# Can Neural Networks Provide Latent Embeddings for Telemetry-Aware Greedy Routing?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.12798 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.12798/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 31 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Neural Message Passing for Quantum Chemistry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.01212/) (2017)
- [The Surprising Effectiveness of PPO in Cooperative, Multi-Agent Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.01955/) (2021)
- [Deep Reinforcement Learning at the Edge of the Statistical Precipice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.13264/) (2021)
- [Hyperbolic Graph Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.12933/) (2019)
- [Is Independent Learning All You Need in the StarCraft Multi-Agent Challenge?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.09533/) (2020)
- [Hyperbolic Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.12892/) (2019)
- [Teal: Learning-Accelerated Optimization of WAN Traffic Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.13763/) (2022)
- [Packet Routing with Graph Attention Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.13181/) (2021)
- [Learning Sub-Second Routing Optimization in Computer Networks requires Packet-Level Dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.10377/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Telemetry-Aware routing promises to increase efficacy and responsiveness to traffic surges in computer networks. Recent research leverages Machine Learning to deal with the complex dependency between network state and routing, but sacrifices explainability of routing decisions due to the black-box nature of the proposed neural routing modules. We propose Placer, a novel algorithm using Message Passing Networks to transform network states into latent node embeddings. These embeddings facilitate quick greedy next-hop routing without directly solving the all-pairs shortest paths problem, and let us visualize how certain network events shape routing decisions.