From Automated to Autonomous: Hierarchical Agent-native Network Architecture (HANA)

Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence [Submitted on 20 May 2026] From Automated to Autonomous: Hierarchical Agent-native Network Architecture (HANA) Binghan Wu, Shoufeng Wang, Yunxin Liu, Ya-Qin Zhang, Joseph Sifakis, Ye Ouyang Realizing Level 4/5 Autonomous Networks (AN) demands a shift from static automation to agent-native intelligence. Current operations, reliant on rigid scripts, lack the cognitive agency to handle off-nominal conditions. To address this, this letter proposes a hierarchical multi-agent reference architecture enabling high-level autonomy. The framework features a Dual-Driven Orchestrator that coordinates specialized Executive Agents, supported by a shared Public Memory for unified domain knowledge. A key innovation is the integration of agent self-awareness, which empowers the system to harmonize deliberative strategic governance with reflexive fault recovery. We instantiate and validate this architecture within a 5G Core environment. Case studies demonstrate that the system sustains critical throughput under congestion and reduces Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) by 86%, confirming its efficacy in unifying strategic planning with operational resilience. Comments: This manuscript has been accepted by IEEE Networking Letters Subjects: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) Cite as: arXiv:2605.20608 [cs.AI]   (or arXiv:2605.20608v1 [cs.AI] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.20608 Focus to learn more Journal reference: B. Wu, S. Wang, Y. Liu, Y. -Q. Zhang, J. Sifakis and Y. Ouyang, "From Automated to Autonomous: Hierarchical Agent-native Network Architecture (HANA)," in IEEE Networking Letters, 2026 Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/LNET.2026.3693226 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Binghan Wu [view email] [v1] Wed, 20 May 2026 01:50:12 UTC (280 KB) Access Paper: HTML (experimental) view license Current browse context: cs.AI < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-05 Change to browse by: cs cs.NI References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)