A proactive link-failure resilient routing protocol for MANETs based on reinforcement learning

Mobile-Ad-Hoc-Networks (MANET) are self-configuring networks of mobile nodes, which communicate through wireless links. One of the main issues in MANETs is the mobility of the network nodes: routing protocols should explicitly consider network changes into the algorithm design. MANETs are particularly suited to guarantee connectivity in disaster relief scenarios, which are often impaired by the absence of network infrastructures. This work proposes a proactive routing protocol, developed via Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques, to dynamically choose the most stable path, basing on GPS information, among the feasible ones and to consequently increase resiliency to link failures. Simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed protocol, through comparison with the Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol. © 2012 IEEE.