Title: Multi-agent Q-learning algorithm-based relay and jammer selection for physical layer security improvement

Authors: Anil Kumar Kamboj; Poonam Jindal; Pankaj Verma

Addresses: Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India ' Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India ' Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India

Abstract: Physical Layer Security (PLS) and relay technology have emerged as viable methods for enhancing the security of wireless networks. Relay technology adoption enhances the extent of coverage and enhances dependability. Moreover, it can improve the PLS. Choosing relay and jammer nodes from the group of intermediate nodes effectively mitigates the presence of powerful eavesdroppers. Current methods for Joint Relay and Jammer Selection (JRJS) address the optimisation problem of achieving near-optimal secrecy. However, most of these techniques are not scalable for large networks due to their computational cost. Secrecy will decrease if eavesdroppers are aware of the relay and jammer intermediary nodes because beamforming can be used to counter the jammer. Consequently, this study introduces a multi-agent Q-learning-based PLS-enhanced secured joint relay and jammer in dual-hop wireless cooperative networks, considering the existence of several eavesdroppers. The performance of the suggested algorithm is evaluated in comparison to the current algorithms for secure node selection. The simulation results verified the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: physical layer security; relay selection; cooperative communication; Q-learning; wireless networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWMC.2024.142096

International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing, 2024 Vol.27 No.4, pp.356 - 368

Received: 08 Apr 2023
Accepted: 01 Mar 2024
Published online: 07 Oct 2024 *

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