Data-Driven Next-Generation Wireless Networking: Embracing AI for Performance and Security

TL;DR

This paper reviews how artificial intelligence can be integrated across the entire wireless network stack to improve performance and security in emerging 5G, IoT, and NextG systems, addressing new challenges.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of AI techniques applied to wireless networks, highlighting current challenges and proposing future AI-enabled algorithms and system designs.

Findings

AI enhances network performance and security

AI techniques are applicable across all network layers

Future AI-driven protocols can address emerging wireless challenges

Abstract

New network architectures, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, and next-generation (NextG) cellular systems, put forward emerging challenges to the design of future wireless networks toward ultra-high data rate, massive data processing, smart designs, low-cost deployment, reliability and security in dynamic environments. As one of the most promising techniques today, artificial intelligence (AI) is advocated to enable a data-driven paradigm for wireless network design. In this paper, we are motivated to review existing AI techniques and their applications for the full wireless network protocol stack toward improving network performance and security. Our goal is to summarize the current motivation, challenges, and methodology of using AI to enhance wireless networking from the physical to the application layer, and shed light on creating new AI-enabled algorithms, mechanisms, protocols, and system designs for future data-driven wireless networking.