# Simulating Battery-Powered TinyML Systems Optimised using Reinforcement Learning in Image-Based Anomaly Detection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.05106 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05106/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in RL for energy, networks and operations, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods.
- Builds on 6 of its 25 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Mar 2024.

## Placed in

- Deep reinforcement learning methods / [RL for energy, networks and operations](https://mlsanity.com/deeprl/rl-for-energy-networks-and-operations/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [MCUNet: Tiny Deep Learning on IoT Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.10319/) (2020)
- [On-Device Training Under 256KB Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.15472/) (2022)
- [MCUNetV2: Memory-Efficient Patch-based Inference for Tiny Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.15352/) (2021)
- [Resource Allocation for Edge Computing in IoT Networks via Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.01856/) (2019)
- [Coverage and Deployment Analysis of Narrowband Internet of Things in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.02341/) (2020)
- [tinyMAN: Lightweight Energy Manager using Reinforcement Learning for Energy Harvesting Wearable IoT Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.09297/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Advances in Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) have bolstered the creation of smart industry solutions, including smart agriculture, healthcare and smart cities. Whilst related research contributes to enabling TinyML solutions on constrained hardware, there is a need to amplify real-world applications by optimising energy consumption in battery-powered systems. The work presented extends and contributes to TinyML research by optimising battery-powered image-based anomaly detection Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Whilst previous work in this area has yielded the capabilities of on-device inferencing and training, there has yet to be an investigation into optimising the management of such capabilities using machine learning approaches, such as Reinforcement Learning (RL), to improve the deployment battery life of such systems. Using modelled simulations, the battery life effects of an RL algorithm are benchmarked against static and dynamic optimisation approaches, with the foundation laid for a hardware benchmark to follow. It is shown that using RL within a TinyML-enabled IoT system to optimise the system operations, including cloud anomaly processing and on-device training, yields an improved battery life of 22.86% and 10.86% compared to static and dynamic optimisation approaches respectively. The proposed solution can be deployed to resource-constrained hardware, given its low memory footprint of 800 B, which could be further reduced. This further facilitates the real-world deployment of such systems, including key sectors such as smart agriculture.