Using FANETs for 6G Cloud-Native Slice Provisioning: A Marketplace Approach

The future 6G paradigm is envisioned to provide pervasive capillary coverage and services everywhere. To this aim, the peripheral part of the core network should be extended much closer to where services are requested. A widely accepted solution today is by way of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) organized in Flying Adhoc Networks (FANET). UAVs can be used as Computing Elements, giving the possibility to host cloud native functions (CNFs) intended to provide data processing services and storage to ground devices. This brings an evolution in the service paradigm that opens up new market models with emerging new players. In this paper, for the first time at the best of our knowledge, we consider a FANET where multiple different UAV owners provide service to third-party users by way of CNFs. The objective of each provider is to maximize its revenue while minimizing computation, management, and transmission costs, coping with physical constraints. To this purpose, we formulate the nonlinear optimization problem as a non-cooperative game in which each player is rational and acts selfishly. In particular, we analyze the Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problem (GNEP), and we solve it using the equivalent Variational Inequality theory to simplify its numerical solution. Illustrative numerical examples are presented and analyzed to estimate the optimal convergence conditions.