Energy-aware routing in the Cognitive Packet Network

An energy aware routing protocol (EARP) is proposed to minimise a performance metric that combines the total consumed power in the network and the QoS that is specified for the flows. The algorithm uses source routing based on the functionalities provided by the Cognitive Packet Network (CPN), running autonomously at each input node to the network based on smart packets which gather relevant information throughout the network using reinforcement learning at each of the intermediate nodes. Measurements on an experimental test-bed that uses EARP are presented and they indicate that it offers a reduction in power consumption, as compared to a purely QoS driven approach, and also respects the requested QoS level.