AI-Enabled Reliable QoS in Multi-RAT Wireless IoT Networks: Prospects, Challenges, and Future Directions

Wireless IoT networks have seen an unprecedented rise in number of devices, heterogeneity and emerging use cases which led to diverse throughput, reliability and latency (Quality of Service) requirements. Fulfilling these diverse requirements in a rapidly changing and dynamic wireless environment is a complex and challenging task. On top of including new technologies and wireless standards, one solution is to deploy cross-layer Design (CLD) and multiple Radio Access Technologies (Multi-RAT) to develop scalable QoS-aware IoT networks. However, the complexity of such solutions is high as it involves complex inter-layer interactions and dependencies and inter-application dependencies in multi-RAT networks. Moreover, the wireless environment is very dynamic, so having an optimal constellation of parameters is a challenging task. In this paper, we address the possibilities of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to address these high dimensional and dynamic problems. Based on our findings, we have proposed a distributed network management framework employing AI & ML for studying inter-layer dependencies and developing cross-layer design, traffic classification and traffic prediction at the edge devices for reliable QoS in multi-RAT IoT networks. A thorough discussion on future directions and emerging challenges related to our proposed framework has also been provided for further research in this field.