Towards Cloud-Native Agentic Protocol Learning for Conflict-Free 6G: A Case Study on Inter-Slice Resource Allocation

TL;DR

This paper presents a cloud-native, agent-based architecture for dynamic inter-slice resource allocation in 6G networks, enabling conflict-free, adaptive management of shared infrastructure through emergent communication among agents.

Contribution

It introduces a novel cloud-native framework with autonomous agents that develop communication protocols to optimize resource sharing in 6G network slicing.

Findings

Agents achieved less than 3% conflict rate.

Effective resource allocation across diverse traffic types.

Real-time monitoring supports system adaptability.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel cloud-native architecture for collaborative agentic network slicing. Our approach addresses the challenge of managing shared infrastructure, particularly CPU resources, across multiple network slices with heterogeneous requirements. Each network slice is controlled by a dedicated agent operating within a Dockerized environment, ensuring isolation and scalability. The agents dynamically adjust CPU allocations based on real-time traffic demands, optimizing the performance of the overall system. A key innovation of this work is the development of emergent communication among the agents. Through their interactions, the agents autonomously establish a communication protocol that enables them to coordinate more effectively, optimizing resource allocations in response to dynamic traffic demands. Based on synthetic traffic modeled on real-world conditions, accounting for varying load patterns, tests demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed architecture in handling diverse traffic types, including eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC, by adjusting resource allocations to meet the strict requirements of each slice. Additionally, the cloud-native design enables real-time monitoring and analysis through Prometheus and Grafana, ensuring the system's adaptability and efficiency in dynamic network environments. The agents managed to learn how to maximize the shared infrastructure with a conflict rate of less than 3%.