6G smart fog radio access network: Architecture, key technologies, and research challenges^☆

Abstract

The 6G smart Fog Radio Access Network (F-RAN) is an integration of 6G network intelligence technologies and the F-RAN architecture. Its aim is to provide low-latency and high-performance services for massive access devices. However, the performance of current 6G network intelligence technologies and its level of integration with the architecture, along with the system-level requirements for the number of access devices and limitations on energy consumption, have impeded further improvements in the 6G smart F-RAN. To better analyze the root causes of the network problems and promote the practical development of the network, this study used structured methods such as segmentation to conduct a review of the topic. The research results reveal that there are still many problems in the current 6G smart F-RAN. Future research directions and difficulties are also discussed.

Keywords

6G / Smart technology / Smart fog radio access network / Artificial intelligence / Non-orthogonal multiple access / Reconfigurable intelligent surface

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Lincong Zhang: Writing - review & editing, Writing - original draft, Methodology. Mingyang Zhang: Writing - original draft, Investigation. Xiangyu Liu: Writing - review & editing, Validation, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Lei Guo: Writing - review & editing, Validation, Supervision.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declared no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

The authors declared that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62202215), Liaoning Province Applied Basic Research Program (Youth Special Project, 2023JH2/101600038), Shenyang Youth Science and Technology Innovation Talent Support Program (RC220458), Guangxuan Program of Shenyang Ligong University (SYLUGXRC202216), Basic Research Special Funds for Undergraduate Universities in Liaoning Province (LJ212410144067).

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