Dynamic Spectrum Management for 6G Network-in-Network Concepts

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a dynamic spectrum management approach for 6G networks with network-in-network concepts, enabling flexible, self-organizing sub-networks to share spectrum efficiently and maintain connectivity in cyber-physical systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated solution combining DSM and KIRA routing protocol for dynamic spectrum allocation and resilient connectivity in 6G network-in-network architectures.

Findings

DSM dynamically manages spectrum allocations for sub-networks.

KIRA ensures resilient control plane connectivity.

The system supports diverse industrial applications simultaneously.

Abstract

Flexible, self-organizing communication networks will be a key feature in the next mobile communication standard. Network-in-Network (NiN) is one important concept in 6G research, introducing sub-networks tailored to specific application requirements. These sub-networks may be dynamic, i.e., they may appear, disappear, or even move throughout the network. Moreover, sub-networks may operate within a shared frequency spectrum, thereby requiring coordination among them. We demonstrate the concept of Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) for future 6G networks that dynamically (re-)allocates spectrum according to active sub-networks in the shared spectrum domain. Resilient control plane connectivity between sub-networks and the DSM is provided by the self-organizing routing protocol KIRA, enabling the aforementioned coordination. This demonstration presents an integrated solution of the DSM concept, providing increased flexibility to support diverse industrial applications and their individual performance requirements simultaneously within the context of a cyber-physical production system (CPPS). For the sub-networks, we use specifically designed hardware for wireless real-time communication and couple them with a network emulation. By switching sub-networks on and off, one can see that the DSM dynamically manages the spectrum allocations for them and that KIRA provides the required connectivity.