Deliverable D2.2 Initial System Architecture
Creators: name: CARREZ, François
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021

description: This Initial Architecture document is the first in a series of 3 incremental versions. It aims at giving a -as precise as possible- first glance at the system architecture which consists of set of architecture views and perspective (as introduced by Rozanski and Woods architecture methodology). We tackle here many aspects of the desired DEDICAT 6G architecture, especially functional and non-functional and provide a first understanding of which functionalities the platform will provide and which qualities (in term of performance, trust, reliability to name just a few) this platform will feature. Before introducing the architecture, it is worth reminding the main technical objectives of DEDICAT 6G, that are the three following pillars: 1) Dynamic Coverage Extension of existing legacy 5G Network, 2) Dynamic Intelligence Distribution towards (mobile) Edge Nodes and 3) novel solutions for Trust management based on federated learning. The architecture work follows a precise and logical methodology that encompasses various steps, starting from an extensive requirement engineering process, followed by a first functional decomposition that gives a first glimpse at the functionalities which must be specified and implemented in order to fulfill those project technical objectives and a first description of the non-functional properties it must implement. Other steps involve defining the technical perimeter of platform (what is in and what is out), elucidating the role of the external entities (human or not) and their interactions with the DEDICAT 6G system and most importantly, defining an initial description of how the platform and 5G legacy network will interact and cooperate with each other in selected operational scenarios, called system use-cases. As for the main results obtained with this document we can include the definition of the project perimeter, which identifies what entities stand in the “cloud” and which other entities (e.g., Edge Nodes like Drones and Robots) stand at the Edge as a support to both dynamic Intelligence Distribution and 5G Coverage Extension e.g., Another important result consists of a preliminary functional decomposition and a set of system use-cases that demonstrate how those identified functional components work together in some selected scenarios like for instance, when providing Intelligence Distribution as a Service and Coverage Extension as a Service to a vertical business application. Finally, we also show (in the Network deployment View) how the DEDICAT 6G deploys alongside the 5G legacy network typical deployment (access -&gt; far edge -&gt; Edge -&gt; Cloud) and interacts with the legacy 5G components. This initial document will be complemented by 2 other iterations, leveraging, and aligning with the technical work achieved by the other technical work packages WP3, 4 and 5. With those new iterations, we will gain in overall preciseness and touch other aspects of the DEDICAT 6G system which, could not be dealt with in this initial version (especially additional views, perspectives and extended system use-case).