MASTEAM-MATT Talk - Dr. Esteban Municio - Open RAN Networks for Revolutionary 6G Systems: An architectural overview.

The EETAC Master's degrees in Applied Telecom. and Engineering Management (MASTEAM)  and Advanced Telecommunications Technologies (MATT)  organize a weekly series of activities (talks, technical visits, discussion pannels) that complement the academic activities with real-world experiences from companies, research centres and institutions in the main topics of the master: Internet of Things, Smart Cities, 5G mobile communications, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Radio (SDR), cloud computing, augmented reality and audiovisual services, among others.

This week's activity will be a talk session from Dr. Esteban Municio

Speaker:  Dr. Esteban Municio (i2CAT Foundation and UC3M).

Abstract: Tech companies and standardization bodies are currently working to define the 6th generation of communication technologies, which it is expected to arrive at the end of this decade. 6G communications are expected to integrate a number of advanced technological enablers to significantly increase performance and operational efficiencies. We will introduce some of the key 6G enablers such as AI-driven network automation, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS), and will present how they can be integrated in the new Open RAN (O-RAN) paradigm to effectively positioning them as cornerstones for next-generation wireless communications.

These technologies are being used and developed in the OPEN6G project . The Open6G coordinated project -Open RANs for Revolutionary 6G Systems- conducts applied research on open RANs currently underway with the goal of designing and developing a 6G-based open test platform for the new network and sensing applications related to smart surfaces.

Bio: Dr.Esteban Municio received his B.Sc+M.Sc. degree of Telecommunication Engineering from the Madrid Polytechnic University (UPM) and obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Antwerp (Belgium) in 2020 within imec's research group IDLab. He then continued in imec as postdoctoral researcher for two more years. Since January 2022, he has been with i2CAT, where currently he is Senior Researcher at the AI-driven Systems group. He is currently Adjunct Professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in the Master in Connected Industry 4.0. He has been working in a number of EU projects such as FP7 TUCAN3G, Celtic+ FlexNet, H2020 ProTego, H2020 InterConnect, H2020 Vital-5G, H2020 DAEMON, SNS BeGREEN and SNS ORIGAMI. His research interests are in the field of AI-driven programmable open networks, Time-Sensitive Networking and ultra-reliable Industrial IoT. He is also interested in heterogeneous backhaul networks, smart city deployments, community networks and connectivity provision in rural environments.