Post-Quantum Cryptography and Blockchain Framework for Secure AI-RAN in 6G Networks

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence-driven Radio Access Networks (AI-RAN) are a core paradigm of 6G, but the tight coupling of AI models, open interfaces, and distributed control loops raises security and trust challenges that cryptographically relevant quantum computers worsen by breaking the public-key cryptography underpinning current AI-RAN security. Existing work treats post-quantum cryptography (PQC), blockchain, and AI-RAN security as disjoint problems, leaving a gap at their intersection. This paper addresses that gap with a structured synthesis and an architectural framework that integrates latticebased PQC and a permissioned blockchain into the O-RAN control plane for quantum-resistant identity management, AI model integrity, policy enforcement, and trust orchestration. The contribution is an integration and enforcement design, not a new primitive: an AI-RAN-specific quantum threat mapping and an enforcement model that keeps blockchain consensus off the Near-RT RIC hot path via cached attestation tokens and hierarchical verification. A feasibility analysis grounded in surveyed ML-DSA/ML-KEM micro-benchmarks bounds the design envelope, and limitations, notably the gap between surveyed componentlevel numbers and integrated end-to-end performance, are stated explicitly.