Reinforcement Learning-Based Resource Management Model for Fog Radio Access Network Architectures in 5G

• Main Authors: Nosipho N. Khumalo, Olutayo O. Oyerinde, Luzango Mfupe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
• Series: IEEE Access
• Subjects: Fifth generation; fog computing; Internet of Things (IoT); radio access network; reinforcement learning; resource allocation
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9323035/

The need to cope with the continuously growing number of connected users and the increased demand for mobile broadband services in the Internet of Things has led to the notion of introducing the fog computing paradigm in fifth generation (5G) mobile networks in the form of fog radio access network (F-RAN). The F-RAN approach emphasises bringing the computation capability to the edge of the network so as to reduce network bottlenecks and improve latency. However, despite the potential, the management of computational resources remains a challenge in F-RAN architectures. Thus, this paper aims to overcome the shortcomings of conventional approaches to computational resource allocation in F-RANs. Reinforcement learning (RL) is presented as a method for dynamic and autonomous resource allocation, and an algorithm is proposed based on Q-learning. RL has several benefits in resource allocation problems and simulations carried out show that it outperforms reactive methods. Furthermore, the results show that the proposed algorithm improves latency and thus has the potential to have a major impact in 5G applications, particularly the Internet of Things.