TY - JOUR
T1 - A Q-Learning-Based Approach to Design an Energy-Efficient MAC Protocol for UWSNs Through Collision Avoidance
AU - Gang, Qiao
AU - Rahman, Wazir Ur
AU - Zhou, Feng
AU - Bilal, Muhammad
AU - Ali, Wasiq
AU - Khan, Sajid Ullah
AU - Khattak, Muhammad Ilyas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/11
Y1 - 2024/11
N2 - Deploying and effectively utilizing wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in underwater habitats remains a challenging task. In underwater wireless sensors networks (UWSNs), the availability of a continuous energy source for communicating with nodes is either very costly or is prohibited due to the marine life law enforcement agencies. So, in order to address this issue, we present a Q-learning-based approach to designing an energy-efficient medium access control (MAC) protocol for UWSNs through collision avoidance. The main goal is to prolong the network’s lifespan by optimizing the communication methods, specifically focusing on improving the energy efficiency of the MAC protocols. Factors affecting the energy consumption in communication are adjustments to the interference ranges, i.e., changing frequencies repeatedly to obtain optimal communication; data packet retransmissions in case of a false acknowledgment; and data packet collision occurrences in the channel. Our chosen protocol stands out by enabling sensor (Rx) nodes to avoid collisions without needing extra communication or prior interference knowledge. According to the results obtained through simulations, our protocol may increase the network’s performance in terms of network throughput by up to 23% when compared to benchmark protocols depending on the typical traffic load. It simultaneously decreases end-to-end latency, increases the packet delivery ratio (PDR), boosts channel usage, and lessens packet collisions by over 38%. All these gains result in minimizing the network’s energy consumption, with a proportional gain.
AB - Deploying and effectively utilizing wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in underwater habitats remains a challenging task. In underwater wireless sensors networks (UWSNs), the availability of a continuous energy source for communicating with nodes is either very costly or is prohibited due to the marine life law enforcement agencies. So, in order to address this issue, we present a Q-learning-based approach to designing an energy-efficient medium access control (MAC) protocol for UWSNs through collision avoidance. The main goal is to prolong the network’s lifespan by optimizing the communication methods, specifically focusing on improving the energy efficiency of the MAC protocols. Factors affecting the energy consumption in communication are adjustments to the interference ranges, i.e., changing frequencies repeatedly to obtain optimal communication; data packet retransmissions in case of a false acknowledgment; and data packet collision occurrences in the channel. Our chosen protocol stands out by enabling sensor (Rx) nodes to avoid collisions without needing extra communication or prior interference knowledge. According to the results obtained through simulations, our protocol may increase the network’s performance in terms of network throughput by up to 23% when compared to benchmark protocols depending on the typical traffic load. It simultaneously decreases end-to-end latency, increases the packet delivery ratio (PDR), boosts channel usage, and lessens packet collisions by over 38%. All these gains result in minimizing the network’s energy consumption, with a proportional gain.
KW - MAC protocol
KW - Q-learning
KW - energy efficiency
KW - low collision
KW - underwater wireless communication
KW - underwater wireless sensor networks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85210299634&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/electronics13224388
DO - 10.3390/electronics13224388
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85210299634
SN - 2079-9292
VL - 13
JO - Electronics (Switzerland)
JF - Electronics (Switzerland)
IS - 22
M1 - 4388
ER -