A New Version of RPL Protocol to Maximize Lifetime in MIoT Networks

Abstract

Recently, the use of IoT devices has increased exponentially to respond to our human’s requirements. The Mobile Internet of Things (MIoT) devices are integrated with several fields such as home automation, smart farming, and medical surgery. However, both frequent use and the tiny device architecture influence the energy and data reachability. Hence, saving energy in IoT networks is a key challenge that faces the operating of communication while routing data consumes more energy compared to the remaining stages like sensing. This paper focuses on maximizing the IoT network’s energy by developing a new mobile routing strategy based on optimizing the cost routing. Therefore, the construction of an effective routing path, based on energy and distance metrics will improve the communication between devices. In addition, we propose the selection of an alternative path using the Q-Learning algorithm. This work aims to maximize the IoT network’s lifetime. The proposed strategy has been evaluated compared to the standard RPL protocol, where our new protocol presents significant improvement in terms of residual energy.