Deep Reinforcement Learning for Multi-flow Routing in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kim, Brian, Kong, Justin H., Moore, Terrence J., Dagefu, Fikadu T.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908626233327616
author Kim, Brian
Kong, Justin H.
Moore, Terrence J.
Dagefu, Fikadu T.
author_facet Kim, Brian
Kong, Justin H.
Moore, Terrence J.
Dagefu, Fikadu T.
contents Due to the rapid growth of heterogeneous wireless networks (HWNs), where devices with diverse communication technologies coexist, there is increasing demand for efficient and adaptive multi-hop routing with multiple data flows. Traditional routing methods, designed for homogeneous environments, fail to address the complexity introduced by links consisting of multiple technologies, frequency-dependent fading, and dynamic topology changes. In this paper, we propose a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based routing framework using deep Q-networks (DQN) to establish routes between multiple source-destination pairs in HWNs by enabling each node to jointly select a communication technology, a subband, and a next hop relay that maximizes the rate of the route. Our approach incorporates channel and interference-aware neighbor selection approaches to improve decision-making beyond conventional distance-based heuristics. We further evaluate the robustness and generalizability of the proposed method under varying network dynamics, including node mobility, changes in node density, and the number of data flows. Simulation results demonstrate that our DRL-based routing framework significantly enhances scalability, adaptability, and end-to-end throughput in complex HWN scenarios.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_02030
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Deep Reinforcement Learning for Multi-flow Routing in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks
Kim, Brian
Kong, Justin H.
Moore, Terrence J.
Dagefu, Fikadu T.
Signal Processing
Networking and Internet Architecture
Due to the rapid growth of heterogeneous wireless networks (HWNs), where devices with diverse communication technologies coexist, there is increasing demand for efficient and adaptive multi-hop routing with multiple data flows. Traditional routing methods, designed for homogeneous environments, fail to address the complexity introduced by links consisting of multiple technologies, frequency-dependent fading, and dynamic topology changes. In this paper, we propose a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based routing framework using deep Q-networks (DQN) to establish routes between multiple source-destination pairs in HWNs by enabling each node to jointly select a communication technology, a subband, and a next hop relay that maximizes the rate of the route. Our approach incorporates channel and interference-aware neighbor selection approaches to improve decision-making beyond conventional distance-based heuristics. We further evaluate the robustness and generalizability of the proposed method under varying network dynamics, including node mobility, changes in node density, and the number of data flows. Simulation results demonstrate that our DRL-based routing framework significantly enhances scalability, adaptability, and end-to-end throughput in complex HWN scenarios.
title Deep Reinforcement Learning for Multi-flow Routing in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks
topic Signal Processing
Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.02030