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The 4th O-RAN nGRG 6G workshop is scheduled on October 19th, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. This full-day workshop will focus on AI for 6G and O-RAN and will feature 15+ prominent speakers from academia and industry, sharing their fresh views on recent 6G development.
The workshop will cover a wide range of exciting topics, including Generative AI for wireless, AI meets 6G RAN, lessons learned from 5G, 6G experimental platforms, and more. We are honored to have Prof. Merouane Debbah from Khalifa University deliver the opening keynote on TelecomGPT, and Mr. T. Lauriston Hardin from NTIA talk about pervasive network intelligence in the afternoon keynote.
Organized by: O-RAN ALLIANCE’s Next Generation Research Group (nGRG)
Date: October 19, 2023
Location:
Admission: Interested public is free to attend on-site or remotely. Registration is mandatory prior to the event
The evolution of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) constitutes a turning point in reshaping the future of technology in different aspects. Wireless networks in particular, with the blooming of self-evolving networks, represent a rich field for exploiting GenAI and reaping several benefits that can fundamentally change the way how wireless networks are designed and operated nowadays. To be specific, large language models (LLMs), a subfield of GenAI, are envisioned to open up a new era of autonomous wireless networks, in which a multimodal large model trained over various Telecom data, can be fine-tuned to perform several downstream tasks, eliminating the need for dedicated AI models for each task and paving the way for the realization of artificial general intelligence (AGI)-empowered wireless networks. In this talk, we aim to unfold the opportunities that can be reaped from integrating LLMs into the Telecom domain. In particular, we aim to put a forward-looking vision on a new realm of possibilities and applications of LLMs in future wireless networks, defining directions for designing, training, testing, and deploying Telecom LLMs, and reveal insights on the associated theoretical and practical challenges.
Bio:
Mérouane Debbah is a researcher, educator and technology entrepreneur. Over his career, he has founded several public and industrial research centers, start-ups and is now Professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi and founding Director of the 6G center. He is a frequent keynote speaker at international events in the field of telecommunication and AI. His research has been lying at the interface of fundamental mathematics, algorithms, statistics, information and communication sciences with a special focus on random matrix theory and learning algorithms. In the Communication field, he has been at the heart of the development of small cells (4G), Massive MIMO (5G) and Large Intelligent Surfaces (6G) technologies. In the AI field, he is known for his work on Large Language Models, distributed AI systems for networks and semantic communications. He received multiple prestigious distinctions, prizes and best paper awards (more than 35 best paper awards) for his contributions to both fields and according to research.com is ranked as the best scientist in France in the field of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. He is an IEEE Fellow, a WWRF Fellow, a Eurasip Fellow, an AAIA Fellow, an Institut Louis Bachelier Fellow and a Membre émérite SEE. His recent work led to the development of NOOR (largest language Model in Arabic with 10 billion parameters) released in April 2022 and Falcon LLM (upon its release, top ranked Open Source Large Language Model in the world) released in March 2023. These two models have positioned the UAE as a global leader in the AI field.
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Over the past few years, significant advancements have taken place in the field of wireless image/video delivery, thanks to the utilization of deep neural networks (DNNs) for joint source-channel coding. This approach, known as Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding (DeepJSCC), operates in an end-to-end fashion, eliminating the need for separate blocks for compression, channel coding, modulation, and power allocation, and can outperform conventional separation-based approaches. Concurrently, the domain of generative AI has made significant strides, garnering attention for its impressive applications in photorealistic image generation and conversational agents. In this talk, I will showcase how DeepJSCC can be combined with powerful pretrained generative models to enable a notable enhancement in the quality of reconstructed images at the receiver. By leveraging Generative DeepJSCC, which incorporates generative adversarial networks (GANs) and diffusion models, it becomes possible to produce realistic images with high fidelity, even under extreme conditions of limited bandwidth and low signal-to-noise ratio. This novel communication paradigm opens up exciting possibilities such as enabling wireless gaming and enriching metaverse experiences.
Bio:
Deniz Gündüz is a Professor of Information Processing in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at Imperial College London, UK, where he also serves as the deputy head of the Intelligent Systems and Networks Group. In the past, he held positions at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (part-time faculty member, 2019-22), University of Padova (visiting professor, 2018, 2020), Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) (research associate, 2009-12), Princeton University (postdoctoral researcher, 2007-09, visiting researcher, 2009-11) and Stanford University (research assistant professor, 2007-09). His research interests lie in the areas of communications and information theory, machine learning, and privacy. Dr. Gündüz is a Fellow of the IEEE. He is an elected member of the IEEE Signal Processing Society Signal Processing for Communications and Networking (SPCOM) and Machine Learning for Signal Processing (MLSP) Technical Committees. He serves in editorial roles for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, and IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory. He is the recipient of the IEEE Communications Society - Communication Theory Technical Committee (CTTC) Early Achievement Award in 2017, Starting (2016) and Consolidator (2022) and Proof-of-Concept (2023) Grants of the European Research Council (ERC), and has co-authored several award-winning papers, most recently the IEEE Communications Society - Young Author Best Paper Award (2022), and the IEEE International Conference on Communications Best Paper Award (2023).
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⬛ Title: Future Network System as Open Service Based Platform in FutureG Era
In this talk, we explore future networked systems: systems which would be composed of combinations of multiple subsystems leveraging open interfaces, commoditized hardware for compute and networking, heterogeneous edge radios covering terrestrial and non-terrestrial spectrum bands from many stakeholders; not only from the ICT industry but also across broad fields of industries. This will require a new research platform paradigm to deal with increased management and operational complexity. This platform may be based on an open horizontal and vertical interface concept so that multiple stakeholders from academia to small-to-medium sized enterprises with cutting-edge technologies can directly interface. I will put forth considerations for such a platform twining with the ORAN architecture as an enabler for future networked systems.
Bio:
Abhimanyu (Manu) Gosain is a Senior Director for Institute of Wireless Internet of Things at Northeastern University, co-Chair for the FCC 6G Technology Advisory Council and Senior Advisor for NTIA ITS and DoD OUSD R&E FutureG. He is in charge of setting strategic goals and the research agenda for a $100M public-private partnership for the NSF Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program and $25M DARPA Colosseum program. He serves as a Board Member for the OpenAirInterface Software Alliance, Founding member for Magma Core Foundation, Academic representative for O-RAN Alliance Next Generation Research Group, Technology Roadmap group member for NextG Alliance and co-chair on organizing committee and program committees for 6GSymposium, EuCNC,IEEE InfoCom and ACM WinTech. His numerous professional publications and experience exemplify use-inspired basic research in the field of networking technologies such as 5G,6G, AI/ML, edge computing and Internet of Things. He is an IEEE Senior Member. He received his M.S. degree from Tufts University and M.B.A. from Boston University with High Honors.
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⬛ Title: Paving the way towards 6G networks leveraging AIML
Moving towards 6G networks, it becomes evident that efficiency, intelligence, and trust are crucial. This talk explores the transformative role of AI/ML in empowering networks and increasing efficiency while ensuring a constant trust in AI/ML based solutions. Additionally, it examines the possible role of large language models in 6G networks.
Bio:
Abdelrahman Abdelkader (also Abdu) is part of Nokia Standards as a Senior Research Engineer with a strong focus on network automation and the use of AI/ML in network management and resource optimization. He was also the rapporteur of the published ETSI ZSM012 specification on AI enablers. Before joining Nokia, he worked as a Research Associate at The Technical University of Dresden (TUD), where he acquired his PhD in Electrical Engineering.
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In our ever-evolving technological landscape, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI have generated tremendous excitement and anticipation. The transformative influence of AI spans across diverse industries, and wireless networks are no exception to this profound shift. AI's impact in the realm of wireless networks includes improving network performance, optimize resource allocation, and facilitating intelligent decision-making processes. It also holds the potential to enhance the autonomy of wireless systems, allowing them to adapt dynamically to changing conditions. Open RAN, with its principles of openness and interoperability and separation of hardware and software components within radio access networks creates an environment conducive to innovation, adaptability and seamless AI integration. This presentation is an exploration of AI, and the demystification of concepts around Generative AI within the context of wireless networks. It then delves into the pivotal role AI plays within wireless networks, highlighting its anticipated evolution. Moreover, it explores the synergy between AI and Open RAN, as well as the promising avenues it creates for AI integration. Lastly, it delves into practical applications and transformative potential, illustrating the dynamic impact of AI within Open RAN deployments.
Bio:
Dr. Christina Chaccour, a professional research scientist, engineer, and entrepreneur, currently serves as a Network Solutions Manager at Ericsson Inc. In her role, Dr. Chaccour seamlessly bridges product solutions and research, spearheading developments in 5G Advanced, 6G networks, and AI-integrated solutions. Dr. Chaccour actively represents Ericsson as a delegate in prominent industrial bodies, including 5G Americas, Next G Alliance, and WinnForum. She obtained her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, where she made pioneering contributions in the field of 6G, with a focus on terahertz (THz), extended reality (XR), and AI-native networks. Dr. Chaccour's remarkable accomplishments include winning the Best Paper Award at the 10th IFIP Conference on New Technologies, Mobility, and Security (NTMS) in 2019, and achieving recognition for her paper in IEEE Communication Surveys and Tutorials as a top-accessed article from June 2022 to November 2022, as well as being honored with the Exemplary Reviewer distinction from IEEE Transactions on Communications in 2021. Additionally, Dr. Chaccour co-founded the startup “Internet of Trees”, which has received numerous local and international awards.
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In this talk, I will present an overview of ATIS Next Gen Alliance and introduce you to ATIS Technology WG. ATIS NGA has defined 2 audacious goals related to AI/ML in the 6G Era: a) Distributed Cloud and Communication Systems and b) AI-Native Wireless Networks. I will cover the topics of AI Native Air Interface and Distributed Computing & Intelligence as considered by ATIS NGA Technology WG towards meeting these goals. For each of these topics, I plan to go over design considerations, opportunities, challenges and research directions based on 3 recent ATIS NGA reports on 6G Technologies, 6G Technologies for Wide-Area Cloud Evolution and AI-Native Wireless Networks.
Bio:
Dr. Sharad Sambhwani is a member of the Hardware Technologies Group at Apple, specializing in Cellular Technologies. Prior to joining Apple, he spent 17 years at Qualcomm Technologies Inc where he was Sr. Director of Technology within Wireless R&D. In his most recent stint at Qualcomm, he led the research and commercial implementation of sensing applications using 60 GHz mmWave radar for both smartphones (proximity sensing, face and gesture recognition and access points ( people counting in a room, passenger sensing in a car, heart rate and breathing rate estimation). He also championed the use of 60GHz mmwave technology for wireless backhaul. Prior to joining Qualcomm in 2004, Sharad began his career as Member of Technical Staff in the Advanced Technology department at Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ in 1996. He received his MS and Ph.D. degree in EE from Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY (now NYU) in 1992 and 1997 respectively and a MS in Computer Science from UIUC in 2020. He holds ~150 granted patents and has authored 11 publications.
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6G-SANDBOX is a HE funded research project (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022-STREAM-C-01-01). The 6G-SANDBOX project brings a complete and modular facility for the European experimentation ecosystem which is expected to support for the next decade technology and research validation processes needed in the pathway towards 6G.
The 6G-SANDBOX Trial Networks incorporate infrastructures distributed in EU (namely in Malaga, Athens, Berlin and Oulu) and offer to third parties automated experimentation capabilities through a rich and extensible toolbox. Meant to create tangible and long-term impact, the 6G KPIs and KVIs that will be quantified with the facility, will be released to any interested party; while the set of developments and APIs that will be produced, will feed an open repository as an initial step to move the contributions and the lessons learned beyond the project boarders and define a European 6G library. The platforms have deployed a range of technologies from ORAN (ORU-ODU, OCU, RIC) to NTN, TSN, multiple core, edge computing, enabling various experimentations.
Bio:
Michael Dieudonné is currently the Director of Keysight Technologies Belgium, Denmark and Austria. He is also an R&D Department Manager of Keysight Laboratories and supervises research performed in different domains around 5G/6G wireless and network test, and high-frequency metrology. He currently works on test automation (OpenTAP.io), Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) test, the Internet of Things (IoT) test, 5G test, and 6G test. He coordinates the 6G-SANDBOX SNS-JU project and is a member of the 6G-IA Board. Over the years, he has been active in various international projects, such as the EURAMET EMPIR MET5G Project (on 5G EMF), coordinated European Union (EU) SAMURAI Project defining early day multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques for 4G systems, and European Union-Horizon 2020 (EU-H2020) Triangle (test of application in a 5G context).
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Mr. Nirlay Kundu
Bio:
Nirlay Kundu is a Distinguished Engineer at Verizon. Prior to Verizon, Nirlay worked at Oracle, as a founding engineer at Rivermeadow Software, Motorola and Lucent. Nirlay holds several Advisory Board level positions. He has more than 25 years of expertise in the telco space and worked across several continents. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from Jadavpur University, IIT Kharagpur, Leicester University and MBA from Babson College. He is a frequent speaker at events related to telecommunications.
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With two of the goals of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund being to promote and deploy 5G and successor technologies and accelerate commercial deployment of open, interoperable equipment, the US Government is clearly supporting open networks for present and future wireless communications. As we move through 5G and into 6G, it is clear that the network must support a broad new range of intelligent network features. In essence a 6G environment must provide pervasive network intelligence. This presentation will start with a vision of promise that network environment, discuss the requirements to support such an environment, and how AI/ML is critical to its operation, the gains we expect from such changes and the challenges that face us in moving forward.
Bio:
Mr. T. Lauriston Hardin, P.E. has over 36 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and is presently the Senior Technology Advisor to the NTIA’s $1.5B Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund and the Chief Technical Advisor to the NTIA/ITS 5G Challenge that is a two year prize challenge in the area of Open RAN. Previously, Mr. Hardin provided Subject Matter Expert consulting to the US Department of Defense’s 5G to Next G Initiative. As a consultant, he has a broad experience base including RAN planning, network design, spectrum planning, and backhaul planning as well as large scale network deployments and decommissioning. Mr. Hardin holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a licensed professional engineer.
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Our world is changing. Communications, Cloud Computing and AI are coming together like never before. Radio Access Network (RAN) plays a critical role in enabling the next generation of applications and services. However, the RAN infrastructure needs to evolve rapidly and deliver key tenets – Performance, Software Defined, Cloud Native, Multi-tenancy, and AI native. A big thank you to the ORAN alliance for transforming the telecommunications infrastructure. Although we have made great strides in modernizing the RAN/5G infrastructure, we still have significant challenges. This presentation will discuss some of these challenges and share NVIDIA’s vision to address these challenges. We will also share some recent success stories and key learnings. Then we will discuss the opportunities for AI in RAN – the current landscape and the path to 6G. Lastly, we will conclude with some ideas to facilitate 6G research.
Bio:
Rajesh Gadiyar leads telco and edgearchitecture at NVIDIA. He is building technologies for virtualized 5G RadioAccess Network (RAN) in the cloud. A key focus for him is the intersection ofArtificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Technologies and 5G/6G Networks. He workswith communications service providers (CoSPs) to modernize their networks usingcloud native technologies. Beforejoining NVIDIA in 2022, Rajesh was the Vice President and Chief TechnologyOfficer (CTO) for the Network Platforms Group at Intel. He led the architectureand product development efforts to accelerate cloud native network applicationsin 5G infrastructure, edge clouds, video processing and AI in Networking anddelivered many generations of network server platforms. Prior to joining Intel,he led various engineering teams at Trillium Digital Systems and Wipro Ltd. Rajeshbrings several years of experience in networking products, architecture,standards, and software development for Voice over IP, cellular, broadband,mobile telephony, and data networks. Rajesh has a B.S. in Electronics andTelecommunications engineering from National Institute of Technology, Trichy,India, and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is a regularspeaker at industry events and conferences.
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Large-scale MIMO communication (at sub-6GHz, mmWave, and sub-THz bands) is a key enabler for 5G, 6G, and beyond. Scaling MIMO systems, however, is subject to critical challenges, such as the large channel acquisition and beam training overhead and the sensitivity to channel estimation errors (esp. at lower frequencies) and blockages (at higher frequencies). These challenges make it difficult for MIMO systems to support applications that have high mobility and strict reliability constraints. In this talk, I will first motivate the use of sensory data and machine learning to address these challenges. Then, I will present a few key machine-learning roles, enabling datasets, and recent hardware proof-of-concept prototypes that demonstrate the machine-learning gains in real-world environments.
Bio:
Ahmed Alkhateeb received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt, in 2008 and 2012, and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, USA, in 2016. After the Ph.D., he spent some time as a Wireless Communications Researcher at the Connectivity Lab, Facebook, before joining Arizona State University (ASU) in Spring 2018, where he is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering. His research interests are in the broad areas of wireless communications, signal processing, machine learning, and applied math. Dr. Alkhateeb is the recipient of the 2012 MCD Fellowship from The University of Texas at Austin, the 2016 IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award for his work on hybrid precoding and channel estimation in millimeter-wave communication systems, and the NSF CAREER Award 2021 to support his research on leveraging machine learning for large-scale MIMO systems.
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This session will cover Edge and hybrid cloud infrastructures for mobile networks, and open source community AI projects that will drive new advances in Edge computing use cases.
Bio:
Sanjay Aiyagari is a Principal Solution Architect at Red Hat working with service providers in their advanced technology initiatives as they embrace the intelligent networks of 5G. Prior to Red Hat, he was head of product management and strategy at Siaras, an OpenStack startup. He spent six years at VMware, where he advised the world’s largest telcos and NEPs in virtualizing their critical real-time network functions. Previously, he led key engineering projects in Cisco's access routing, application delivery, and network management products, and was one of the earliest key contributors to the OASIS AMQP specification, which is widely used in cloud management systems today. He is currently working on improving the automation of network management systems by using AI/ML techniques, and is a contributor to the ENI working group of ETSI as well as the IOWN Global Forum.
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This presentation takes a first-principles, system level approach on two potential key drivers in defining the overall 6G network architecture. We focus on applying the lessons learned in 5G to consider alternative paths to a more open cellular ecosystem in the 6G timeframe leveraging new technologies like cloud native and the emerging AI/ML. We will address how to define platforms to better interoperate at scale across vendors, devices, and services based on the principles underlying the Internet evolution as compared to cellular evolution across Gs, and which migration approach is best suited to achieve the high throughputs expected in the 6G timeframe while being flexible to support the different expected operator deployment strategies, including spectrum refarming and aggregation, while minimizing the legacy impacts to the RAN and Core networks.
Bio:
Dr. Gavin Horn is with the Wireless R&D group at Qualcomm Technologies. Since 2014, he has been leading the 5G and subsequently 6G systems architecture design, evaluation, and standardization including network architecture, security, slicing, edge, cloud-native, virtualization, and radio interface protocols. From 2008-2014, he worked on the developmen1t of LTE-Advanced attending 3GPP WGs including SA2, RAN3 and RAN2 from Release 9 to Release 12. Gavin received his Doctorate and Masters from the California Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelors of Applied Science from the University of Toronto in Computer Engineering. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Gavin worked at Digital Fountain and Pulsent. He holds more than 500 granted patents.
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O-RAN system integrators clearly face significant difficulties in optimizing specific deployments, despite today’s interface driven standard. For the next generation, we expect an explosion of use cases and the wide use of machine learning (ML), will make system integration and deployment specific optimization untenable. To maximally leverage ML for RAN across many deployments, we recommend that O-RAN nGRG focus on automation in all aspects of RAN development, testing, and operations. Automation of everything will require the adoption of RAN Domain Specific Language to enable open platforms to precisely communicate their intents and constraints in a platform agnostic manner. Without automation, the benefit of ML will be limited by the weakest link in the chain: the need for large teams to perform manual system integration for each deployment. Cirrus360 automates RAN Domain Specific Language synthesis, allowing automated optimization with precise performance and security requirements.
Bio:
Alan Gatherer is currently the CTO of Cirrus360 and a Fellow of the IEEE. He is responsible for R&D and strategy for Cirrus360 modem development platforms. From January 2010 to January 2021 he was with Futurewei technologies where he was a Senior Technical Vice President in charge R&D efforts in the US to develop next generation baseband chips and software for 4G and 5G base station modems. He led development of new technologies for baseband SoC in the areas of multimode modems as a Service, interconnect and memory fabric, CPU/DSP clusters and virtualization, focusing on 5G deployment. Prior to that he was a TI Fellow and CTO at Texas Instruments where he led the development of high performance, multicore DSP at TI and worked on various telecommunication standards. Alan has authored over 50 journal and conference papers. In addition, he holds over 80 awarded patents and is author of the book “The Application of Programmable DSPs in Mobile Communications.” Alan holds a Bachelor of Engineering in microprocessor engineering from Strathclyde University in Scotland. He also attended Stanford University in California where he received a master’s in electrical engineering in 1989 and his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1993.
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In this talk, Dr. Soldani explores the transformative potential of eBPF in modern mobile communication networks and cloud-native platforms. As the de facto distributed operating system for container orchestration, Kubernetes (K8s) plays a crucial role in deploying new service applications. Concurrently, the extended version of the Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) in the Linux and Windows kernels is fundamentally changing the approach to cloud-native networking, security, and observability. Dr. Soldani introduces eBPF and highlights its significance in Telco cloud environments, focusing on its capabilities and potential applications. He delves into innovative pricing and billing models that leverage eBPF, including data source usage models and the association of pricing with the number of eBPF agents deployed on the network. These models are linked to specific eBPF modules that cover critical aspects such as network observability, runtime security, and power dissipation monitoring. Moreover, Dr. Soldani presents Sauron, an eBPF platform developed for this research, which enables the creation of custom code and dynamic loading of eBPF programs into the kernel. He illustrates how these programs facilitate estimating the energy consumption of cloud-native functions, deriving performance counters and gauges for transport networks, 5G applications, and non-access stratum protocols. Additionally, eBPF allows real-time detection and response to unauthorized access to cloud-native resources. Through extensive experimentation, Dr. Soldani provides compelling evidence of the technical feasibility of eBPF in achieving highly performant monitoring, observability, and security capabilities for current mobile networks, including 5G and 5G Advanced, as well as future networks like 6G and beyond. His findings demonstrate how eBPF can revolutionize cloud-native Telco environments by enabling efficient, scalable, and secure operations. Dr. Soldani's talk sheds light on the immense potential of eBPF in driving advancements in mobile communication networks and service applications. By embracing this revolutionary technology, Telco operators can unlock new levels of performance, observability, and security in their cloud-native deployments, shaping the future of mobile communications.
DAVID SOLDANI (Senior Member, IEEE) received the M.Sc. degree (magna cum laude) in engineering from the University of Florence, Italy, in 1994, and the D.Sc. degree in tech- nology (Hons.) from the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, in 2006. Throughout his career, he has held prestigious academic positions, including a Visiting Professor with the University of Surrey, U.K., in 2014, an Industry Professor with The University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia, in 2016, and an Adjunct Professor with the University of New South Wales (UNSW), in 2018. In his professional roles, he has served in significant leadership positions. He has held the positions of the Chief Information and Security Officer (CISO), e2e, Global, as well as SVP innovation and advanced research with Rakuten. Previously, he held the position of Chief Technology and Cyber Security Officer (CTSO) with the ASIA Pacific Region, Huawei. He was the Head of 5G Technology, e2e, Global, with Nokia, the Head of the Central Research Institute (CRI), and the VP of strategic research and innovation in Europe with Huawei European Research Centre. He is currently with Rakuten Mobile Inc. He can be reached at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-david-soldani/
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⬛ Title: The Path to 6G: Lessons Learned from 5G mmWaveand Future Directions
Abstract:
This talk will cover lessons learned from 5G mmWave initial deployments, drawing upon the speaker’s experience with MixComm, a startup founded in 2017 that has commercialized mmWave RF SOI beamformers for 5G FR2 and SATCOM and was acquired in 2022 by Sivers Semiconductors, and then move onto new research on >100GHz circuits and systems for 6G as a part of CubIC, the new SRC-DARPA JUMP 2.0 center led by Columbia University
Bio:
Harish Krishnaswamy received the B.Tech. degree in electrical engineering from IIT Madras, Chennai, India, in 2001, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, USA, in 2003 and 2009, respectively. In 2009, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, where he is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of the Columbia High-Speed and Millimeter-Wave IC Laboratory (CoSMIC).
In 2017, he co-founded MixComm Inc., a venture-backed startup, to commercialize CoSMIC Laboratory’s advanced wireless research. His current research interests include integrated devices, circuits, and systems for a variety of RF, mmWave, and sub-mmWave applications. Dr. Krishnaswamy was a recipient of the IEEE ISSCC Lewis Winner Award for Outstanding Paper in 2007, the Best Thesis in Experimental Research Award from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 2009, the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2011, a 2014 IBM Faculty Award, the Best Demo Award at the 2017 IEEE ISSCC, Best Student Paper Awards (First Place) at the 2015 and 2018 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposia, and the 2019 IEEE MTT-S Outstanding Young Engineer Award . He has been a member of the technical program committee of several conferences, including the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference since 2015 and the IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium since 2013. He currently serves as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society and as a member of the DARPA Microelectronics Exploratory Council.
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Bio: Dr. Kamakshi Sridhar is VP of RAN Technology and Strategy in Mavenir’s CTSO office where she drives 5G and 6G Open RAN strategy initiatives, engages with customer account teams and examines new partnership opportunities. She has held prior roles as a VP in Sandvine’s CTO office and conducted research and wireless strategy at Nokia Wireless CTO office for over 20 years. Kamakshi has a M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BTech from IIT Varanasi India. She is the lead author of 60+ US patents, several industry whitepapers and an adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering at SMU in Dallas.
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Bio: Dr. Havish Koorapaty has B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. He has more than 25 years of experience with Ericsson, where he has worked in the general area of wireless communications systems including cellular and satellite systems. His work spans a wide range of topics including error control coding, location determination and tracking, mobile phone systems engineering, 4G and 5G broadband wireless system design, wireless backhaul solutions, energy efficiency, spectrum sharing and small cells. He has over 250 technical papers and patents in these areas and was the recipient of the Ericsson Inventor of the Year award in 2016. Havish has represented Ericsson in standardization efforts in the 3GPP, TIA, IEEE and ETSI standardization bodies. He has been involved in standardization efforts in 3GPP for 5G NR and LTE including serving as the rapporteur for the licensed-assisted access study and work items. He was the recipient of the 3GPP Excellence Award in 2015. Havish served as a vice-chairman in 3GPP RAN1 from November 2017 to November 2021. He currently works on 6G systems, serving as the technical coordinator for Ericsson’s contributions to the ATIS Next Gen Alliance as well as monitoring 6G initiatives globally. Havish serves as a co-chair for the O-RAN next Generation Research Group (nGRG).
