The Opaque Autonomy Paradox in Sovereign and Intelligent SD-WAN: A Systematic Literature Review

The rapid evolution of mission-critical communication infrastructures demands a transition toward autonomous architectures capable of maintaining strategic sovereignty. This paper presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of 70 high-impact studies (2019–2026) regarding Intelligent SD-WAN (ISD-WAN), a paradigm where AI-driven intelligence unifies traffic engineering and active cyber-resilience. Our analysis maps the state-of-the-art across five taxonomic domains: routing, computing-forward networking, security, scalability, and operations management. The results reveal a significant “Opaque Autonomy Paradox”: while AI-native protocols enhance survival, they lack the transparency and decisional auditability required for mission-critical Command and Control ( C 2 ). This study identifies critical research gaps, specifically the tension between algorithmic performance and sovereign oversight. Finally, we establish a set of holistic design requirements for next-generation ISD-WAN architectures, providing a strategic roadmap for future developments in cognitive and resilient communication infrastructures.