IEEE International Mediterranean Conference on Communications and Networking
7–10 September 2021 // Hybrid: In-Person and Virtual Conference

Special Sessions

Special Session 3 (Virtual)

AI-Enabled Distributed Network Slicing: Architectures and Algorithms
Date/Time: Tuesday, Sept 7th, from 1:50 PM – 4:00 PM Athens time (UTC+3)

Chairs: Hatim Chergui (CTTC, Spain), Luis Sanabria-Russo (CTTC, Spain), Anna Tzanakaki (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), Zhao Xu (NEC Laboratories Europe, Germany)

1) Controlled Deep Reinforcement Learning for Optimized Slice Placement

José Jurandir Alves Esteves (Orange Labs & Sorbonne Université, France); Amina Boubendir and Fabrice M. Guillemin (Orange Labs, France); Pierre Sens (Université de Paris 6, France)

2) Machine Learning for Network Slicing in Future Mobile Networks: Design and Implementation

Luis A Garrido (Iquadrat Informatica S. L., Spain); Anestis Dalgkitsis (Iquadrat & Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain); Kostas Ramantas (Iquadrat Informatica, Greece); Christos Verikoukis (CTTC & UB, Spain)

3) MonB5G: AI/ML-Capable Distributed Orchestration and Management Framework for Network Slices

Slawomir Kuklinski (Orange Polska & Warsaw University of Technology, Poland); Robert Kołakowski (Warsaw University of Technology & Orange Polska, Poland); Lechosław Tomaszewski (Orange Polska, Poland); Luis Sanabria-Russo (CTTC, Spain); Christos Verikoukis (CTTC & UB, Spain); Cao-Thanh Phan (BCOM, France); Lanfranco Zanzi (NEC Laboratories Europe & Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany); Francesco Devoti (NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH, Germany); Adlen Ksentini (Eurecom, France); Christos Tselios (University of Patras & Citrix Inc., Greece); George Tsolis (Citrix Systems Inc., Greece); Hatim Chergui (CTTC, Spain)

4) Neural network architectures for network slicing with dynamic offloading rules

Ondrej Smid, Theodoros Giannakas and Thrasyvoulos Spyropoulos (EURECOM, France)

5) An SDN Based Testbed for Dynamic Network Slicing in Satellite-Terrestrial Networks

Jesus Fabian Mendoza Montoya (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg); Mario Minardi (University of Luxembourg, Germany); Symeon Chatzinotas, Lei Lei and Thang X. Vu (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)

6) A Cloud-Native Monitoring System Enabling Scalable and Distributed Management of 5G Network Slices

Luis Sanabria-Russo (CTTC, Spain); Christos Verikoukis (CTTC & UB, Spain)

7) A Federated Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Distributed Network Slicing Orchestration

Farhad Rezazadeh (UPC & CTTC, Spain); Francesco Devoti (NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH, Germany); Lanfranco Zanzi (NEC Laboratories Europe & Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany); Hatim Chergui (CTTC, Spain); Xavier Costa-Perez (ICREA and i2cat & NEC Laboratories Europe, Spain)

Special Session 1 (Virtual)

5G Solutions for Verticals and European Citizens
Date/Time: Tuesday, Sept 7th, from 4:15 PM – 6:00 PM Athens time (UTC+3)

Chairs: Andrea Di Giglio (Telecom Italia, Italy), Sarang Kahvazadeh (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Spain), Håkon Lønsethagen (Telenor, Norway), David Pubill (CTTC, Spain), Anna Tzanakaki (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)

1) Performance Evaluation and Comparison between SA and NSA 5G Networks in Indoor Environment

Ramy Amer (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland); Sofiane Zemouri (IIX, IBM, Ireland); Christos Verikoukis (CTTC & UB, Spain)

2) 5G Vertical Application Enablers Implementation Challenges and Perspectives

Dimitrios Fragkos and Georgios Makropoulos (NCSR Demokritos, Greece); Panteleimon Sarantos (National Centre of Scientific Research, Greece); Harilaos Koumaras (NCSR Demokritos, Greece); Anastasios-Stavros Charismiadis (National And Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece); Dimitris Tsolkas (Fogus Innovations and Services, Greece)

3) Slicing enabled 5G experimentation platform for Robotics vertical industry

Suvidha Sudhakar Mhatre (Iquadrat Informatica, Spain); Renxi Qiu (Bedfordshire Uinversity, United Kingdom (Great Britain)); Kostas Ramantas (Iquadrat Informatica, Greece); Christos Verikoukis (CTTC & UB, Spain)

4) Measuring 5G KPIs for the Media Vertical

Panagiotis Papaioannou, Dimitris Giannopoulos, Christos Tranoris and Spyros Denazis (University of Patras, Greece); Baruch Altman and Ran Rahav (LiveU, Israel); Ioannis Markopoulos (FORTHNET, Greece)

5) Business Value and Social Acceptance for the Validation of 5G Technology

Luigi Briguglio (CyberEthics Lab., Italy); Per Nesse (Telenor Research and Innovation, Norway); Andrea Di Giglio (Telecom Italia, Italy); Ioannis Markopoulos (FORTHNET, Greece); Carmela Occhipinti (CyberEthics Lab., Italy); Patrick Durkin (Inlecom, Belgium)

6) Α KPI Visualization System for Use Case validation of the 5G network

Kostis Tzanettis (5Appart AE New Technologies Computer and Telecommunications, Greece)

Special Session 2 (Hybrid)

AI Assisted Technologies for Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM)
Date/Time: Tuesday, Sept 7th, from 2:50 PM – 6:00 PM Athens time (UTC+3)

Chairs: Mahtab Alam (Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia), Maria Efthymiopoulou (Iquadrat Informatica S. L., Greece), Vasilis Sourlas (ICCS-NTUA, Greece), Anna Tzanakaki (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), Natalia V. Vesselinova (CTTC, Spain)

1) QoS Prediction for Automated Driving

Speaker: Apostolos Kousaridas (Huawei)

2) Implementation and Latency Assessment of a Prototype for C-ITS Collective Perception

Francesca Pacella, Edoardo Bonetto, Guido Alejandro Gavilanes Castillo, Daniele Brevi and Riccardo Scopigno (Fondazione LINKS, Italy)

3) Multi-Domain Architecture for CAM Service Delivery Across Borders

Maria Efthymiopoulou (IQUADRAT INFORMATICA S.L.); Kostas Ramantas (Iquadrat Informatica, Greece); Natalia V. Vesselinova (CTTC, Spain); Muhammad Mahtab Alam (Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia); Luis Sanabria-Russo (CTTC, Spain); Christos Verikoukis (CTTC & UB, Spain)

4) The ICT4CART reference architecture and its different views

Michael Buchholz and Jan Strohbeck (University of Ulm, Germany); Gottfried Allmer (ASFINAG, Austria); Rodrigo H. Ordonez-Hurtado and Anton Dekusar (IBM Research, Ireland); Markus Wimmer (Nokia Germany, Germany); Birger Hätty (Nokia, Germany); Matthieu Gay (Airbus CyberSecurity, France); Christophe Ponchel (Airbus Defence & Space CyberSecurity, France); Vasilis Sourlas (ICCS-NTUA, Greece); Angelos Amditis (Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Greece)

5) 5G for CCAM: See-through for supporting automated overtaking

Johan Scholliers (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland); Tao Chen (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland LTD, Finland); Mikko Uitto and Andrea Gentili (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Finland)

6) Performance Evaluation of 5G-NR Positioning Accuracy Using Time Difference of Arrival Method

Ivo Müürsepp (Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia); Marika Kulmar and Muhammad Mahtab Alam (Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia); Tao Chen (VTT, Finland); Seppo Horsmanheimo (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Finland); Johan Scholliers (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland); Osama Elgarhy (Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia)

7) 5G-Routes Project: Connected Maintenance Use-Case

Muhammad Mahtab Alam (Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia); Priit Roosipuu (Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia)

8) Reinforcement Learning-based Misbehaviour Detection in V2X Scenarios

Roshan Sedar (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Spain); Charalampos Kalalas (CTTC, Spain); Francisco Vázquez-Gallego (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Spain); Jesus Alonso-Zarate (i2CAT Foundation, Spain)

9) Slice Negotiator and Service Continuity in X-Border Environment

George Agapiou (WINGS ICT SOLUTIONS, Greece); Panagiotis Demestichas (University of Piraeus, Greece); Konstantinos Trichias (WINGS ICT Solutions, Greece); Polina Dimiropoulou (WINGS ICT SOLUTIONS, Greece); Kostas Tsagkaris (WINGS ICT Solutions, Greece)

Special Session 4 (Hybrid)

Securing Future Networks
Date/Time: Friday, Sept 10th, from 2:50 PM – 4:15 PM Athens time (UTC+3)

Chairs: Nikolaos Drosos (Space Hellas S.A., Greece), Sofoklis Efremidis (Maggioli SpA, Greece), Valerio Frascolla (Intel Deutschland Gmbh, Germany), Georgios Gardikis (Space Hellas S.A., Greece), Michail Alexandros Kourtis (NCSR Demokritos, Greece), Diego Lopez (Telefonica I+D, Spain), Evangelos K. Markakis (Hellenic Mediteranean University, Greece), Anna Tzanakaki (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)

1) Practical Autonomous Cyberhealth for resilient Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Evangelos Mantas and Dimitris Papadopoulos (Infili Technologies, Greece); Carolina Fernandez (i2CAT Foundation, Spain); Nil Ortiz (Fundació i2CAT, Internet i Innovació Digital a Catalunya, Spain); Maxime Compastie (i2CAT Foundation, Spain); Antonio López Martínez and Manuel Gil Pérez (University of Murcia, Spain); Michail Alexandros Kourtis (NCSR Demokritos, Greece); George Xylouris (Orion Innovations PC, Greece); Izidor Mlakar (SferaIT & University of Maribor, Slovenia); Stylianos Tsarsitalidis and Dimitrios Klonidis (UBITECH, Greece); Ignazio Pedone and Daniele Canavese (Politecnico di Torino, Italy); Gregorio Martinez Perez (University of Murcia, Spain); Davide Sanvito (NEC Laboratories Europe, Germany); Vangelis Logothetis (Incites Consulting, Luxembourg); Diego Lopez (Telefonica I+D, Spain); Antonio Pastor (Telefonica I+D & Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain); Antonio Lioy (Politecnico di Torino, Italy); Ludovic Jacquin (Hewlett Packard Labs & Hewlett Packard Enterprise, United Kingdom (Great Britain)); Roberto Bifulco (NEC Laboratories Europe, Germany); Angeliki Kapodistria, Athanasios Priovolos and Georgios Gardikis (Space Hellas S.A., Greece); Ioannis Neokosmidis and Theodoros Rokkas (Incites Consulting, Luxembourg); Nikolaos Papadakis and Dimitris Paraschos (Hellenic Army Academy, Greece); Primoz Jeran (SferaIT, Slovenia); George Athanasiou (DBC Europe, Belgium); Antonios Litke (Infili Information Intelligence Ltd, Greece)

2) IoT Botnet Detection on Flow Data using Autoencoders

Orestis Kompougias, Dimitris Papadopoulos and Evangelos Mantas (Infili Technologies, Greece); Nikolaos Papadakis (Hellenic Army Academy, Greece); Antonios Litke (Infili Information Intelligence Ltd, Greece); Michail Alexandros Kourtis (NCSR Demokritos, Greece); George Xylouris (Orion Innovations PC, Greece)

3) Towards Efficient Control-Flow Attestation with Software-Assisted Multi-level Execution Tracing

Dimitrios Papamartzivanos (Ubitech Ltd., Greece); Sofia Anna Menesidou (Ubitech Ltd, Greece); Panagiotis Gouvas (Ubitech, Greece); Thanassis Giannetsos (Ubitech Ltd., Greece)

4) Using Anomaly Detection Techniques for Securing 5G Infrastructure and Applications

Athanasios Priovolos, Dimitris Lioprasitis and Georgios Gardikis (Space Hellas S.A., Greece); Socrates Costicoglou (Space Hellas SA, Greece)

5) Controlled and Secure Sharing of Classified Threat Intelligence between Multiple Entities

Ricardo Fernandes (ESTG, Politécnico do Porto & INESC TEC, Portugal); Pedro Pinto (Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo & INESC TEC, Portugal); Antonio Pinto (Politechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal & INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal)

Special Session 5 (Virtual)

End-to-end slicing and data-driven automation of next generation cellular networks with mobile edge clouds (SEMANTIC)
Date/Time: Friday, Sept 10th, from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM Athens time (UTC+3)

Chairs: Abdo Gaber (Physical Layer and System Design, Germany), Walter Nitzold (National Instruments, Germany), Tommy Svensson (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden), Anna Tzanakaki (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), Dionysis Xenakis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)

1) Building Datasets for Predicting VNF Interference

Madhura Adeppady, Carla Fabiana Chiasserini and Paolo Giaccone (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)

2) Zero Touch Enabled Management and Orchestration of The Next Generation E2E Networks & Services

S. Roy (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya & Centre Tecnològic Telecomunicacions Catalunya, Spain)

3) MEC Service Integration in Open RAN Based on AI/ML

Vaishnavi Kasuluru (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya & Centre Tecnològic Telecomunicacions Catalunya, Spain)

4) AI-enabled techniques for enhanced video service provisioning in mobile data networks

Yevhenii Osadchuk (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece); Dionysios Xenakis (National And Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)

5) End-to-end network slicing and orchestration

Suvidha Sudhakar Mhatre (Iquadrat Informatica, Spain)

6) A reinforcement learning approach for end-to-end slicing in beyond 5G networks

Pavlos Doanis, Theodoros Giannakas and Thrasyvoulos Spyropoulos (EURECOM, France)

7) Identification of Network KPIs to Improve Network performance using Machine Learning Techniques

Qurat Ulain, Vestergaard Christian, Arne Morten Kastel, Enver Asad and Bjorling Axel (Telenor, Sweden); Colella Riccardo (Telenor, Sweden & Politecnico di Milano, Italy); Rius I Riu Jaume (Telenor & Lund Technical University, Sweden)

8) Deep Learning-based Channel Estimation for Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces aided MIMO Systems

Mehdi Sattari and Tommy Svensson (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)

9) Towards Application-aware Efficient and Agile Non-orthogonal Multiple Access Techniques

Azadeh Tabeshnezhad and Tommy Svensson (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)

10) O-RAN meets AI

Sudharshan Paindi Jayakumar (Nokia Bell Labs, France)

11) Towards SEMANTIC massive connectivity in 5G networks using MEC and blockchain technologies

Diana Zhussip (Fogus Innovations and Services P. C., Greece); Dionysis Xenakis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)

12) Resource allocation in beyond 5G Virtualized Networks with Distributed Deep Neural Networks

Ali Ehsanian, Thrasyvoulos Spyropoulos and Theodoros Giannakas (EURECOM, France)

Special Session 6 (Hybrid)

Towards Machine-Learning Based Secure and Efficient 5G and Beyond Disaggregated Networks
Date/Time: Friday, Sept 10th, from 1:50 PM – 4:00 PM Athens time (UTC+3)

Chairs: Miquel Payaró (CTTC, Spain), John S Vardakas (IQUADRAT Informatica S. L. Barcelona, Spain)

1) Pilot Contamination Attack Detection in 5G Massive MIMO Systems Using GAN

Fatemeh Banaeizadeh and Michel Barbeau (Carleton University, Canada); Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro (Institut Mines-Telecom, France); Evangelos Kranakis and Tao Wan (Carleton University, Canada)

2) Precoding Optimization for Cell-free mMIMO in 5G and Beyond Networks: A Machine Learning Approach

Adam Girycki, Md Arifur Rahman and Adam Flizikowski (IS-Wireless, Poland)

3) P4 programmability for open networking in disaggregated networks

Idan Barnea (NVIDIA, Israel); Juan Jose Vegas Olmos (NVIDIA, Denmark); Matty Kadosh (NVIDIA, Israel)

4) Avoiding normalization uncertainties in deep learning architectures for end-to-end communication

Simon Bos, Evgenii Vinogradov and Sofie Pollin (KU Leuven, Belgium)

5) Towards Machine-Learning-Based 5G and Beyond Intelligent Networks: The MARSAL Project Vision

Kostas Ramantas (Iquadrat Informatica, Greece); Miquel Payaró (CTTC, Spain); John S Vardakas (IQUADRAT Informatica S. L. Barcelona, Spain); Sofie Pollin and Evgenii Vinogradov (KU Leuven, Belgium); Emmanouel Varvarigos (National Technical University of Athens & Computer Technology Institute, Greece); Panagiotis Kokkinos (National Technical University of Athens & University of Peloponnese, Greece); Roberto Gonzalez (NEC Laboratories Europe & NEC Iberica, Germany); Juan Jose Vegas Olmos (NVIDIA, Denmark); Ioannis Chochliouros (Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. (OTE), Greece); Philippe Chanclou (Orange Labs, France); Pierangela Samarati (Universita’ degli Studi di Milano, Italy); Adam Flizikowski and Md Arifur Rahman (IS-Wireless, Poland); Christos Verikoukis (CTTC & UB, Spain)