6G Network: Towards a Distributed and Autonomous System

With the commercialization of 5G network, the research on next generation network, i.e. 6G, has started. In this paper, we summarized the evolution characteristics of mobile network architecture. Then the requirements for 6G network architecture are presented including self-operating with less human involvement, globally accessible and ultra scalable. To achieve those requirements, a novel distributed and autonomous network architecture for 6G is proposed with the following features. The network will be globally converged by integrating multiple access technology and introducing new protocol. Meanwhile, the network will become highly distributed and flat to improve scalability, which is inspired by bionics behavior. Additionally, fully autonomous design will be enabled by pervasive distributed intelligence. We also discussed the promising technologies to realize the mentioned features. Our vision on 6G network architecture gives an insight into the design of 6G network paradigm.