Mapping Wireless Networks into Digital Reality through Joint Vertical and Horizontal Learning

TL;DR

This paper introduces VH-Twin, a novel framework that maps wireless networks into digital twins using joint vertical and horizontal learning, enabling real-time monitoring and adaptive management of complex 5G networks.

Contribution

VH-Twin is the first comprehensive framework combining vertical and horizontal twinning with clustering for virtualizing wireless network regions.

Findings

VH-Twin effectively constructs and maintains network digital twins.

The framework adapts dynamically to network and environmental changes.

Parametric analysis balances efficiency and accuracy at scale.

Abstract

In recent years, the complexity of 5G and beyond wireless networks has escalated, prompting a need for innovative frameworks to facilitate flexible management and efficient deployment. The concept of digital twins (DTs) has emerged as a solution to enable real-time monitoring, predictive configurations, and decision-making processes. While existing works primarily focus on leveraging DTs to optimize wireless networks, a detailed mapping methodology for creating virtual representations of network infrastructure and properties is still lacking. In this context, we introduce VH-Twin, a novel time-series data-driven framework that effectively maps wireless networks into digital reality. VH-Twin distinguishes itself through complementary vertical twinning (V-twinning) and horizontal twinning (H-twinning) stages, followed by a periodic clustering mechanism used to virtualize network regions based on their distinct geological and wireless characteristics. Specifically, V-twinning exploits distributed learning techniques to initialize a global twin model collaboratively from virtualized network clusters. H-twinning, on the other hand, is implemented with an asynchronous mapping scheme that dynamically updates twin models in response to network or environmental changes. Leveraging real-world wireless traffic data within a cellular wireless network, comprehensive experiments are conducted to verify that VH-Twin can effectively construct, deploy, and maintain network DTs. Parametric analysis also offers insights into how to strike a balance between twinning efficiency and model accuracy at scale.