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Making Cellular Networks Crisis-Proof: Towards Island-Ready, Resilient-By-Design 6G Communication Network

Leon Janzen, Matthias Hollick

TL;DR

The paper addresses the vulnerability of centralized 5G cores during crises and proposes island-ready, resilient-by-design 6G networks implemented through an all-society approach. It defines island readiness, models a multi-actor system-of-systems framework, and evaluates the island-readiness of 5G/5G-Advanced, highlighting the need to decentralize stateful core components and expand edge/local-first architectures. The work contributes formal definitions, stakeholder perspectives, and a roadmap of open challenges (stateful decentralization, local-first apps, edge capacity, regulatory alignment) to guide future 6G research and deployment strategies for crisis-proof networks. Practically, it provides a conceptual foundation for designing crisis-resilient communication systems, informing policymakers, operators, developers, and providers about the architectural shifts required for true island connectivity in crisis scenarios.

Abstract

5G and 5G-Advanced cellular networks are vulnerable to regional outages resulting from disasters or targeted attacks. This fragility stems from the reliance on the central core network involved for most 5G connectivity use cases. Crisis-struck regions isolated from the cellular core network form islands, where crisis response is hindered by the unavailability of recovery-relevant services, such as emergency calls, cell broadcasts, messengers, and news apps. Our concept of island-ready, resilient-by-design 6G communication networks envisions local cellular connectivity allowing users to connect to regional application servers, which is currently impossible. In our conceptualization, we follow an all-society approach, as realizing island connectivity requires the cooperation of multiple actors, including users, operators, developers, providers, and authorities. We evaluate how island-ready 5G and 5G-Advanced systems are and outline the open challenges stakeholders must address for full island readiness, such as decentralizing the 6G core network and designing local-first application architectures.

Making Cellular Networks Crisis-Proof: Towards Island-Ready, Resilient-By-Design 6G Communication Network

TL;DR

The paper addresses the vulnerability of centralized 5G cores during crises and proposes island-ready, resilient-by-design 6G networks implemented through an all-society approach. It defines island readiness, models a multi-actor system-of-systems framework, and evaluates the island-readiness of 5G/5G-Advanced, highlighting the need to decentralize stateful core components and expand edge/local-first architectures. The work contributes formal definitions, stakeholder perspectives, and a roadmap of open challenges (stateful decentralization, local-first apps, edge capacity, regulatory alignment) to guide future 6G research and deployment strategies for crisis-proof networks. Practically, it provides a conceptual foundation for designing crisis-resilient communication systems, informing policymakers, operators, developers, and providers about the architectural shifts required for true island connectivity in crisis scenarios.

Abstract

5G and 5G-Advanced cellular networks are vulnerable to regional outages resulting from disasters or targeted attacks. This fragility stems from the reliance on the central core network involved for most 5G connectivity use cases. Crisis-struck regions isolated from the cellular core network form islands, where crisis response is hindered by the unavailability of recovery-relevant services, such as emergency calls, cell broadcasts, messengers, and news apps. Our concept of island-ready, resilient-by-design 6G communication networks envisions local cellular connectivity allowing users to connect to regional application servers, which is currently impossible. In our conceptualization, we follow an all-society approach, as realizing island connectivity requires the cooperation of multiple actors, including users, operators, developers, providers, and authorities. We evaluate how island-ready 5G and 5G-Advanced systems are and outline the open challenges stakeholders must address for full island readiness, such as decentralizing the 6G core network and designing local-first application architectures.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 33 sections, 4 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Island-Ready Communication Networks
  3. Communication Networks
  4. Island Connectivity
  5. Resilience
  6. Island Readiness
  7. Stakeholders and Their Use Cases
  8. The User Perspective
  9. The Operator Perspective
  10. The Developer Perspective
  11. The Provider Perspective
  12. The Authorities' Perspective
  13. Island Readiness of 5G Communication Networks
  14. The Internet and Its Clouds and Edges
  15. Applications
  16. ...and 18 more sections

Figures (4)

  • Figure 1: The Vision of Island-Ready 6G Communication.
  • Figure 2: Use Cases of Island-Ready 6G Communication. Use cases are drawn in boxes, and the involved actors are represented as symbols around the frame.
  • Figure 3: System-of-Systems View of Cellular Communication Networks. This figure illustrates the subsystems of a 5G-Advanced communication network, providing a closer look at the control plane (CP) and user plane (UP) of the 5G core network (5GC). Stateless core functions and stateful core functions are highlighted with background color. The horizontal dotted line separates systems deployed regionally from those deployed remotely. In an island scenario, only regional systems would be available, which is why 5G-Advanced is not island-ready for most use cases.
  • Figure 4: Island Readiness of Application Deployment Strategies. The background color indicates stateless components, stateful components, and standby replicas.