Anna Tzanakaki: “Network Security in the 6G Era”
Chair: to be defined
Anna Tzanakaki
National and Kapodistrian Univ. Athens, GR
Date, hour and room to be defined
Abstract
5G network deployments suffer a variety of security risks expected to be significantly magnified in the 6G era. Given the interest in open solutions (e.g. O-RAN) there is a clear need to promote increased interoperability of equipment and facilitate standardisation with specific security objectives. Advanced 6G technology features such as increased network configuration flexibility (e.g. CF-MIMO) and new service models such as ISAC, introduce additional security challenges that need to be addressed. Complex 6G infrastructures, involving excessive volumes of operational parameters, will need to optimize their operation adopting extensively AI enabled automation. To perform this, 6G platforms will have to collect and process large volumes of data, ensuring high level of data privacy, security and trust and exploit AI/ML schemes not only to improve performance, but also to support secure operation of the entire infrastructure. This will entail suitable monitoring solutions and appropriate mechanisms/processes to ensure secure operations and cybersecurity threat intelligence sharing in multi-vendor/multi-operator environments.
CV
Anna Tzanakaki is an Associate Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece where she is leading the “Systems and Networks” Research Group. Previously she was an Associate Professor at the Athens Information Technology (AIT) Center, Greece and an adjunct faculty member of the Information Networking Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, USA. Her research interests include network architectures and design and over the past 10 years has focused on 5G and 6G infrastructures. She has been and is actively participating in a number of 5G PPP and 6G IA EU projects, has served as the technical coordinator of the 5G PPP projects 5G-PICTURE and 5G-VICTORI, and is currently the Project and Technical coordinator of the EU DEP project 5G-TACTIC focusing on 5G Security. She is a co-author of over 230 publications and co-inventor of several granted and published patents. She is the recipient of the OPTICA Jane Simmons speakership award 2024 for her contribution to optical and converged network research.
Erik G. Ström: “Ultra-Reliable and Massive Machine-Type Communication Beyond 6G: Challenges, Paradigms, and Research Directions”
Chair: to be defined
Erik Ström
Univ. Chalmers, SE
Date, hour and room to be defined
Abstract
Machine-type communication (MTC) is fundamental to modern wireless networks, supporting industrial automation, smart infrastructure, and cyber-physical systems. The transition beyond 6G presents new challenges for both massive MTC (mMTC) and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) in terms of scalability, resilience, and security. Future networks must handle extreme connectivity demands while ensuring robust performance in dynamic and adversarial environments. This keynote will discuss the limitations of current MTC paradigms and explore approaches to achieve high reliability, low latency, and massive scalability. Topics include efficient random access protocols, improved error detection and correction, and evolving network architectures. As MTC becomes vital for critical infrastructure, securing against adversarial manipulation and jamming will be essential. Addressing these challenges will enable ubiquitous, secure, and resilient MTC for beyond 6G networks.
CV
Erik G. Ström received the M.Sc. degree from KTH – Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1994, both in electrical engineering. After stints as a postdoc and assistant professor at KTH, he joined Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1996 where he is now a Professor in Communication Systems. Prof. Ström heads the Division of Communications, Antennas, and Optical Networks and is the director of Chalmers’ Area-of-Advance Information and Communication Technology. His research interests include signal processing and communication theory in general, and channel estimation, synchronization, multiple access, multiuser detection, wireless positioning, vehicular communications, and machine-type communication in particular. He received the Chalmers Pedagogical Prize in 1998, the Chalmers Ph.D. Supervisor of the Year award in 2009, and the Chalmers Area of Advance Award in 2020. Dr. Ström is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Wen Tong: “”
Chair: to be defined
Wen Tong
CTO, Huawei Wireless, Huawei Technologies, CA
Date, hour and room to be defined
Abstract
Available soon
CV
Dr. Wen Tong is the CTO, Huawei Wireless and a Huawei Fellow. He is the head of Huawei wireless research, and the Huawei 5G chief scientist and led Huawei’s 10-year-long 5G wireless technologies research and development. Dr. Tong is the industry recognized leader in invention of advanced wireless technologies, for the past three decades, he had pioneered fundamental technologies from 1G to 6G wireless. Dr. Tong was elected as an IEEE Fellow. He was the recipient of IEEE Communications Society Industry Innovation Award and IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Industry Leader Award for “pioneering technical contributions and leadership in the mobile communications industry and innovation in 5G mobile communications technology”. He is also the recipient of R.A. Fessenden Medal. Prior to joining Huawei in 2009, Dr. Tong was the Nortel Fellow and head of the Network Technology Labs at Nortel. He joined the Wireless Technology Labs at Bell Northern Research in 1995 in Canada. Dr. Tong is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering.
