The work shop is jointly organized by O-RAN next Generation Research Group (nGRG) and O-RAN Industry Engagement Focus Group (IEFG).
Date: June22, 2023
Location: Osaka, Japan - complementing the O-RAN ALLIANCE F2F meetings
Admission: O-RAN ALLIANCE members and participants are free to attend
Abstract: We are currently developing next generation cyber infrastructure called Beyond 5G/6G for 2030s.
In recent years, there have been noticeable new trends such as softwarization, virtualization and modularization of mobile infrastructure components through open interfaces and also democratizing the development of cyber infrastructure by privatization such as Private5G and Local 5G/Local6G.
These trends are rapidly expanding globally as they are effectively bringing more stakeholders in the market as well as enabling rapid deployable, tailored solutions as opposed to one-size-fits-all services traditionally offered by telecommunication industries.
Open RAN is one of such examples, clearly separating the cooperative and competitive areas with an open interface, making it possible to build consensus on functional development, promote rapid development, and even allow the entry of new stakeholders. Along with the rise of Open RAN, vRAN, which virtualizes RAN functions into software, is also creating synergies. Furthermore, these component technologies are being accelerated by a technology called software-enabled technology, which enables flexible and rapid evolution.
In this presentation, we introduce our R&D activities for Beyond 5G, especially focusing on Softwarization in Local5G, Open RAN, vRAN, and discuss the significance of global collaboration.
Akihiro Nakao received B.S. (1991) in Physics, M.E. (1994) in Information Engineering from the University of Tokyo. He was at IBM Yamato Laboratory, Tokyo Research Laboratory, and IBM Texas Austin from 1994 till 2005. He received M.S. (2001) and Ph.D. (2005) in Computer Science from Princeton University. He taught as an associate professor (2005-2014) and as a professor (2014-2021) in Applied Computer Science, at Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, the University of Tokyo.
He has served as Vice Dean of the University of Tokyo’s Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies (2019-2021). In April 2021, he has moved to School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo (2021-present). Since April 2023, he has been serving as Head of Department of System Innovations, School of Engineering. He was appointed as an adviser to the President of the University of Tokyo (2019-2020) and has been a special adviser to the President of the University of Tokyo (2020-present). He is serving as Director, Collaborative Research Institute for NGCI,（Next-Generation Cyber Infrastructure）, the University of Tokyo (2021-present).
For social services, he has been playing several important roles in Japanese government and also at research societies. He has also been appointed Chairman of the 5G Mobile Network Promotion Forum (5GMF) Network Architecture Committee by Japanese government. He has been appointed as Chairman of 5G/Beyond 5G committee, Space ICT Promotion Initiative Forum, International Committee, and Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium as well (2020-present). From 2020 to present, he is a chair and advisor of IEICE technical committee on network systems (NS) as well as a chair of IEICE technical committee on cross-field research association of super-intelligent networking (RISING). He has been elected to become the president of Communication Society, IEICE, in 2024.
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Abstract: Majority of current 5G commercial deployments have been centered around eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband) services and future deployments will be targeting vertical use cases. Because of 6G’s economy-wide impacts, the strategic needs of vertical industry segments will be critical to the success of 6G systems both in terms of enabling capabilities and squeezing the time to commercial realization. This talk focuses on vertical industry needs on building on the NGA’s earlier “Roadmap to 6G” publication and is based on the recently published white paper titled “6G Roadmap for Vertical Industries”. The talk is the culmination of combined literature research and interviews with industry experts to gather information on industry drivers and 6G needs. This presentation will examine eight industry verticals based on their economic importance and expected reliance on next generation communications systems. It is expected that building upon this early assessment of 6G vertical industry needs, this work can be progressed to a desired set of performance attributes and technology advancements that will lead to strong 6G market adoption in North America.
Douglas Castor is Head of Wireless Research at Interdigital, where he leads the incubation and development of emerging technologies for wireless systems. Since joining InterDigital in 2000, he has led teams in both product development and research innovations for 3G through 6G cellular and IEEE Wi-Fi technologies. Key topics currently under Doug’s leadership include extending cellular to sub-THz frequencies, enhancing performance through extreme MIMO and spectrum sharing techniques, enabling “near zero power” cellular modems, and the integration of communication and computing systems.
Prior to joining InterDigital, Doug held Communication Engineer positions at General Electric, Lockheed Martin, and General Atronics. He holds over 25 US granted patents. Doug earned a BSEE from the Pennsylvania State University (1992) and MSEE degree from the University of Pennsylvania (1995).
Doug is a founder and leader for the annual 6G World 6G Symposium. He currently holds industry board positions at NYU Wireless, and Northeastern University’s Wireless Internet of Things. Doug is a Vice Chair of ATIS’s Next G Alliance 6G National Roadmap Working Group, and was editor of its first 6G Roadmap Report.
Amitava Ghosh is a Nokia Fellow and Head, Radio Interface Group at Nokia Bell Labs. He joined Motorola in 1990 after receiving his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University, Dallas. Since joining Motorola he worked on multiple wireless technologies starting from IS-95, cdma-2000, 1xEV-DV/1XTREME, 1xEV-DO, UMTS, HSPA, 802.16e/WiMAX and 3GPP LTE. He has 60 issued patents, has written multiple book chapters and has authored numerous external and internal technical papers. He is currently working on 5G Evolution and 6G technologies. His research interests are in the area of digital communications, signal processing and wireless communications. He is the recipient of 2016 IEEE Stephen O. Rice and 2017 Neal Shephard prize, member of IEEE Access editorial board and co-author of the book titled “Essentials of LTE and LTE-A”.
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Hideo Nishimura is a standardization and technology marketing manager at Yokogawa Electric with over 15 years of experience in R&D, international standardization, and technology marketing for communication technologies. He actively represents his company (or country) in various industry forums and standard development organizations, including 5G-ACIA, IEC, ETSI, and the OPC Foundation.
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Yingying Wang is the Research Program Lead on 6G wireless architecture and protocol stack. She has extensive experience in RAN architecture and protocol stack of 4G and 5G. She was the co-chair of O-RAN WG8, and had contributed significantly to O-RAN WG3. She has published near 10 papers and holds over 100 patents.
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Abstract: In the rapidly evolving landscape of robotics, AR/VR/XR, automotive perception, and machine learning applications, it has become evident that traditional approaches to network optimization focused solely on throughput and latency are insufficient. To deliver an enhanced user experience, it is crucial to consider additional network metrics such as jitter and application state awareness. Such requirements are not traditional considered during the standardization and nor are easy to optimize.
In this talk, I would first present the limitations of existing RAN intelligent controllers (RICs) in adapting to highly mobile wireless channels, which restricts their ability to meet the on-demand needs of applications. While these controllers may offer macro level network optimizations, I will next introduce EdgeRIC—a realtime RAN intelligent controller that leverages the power of AI, specifically Reinforcement Learning, to elevate the performance of ORAN (Open RAN) stacks and address the diverse requirements of various applications in realtime. Decoupled from the RAN stack, EdgeRIC functions as an intelligent controller that employs AI-powered optimization techniques to provide control decisions to the RAN across multiple-layers. Next, to train these AI models, we have developed a digital twin that ensures spatial and temporal consistency of the wireless channel. Our deployment showcases the integration of EdgeRIC with an open-source ORAN stack, highlighting the remarkable over-the-air performance improvements achieved. Notably, we present compelling results, demonstrating a substantial 75% reduction in video streaming stalls with an application aware intelligent scheduling policy.
Prof. Dinesh Bharadia has been an associate professor in the ECE department at the University of California San Diego since July 2022, where he directs the WCSNG group. He received early promotion to a tenured professorship and held Assistant Professorship for four brief years from 2018 – 2022. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2016 and was a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT. Specifically, he built a prototype of a radio that invalidated a long-held assumption in wireless that radios cannot transmit and receive simultaneously on the same frequency, which inspired research on this topic from different communities (communication theory to RFIC). From 2013 to 2015, he worked to commercialize his research on full-duplex radios, building a product that underwent successful field trials at Tier 1 network providers worldwide like Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom. This product is currently under deployment. He serves as a technical advisor for multiple startups. Dinesh was named to Forbes 30 under 30 for the science category worldwide list in recognition of his work. Dinesh was named a Marconi Young Scholar for outstanding wireless research and was awarded the Michael Dukakis Leadership Award. MIT Technology Review also named him one of the top 35 Innovators under 35 worldwide in 2016.
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Dr. Venkatesh Ramaswamy is Chief Technologist at MITRE Labs in Bedford, Massachusetts where he currently leads technical innovation and R&D activities in 5G/xG technologies. He has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and has held technical leadership positions at top technology companies, startups, and research labs. Currently he serves as one of the active industry members of the ATIS/Next G Alliance Research Council working on the development of a comprehensive North American 6G strategy. He also an industry researcher at the NSF Edge AI Institute looking at synergies between networking and AI. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and patents, served as a TPC member for various conferences, and participated in several technical panels. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mississippi.
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Dr. Harish Viswanathan is Head of Radio Systems Research Group in Nokia Bell Labs. He received the B. Tech. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Since joining Bell Labs in October 1997, he has worked extensively on wireless research ranging from physical layer to network architecture and protocols including multiple antenna technology for cellular wireless networks, multi-hop relays, network optimization, network architecture, and IoT communications. He has published extensively with over 100 publications. From 2007 to 2015, Harish was in the Corp CTO organization, where as a CTO Partner he advised the Corporate CTO on Technology Strategy through in-depth analysis of emerging technology and market needs. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Bell Labs Fellow.
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Dr. Andreas Mueller is a renowned expert at the forefront of connectivity research and 5G/6G innovation. As the leader of Bosch's strategic 6G activities across diverse business units and sites, he spearheads holistic transformative endeavors aligned with business imperatives. With his profound expertise in communication technologies for the IoT, Andreas also serves as the Chief Expert in this field. Moreover, he has held the position of General Chair of 5G-ACIA, the globally leading organization driving and shaping Industrial 5G, since its establishment in 2018. Andreas’ pivotal contributions also include coordinating and advancing Bosch's Industrial 5G undertakings over the last couple of years, focusing on key areas such as private networks, Open RAN, AI/ML, and edge computing. Equipped with a robust background in telecommunications and vertical industry applications, Andreas is uniquely positioned to drive the transformative 5G/6G-enabled revolution across various sectors.
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Dr. Afif Osseiran is director of Industry Engagements & Research at Ericsson’s headquarter in Stockholm. He is the general vice-chair of the 5G-ACIA alliance, a board member and treasurer of the 6G-IA association, and a member of the governing board of the European public-private partnership SNS JU. His main responsibility is to bridge insights, tactics and strategies between technology, research/standardization and industrial sectors such as manufacturing. He holds a doctorate degree from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden, a master’s degree from École Polytechnique de Montreal, and another one from INSA Rennes, France. Since 1999 he has held several positions at Ericsson in various units. From 2014 to 2017, he was director of radio communications at the Ericsson CTO office with the main responsibility to develop the strategy for 5G and Industrial IoT. From 2012 to 2014, he managed METIS, the EU 5G flagship project. He has been a member of the steering committee of the EUCNC conference since 2020. He is also IoT and Machine-Type Communication series editor of the IEEE Communications Standards Magazine. Dr. Osseiran has authored over 70 inventions, technical journals, conferences, and white papers. He also coauthored the first comprehensive book on 5G with Cambridge and two books on IMT-Advanced with Wiley. Dr. Osseiran is a senior member of IEEE.
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Prof. Zhisheng Niu graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University, China, in 1985, and got his M.E. and D.E. degrees from Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan, in 1989 and 1992, respectively. During 1992-1994, he worked for Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., Japan, and in 1994 joined with Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, where he is now a professor at the Department of Electronic Engineering. During 1997-1998, he visited Hitachi Central Research Laboratory as a HIVIPS senior researcher. His major research interests include queueing theory and traffic engineering, wireless communications and mobile Internet, vehicular communications and smart networking, and green communication and networks.
Dr. Niu has been serving IEEE Communications Society since 2000, first as Chair of Beijing Chapter and then as Director of Asia-Pacific Board, Director for Conference Publications, Chair of Emerging Technologies Committee, and Director for Online Contents. He has also served as editor of IEEE Wireless Communication, associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/CIC joint publication China Communications, and Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Trans. Green Commun. & Networks. He received the Outstanding Young Researcher Award from Natural Science Foundation of China in 2009, Best Paper Awards from IEEE Communication Society Asia-Pacific Board in 2013 and from Journal of Communications and Information Networks (JCIN) in 2019, Distinguished Technical Achievement Recognition Award from IEEE Communications Society Green Communications and Computing Technical Committee in 2018, and Harold Sobol Award for Exemplary Service to Meetings & Conferences from IEEE Communication Society in 2019. He was selected as a distinguished lecturer of IEEE Communication Society as well as IEEE Vehicular Technologies Society. He is a fellow of both IEEE and IEICE.
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Abstract: As architect of Singapore’s Digital Future, the presentation will touch on Singapore’s 5G infrastructure journey, and how IMDA works with industry and ecosystem to unlock the value of 5G. With early vision of 6G now emerging, IMDA is also looking ahead and investing in R&D for communications through the launch of Future Communications R&D Programme (FCP). With regards to FCP, the presentation will provide a glimpse of (i) some of the key research areas that we are embarking; (ii) testbeds to facilitate research; and (iii) ecosystem development.
Nga Chee Wei is the Director, Emerging Technology Office of Infocomm Media Development Authority, Singapore, where he develops and implements research-to-business strategies, invests in frontier technology, and fosters a collaborative research community that is responsive to industry demand and has strong international mindshare. Among the appointments he held previously, he was the Director (Infocomm Digital Platforms) of Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) where he formulated and executed the digital infrastructure capabilities development plan needed to support the defence digitalisation’s lines of effort. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Cap Vista Pte Ltd, the strategic investment arm of DSTA, where he developed and drove strategies to maximise the returns of corporate venture capital programmes. Chee Wei holds two master’s degrees in electrical engineering with majors in communications and networking engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, US, and National University of Singapore.
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Joachim Sachs is a senior expert at Ericsson Research. He coordinates research on 5G and 6G mobile networks for Industrial IoT and vertical use cases, including cross-industry research collaborations. He has Ph.D. and diploma degrees from Technical University Berlin and RWTH Aachen University, respectively, and was a visiting scholar at Stanford University. He is co-chair of the Technical Committee on Communication Networks and Systems of the German VDE Information Technology Society.
Joachim holds numerous patents and has published 3 books, 2 book chapters and around 90 papers in international journals and conferences. He is regular co-organizer of workshops, panels, sessions and journal special issues.
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Rongwei Ren is AI-LINK Executive Director, leading large-scale e-commerce and automatic factory 4.0 transformation. She was a key contributor of ETSI NFV and a key leader of O-RAN WG6 at its early formation stage.
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Abstract: The talk will discuss the open challenges for 6G networks and how openness and intelligence in the network will fit into the picture.
Dr. Yue Wang is the Head of 6G Research at Samsung UK. She leads a team of researchers to identify and develop mid-to-long term technologies for 6G networks, system architecture and AI for networks. Prior to this role, she led a team on applying Artificial Intelligence to networks, and delivered research, technologies, and proof-of-concepts of AI for network operation and management. She participated in multiple SDOs, including O-RAN and ETSI ENI (Experiential Networked Intelligence), and has been the Secretary and Rapporteur of ETSI ISG ENI in 2017-2020. Yue is the Industry Advisory Board of King’s College of London, Loughborough University, and University of Sussex, and more recently the Chair of AI Expert Working Group of UKTIN (UK Telecom Innovation Network).
Prior to joining Samsung, Yue held various roles in the US and the UK, all on wireless communications research and standards. She is the recipient of ETSI ENI Award for her ‘extraordinary contributions’ in 2019, and Cambridge Wireless Technology and Innovation Award for Outstanding Woman Engineer of the Year in 2020. Yue received her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Victoria, Canada.
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Ravi Sinha is working with world’s fastest growing telco brand Reliance Jio as Vice President 5G/ 6G Technology and Product Development.
He is a versatile R&D Executive serving leadership roles in wireless industry with expertise in product development and technology strategy, business analysis, M&A assessments, Strategy planning that enables Jio to achieve its long-term objectives. He brings over two decades of experience and working with some of the world’s largest telecom companies and service providers. In his previous role, he spearheaded efforts to innovate cutting edge projects around small cell solutions and Cloud Native Infra assets for Telco Consumptions.
Ravi Sinha is leading global SDOs in Open-Source Paradigm. He is the Co Chairman of O-RAN Next Generation Research Group (6G and beyond) as well as the Chairman of Small Cell Forum (SCF) Emerging Technology Group. He is leading multiple teams from Telco and Service verticals in 6G, 5G and High Compute Edge Fabric related to Use cases, Architecture, Advance Radios, Native AI Automation and Native Security.
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Hiroshi Takeshita joined Rakuten Mobile, Inc. in 2018 and was initially responsible for packet core and domestic roaming deployment at the launch of 4G and 5G NSA services. From November 2020 he started end-to-end network performance assurance and capacity design, before becoming deputy head of network connectivity and product engineering including RAN and Core Network product in August 2021. In his current position since May 2023 Takeshita oversees the mobile network & device engineering, technical standards, cognitive customer experience management as well as network performance and capacity.
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Chih-Lin I is CMCC Chief Scientist of Wireless Technologies. She received Ph.D. EE from Stanford University. She has won 2005 IEEE ComSoc Stephen Rice Prize, 2018 Fred W. Ellersick Prize, and 2015 IEEE Industrial Innovation Award for Leadership and Innovation in Next-Generation Cellular Wireless Networks.
She is the Chair of O-RAN Technical Steering Committee and an O-RAN Executive Committee Member, the Chair of FuTURE 5G/6G SIG, the Chair of WAIA (Wireless AI Alliance) Executive Committee, an Executive Board Member of GreenTouch, a Network Operator Council Founding Member of ETSI NFV, a Steering Board Member and Vice Chair of WWRF, a Steering Committee member and the Publication Chair of IEEE 5G and Future Networks Initiatives, a member of IEEE ComSoc SDB, SPC, and CSCN-SC, and a Scientific Advisory Board Member of Singapore NRF.
She has 100+ patents, published 200+ Journal and conference papers, and 3 books. Her current research interests center around ICDT Deep Convergence: “From Green & Soft to Open & Smart”.
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Scott Probasco develops technology and standards for wireless devices, networks & services and has 20+ years of experience. He has actively contributed to multiple standards development organizations including 3GPP, O-RAN ALLIANCE, Next G ALLIANCE, GSMA, IETF, IEEE and ITU with various Chairman, rapporteur, technical editor and individual contributor positions. He holds multiple patents in the area of wireless telecommunications
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David is at Rakuten Symphony, serving as Chief Information and Security Officer (CISO), e2e, Global. Prior to that, he was Chief Technology and Cyber Security Officer (CTSO) within ASIA Pacific Region at Huawei; Head of 5G Technology, e2e, Global, at Nokia; and Head of Central Research Institute (CRI) and VP Strategic Research and Innovation in Europe, at Huawei European Research Centre (ERC).
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Eng Wei Koo is Head of Standards and Solutions Strategy at Keysight Technologies. Eng Wei has more than 20 years of experience working on mobile networks standards and developing lab tests and live networks assurance and optimization solutions for radio access and core networks. Eng Wei is responsible for Keysight’s strategy for its mobile networks test solutions portfolio and standards engagements for 5G/B5G in 3GPP and O-RAN ALLIANCE. Eng Wei is currently a co-chair of O-RAN ALLIANCE Minimum Viable Plan Committee (MVP-C) which is primarily responsible for O-RAN roadmap and releases planning. Eng Wei has co-authored two books focusing on 4G and 5G lab testing, field optimization, and assurance, several whitepapers and holds several patents for 5G radio test and optimization techniques.
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Dr. Tao Chen is a principal scientist at VTT Finland and the co-chair of the next generation research group (nGRG) in O-RAN Alliance. He has been working in the telecommunication sector for over two decades. In VTT, he used to lead a team working on AI/ML applications, data analytics, and data-driven solutions for a variety of industry sectors, including telecommunications, satellite remote sensing, automated driving, and mining. He has extensive experience leading large research and development projects in Europe. Back to 2015, Dr. Chen’s EU COHERENT project was the first to propose the RAN intelligent controller concept within a software defined RAN. He is a Royal Academy of Engineering visiting professor at University of Kent, UK, and associated professor (Docent) at University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He acts as the technical editor of IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine and IEEE Transactions of Cognitive Communications and Networks. Dr. Chen has published more than 80 scientific publications. His current research interests include RAN cloudification, software networking for 5G/6G mobile networks, dynamic spectrum access, AI/ML in wireless networks, energy efficiency and resource management in heterogeneous wireless networks.
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