NDT4IN 2024

1st Workshop on Network Digital Twin for Innovative Networks (NDT4IN)
Monday 28 October 2024

Scope

The use of Digital Twin for Network Management (often referred to as Network Digital Twin) is gaining more and more interest in research and standardization. The technical advantages in terms of network optimization for operators and vendors are significant, allowing them to use digital twins to (a) dynamically monitor every aspect of their networks, (b) detect or forecast anomalies, (c) simulate the effects of possible new measures on the state of the network, and (d) enforce decisions on the real infrastructure based on the simulations results on the digital counterpart, avoiding downtimes for maintenance or unexpected behaviours during operation.

Many are the different applications that are being investigated, from security aspects (e.g., anomaly detection) to energy consumption optimization; and similarly, several are the network scales and environments that can gain benefits from the use of the digital twins, from the single network devices to the modelling of an entire network, from the radio resources to the optical path’s dynamic optimization. Moreover, the spread of digital twins in several other fields (e.g., building management, smart cities or campuses, human health modelling), allows to integrate information and insights from the external environment to the network digital twin. Today Network Digital Twin is strongly considered as a future network enabler both in industry and academia and has seen an unprecedent consideration in several worldwide SDOs and Consortia. Whereas the state of defining relevant use cases is already at an advance level, aspects such as the modelling and integration of high amounts of data, or the compatibility with current network infrastructures and the definition of appropriate interfaces, still poses interesting technical challenges to address.

This workshop aims to provide a forum for researchers, students and professionals from industry, academia, and standardization to discuss challenges and present work-in-progress and solutions approaches related to Network Digital Twins. The workshop welcomes papers related to disruptive concepts, innovative solutions, preliminary results, under development testbeds, experiments, etc.

Topics of Interest

Topics of Interest to the workshop include but are not limited to:

• Digital Twin platforms that are related or applicable to the management of networks.
• Interfaces and requirements to enable network digital twin and/or intelligent management of a network.
• Modelling and description of network devices and infrastructures.
• AI-based optimization of network management.
• Integration of digital twins for joint optimization of networks and other related infrastructures (e.g., building or campus facilities, transportation).
• Automation solutions to enhance network KPIs such as energy efficiency, and security.
• Futuristic uses of digital twin to enable innovative networks.
• Network measurements and metrics for smarter management of the network infrastructure and/or network devices.
• Utilization of existing standardization solutions to implement advanced digital twins for networks.

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: 23 August 2024 6 September 2024
Acceptance Notification: 9 September 2024 20 September 2024
Camera Ready: 16 September 2024 27 September 2024
Workshop Day: 28 October 2024 28 October 2024

All times in Anywhere on Earth (AoE) timezone.

Paper Submission Guideline

Authors are invited to submit original unpublished papers not under review elsewhere. Papers should be submitted in IEEE 2-column format (Style templates can be found here). Maximum paper lengths, including title, abstract, all figures, tables, and references, are 7 pages for regular papers and 4 pages for short papers. Regular paper length could include up to 7 pages including references. Short papers are accepted as well and must not exceed 4 pages including references.

Papers have to be submitted electronically in PDF format through the EDAS conference management system, accessible via this link.

All submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and selected based on their originality, significance, technical soundness, and relevance to the workshop’s theme. For accepted papers, at least one author is expected to register and present the paper in person at the workshop. Accepted and presented papers will be published in the conference proceedings and submitted to IEEE Xplore.

Workshop Chairs

Umberto Fattore, NEC Laboratories Europe
Flavio Cirillo, NEC Laboratories Europe
Thierry Coupaye, Orange
Lieven Levrau, Nokia

Technical Program Committee (TPC)

Antonio Skarmeta, Universidad de Murcia
Bouziane Brik, University of Sharjah
Carlos J. Bernardos Cano, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Celia Garrido-Hidalgo, Universidad Castilla-La Mancha
Fang-Jing Wu, National Taiwan University
Heiner Stüttgen, IEEE Communications Society USA & NEC Laboratories Europe (retired)
Lanfranco Zanzi, NEC Laboratories Europe
Luiz Sanchez, University of Cantabria
Manoj Nair, Netcracker Telecom & Standardization Research
Marco Liebsch, NEC Laboratories Europe
Mohammad Asif Habibi, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität
Rui Aguiar, Universidade de Aveiro
Simon Pietro Romano, Università Federico II di Napoli
Xi Li, NEC Laboratories Europe

For any questions, please feel free to contact Umberto Fattore (umberto.fattore@neclab.eu).