Intelligent Routing Based on Reinforcement Learning for Software-Defined Networking

Traditional routing protocols employ limited information to make routing decisions, which can lead to a slow adaptation to traffic variability, as well as restricted support to the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of applications. This article introduces a novel approach for routing in Software-defined networking (SDN), called Reinforcement Learning and Software-Defined Networking Intelligent Routing (RSIR). RSIR adds a Knowledge Plane to SDN and defines a routing algorithm based on Reinforcement Learning (RL) that takes into account link-state information to make routing decisions. This algorithm capitalizes on the interaction with the environment, the intelligence provided by RL and the global view and control of the network furnished by SDN, to compute and install, in advance, optimal routes in the forwarding devices. RSIR was extensively evaluated by emulation using real traffic matrices. Results show RSIR outperforms the Dijkstra's algorithm in relation to the stretch, link throughput, packet loss, and delay when available bandwidth, delay, and loss are considered individually or jointly for the computation of optimal paths. The results demonstrate that RSIR is an attractive solution for intelligent routing in SDN.