mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Interpretable Reinforcement Learning for Load Balancing using Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks

arXiv 2505.14459 ↗First posted 20 May 2025cs.LG cs.NIcited by 1

On the map: Deep reinforcement learning methods → RL for energy, networks and operations

Abstract (arXiv)

Reinforcement learning (RL) has been increasingly applied to network control problems, such as load balancing. However, existing RL approaches often suffer from lack of interpretability and difficulty in extracting controller equations. In this paper, we propose the use of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KAN) for interpretable RL in network control. We employ a PPO agent with a 1-layer actor KAN model and an MLP Critic network to learn load balancing policies that maximise throughput utility, minimize loss as well as delay. Our approach allows us to extract controller equations from the learned neural networks, providing insights into the decision-making process. We evaluate our approach using different reward functions demonstrating its effectiveness in improving network performance while providing interpretable policies.

Key facts. Cited by 1 paper in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in RL for energy, networks and operations, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods. Builds on 11 of its 24 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 20 May 2025.

Builds on

11 of 24 references.

Closest ancestors · 2

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Safe Load Balancing in Software-Defined-Networking22 Oct
  2. 2024Towards Safe Load Balancing based on Control Barrier Functions and Deep Reinforcement Learning10 Jan

Other references · 9

  1. 2017Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithmscited by 15,215
  2. 2015Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Networkcited by 10,324
  3. 2017A Unified Approach to Interpreting Model Predictionscited by 6,555
  4. 2017Constrained Policy Optimizationcited by 983
  5. 2024KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 649
  6. 2018Reward Constrained Policy Optimizationcited by 417
  7. 2019Deep symbolic regression: Recovering mathematical expressions from data via risk-seeking policy gradientscited by 309
  8. 2018Techniques for Interpretable Machine Learningcited by 238
  9. 2017A Deep-Reinforcement Learning Approach for Software-Defined Networking Routing Optimizationcited by 14

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Citing papers per year: 2025: 1.

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  1. 2024Kolmogorov-Arnold Network for Online Reinforcement Learning
  2. 2023Communication Load Balancing via Efficient Inverse Reinforcement Learning
  3. 2024KAN v.s. MLP for Offline Reinforcement Learning
  4. 2026Sample-Efficiency of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks
  5. 2024Reinforcement Learning-Based Adaptive Load Balancing for Dynamic Cloud Environments
  6. 2026ReLibra: Routing-Replay-Guided Load Balancing for MoE Training in Reinforcement Learning
  7. 2025Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach to QoSAware Load Balancing in 5G Cellular Networks under User Mobility and Observation Uncertainty
  8. 2024Intervention-Assisted Policy Gradient Methods for Online Stochastic Queuing Network Optimization: Technical Report