Digital-twin-driven end-to-end network slicing toward 6G

The diverse use-case requirements and strict expectations of latency on shared infrastructure, from future networks, calls for networking paradigms that can provide efficiency and flexibility. Network slicing is a network paradigm introduced with 5G, which is a key in realizing diverse service requirements and meeting expectations of future 6G networks. A network digital twin (NDT) model can benefit the management and orchestration of a network slicing lifecycle and provide a clear visual representation of the physical entities of a network slicing model while enabling experimentation with different resource allocation schemes without actually affecting the physical network. An NDT bridges the gap between the physical world and the digital world by having constant bidirectional communication. Hence, in this article, we make a case for NDTs as a key enabler of network slicing in 6G networks while integrating an artificial intelligence-based network slicing strategy to enable end-to-end quality-of-service provisioning.