Degeneracy-Aware Functional and Algorithmic Resilience in Virtualized 6G Networks Under Correlated Failures
For network operators and designers of virtualized 6G systems, this work provides a more accurate framework for assessing resilience under correlated failures, moving beyond simple replica counts.
The paper addresses the overestimation of network resilience due to correlated failures in virtualized 6G networks and proposes degeneracy-aware metrics (FSS, ARQ, MLDI) that quantify structural and algorithmic diversity. Results show that redundancy and robustness can diverge substantially, with the metrics revealing hidden vulnerabilities.
Redundancy is widely used to sustain service continuity in programmable and virtualized networks; however, replicated functions often share platforms, software stacks, and control dependencies, making them vulnerable to correlated failures. Consequently, replica counts alone may overestimate true resilience. This paper adopts a degeneracy-aware perspective, where robustness depends on the availability of structurally diverse yet functionally equivalent alternatives. We formalize this perspective through three complementary metrics: the Functional Substitution Score (FSS), which quantifies structurally distinct substitutes for a function; the Algorithmic Resilience Quotient (ARQ), which measures diversity among algorithms that remain comparable in delivered performance; and the Multi-Layer Degeneracy Index (MLDI), which captures how functional diversity is distributed across architectural layers. Using targeted disruption protocols on a synthesized data, we show that redundancy and robustness can diverge substantially. The results show that FSS separates structural diversity from replica count, ARQ distinguishes genuine algorithmic alternatives from near-duplicate implementations, and MLDI captures cross-layer buffering that remains hidden under redundancy-only analysis. These findings establish degeneracy as a practical resilience primitive for open, disaggregated, and virtualized 6G systems.