Generative AI Empowered Network Digital Twins: Architecture, Technologies, and Applications

The rapid advancement of mobile networks highlights the limitations of traditional network planning and optimization methods, particularly in modeling, evaluation, and application. Network Digital Twins, which simulate networks in the digital domain for evaluation, offer a solution to these challenges. This concept is further enhanced by generative AI technology, which promises more efficient and accurate AI-driven data generation for network simulation and optimization. This survey provides insights into generative AI-empowered network digital twins. We begin by outlining the architecture of a network digital twin, which encompasses both digital and physical domains. This architecture involves four key steps: data processing and network monitoring, digital replication and network simulation, designing and training network optimizers, Sim2Real and network control. Next, we systematically discuss the related studies in each step and make a detailed taxonomy of the problem studied, the methods used, and the key designs leveraged. Each step is examined with a focus on the role of generative AI, from estimating missing data and simulating network behaviors to designing control strategies and bridging the gap between digital and physical domains. Finally, we discuss the open issues and challenges of generative AI-based network digital twins.