smART radIo acceSs with inTegration of user devices (ARTIST)

The vision of the smART radIo acceSs with inTegration of user devices (ARTIST) project is a Beyond 5G (B5G) scenario where the User Equipment (UE) is exploited not only to satisfy the specific needs of the UE owner but also to augment the Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure as a distributed capability and as a source of network intelligence. In other words, we envision the idea of UEs taking a more active role in network service provisioning as one of the key pillars to ground future mobile network evolution, to the extent that the very notion of a cell will have to be rethought as UEs will be able to actively complement the RAN infrastructure. This constitutes a radical paradigm shift from UEs operating only as Network Service Consumers towards embracing UEs also as Network Service Providers. That is, utilizing UEs as an extended computing, storage and networking element of the B5G RAN infrastructure as well as a central element for the realization of end-to-end connected network intelligence.

Furthermore, in views of the widespread exploitation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in the 5G and beyond era, the integration of the UEs as part of an end-to-end connected network intelligence approach is a cornerstone for the materialization of true context awareness and fully distributed data analytics solutions that do not need to expose to the network the huge amount of raw data collected in the UEs. The ARTIST concept with its intrinsic connected intelligence will contribute to solving and/or mitigating a wide range of problematics that are inherent to wireless networks. Remarkably, the realization of ARTIST paves the way for enhanced service quality (e.g., enhanced coverage, better mobility management, user behavior and demand prediction), higher radio resource utilization efficiency (e.g., more efficient radio resource allocation, congestion control, better beam management), improved system performance (e.g., on device inference reduces network data traffic for more efficient mobility and spectrum utilization, better link adaptation can be attained through position[1]aware interference prediction) and simplified RAN deployment and operation (e.g., more capable Self Organizing Networks for e.g., mmWave network densification, reduced energy consumption). ARTISTs specific objectives embrace: (1) To define a comprehensive set of ARTIST use cases in representative B5G deployment scenarios and extract the system requirements, (2) To design the functional architecture, information models and procedures for the ARTIST materialization, (3) To conceive, develop and assess the distributed connected intelligence framework across network and terminals to support network operation, (4) To conceive, develop and assess the Operations and Management (O&M) mechanisms and algorithms for ARTIST network operation, (5) To conceive, develop and assess the control plane mechanisms and algorithms for ARTIST network operation, (6) To carry out experimental proof-of-concept (PoC) of key ARTIST functionalities and (7) To generate impact on scientific community and society.