A hierarchical reinforcement learning approach for energy‐aware service function chain dynamic deployment in IoT

Abstract Traffic volume is increasing dramatically due to the quick development of technologies like online gaming, on‐demand video streaming, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The telecommunications industry's large‐scale expansion is increasing its energy usage and carbon footprint. Given the desire to minimize energy consumption and carbon emissions, one of the most essential concerns of future communication networks is ensuring rigorous performance restrictions of IoT services while improving energy efficiency. In this regard, a convolutional neural network‐based hierarchical reinforcement learning approach is provided to lower total energy consumption and carbon emissions in the dynamic service function chaining situations. This method can more effectively lower energy consumption and carbon emissions when compared to other hierarchical algorithms based on conventional deep neural networks and non‐hierarchical algorithms. The suggested method is tested in three typical complicated networks with different network parameters to show its suitability in different network scenarios.