An Intelligent Network Routing Algorithm by a Genetic Algorithm

Masaharu Munetomo, Yoshiaki Takai, and Yoshiharu Sato Hokkaido University, JAPAN.

In this paper, we propose..

An adaptive routing algorithm which employs genetic operators to realize an intelligent routing which directly observes communication latency of the routes. Path genetic operators for the routing algorithm which generates alternative routes based on the network topology.

Routing Algorithms in the Internet

Each node forwards communication packets based on its Routing Table. Routing Algorithms generate routing tables based on network topology. Two major categories of routing algorithms
Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP) Exterior Gateway Protocols (EGP)

Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP)

Routing protocols inside an autonomous system (AS) such as a Local Area Network We have two major protocols for the IGPs commonly used in the Internet:
Routing Information Protocols (RIP)

Shortest Path First Protocols (SPF) or Open SPF (OSPF)

Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP)

Routing protocols outside an AS which exchanges routing information among ASs. Recently, BGP (Border Gateway Protocols) become popular in the Internet. The BGP4 employs a source routing approach which determines all the nodes along a route in the source node instead deciding only its next hop.

Routing Information Protocol (RIP)

A distributed algorithm Each node broadcasts its routing table. Each node recalculates distances in the routing table on receiving a routing table from its neighbors.

Routing Table in node A Destination Next hop Distance B G 3 C E 4 D D 1 Routing Table in node D
Broadcast Destination Next hop Distance

A B C Routing Table in node A Destination Next hop Distance B G 3 C D 3(=2+1) D D 1

A E F

1 4 2

Shortest Path First protocol (SPF)

Each node broadcasts its link status. Each node stores network topology generated from the received link status information and calculates shortest paths by using the Dijkstras Shortest Path First Algorithm. The algorithm can reduce communication overhead by broadcasting only link status not all the routing tables.

Problems of the RIP and the SPF

Not scalable: they Communication Overhead increase their communication overhead RIP SPF in larger networks. # of messages O(n2) O(n2) Not efficient when they Message size O(n) O(1)-O(n) need to collect load status Total overhead O(n3) O(n2)-O(n3) of links repeatedly to consider delay along a (n : # of nodes in the network) route to be minimized.

Genetic-Based Routing (GBR)

Employing source routing and only maintain a set of alternative routes frequently used in communication. Alternative routes are generated by Path Genetic Operators we propose. Observing communication latency for the limited number of routes to greatly reduce communication overhead for the routing.

Overview of the GBR

Path Genetic Algorithm (pGA)

Encoding paths(routes) by listing up node IDs, for example, (0 12 5 8 2 9). We have two path genetic operators: - Path Mutation - Path Crossover Selection is performed by deleting routes not frequently used in the routing table.

Path Mutation
1. We select a node (nm) from the original route.

2. Another node (nm) is selected from neighbor of nm.

3. Connecting source to nm and nm to destination.

Path Crossover
--- Exchanges sub-routes among a pair of routes.

Fitness evaluation and Selection

Each node periodically sends delay query packets to observe communication latency along a route. Fitness value is calculated from the delay
wi 1 / i jS 1 / i

1 / di jS 1 / di

di : delay of route i

Selection is invoked when routing table is overflowed.

Execution flow of the GBR

1. When we need to send a packet, we select a route randomly according to fitness value of routes (roulette wheel selection). 2. After sending a specified number of routes, we send delay query packet to evaluate fitness. 3. After a specified number of delay query, we apply path genetic operators to generate alternative routes in the routing table. 4. If the number of routes exceeds a limit, we perform a selection by deleting routes with maximum delay.

Simulation Experiments

Using a network simulator written in C++. Sample network is taken from Japanese geographical info. Simulation time is 3000s. Genetic operators are invoked at every 30 evaluation of delay.

Mean arrival time of packets

The GBR achieves much smaller mean arrival time of communication packets a than those of RIP, SPF and an adaptive SPF.
An adaptive SPF which directly observes communication latency of links is not efficient in lightly-loaded networks.

Load status of Links

GBR

SPF

RIP

Thickness of a link stands for its mean queue length.

GBR achieves much less overhead of links, especially on the link 11 <=> 13 <=> 19.

Conclusions

Path Genetic Algorithm (pGA) we propose creates alternative routes in routing tables. A genetic based routing (GBR) algorithm can effectively forward communication packets, which leads to smaller arrival time. Load balancing among links is realized by the GBR algorithm.