6G Resilience -- White Paper
Abstract
6G must be designed to withstand, adapt to, and evolve amid prolonged, complex disruptions. Mobile networks' shift from efficiency-first to sustainability-aware has motivated this white paper to assert that resilience is a primary design goal, alongside sustainability and efficiency, encompassing technology, architecture, and economics. We promote resilience by analysing dependencies between mobile networks and other critical systems, such as energy, transport, and emergency services, and illustrate how cascading failures spread through infrastructures. We formalise resilience using the 3R framework: reliability, robustness, resilience. Subsequently, we translate this into measurable capabilities: graceful degradation, situational awareness, rapid reconfiguration, and learning-driven improvement and recovery. Architecturally, we promote edge-native and locality-aware designs, open interfaces, and programmability to enable islanded operations, fallback modes, and multi-layer diversity (radio, compute, energy, timing). Key enablers include AI-native control loops with verifiable behaviour, zero-trust security rooted in hardware and supply-chain integrity, and networking techniques that prioritise critical traffic, time-sensitive flows, and inter-domain coordination. Resilience also has a techno-economic aspect: open platforms and high-quality complementors generate ecosystem externalities that enhance resilience while opening new markets. We identify nine business-model groups and several patterns aligned with the 3R objectives, and we outline governance and standardisation. This white paper serves as an initial step and catalyst for 6G resilience. It aims to inspire researchers, professionals, government officials, and the public, providing them with the essential components to understand and shape the development of 6G resilience.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2509.09005,
title = {6G Resilience -- White Paper},
author = {Hirley Alves and Nurul H. Mahmood and Onel L. A. López and Sumudu Samarakoon and Seppo Yrjölä and Matti Latva-Aho and Markku Juntti and Ari Pouttu and Armin Dekorsy and Arthur Sousa de Sena and Aydin Sezgin and Bho Matthiesen and Chafika Benzaid and Chathuranga Weeraddana and David Hutchison and Dileepa Marasinghe and Doganalp Ergenc and Eduard Jorswieck and Erkki Harjula and Falko Dressler and Harri Saarnisaari and Italo Atzeni and Jaap Van De Beek and Jacek Rak and Konstantin Mikhaylov and Lauri Loven and Madhusanka Liyanage and Marcos Katz and Marja Matinmikko-Blue and Mehdi Rasti and Mika Ylianttila and Nhan Nguyen and Pawani Porambage and Petar Popovski and Petri Ahokangas and Premanandana Rajatheva and Robert-Jeron Reifert and Tharaka Hewa and Tommy Svensson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.09005},
year = {2025}
}