Degeneracy-Aware Functional and Algorithmic Resilience in Virtualized 6G Networks Under Correlated Failures

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Main Authors: Hassan, Mohamed Khalafalla, Dey, Indrakshi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Hassan, Mohamed Khalafalla
Dey, Indrakshi
author_facet Hassan, Mohamed Khalafalla
Dey, Indrakshi
contents 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.
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publishDate 2026
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spellingShingle Degeneracy-Aware Functional and Algorithmic Resilience in Virtualized 6G Networks Under Correlated Failures
Hassan, Mohamed Khalafalla
Dey, Indrakshi
Networking and Internet Architecture
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.
title Degeneracy-Aware Functional and Algorithmic Resilience in Virtualized 6G Networks Under Correlated Failures
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.03035