The proliferation of emergent network applications (e.g., AR/VR, telesurgery, real-time communications) is increasing the difficulty of managing modern communication networks. These applications typically have stringent requirements (e.g., ultra-low deterministic latency), making it more difficult for network operators to manage their network resources efficiently. In this article, we propose the Digital Twin Network (DTN) as a key enabler for efficient network management in modern networks. We describe the general architecture of the DTN and argue that recent trends in Machine Learning (ML) enable building a DTN that efficiently and accurately mimics real-world networks. In addition, we explore the main ML technologies that enable developing the components of the DTN architecture. Finally, we describe the open challenges that the research community has to address in the upcoming years in order to enable the deployment of the DTN in real-world scenarios.
@article{arxiv.2201.01144,
title = {Digital Twin Network: Opportunities and Challenges},
author = {Paul Almasan and Miquel Ferriol-Galmés and Jordi Paillisse and José Suárez-Varela and Diego Perino and Diego López and Antonio Agustin Pastor Perales and Paul Harvey and Laurent Ciavaglia and Leon Wong and Vishnu Ram and Shihan Xiao and Xiang Shi and Xiangle Cheng and Albert Cabellos-Aparicio and Pere Barlet-Ros},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.01144},
year = {2022}
}