A value-driven system design framework for sustainable 6G networks

Abstract

The global challenges of the 21st century, including climate change, the digital divide, social inequalities, and poverty, pose significant obstacles to sustainable development, as highlighted by the United Nations agenda. Its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outline a vision for addressing these issues, necessitating innovative solutions powered by infrastructures such as 6G, a key driver of high-performance networking and societal progress. Achieving this dual objective requires a value-driven approach that extends beyond traditional communication network functionalities. In this context, Key Value Indicators (KVIs) emerge as essential metrics that capture intangible yet critical societal values, complementing traditional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). However, the integration of ethical principles and social values into networking remains largely unexplored in the scientific literature and research communities. Building on these premises, this work introduces a system design framework that formalizes and evaluates KVIs alongside KPIs, leveraging Intent-Based Networking (IBN) to embed ethical and social dimensions into network services. To enable responsible resource-service provisioning, a bi-objective optimization problem is formulated, balancing network performance and societal value. The problem is solved using an exact $\varepsilon$-constraint method, ensuring optimal trade-offs between KPIs and KVIs. The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed service orchestration framework, demonstrating an improvement of up to 70% in the ethical and social value provided by the network compared to baseline solutions. This highlights the framework’s capability to integrate social and ethical considerations into the service allocation process while preserving competitive network performance.