−1) ∆ gt(−1)
vector for BS q to all J APs as Tq = Tq,j : ∀j ∈ J ,
and the local model update dissemination €
request time Švector
de(−1) ∆ de(−1)
for BS q to all J APs as Tq = Tq,j : ∀j ∈ J . The
cooperative federated learning requests matrix and the local
model update dissemination requests matrix for all BSs of
each MNO p are respectively given by
Tgt(−1)
p = (Tgt(−1)
q : ∀q ∈ Qp ), (15)
Tde(−1) = (Tde(−1) : ∀q ∈ Qp ), (16)
p q
The MNOs’ requests depend €on the traffic
Š and locations of
gt(−1)
their smart devices. We use Fq Tq , q ∈ Qp to denote
the utility of MNO p when its BS q€gets cooperative
Š federated
learning from the APs, and use Fq′ Tq
de(−1)
to denote the u-
tility of MNO p when the local model update micro-transaction
of BS q obtains dissemination from the APs. The utility
indicates the smart devices’ cost (such as communication and
computation resource) reduction compared to the case that
the smart devices directly execute local model training and
local model update micro-transaction dissemination. The total
cooperative federated learning benefit and total local model
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update micro-transaction dissemination benefit for each MNO should satisfy the maximum cooperative federated learning
p ∈ P can be respectively expressed by tolerate time of BS q, T gt,max
q
(−1)
, q ∈ Q. Constraint C2
Qp
ensures that the admitted cooperative federated learning time
€ Š X € Š cannot exceed the minimum cooperative federated learning
Fp Tgt(−1) = Fq Tgt(−1) , (17)
p q time provided by AP j ∈ J . Constraint C3 indicates that
q=1
the cooperative federated learning time that each AP admits
Qp should satisfy the respective requested learning time of the
€ Š X € Š
Fp′ Tde(−1)
p = Fq′ Tde(−1)
q , (18) MNOs. Constraint C4 indicates that the local model update
q=1 micro-transaction dissemination time that each MNO decides
We consider the utility function Fq (·) and Fq′ (·) are pos- to bid for its BS q should satisfy the maximum micro-
(−1)
itive, increasing and strictly concave function related with transaction dissemination tolerate time of BS q, T de,max
q ,
vector Tq
gt(−1)
and vector Tq
de(−1)
, q ∈ Q, respectively. Each q ∈ Q. Constraint C5 ensures that the admitted local model
AP j ∈ J responds to cooperative federated learning requests, update micro-transaction dissemination time cannot exceed
gt(−1) the minimum micro-transaction dissemination time provided
and admits Γj,q time for one global iteration for each
BS q ∈ Qp of every MNO p ∈ P. Furthermore, each AP by AP j ∈ J . Constraint C6 indicates that the local model
j ∈ J also responds to local model update micro-transaction update micro-transaction dissemination time that each AP ad-
de(−1) mits should satisfy the respective requested micro-transaction
dissemination requests, and admits Γj,q time for local
model update micro-transaction dissemination for each BS dissemination time of the MNOs.
q ∈ Qp of every MNO p ∈ P. We define the admitted coop- In SWO problem (19), the controller tries to find an e-
erative federated learning vector and the admitted local mod- quilibrium where the time of supply equals to the demand,
gt(−1) gt(−1) de(−1) de(−1)
el update micro-transaction dissemination vector Γj
gt(−1) ∆
= i.e., Γj,q ≥ Tq,j and Γj,q ≥ Tq,j . Since the
€ Š € Š objective function of social welfare is strictly concave, and
gt(−1) de(−1) ∆ de(−1)
Γj,q , ∀q ∈ Q and Γj = Γj,q , ∀q ∈ Q , re- the feasible region defined by constraints C1-C7 is convex,
gt(−1)
spectively, where Γj,q depends on the cooperative feder- optimization problem (19) has a unique optimization solution
◦ ◦ ◦ ◦
ated learning request Tq,j
gt(−1) de(−1)
, and Γj,q depends on the (Tgt(−1) , Γgt(−1) ) and (Tde(−1) , Γde(−1) ) meeting con-
local model update micro-transaction
€ Š dissemination
€ Š request straints C1-C7. We first define Lagrange function of SWO
and Cj′ Γj
de(−1) gt(−1) de(−1) problem in (20), where λ, δ, τ , α, β, µ are Lagrange multipli-
Tq,j . We use Cj Γj to denote
the cost incurred by AP j for providing cooperative federated er matrixes corresponding to constraints C1-C6, respectively.
learning service and local model update micro-transaction The Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions can be derived
dissemination, respectively, which are positive, increasing and by
gt(−1) de(−1)
strictly convex function about vector Γj and Γj . gt(−1)◦
It can be observed that the objective of the MNOs and ∂Fq (Tq )
gt(−1)
= λq,j + τq,j , (21a)
APs are conflicting with each other. If they independently ∂Tq,j
to decide the request time or the admit time, it will be gt(−1)◦
hard to reach an agreement. In order to maintain fairness ∂Cj (Γj )
gt(−1)
= τq,j − σj,q , (21b)
and stimulate the cooperative federated learning and local ∂Γj,q
model update €micro-transaction Šdissemination,
€ the controller
Š
de(−1)◦
finds optimal Tq
gt(−1)
, Γj
gt(−1)
and Tq
de(−1) de(−1)
, Γj by ∂Fq′ (Tq )
= αq,j + µq,j , (21c)
solving a Social Welfare Optimization (SWO) problem de(−1)
∂Tq,j
P P de(−1)◦
max Fq (Tq
gt(−1)
)− Cj (Γj
gt(−1)
) ∂Cj′ (Γj )
Tgt(−1) ,Γgt(−1) q∈Q j∈J de(−1)
= µq,j − βj,q , (21d)
Tde(−1) ,Γde(−1)
∂Γj,q
P de(−1) P de(−1)
+ Fq′ (Tq )− Cj ′ (Γj ) However, due to hidden information of utility function
q∈Q
gt(−1)
j∈J
gt,max(−1)
Fq (·), Cj (·), F ′ q (·) and C ′ j (·) to the controller, it is infeasible
s.t.C1 : Tq,j ≥ Tq , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , for the controller to obtain the optimal solutions by directly
gt(−1) gt,min(−1)
C2 : Γj,q ≤ Γj , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , solving (21a)-(21d). Therefore, the controller needs to design
gt(−1) gt(−1) a proper pricing scheme to induce both the MNOs and APs
C3 : Γj,q = Tq,j , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J ,
bid truthfully, so as to elicit their hidden information, and
de(−1) de,max(−1)
C4 : Tq,j ≥ Tq , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , eventually achieve equilibrium.
de(−1) de,min(−1)
C5 : Γj,q ≤ Γj , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J ,
de(−1) de,min(−1) A. SWO Problem Transformation
C6 : Γj,q = Tq,j , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J ,
Each MNO p ∈ P submits bids xgt q,j ≥ 0 and xq,j ≥ 0 for
de
gt(−1) gt(−1) de(−1) de(−1)
C7 : Γj,q ≥ 0, Tq,j ≥ 0, Γj,q ≥ 0, Tq,j
≥ 0, each one of its BSs q ∈ Qp , and for each AP j ∈ J . Similarly,
gt
(19) each AP j ∈ J submits bids yj,p ≥ 0 and yj,p
de
≥ 0 for each
where constraint C1 indicates that the cooperative federated BS q ∈ Qp of each MNO p ∈ P. We define the bid vector
learning time that each MNO decides to bid for its BS q of each MNO p ∈ P and of each AP j ∈ J , respectively, as

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P P P P
Fq′ (Tq Cj′ (Γj
gt(−1) gt(−1) de(−1) de(−1)
LSW O (λ, δ, τ , α, β, µ) = Fq (Tq )− Cj (Γj )+ )− )−
q∈Q j∈J q∈Q j∈J
Q
J P
P € Š P Q
J P € Š Q
J P
P € Š
gt,max(−1) gt(−1) gt(−1) gt,min(−1) gt(−1) gt(−1)
λq,j Tq − Tq,j − δj,q Γj,q − Γj − τq,j Tq,j − Γj,q − (20)
j=1 q=1 j=1 q=1 j=1 q=1
PJ P Q € Š J P
P Q € Š PJ P Q € Š
de,max(−1) de(−1) de(−1) de,min(−1) de(−1) de(−1)
αq,j Tq − Tq,j − βj,q Γj,q − Γj − µq,j Tq,j − Γj,q ,
j=1 q=1 j=1 q=1 j=1 q=1

∆
gt ∆
p = (xq,j : ∀q ∈ Q, j ∈ J ), xp = (xq,j : ∀q ∈ Q, j ∈
xgt de de
€ Š
gt(−1)◦
∆ ∆ ∂Fq Tq
J ), yjgt = gt
: ∀q ∈ Q), and
(yj,q : ∀q ∈ Q).
yjde = de
(yj,q xgt
gt(−1)∗
q,j = Tq,j gt(−1)
, (24a)
These bids signal the cooperative federated learning and local ∂Tq,j
model update micro-transaction dissemination requirements of € Š
de(−1)◦
MNOs, and also signal the serving cost of the APs. Then, de(−1)∗
∂Fq Tq
the controller determines the time allocation for cooperative xde
q,j = Tq,j de(−1)
, (24b)
∂Tq,j
federated learning and local model update micro-transaction € Š
dissemination based on the bids by solving a new allocation gt(−1)◦
gt 1 ∂Cj Γj
problem (NAP) as follows yj,q = gt(−1)∗ gt(−1)
, (24c)
Γj,q ∂Γj,q
€ Š
de(−1)◦
de 1 ∂Cj Γj
PJ P Q  gt € Š ‹ yj,q = de(−1)∗ de(−1)
, (24d)
gt(−1) yj,q gt(−1) 2 Γj,q ∂Γj,q
max xgt
q,j log Tq,j − 2 Γ j,q
Tgt(−1) ,Γgt(−1) j=1 q=1
Tde(−1) ,Γde(−1) Then the optimal solution of NAP problem is identical to the
Q  € Š  ∆
PJ P
de(−1) y de de(−1) 2 unique optimal solution of the SWO problem, i.e., Tgt(−1)◦ =
+ xde
q,j log Tq,j − j,q2 Γ j,q gt(−1)∗ de(−1)◦ ∆ de(−1)∗ gt(−1)◦ ∆ gt(−1)∗
j=1 q=1 T , T = T , Γ = Γ , and
gt(−1) gt,max(−1) de(−1)◦ ∆ de(−1)∗
s.t.C1 : Tq,j ≥ Tq , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , Γ = Γ . Thus, a proper pricing scheme needs
gt(−1) gt,min(−1) to be derived to induce both the MNOs and the APs to bid
C2 : Γj,q ≤ Γj , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , according to (24).
gt(−1) gt(−1)
C3 : Γj,q = Tq,j , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J ,
de(−1) de,max(−1)
C4 : Tq,j ≥ Tq , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , B. Pricing Scheme
de(−1) de,min(−1)
C5 : Γj,q ≤ Γj , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , According to the NAP problem in (22), the MNOs and the
de(−1)
C6 : Γj,q
de,min(−1)
= Tq,j , ∀q ∈ Q, ∀j ∈ J , APs find their optimal bids
€ by solving
Š their €payoff optimiza-
Š
and Z ′ p Tp
gt(−1) de(−1)
gt(−1) gt(−1) de(−1) de(−1)
tion problem. Denote Zp Tp as the
C7 : Γj,q ≥ 0, Tq,j ≥ 0, Γj,q ≥ 0, Tq,j
≥ 0, MNO p payment to the controller for cooperative federated
(22) learning and for local model update micro-transaction dissem-
Notice that the NAP problem has the same constraints as ination services obtained from the APs. The MNO p ∈ P
the SWO problem, but has a different strictly concave ob- finds the optimal bids xgt∗
p and xde∗
p by solving the payoff
jective function which is designed according to the alloca- maximization problem as follows
tion
€ rule in [35]. Thus,
Š it€ has a unique optimal
Š solution € Š € Š
gt(−1) gt(−1)
Tgt(−1)∗ , Γgt(−1)∗ and Tde(−1)∗ , Γde(−1)∗ . According max
gt
Fp Tp − Zp Tp +
xp ,xde
to KKT conditions, we can obtain a set of equations as follows p
€ Š € Š
Fp′ Tp
de(−1)
− Zp′ Tp
de(−1) (25)
s.t. xgt
q,j ≥ 0, xde
q,j ≥ 0, ∀j ∈ J, q ∈ Q,
gt(−1)∗ xgt
q,j
Tq,j = , (23a) The optimal solution of problem (25) satisfies the following
λq,j + τq,j conditions
gt(−1)∗ τq,j − σj,q
Γj,q = gt , (23b) € Š € Š
yj,q gt(−1) gt(−1)
∂Fp Tp ∂Zp Tp
= (τq,j + λq,j ) , (26)
de(−1)∗ xde
q,j ∂Tq,j
gt(−1)
∂xgt
q,j
Tq,j = , (23c)
αq,j + µq,j € Š € Š
de(−1) de(−1)
∂Fp Tp ∂Zp Tp
de(−1)∗ µq,j − βj,q = (αq,j + µq,j ) , (27)
Γj,q = de
, (23d) ∂Tq,j
de(−1) ∂xde
q,j
yj,q
€ Š € Š
and H ′ j Γj
gt(−1) de(−1)
It can be noted that (23a)-(23d) are different from (21a)-(21d). Similarly, denote Hj Γj as com-
If the MNOs and the APs submit the following bids pensation from the controller for the AP j ∈ J . The APs

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10

find their optimal bids yjgt and yjde by solving the payoff Specifically, both the twin APs and twin BSs belonging to
maximization problem as follows different MNOs act as bidders, and iteratively interact with the
€ Š € Š controller to solve the desirable solutions. Then, the controller
gt(−1) gt(−1)
max
gt
Hj Γj − Cj Γj + forwards the solutions to the physical BSs and the physical
yj ,yjde
€ Š € Š APs. Therefore, compared to the iterative double auction in
Hj′ Γj
de(−1)
− Cj′ Γj
de(−1) (28)
traditional edge networks, the iterative double auction in our
gt
s.t. yq,j ≥ 0, yq,j
de
≥ 0, , ∀j ∈ J, q ∈ Q. developed digital twin edge networks can significantly reduce
signaling cost among the controller, the BSs and the APs.
The optimal solution of problem (28) satisfies the following
conditions
Algorithm 1: Iterative double auction based joint coopera-
€ Š € Š € Š2 tive federated learning and local model update verification
gt(−1) gt(−1) gt
∂Cj Γj ∂Hj Γj yj,q gt(−1)(0) gt(−1)(0) de(−1)(0) de(−1)(0) (0)
= , (29) 1 Input: Tq,j , Γj,q , Tq,j , Γj,q , λq,j ,
∂Γj,q
gt(−1) gt
∂yj,q δj,q − τq,j (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
δq,j , τq,j , αq,j , βj,q and µq,j , ∀j ∈ J ,q ∈ Q;
€
de(−1)
Š €
de(−1)
Š €
de
Š2 2 Output: Tgt(−1) , Γgt(−1) , Tde(−1) and Γde(−1) ;
∂Cj Γj ∂Hj Γj yj,q 3 t ← 0, and conv ← 0;
= , (30)
∂Γj,q
de(−1) de
∂yj,q βj,q − µq,j 4 while conv = 0 do
gt(−1)(t) gt(−1)(t)
5 The controller announces Tq,j , Γj,q ,
In order to induce the MNOs and the APs to bid according de(−1)(t) de(−1)(t) (t) (t) (t) (t) (t)
to (24), the pricing rules are defined as follows Tq,j , Γj,q , λq,j , δq,j , τq,j , αq,j , βj,q and
(t)
€ Š X X
µq,j , ∀j ∈ J ,q ∈ Q;
Zp xgt
p = xgt
q,j , (31) 6 t ← t + 1;
gt(t)
j∈J q∈Q 7 Each MNO computes the optimal bids xp and
€ Š X X de(t)
Zp′ xde = xde xp by (25);
p q,j , (32) gt(t) de(t)
j∈J q∈Q
8 Each AP computes the optimal bids yj and yj
by (28);
2
€ Š X X (δj,q − τq,j ) 9 Each MNO and AP submit their bids to the
Hj yjgt = gt , (33)
j∈J q∈Q
yj,q controller;
gt(−1)(t)
10 The controller computes the new Tp ,
2
€ Š X X (βj,q − µq,j ) Γj
gt(−1)(t) de(−1)(t)
, Tp and Γj
de(−1)(t)
by (22);
Hj′ yjde = de
, (34)
j∈J q∈Q
yj,q 11 The controller checks the convergence;
12 if convergence then
The NAP problem (22) and the pricing rules (31)-(34) 13 conv ← 1;
guarantee the social welfare in (19) maximization. It can be 14 end
observed that the optimal requested time and the admitted 15 else
gt(−1)∗ gt(−1)∗ de(−1)∗ de(−1)∗
time of Tq,j , Γj,q , Tq,j and Γj,q are related 16 Enter a new iteration and repeat lines 4-12;
with the bids of the MNOs and the APs in (25) and (28), 17 end
respectively. Similarly, the optimal bids of the MNOs and 18 end € Š
the APs are also related with the the optimal time allocation
19 The controller computes the payment Zp xgt p ,
and the Lagrange multipliers in (22). Therefore, problems € Š € Š € Š
(22), (25) and (28) need to be solved iteratively to achieve Z ′ p xde gt
p , the complementary Hj yj and H ′ j yjde
the desirable solutions. The controller initializes the time by (31)- (34).
variables Tgt(−1) , Γgt(−1) , Tde(−1) , Γde(−1) and the Lagrange
multiplier matrixes λ, δ, τ , α, β, µ. Then, the controller
broadcasts the initialization variables to both the MNOs and V. N UMERICAL R ESULTS
the APs. Each MNO and AP find their optimal bids by
solving their payoff optimization problem (25) and (28), and A. Experiment Setting
submit their new bids to the controller. Then, the controller We evaluate the performance of our proposed iterative
computes the new time variables and updates the Lagrange double auction based joint cooperative federated learning and
multiplier matrixes by utilizing a gradient descent method. The local model update verification scheme. We consider a small
iteration is executed until the convergence of the solutions. digital twin construction market settings of P = 2 operators,
The implementation process of iterative double auction based each one with one BS. J = 5 APs are placed at the different
joint cooperative federated learning and local model update locations of the BSs. Each BS has Np = 50 smart devices.
verification scheme can be illustrated in Algorithm 1. It The smart devices are randomly distributed in the coverage of
is worth noting that after the construction of digital twin BSs and APs. We conduct our cooperative federated learning
edge networks, the developed iterative double auction based experiment on a real-world data set CIFAR10 [36], which
joint cooperative federated learning and local model update consists of 60,000 images in 10 classes, including 40,000
verification scheme can be executed by the digital twin models. training images, 10,000 valid images and 10,000 test images.

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Things Journal

11

2.5
The CIFAR10 data set is shuffled and randomly assigned to The proposed scheme
the smart devices. The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) The IDA-woDAG scheme
Random selection scheme
is utilized as machine learning model for cooperative federated 2

learning. The CNN model has 5 × 5 convolution layers and 1

dropout layer, followed by 2 linear layers. The main simulation 1.5
parameters are listed in Table I.

Loss
For the purpose of comparing with our proposed iterative
1
double auction based joint cooperative federated learning and
local model update verification scheme, we consider two other
optimization schemes: (i) iterative double auction without local 0.5

model update tangle (IDA-woDAG), where the local model

training results and the quality of local model updates are not
0
verified by the DAG [17], and (ii) random selection scheme, 0 10 20 30 40 50
Training rounds
where the MNOs randomly select the APs to participate in
cooperative federated learning, and specify a unit price for Fig. 3: Comparison of training loss of three schemes.
cooperative training. Moreover, the utility function of each
MNO and the cost function of each AP in our scheme are 1

given by, respectively, 0.9

0.8

0.7
TABLE 1
PARAMETERS 0.6

Accuracy
0.5
Parameter Value The proposed scheme
0.4
Tolerate time for learning Tqgt,max [200, 300]s The IDA-woDAG scheme
Random selection scheme
Minimum supply learning time Γgt,min
0.3
j [60, 200]s
Tolerate time for dissemination Tqde,max [5, 10]s 0.2

Minimum dissemination time Γde,min

j [1, 5]s 0.1

CPU cycles cj 5GHz 0

0 10 20 30 40 50
s
Transmission power of AP Pj,q 34dBm Training rounds

Number of subchannel 50 Fig. 4: Comparison of model accuracy of three schemes.

Bandwidth of subchannel W0 30MHz
Learning accuracy ϑj [0.1, 0.8]
Dissemination efficiency θj [0.5, 0.9] B. Performance Analysis
Willingness for learning χgt
aver 300
Willingness for dissemination χde 400 Fig. 3 shows loss function of three schemes under global
aver
Confirmation threshold CWth 600 training rounds. It can be seen that the loss value decreas-
es first, then it converges with global training rounds. The
Size of micro-transaction |ml (t)| 500B
proposed scheme outperforms the other two schemes, since
Batch size bn 10
each BS can obtain the cooperation of all APs in federated
learning according to its different learning time requirements.
€ Š X € Š
gt(−1) Besides, the reputation of the APs can be guaranteed by the
Fq Tqgt(−1) = χgt
aver log ϑj Tq,j +1 , (35)
model update chain. In IDA-woDAG scheme, the resource
j∈J
€ Š X € Š limited smart devices are reluctant to seek help from APs
Fq′ Tde(−1)
de(−1)
q = χde
aver log θj Tq,j +1 , (36) due to the lack of trust on the APs, thus the provision of
j∈J parameters for global update will be reduced. Moreover, the
€ Š X € Š
gt(−1) 2
X
gt(−1)
malicious and unreliable APs may upload false or low-quality
Cj Γgt(−1)
q = ϕgt
j,q Γj,q + ϕgt
j,q Γj,q , (37) local model updates to the BSs to adversely affect the global
q∈Q q∈Q update. In random selection scheme, the APs are randomly
€ Š X € Š X selected without considering the learning time requirement and
de(−1) 2
Cj′ Γde(−1)
de(−1)
q = ϕde
j,q Γj,q + ϕde
j,q Γj,q , (38) model quality, and the BSs pay for the cooperative federated
q∈Q q∈Q
learning according to a specified unit price, thus its loss value
where χgt de
aver and χaver are average willingness of BSs for is the worst among the three schemes.
cooperative federated learning and local model update micro- Fig. 4 shows model accuracy of three schemes under global
transaction dissemination, respectively. ϑj is the learning training rounds. It can be seen that the model accuracy of three
accuracy of AP j and θj is the dissemination efficiency of AP schemes increases, and then converges with global training
j. φgt de
j,q and φj,q capture the fact that each AP incurs different rounds. The accuracy of the global model update depends
learning cost and dissemination cost by helping a different BS. on the cooperation of APs and their model quality. The

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Things Journal

12

2500 8
Tde , f de =0.02
11 11
The proposed scheme 7 Tde, f de =0.04
12 21
2000 The optimal solution
Tde, f de =0.02
21 12
6 Tde, f de =0.04

The required Tq,j (provided Gj,q )

22 22

de
de de
1500 G11, f 11 =0.02
5
Social welfare

de de
G12, f 21 =0.04
de de
G21, f 12 =0.02

de
1000 4
Gde , f de =0.04
22 22

3
500

0
1

-500 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 0 5 10 15 20 25
Iteration number Iteration number

Fig. 5: Comparison of convergence in different auctions. de

Fig. 7: The required dissemination time Tp,j and the provided
de
dissemination time Γp,j .
200
Tgt , f gt = 0.01
11 11
180 Tgt , f gt = 0.03
12 21

160 Tgt , f gt = 0.01

21 12 take p = 1, p = 2 and j = 1 and j = 2 for example, it can be
Tgt , f gt = 0.03 gt
seen that the required cooperative learning time Tp,j of MNO
)

22 22
j,q
(provided Ggt

140 gt gt
G11, f 11 = 0.01
120 gt gt
G12, f 21 = 0.03
p to AP j is equal to the provided cooperative learning time
gt gt
G21, f 12 = 0.01
Γgt
j,p of AP j for MNO p, which proves the effectiveness of the
q,j

100
The required Tgt

Ggt
22
, f gt
22
= 0.03 proposed iterative double auction based cooperative federated
gt
80
learning scheme (Tp,j = Γgtj,p ). Furthermore, it can be noted
60 gt
that both the required cooperative learning time Tp,j of MNO
40
p and the provided cooperative learning time Γgt j,p of AP j
20
decreases with the increase of cooperative learning cost ϕgt j,p .
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
The reason is that with increasing cooperative learning cost
Iteration number
ϕgt
j,p , the MNO p needs to pay more to compensate for the
gt resource consumption of AP j. In order to maximize the payoff
Fig. 6: The required cooperative learning time Tp,j and the
gt
provided cooperative learning time Γp,j . in (25), the MNO p decreases its required cooperative learning
gt
time Tp,j .
Fig. 7 shows the required local model update micro-
de
transaction dissemination time Tp,j of MNO p and the provid-
proposed scheme has the highest accuracy, since the local de
ed dissemination time Γj,p of AP j under different dissemi-
model updates provided by the APs are verified by the model
nation cost ϕdep,j . Similarly, we take p = 1, p = 2 and j = 1
update chain in each global round, the low-quality model
and j = 2 for example, it can be seen that the trends of the
updates will be deleted. In the IDA-woDAG scheme, both the de
required dissemination time Tp,j of MNO p and the provided
local model training results and the quality of local model
dissemination time Γde p,j of AP j are consistent with Fig. 6.
updates are not verified by the DAG, thus the accuracy of de
Specifically, the required dissemination time Tp,j of MNO p
the IDA-woDAG scheme is lower than that of the proposed
to AP j is equal to the provided dissemination time Γde j,p of
scheme. The random selection scheme randomly selects the
AP j for MNO p. Besides, the required dissemination time
APs without considering the learning time requirement and de
Tp,j of MNO p and the provided dissemination time Γde j,p of
the model quality, thus its accuracy is the lowest.
AP j decreases with the increase of dissemination cost ϕde j,p ,
Fig. 5 proves the convergence of the proposed iterative
since the increase of dissemination cost ϕde j,p drives the MNO
double auction based joint cooperative federated learning and
p to pay more for compensating AP j. The MNO p decreases
local model update verification scheme. It can be seen that de
Tp,j to maximize the payoff in (28).
the proposed iterative double auction based joint cooperative
federated learning and local model update verification scheme
gradually converges to the optimal solution of social welfare VI. C ONCLUSION
after 8 iterations, which implies that the proposed scheme can This paper proposed a new blockchain empowered digital
induce both the MNOs and the APs to bid truthfully to elicit twin edge networks framework, where cooperative federated
their hidden information (i.e., utility function of the MNOs learning was developed to construct digital twin of resource
and cost function of the APs), and eventually converge to the limited smart devices at the network edges belonging to
optimal solution. different MNOs. In order to provide a secure digital twin
gt
Fig. 6 shows the required cooperative learning time Tp,j of construction environment, we designed a model update chain
gt
MNO P and the provided cooperative learning time Γj,p of by exploiting DAG blockchain, in which APs cluster based
AP j under different cooperative learning cost ϕgtp,j . Here, we multicast communication was developed to establish links

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3126207, IEEE Internet of
Things Journal
in local model update tangle to reduce wireless resource
consumption during the consensus. Moreover, we designed
an iterative double auction based joint cooperative federated
learning and local model update verification scheme to incen-
tivize the APs to help in local models training and also to con-
tribute their resource in local model update verification. The
optimal unified time for cooperative federated learning and
local model update verification were solved to maximize the
social welfare. Numerical results illustrated that the proposed
scheme can improve the performance of global model update
in cooperative federated learning and achieve the optimal
social welfare by eliciting the hidden information of MNOs
and APs.
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B IOGRAPHIES
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3126207, IEEE Internet of
Things Journal

14

Li Jiang (jiangli@gdut.edu.cn) received her Ph.D.
degree from the School of Information and Com-
munication Engineering, Beijing University of Posts
and Telecommunications (BUPT), China, in 2017.
She was also with University of Oslo and Simula
Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Nor-
way, as a visiting Ph.D. student from Aug. 2015
to Jul. 2016. She is currently an associate professor
in the School of Automation, Guangdong University
of Technology (GDUT), Guangzhou. Her current re-
search interests include mobile blockchains, mobile
edge computing, D2D communications, digital twin networks, and resource
management for B5G and 6G networks.
Hao Zheng (2111904331@mail2.gdut.edu.cn) is
currently pursuing his master’s degree with the
School of Automation, Guangdong University of
Technology (GDUT), Guangzhou, China. His cur-
rent research interests include mobile blockchains,
UAV networks, machine learning, and resource man-
agement for B5G and 6G networks.
Yan Zhang [IEEE Fellow’20] (yanzhang@ieee.org)
is currently a Full Professor with the Department
of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway. He re-
ceived the Ph.D. degree from the School of Electrical
and Electronics Engineering, Nanyang Technolog-
ical University, Singapore. He received M.S. and
B.S from Beihang University and Nanjing University
of Post and Telecommunications, respectively. His
research interests include next-generation wireless
networks leading to 5G beyond/6G, green and secure
cyber-physical systems (e.g., smart grid and trans-
port). Dr. Zhang is an Editor (or Area Editor, Senior Editor, Associate Editor)
for several IEEE transactions/magazine, including IEEE Communications
Magazine, IEEE Network Magazine, IEEE Transactions on Network Science
and Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transac-
tions on Industrial Informatics, IEEE Transactions on Green Communications
and Networking, IEEE Communications Survey and Tutorials, IEEE Internet
of Things Journal, IEEE Systems Journal, IEEE Vehicular Technology Mag-
azine, and IEEE Blockchain Technical Briefs. He is a symposium/track chair
in a number of conferences, including IEEE ICC 2021, IEEE Globecom 2017,
IEEE PIMRC 2016, IEEE SmartGridComm 2015. He is the Chair of IEEE
Communications Society Technical Committee on Green Communications
and Computing (TCGCC). He is an IEEE Vehicular Technology Society
Distinguished Lecturer during 2016-2020. He is CCF Senior Member, an
elected member of CCF Technical Committee of Blockchain, and 2019
CCF Distinguished Speaker. Since 2018, Prof. Zhang was a recipient of
the global Highly Cited Researcher Award (Web of Science top 1% most
cited worldwide). He is Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of IET, elected member of
Academia Europaea (MAE), and elected member of Norwegian Academy of
Technological Sciences (NTVA).

Hui Tian (M’03-SM’18)(tianhui@bupt.edu.cn) re-

ceived the M.S. degree in microelectronics and
the Ph.D. degree in circuits and systems from the
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunica-
tions (BUPT), Beijing, China, in 1992 and 2003,
respectively. She is currently a Professor with BUPT,
where she is also the Network Information Process-
ing Research Center Director of the State Key Lab-
oratory of Networking and Switching Technology.
Her current research interests include radio resource
management, mobile-edge computing, industrial In-
ternet of things, and mobile social network.

Shengli Xie [IEEE Fellow’19] (shlxie@gdut.edu.cn)

received his Ph.D. degree in automatic control from
South China University of Technology (SCUT) in
1997. He was a vice dean with the School of Elec-
tronics and Information Engineering, SCUT from
2006 to 2010. Currently, he is the director of both the
Institute of Intelligent Information Processing and
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Information Technol-
ogy for the Internet of Things, and also a professor
with the School of Automation, GDUT. He has
authored or co-authored four monographs and more
than 100 scientific papers published in journals and conference proceedings,
and has been granted more than 30 patents. His research interests broadly
include statistical signal processing and wireless communications, with an
2327-4662emphasis on blind
(c) 2021 IEEE. signal
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