Thought experiments, data and reproducibility for networking and FutureG research (SLICES) 2024

    Scope of the workshop

    Research in digital infrastructures as well as in other scientific domains is data driven with a strong transformative effect on the discovery process and the pace at which results and scientific publications are produced. However, it is of utmost importance to question the methodology that is used and the validity of the results produced. This is the case for instance with the growing set of publications involving AI/ML solutions.

    Several scientific domains recognize the value of experimentally-driven research and the impact of data sharing. The FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Data Principles were developed to be used as guidelines for data producers and publishers, with regards to data management and stewardship. One important aspect that differentiates FAIR from any other related initiatives is that they move beyond the traditional data and they place specific emphasis on automatic computation, thus considering both human-driven and machine-driven data activities. Since their publication, FAIR principles became widely accepted and used.

    More and more, research stakeholders nowadays require that research data is made available for other researchers to examine, experiment and develop further. Additionally, preserving the data in conjunction with how conclusions from the data were drawn, accelerates the discovery process, enable easier reproducibility of the results and thus supports evidence. It is then necessary lower the barrier for researchers to make this extra effort, before eventually, developing policies and procedures for regulating the management and publication of research data in order to make them interoperable and widely available.

    In addition, the community strongly supports the necessity for reproducibility and several esteemed initiatives have been developed. Unfortunately, very little has been achieved because the incentive is low to produce this extra effort and it does not scale as the burden is not on the authors.

    This workshop is a place for discussing, tough experiments, platforms, data and reproducibility that could structure and benefit the research community focusing on Future G Networks. Original papers are welcome on any of these topics.

    We believe that this is a topic of utmost importance for the research community and in particular for the Networking 2024 attendance, both as potential users and contributors who could contribute to make this fled a more mature and responsible science.

    This workshop will be held exclusively in-person.

    Topics of interest:

    We solicit original papers including but not limited to thought experiments, testing, data sharing, reproducibility in the following domains (not exhaustive):

    • Advanced wireless networking experimentation
      • New waveforms
      • Higher frequencies up to THz
      • Spectrum and wireless management
      • Integrated sensing and communication
      • Multiple heterogeneous radio management
    • Smart/intelligent infrastructure operation and management
      • Advanced protocols and architecture (virtualization, softwarization, programmability)
      • AI applied to infrastructure operation and optimization at all layers;
      • Generation of data to train algorithms;
      • Distribution of intelligence into the Edge of the network;
    • Design and validation of new Edge/Fog/Open RAN infrastructures
      • Software and components deployment
      • Distributed resource management
      • Geo-distributed data management
      • Federated deep-learning
      • Use Cases and deployment best practices
      • ORAN testing and validation
    • Methodology for designing and operating a scientific instrument
      • Instrumentation and measurement
      • Architecture and APIs
      • Experiment design and life-cycle management
      • Data management, metadata
      • Reproducibility
      • Testbed implementation and operation

    Important Dates

    • Paper submission deadline:  March 21, 2024April 14, 2024 (firm)
    • Notification of acceptance: April 25, 2024
    • Camera-ready deadline:  May 2, 2024
    • Workshop:  June 3, 2024

    Paper submission

    Submitted papers should be written in English by following the IEEE conference format (double-column, 10pt font), with a maximum length limit of 6 (six) printed pages, including all figures, references, and appendices.

    Papers should be submitted through EDAS in PDF using the following link:
    https://www.edas.info/newPaper.php?c=31469&track=123076

    Only original papers that have not been published or submitted for review elsewhere will be considered for publication in the proceedings.

    Papers will appear in the conference proceedings and will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore subject to meeting IEEE Xplore’s scope and quality requirements.

    At least one author of each accepted paper is required to register and present the work in the workshop.

    TPC Co-Chairs

    • Serge Fdida, Sorbonne Université, EU ESFRI SLICES
    • Abhimanyu (Manu) Gosain, Northeastern University, NSF PAWR Office
    • Georg Carle, Technical University of Munich

    Technical Program Committee Members

    • Panayiotis Andreou, UCLan Cyprus, Cyprus
    • Bartosz Belter, PSNC, Poland
    • Olivier Bonaventure, UC Louvain, Belgium
    • Yuri Demchenko, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Costas Filis, Cosmote, Greece
    • Sebastian Gallenmüller, TUM, Germany
    • JongWon Kim, GIST, Korea
    • Raymond Knopp, Eurecom, France
    • Thanasis Korakis, University of Thessaly, Greece
    • Thomas Magedanz, TU Berlin, Germany
    • Alain Mourad, Interdigital, UK
    • Luís Manuel Pessoa, Inesctec, Portugal
    • Manuel Ricardo, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
    • Damien Saucez, INRIA, France
    • Ivan Seskar, Rutgers University, USA

    Technical Program (Monday, June 3, 2024)

    11:30 - 11:45 

    Welcome - State of play and challenges
      Serge Fdida (Sorbonne Université, France)
    Abhimanyu Gosain (Northeastern University, USA)
    11:45 - 12:55 

    Session 1
      Session Chair: Thanasis Korakis (University of Thessaly, Greece)
      Core QUIC: Enabling Dynamic, Implementation-Agnostic Protocol Extensions
      Quentin De Coninck (University of Mons, Belgium)
      Modeling Network Load of Mobile Instant Messaging: A Modular Source Traffic Generator
      Fabian Poignée (University of Würzburg, Germany)
    Anika Seufert and Frank Loh (University of Wuerzburg, Germany)
    Michael Seufert (University of Augsburg, Germany)
    Tobias Hoßfeld (University of Würzburg, Germany)
      An optimized Handover management scheme tailored for Heavy Hitters in a disaggregated 5G O-RAN architecture
      Franci Gjeçi (Politecnico di Milano, Italy)
    Ilario Filippini (Politecnico di Milano, Italy)
    Antonio Capone (Politecnico di Milano, Italy)
    12:55 - 13:15 

    Mini Panel for discussion
    13:15 - 14:00 

    Lunch break
    14:00 - 16:10 

    Session 2
      Session Chair: Abhimanyu Gosain (Northeastern University, USA)
      RO-Crate for Testbeds: Automated Packaging of Experimental Results
      Eric Hauser (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
    Sebastian Gallenmüller (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
    Georg Carle (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
      slAIces: an LLM Chatbot for Simplifying Experiments with the SLICES-RI
      Dimitris Kefalas (University of Thessaly, Greece)
    Sokratis Christakis (University of Thessaly, Greece)
    Serge Fdida (Sorbonne University, France)
    Nikos Makris (University of Thessaly & CERTH, Greece)
    Ilias Syrigos (University of Thessaly, Greece)
    Virgilios Passas (University of Thessaly & CERTH, Greece)
    Thanasis Korakis (University of Thessaly, Greece)
      Wireless Signal Source Localization by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle using AERPAW Digital Twin and Testbed
      Baisakhi Chatterjee (North Carolina State University, USA)
    Sonali Chaudhari (North Carolina State University, USA)
    Zhizhen Li (North Carolina State University, USA)
    Yuchen Liu (North Carolina State University, USA)
    Rudra Dutta (North Carolina State University, USA)
      Towards Trustworthy Experimental Replication in SLICES-RI
      Panayiotis Andreou (University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus)
    Artem Osmolovskiy (University of Central Lancashire Cyprus, Cyprus)
    Panayiotis Hadjidemetriou (University of Central Lancashire Cyprus, Cyprus)
    Serge Fdida (Sorbonne University, France)
    16:10 - 16:30 

    Mini Panel for discussion
    16:30 - 16:45 

    Coffee Break
    16:45 - 17:30 

    Session 3
      Session Chair: Stavroula Maglavera (University of Thessaly, Greece)
      OpenAirLink: Reproducible Wireless Channel Emulation using Software Defined Radios
      Yash Deshpande (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
    Wolfgang Kellerer (Technische Universität München, Germany)
    Xianglong Wang (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
      Design and Development of an IoT Smart Home and Smart Grid Testbed in a Residential Living Lab
      Donatos Stavropoulos (University of Thessaly, Greece)
    Panagiotis Tzimotoudis (University of Thessaly, Greece)
    Thanasis Korakis (University of Thessaly, Greece)
    17:30 - 18:45 

    Keynote
      Session chair: Serge Fdida (Sorbonne Université, France)
      Understanding the Potential of Open Campus Networks for driving an Open 6G  - Lessons learned from the German Flagship Project CampusOS
      Thomas Magedanz (TU Berlin / Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany)
    18:45 - 19:00 

    Wrap up - Conclusions
      Serge Fdida (Sorbonne Université, France)