Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems: Theory, Applications and Innovations
The Forgotten Boundary: A Layer-Span × Underlay–Overlay Taxonomy and Gap Matrix for Multi-Layer Network Orchestration
Authors: Krishna Suman Dara, Raghuram Malpe Pai, Somesh Rahul, Amarnath G S, Shivaprasad Gali and Anudeep Rentala
Publishing Date: 15-11-2026
ISBN: 978-81-975670-4-9
Abstract
Coordination across network layers is an old problem, and five research literatures address it with no shared vocabulary. From 2003 one of them formalised the interaction between overlay routing and underlay traffic engineering as a non-cooperative game, establishing that independent layers settle into a stable but sub-optimal equilibrium and that one-way awareness has a ceiling. One of those results goes further, reporting that greater visibility can make outcomes worse. In parallel the IETF standardised an interface for exposing underlay information to applications, and continued that work into 2024. An applicationaware multilayer literature drove requirements from the application down to the optical layer without engaging the virtualisation boundary, and deterministic networking attacked the same problem under a latency bound at the link layer. Software-defined, intent-based and 6G orchestration frameworks now span more layers and domains than their predecessors while largely dropping the boundary question. We survey 119 papers spanning 2003 to 2026, of which 82 propose or position a mechanism and carry the analysis, and organise them on two axes no existing survey combines: the span of layers a mechanism coordinates, and whether it treats the network as underlay only, overlay only, overlay aware of underlay, or jointly. Span and boundary treatment do not co-occur. All 20 jointly coordinating mechanisms operate between the data link and application layers, and every span reaching the optical layer or crossing radio, transport and core segments has none. Over time the two move in opposite directions: wide-span mechanisms rise from 5 of 15 pre-2012 papers to 27 of 47 today while boundary engagement falls from 13 of 15 to 20 of 47. Engagement tracks the coordination formalism rather than the period, since every paper formulating coordination as a negotiation or around a shared information substrate engages the boundary and none driven by an intent-based closed loop treats it jointly. Joint work is a simulation literature: 17 of its 20 mechanisms are evaluated in simulation, against 1 production deployment in the whole mechanismcorpus. Weidentify the results the current literature has left behind and state what a boundary-aware orchestrator has to provide.
Keywords
Multi-layer orchestration, underlay–overlay coordination, network virtualisation, taxonomy, literature survey.
Cite as
Krishna Suman Dara, Raghuram Malpe Pai, Somesh Rahul, Amarnath G S, Shivaprasad Gali and Anudeep Rentala, "The Forgotten Boundary: A Layer-Span × Underlay–Overlay Taxonomy and Gap Matrix for Multi-Layer Network Orchestration", In: Harish Sharma and Mukesh Saraswat (eds), Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems: Theory, Applications and Innovations, SCRS, India, 2026, pp. 1-24. https://doi.org/10.56155/978-81-975670-4-9-1