Abstractions for Network Intelligence: A Reference Architecture for AI at the Wireless Edge
Current Internet architectures struggle to effectively support the sharing of sensing information between networks and AI applications, limiting the joint optimization of resource utilization and performance. This work proposes AI-EDGE, a reference architecture that introduces, for the first time, a network intelligence abstraction framework tailored for wireless edge AI. By incorporating an “information waist” layer, AI-EDGE enables efficient co-design and collaboration between intelligent networks and intelligent applications. The architecture is compatible with mainstream platforms such as O-RAN and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), supporting sensing data sharing, application portability, and rapid prototyping. Validation through diverse representative use cases in O-RAN cellular networks and 3GPP/ETSI edge computing environments demonstrates significant advantages across all these dimensions.