Program        Tutorial


Tutorials


  Tutorial 1

Intelligent and Robust 6G Mobile Core Networks


Prof. Sangheon Pack


School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea


Abstract


To overcome the technical and ecological limitations of 5G, research and development on the 6G technology is in full swing. A number of research institutes are publishing various types of 6G vision documents, and 3GPP, which is the key standardization body for cellular systems, is expected to start discussing 6G technologies after Rel-20. From 5G, the mobile core network (MCN), which is responsible for user/service management in mobile communication networks, is evolving into a software-based operation in a virtualized environment through the development of the software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) technologies. In 6G, exponentially more devices are expected to be connected to the network, so the development of MCN technologies that are resilient and can cope with various software/hardware faults is becoming an important issue. In this tutorial, I will survey recent advances on robust MCN technologies and discuss key open issues and approaches for robust MCN. On another front, MCN of 6G is expected to evolve into a more intelligent architecture with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Thus, I will also introduce novel MCN architectures for data-driven closed-loop control in 6G.

Biography


Sangheon Pack received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 2000 and 2005, respectively, both in computer engineering. In 2007, he joined the faculty of Korea University, Seoul, Korea, where he is currently a Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering. From 2005 to 2006, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Broadband Communications Research Group, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. He was the recipient of IEEE/Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers (IEIE) Joint Award for IT Young Engineers Award 2017, Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers (KIISE) Young Information Scientist Award 2017, Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences (KICS) Haedong Young Scholar Award 2013, and IEEE ComSoc APB Outstanding Young Researcher Award in 2009. He served as a Sponsorship chair of ACM MobiHoc 2022, a TPC vice-chair for information systems of IEEE WCNC 2020, a track chair of IEEE VTC 2020-Fall/IEEE VTC 2010-Fall and IEEE CCNC 2019, a TPC chair of IEEE ICCE 2022, a publication co-chair of IEEE INFOCOM 2014 and ACM MobiHoc 2015, and a publicity co-chair of IEEE SECON 2012. He is an editor of IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) Journal, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (TCE), Journal of Communications Networks (JCN), IET Communications, and he was a guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing (TETC), IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering (TNSE), Springer Mobile Networks and Applications (MONET), and Elsevier Computer Networks (ComNet). He is a senior member of the IEEE. His research interests include softwarized networking (SDN/NFV), 5G/6G mobile core networks, mobile edge computing/programmable data plane, and vehicular networking.

  Tutorial 2

Research, Development and Standardization of Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Network Integration


Dr. Ved P. Kafle


Research Manager, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Tokyo


Abstract


Satellite communication systems are mostly operated in isolation from the terrestrial network systems. Although satellite phone services, VSAT (Very small aperture terminal) data services, and television broadcast services are available for a long time, the satellites have been used as bent pipes for relaying communication signals between gateway earth stations and user terminals. Moreover, for mobile users the seamless handovers from a satellite coverage to a terrestrial cellular network coverage and vice versa are still not supported.
To offer low-latency and high data rate communication services not only in cities by advanced terrestrial mobile networks such as the 5G network system, but also everywhere on the earth (remote agriculture farms, mountains, deserts, sea, and air) as well as in space, integration of satellite-based non-terrestrial networks (NTN) and terrestrial networks (TN) is indispensable.
This talk begins with the background of satellite communications, giving examples of satellite types deployed in various orbits such as low-earth orbit (LEO), mid-earth orbit (MEO), and geostationary earth orbit (GEO), which are deployed at different altitudes. Literature on the research and development of technologies for the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks is reviewed. Then the relevant standardization activities of various standards development organizations (SDOs) such as ITU and 3GPP are presented. Finally, the key challenges of TN/NTN integration and the possible approaches to address them are summarized.

Biography


Ved P. Kafle received the B.E. (Honours) degree in Electronics and Communications from Punjab Engineering College, India, the M.S. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Seoul National University, South Korea, and the Ph.D. degree in Informatics from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan. He is currently a research manager at National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Tokyo. He has been serving as a Rapporteur of ITU-T Study Group 13 (SG13) since 2014 for the standardization of upcoming networking technologies. His current research interests include network architectures, Beyond-5G networks, network control and service automation by AI and machine learning, network function virtualization, software defined networking, and terrestrial and non-terrestrial network convergence. He received the ITU Association of Japan's Encouragement Award and Accomplishment Award in 2009 and 2017, respectively. He received four Best Paper Awards from the ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference in 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2020. He received Nepali Diaspora ICT Award in 2022 from Nepal and the Information and Communication Technology Award (President Commendation) from the Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC), Japan in 2023. He is a fellow of ITU-T SG13, a life member of Nepal Engineers Association, a senior member of IEEE and a member of IEICE.

  Tutorial 3

End-to-End Network Slice Orchestration and Automation


Dr. Nakjung Choi


Department Head, Network Systems and Security Research, Nokia Bell Labs, Murray Hill, USA


Abstract


In next generation mobile networks, an increasing number of new use cases will be enabled for various industries such as automotive, manufacturing, logistics, and energy. These new use cases have highly diverse, and even conflicting, communications requirements (SLA – Service Level Agreement) such as latency, data rates, availability, and reliability. The growing network complexity and service diversity challenge the network operators to dynamically orchestrate and coordinate network resources to offer a different mix of capacities for supporting services with diverse requirements simultaneously. Since it is not economically viable to build a dedicated network for each type of service, network slicing emerges as a key technology in 5G wireless networks for efficiently supporting highly diverse use cases. Network slicing allows network operators to run multiple logical networks as virtually isolated network slices on top of common physical network infrastructure. For example, a network slice can be customized to support IoT services for a large number of devices operated at low data rates. At the same time, another network slice can be tailored to provision latency-critical services such as vehicle-to-vehicle communications and smart grid controls. Network slices usually span across multiple technical domains of the network, e.g., radio access networks, transportation networks, mobile core networks, and edge and cloud computing servers. Hence, end-to-end resource orchestration and automation is essential in network slicing to dynamically manage resource allocations to different slices in multiple domains so that the performance of the network system can be optimized. This talk aims to provide an overview of network slicing, E2E/domain slice orchestration, slice resource management and opensource-based E2E network research.

Biography


Nakjung Choi received the BS and PhD degrees from the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, South Korea, in 2002 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Department Head of Mobile Network Systems, Network Systems and Security Research with Nokia Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA. He is also Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Nokia Bell Labs and an IEEE Senior Member. In 2014-2015, he was a (acting) Bell Labs Seoul director and led Network System and Service department in Network Algorithm, Protocol, and Security Research program. He has received several external awards (e.g., Best Paper Awards), internal recognitions (e.g., Awards of Excellence), and transformed research programs into commercial products successfully. His research is on end-to-end network orchestration and automation, network control cross domains, 5G/5G-A/6G, dynamic network slicing, carrier-grade cloud-native, software defined networking, network functions virtualization, edge/fog computing & networking, and cloud-native network management

  Tutorial 4

Towards the Internet of Sustainable Living Trees with Batteryless Computing


Prof. VP Nguyen


Director, Wireless & Sensor Systems Laboratory Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences Institute for Applied Life Sciences University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA


Abstract


Monitoring the health of living plants holds paramount significance across various domains, such as precision agriculture, horticulture, environmental conservation, and others. However, existing health monitoring systems for plants are bulky, high maintenance, and do not capture essential signals associated with plant health, such as nutrients and water level/pressure precisely. In this talk, I will introduce a wireless, wind-powered, battery-free, biocompatible, low-maintenance, tree-wearable, and intelligent sensing system that we named IoTree to monitor water and nutrient levels inside a living tree. IoTree system includes tiny-size, biocompatible, and implantable sensors that continuously measure the impedance variations inside the living tree’s xylem, where water and nutrients are transported from the root to the upper parts. The collected data are then compressed and transmitted to a base station up to 1.8 kilometers away using long-range wireless communication. The entire system is powered by wind energy and controlled by an adaptive computing technique. I will describe the system architecture, the technical challenges that we faced, and the design that we made to build a functional prototype. I will then conclude the talk by discussing our experiences and lessons learned through the pilot study with Burkwood Viburnum and White Bird trees in Texas's farms.

Biography


VP Nguyen founded and directs the Wireless and Sensor Systems Laboratory (WSSL) at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is also affiliated with the Institute for Applied Life Sciences at UMass. Prior to UMass, he was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington from 2020 to 2023. He is the recipient of the SONY Faculty Innovation Award 2021, CACM Research Highlights 2020, 2021, ACM SIGMOBILE Research Highlights 2017, 2020, 2022, UTA CSE Pre-Tenure Research Award 2022, Best Paper Award at ACM MobiCom 2019, Best Paper Runner-up at ACM SenSys 2018, Best Paper Nominee at ACM SenSys 2017, and Best Paper Awards at ACM MobiCom-S3 2016-2017. His research agenda has focused on Sustainable Autonomous Things (SATs) for the vision of the Internet of Sustainable Medical Things, the Internet of Sustainable Living Things, and the Internet of Sustainable Flying Things.