Online Supervised Learning for Traffic Load Prediction in Framed-ALOHA Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces an online learning method using LSTM neural networks to predict traffic load in framed-ALOHA networks, improving resource allocation without prior traffic information.

Contribution

It develops an adaptive traffic prediction approach that leverages RNNs and a novel MOM-inspired labeling technique for online training without collision feedback.

Findings

Outperforms conventional traffic prediction methods

Adapts effectively to changing traffic patterns

Demonstrates significant accuracy improvements

Abstract

Predicting the current backlog, or traffic load, in framed-ALOHA networks enables the optimization of resource allocation, e.g., of the frame size. However, this prediction is made difficult by the lack of information about the cardinality of collisions and by possibly complex packet generation statistics. Assuming no prior information about the traffic model, apart from a bound on its temporal memory, this paper develops an online learning-based adaptive traffic load prediction method that is based on Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) and specifically on the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) architecture. In order to enable online training in the absence of feedback on the exact cardinality of collisions, the proposed strategy leverages a novel approximate labeling technique that is inspired by Method of Moments (MOM) estimators. Numerical results show that the proposed online predictor considerably outperforms conventional methods and is able to adapt to changing traffic statistics.