Energy and throughput efficient mobile wireless sensor networks: A deep reinforcement learning approach

The efficient development of Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks (MWSNs) relies heavily on optimizing two key parameters: Throughput and Energy Consumption. The proposed work investigates network connectivity issues with MWSN and proposes two routing algorithms, namely Self‐Organising Maps based‐Optimised Link State Routing (SOM‐OLSR) and Deep Reinforcement Learning based‐Optimised Link State Routing (DRL‐OLSR) for MWSNs. The primary objective of the proposed algorithms is to achieve energy‐efficient routing while maximizing throughput. The proposed algorithms are evaluated through simulations by considering various performance metrics, including connection probability (CP), end‐to‐end delay, overhead, network throughput, and energy consumption. The simulation analysis is discussed under three scenarios. The first scenario undertakes ‘no optimisation’, the second considers SOM‐OLSR, and the third undertakes DRL‐OLSR. A comparison between DRL‐OLSR and SOM‐OLSR reveals that the former surpasses the latter in terms of low latency and prolonged network lifetime. Specifically, DRL‐OLSR demonstrates a 47% increase in throughput, a 67% reduction in energy consumption, and a CP three times higher than SOM‐OLSR. Furthermore, when contrasted with the ‘no optimisation’ scenario, DRL‐OLSR achieves a remarkable 69.7% higher throughput and nearly 89% lower energy consumption. These findings highlight the effectiveness of the DRL‐OLSR approach in wireless sensor networks.