The sixth-generation(6G)mobile network implements the social vision of digital twins and ubiquitous intelligence.Contrary to the fifth-generation(5G)mobile network that focuses only on communications,6G mobile network...The sixth-generation(6G)mobile network implements the social vision of digital twins and ubiquitous intelligence.Contrary to the fifth-generation(5G)mobile network that focuses only on communications,6G mobile networks must natively support new capabilities such as sensing,computing,artificial intelligence(AI),big data,and security while facilitating Everything as a Service.Although 5G mobile network deployment has demonstrated that network automation and intelligence can simplify network operation and maintenance(O&M),the addition of external functionalities has resulted in low service efficiency and high operational costs.In this study,a technology framework for a 6G autonomous radio access network(RAN)is proposed to achieve a high-level network autonomy that embraces the design of native cloud,native AI,and network digital twin(NDT).First,a service-based architecture is proposed to re-architect the protocol stack of RAN,which flexibly orchestrates the services and functions on demand as well as customizes them into cloud-native services.Second,a native AI framework is structured to provide AI support for the diverse use cases of network O&M by orchestrating communications,AI models,data,and computing power demanded by AI use cases.Third,a digital twin network is developed as a virtual environment for the training,pre-validation,and tuning of AI algorithms and neural networks,avoiding possible unexpected losses of the network O&M caused by AI applications.The combination of native AI and NDT can facilitate network autonomy by building closed-loop management and optimization for RAN.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2024YFE0200600)。
文摘The sixth-generation(6G)mobile network implements the social vision of digital twins and ubiquitous intelligence.Contrary to the fifth-generation(5G)mobile network that focuses only on communications,6G mobile networks must natively support new capabilities such as sensing,computing,artificial intelligence(AI),big data,and security while facilitating Everything as a Service.Although 5G mobile network deployment has demonstrated that network automation and intelligence can simplify network operation and maintenance(O&M),the addition of external functionalities has resulted in low service efficiency and high operational costs.In this study,a technology framework for a 6G autonomous radio access network(RAN)is proposed to achieve a high-level network autonomy that embraces the design of native cloud,native AI,and network digital twin(NDT).First,a service-based architecture is proposed to re-architect the protocol stack of RAN,which flexibly orchestrates the services and functions on demand as well as customizes them into cloud-native services.Second,a native AI framework is structured to provide AI support for the diverse use cases of network O&M by orchestrating communications,AI models,data,and computing power demanded by AI use cases.Third,a digital twin network is developed as a virtual environment for the training,pre-validation,and tuning of AI algorithms and neural networks,avoiding possible unexpected losses of the network O&M caused by AI applications.The combination of native AI and NDT can facilitate network autonomy by building closed-loop management and optimization for RAN.
