5G was the first generation of cellular network technology with a slight decentralization of the mobile core network, bringing the user plane function closer to the network edge, which offered latency improvements for edge computing use cases. However, most of the 5G core network, i.e., the control plane, was still centralized in a remote location. As a result, 5G cannot provide connectivity to users in regions disconnected from the central core network.

Advancing from 5G to 6G, one big change is more flexibility in distributing the control plane of the 6G core network, enabling resilient 6G communication that can provide local Internet connectivity to users in regions isolated from the outside world. We recently published a paper on the conceptual model of island connectivity, in which we studied how users would prefer to use apps on their smartphones on islands. You can read it here.

Assuming an island scenario where users have no Internet connection to the outside world, but island-ready 6G communication allows island connectivity, the next problem is making smartphone apps for island operation. That is the problem I would like you to work on for your thesis. Ideally, you bring experience with app server programming and/or cloud-native computing. The fact that you have read this entire description tells me you are either familiar with 5G/6G stuff or motivated enough to learn something new. Either way, if you are interested, drop me a casual e-mail, and we can discuss further steps.