Mobile networks are facing an unprecedented demand for high-speed connectivity originating from novel mobile applications and services and, in general, from the adoption curve of mobile devices. However, coping with the service requirements imposed by current and future applications and services is very difficult since mobile networks are becoming progressively more heterogeneous and more complex. In this context, a promising approach is the adoption of novel network automation solutions and, in particular, of zero-touch management techniques. In this work, we refer to zero-touch management as a fully autonomous network management solution with human oversight. This survey sits at the crossroad between zero-touch management and mobile and wireless network research, effectively bridging a gap in terms of literature review between the two domains. In this paper, we first provide a taxonomy of network management solutions. We then discuss the relevant state-of-the-art on autonomous mobile networks. The concept of zero-touch management and the associated standardization efforts are then introduced. The survey continues with a review of the most important technological enablers for zero-touch management. The network automation solutions from the RAN to the core network, including end-toend aspects such as security, are then surveyed. Finally, we close this article with the current challenges and research directions.

Energy consumption is a key concern in the deployment and operation of current data networks, for which Software-Defined Networks (SDN) have become a promising alternative. Although several works have been proposed to improve the energy efficiency, these techniques may lead to performance degradations when QoS requirements are neglected. Inspired by this problem, this letter introduces a new routing strategy, jointly considering QoS requirements and energy awareness in SDN with in-band control traffic. To that end, we present a complete formulation of the optimization problem and implement a Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm. Simulation results validate the performance improvement on critical network parameters.

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The future of the manufacturing industry highly depends on digital systems that transform existing production and monitoring systems into autonomous systems fulfilling stringent requirements in terms of availability, reliability, security, low latency, and positioning with high accuracy. In order to meet such requirements, private 5G networks are considered a key enabling technology. In this paper, we introduce the 5G-CLARITY system that integrates 5G new radio (5GNR), Wi-Fi and light fidelity (LiFi) access networks, and develops novel management enablers to operate 5G-Advanced private networks. We describe three core features of 5G-CLARITY including a multi-connectivity framework, a high precision positioning server and a management system to orchestrate private network slices. These features are evaluated by means of packet level simulations and an experimental testbed demonstrating the ability of 5G-CLARITY to police access network traffic, to achieve cm-level positioning accuracy, and to provision private network slices in less than one minute.