5th Training School

Scope

As wireless research is increasingly invested in the development of sixth generation (6G) mobile networks, we are witnessing a trend towards supporting AI/ML algorithms natively in the communication standards, rather than as an add-on.

One key driver of this trend is the ever-increasing complexity of communication networks and the ambition to integrate multiple cutting-edge radio technologies, such as millimetre-wave and Terahertz communications, reflecting intelligent surfaces, integrated communication and sensing, non-orthogonal multiple access, near-field communications and extremely large antenna arrays, fluid antennas and holographic MIMO, to only name some of the most prominent proposals. The complex network coordination and resource allocation problems arising from this integration make AI/ML techniques a necessary requisite for automated and efficient decision-making.

Another key driver is the rapidly accelerating breakthroughs of AI in the computer science domain, in particular the impressive achievements of Large Language Models and Generative AI over the last year. This revolution opens up the door for expanding the scope of communication systems design beyond the traditional framework (Shannon-Weaver’s “Level A”), to achieve ambitious cross-layer designs and to tightly interweave the (formerly separate) tasks of data processing, machine learning and communication. These trends are materializing in the form of new paradigms such as goal-oriented and semantic communications.

The training school will cover a selection of these topics, featuring keynote and tutorial lectures by renowned researchers from academia and industry, focused presentations on recent advances in these research fields and hands-on sessions. The school will be held in July 2024 in Barcelona, host city of the Mobile World Congress and a global technology hub in southern Europe.

Targeted Audience

This training school is open to all, with young PhDs and early-stage researchers in electrical engineering, computer science or related fields being particularly welcome to attend and participate!

Dates

1-4 July 2024

Location

The training school will be held in the premises of the Centre Tecnològic de Telecommunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) in Castelldefels, Barcelona (Spain).

Organisers

• Carles Antón-Haro (CTTC)
• Adriano Pastore (CTTC)

Speakers

Our distinguished speakers are:

• Kaushik Chowdhury – Northeastern University, USA
• Carlo Fischione – Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden
• Jakob Hoydis – NVIDIA, France
• Mehdi Letafati – University of Oulu, Finland
• Oriol Sallent – Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain
• Phillip Stephan – University of Stuttgart, Germany
• Alvaro Valcarce – Nokia, France

Programme

The programme includes the following lectures:

• A Primer on AI/ML for Communication Networks (Carles Antón-Haro)
• Introduction to Machine Learning Challenge on Channel Charting (Phillip Stephan)
• Digital Twins for Communications: How to Create and Use Them (Jakob Hoydis)
• AI-powered evolution towards open and secure edge architectures (Oriol Sallent)
• Protocol emergence: Learning the language of the machines (Álvaro Valcarce)
• Use-case Driven Machine Learning for Wireless Sensing, Communications and Networking (Kaushik Chowdhury)
• Deep Learning-Aided Physical Layer Security: Towards Intelligent Security and Resiliency for 6G (Mehdi Letafati)
• Wireless Computations by Digital Communications (Carlo Fischione).

The program will also count with a student poster session, an AI/ML challenge with prizes and awards for both activities, as well as a panel discussion on AI-related topics.

General Schedule

The training school will run from Monday July 1st at 9:00 h until Thursday July 4th lunchtime. Lectures will be organized in morning and afternoon slots. Coffee breaks and lunches are included in the registration and will be served at CTTC’s building and in the Campus cafeteria.

Detailed Programme 

Poster Sessions

We encourage all participants to present their current research with a poster (size A0, portrait). Any topic that is tangent to either communications engineering, or machine learning, or artificial intelligence (or a combination thereof), is welcome. The poster session will be an opportunity for students, lecturers and others to informally engage in conversation and exchange ideas.

Poster slots will be reserved on a first come first serve basis until June 3rd, 2024.

The responsibility for bringing the poster to the Training School and the printing costs are on the participants’ side.
For more information, please refer to: adriano.pastore@cttc.cat

Panel Discussion

A panel discussion entitled: AI-native 6G radio interfaces: greatest hype or hope? will be held on TUE July 2nd, 16:00-17:00 h

In this panel discussion, renowned experts from the industry and academia will debate and exchange their points of view regarding the feasibility of seeing truly AI native designs in the 6G radio interface, the key drivers for their advent, main technical challenges and algorithmic bottlenecks lying ahead, or the role to be played by standardization bodies. 

Our distinguished panelists will be Jakob Hoydis (NVIDIA), Álvaro Valcarce (Nokia), Kaushik Chowdhury (Northeastern U.), and Adriano Pastore (CTTC). Moderator: Carles Antón-Haro (CTTC).

If interested, join us on-line. 

You can register here, free of charge.

Machine Learning Challenge

We kindly ask all participants to bring their laptop in order to participate in our Machine Learning Challenge. Note that the only requirement is WiFi connectivity and access to a browser. The computational power of your device is irrelevant since the challenge will consist in editing some ready-to-use Jupyter notebooks. All computations will be performed in the cloud.

The knowledge necessary to participate in the challenge will be imparted on Day 1. No advanced programming skills or familiarity with machine learning libraries is required. However, rudimentary knowledge of the Python programming language can be helpful but is no requirement.

The challenge will be presented on Day 1 (Monday, July 1) and winner(s) will be announced on Day 4 (Thursday, July 4).

Social and Cultural Events

A cultural event and a gala dinner will be organised on Tuesday July 2 after the lecture sessions. See PDF file under ‘Travel’ section above.

Language

The training school will be entirely held in English.

Visa Information

See conditions for entry into Spain here

Travel

Travel, transportation and logistics information on the venue can be found here.

Accommodation

Information on accommodation alternatives can be found here.

Registration 

Payment guidelines can be found in here.

The registration form is available here.

Registration fee: 190€ to be paid by June 14, 2024 (extended deadline)

Registration deadline: June 14, 2024 (extended deadline)

Grants

Grants, in the form of a Daily Allowance (150 € per day), are available. Applicants should send their application (see the Grant Application form in this page) to Krzysztof.cichon@put.poznan.pl and natascia.defenzo@wilab.cnit.it until May 19, 2024.

Please note: the payment of the grants will be processed at the end of the Training School and you will receive your money up to two months after the event.

Grants will be provided according to COST rules and the full presence at TS lectures is needed.

To submit your application, please send an email with the subject “CA20120 – 5th Training School Application” attaching one full document in PDF format. Please rename the file with this criteria:

– Ordinary number of the Training School
– TS
– Surname
– Name

Please find here an example: 5thTS_Surname_Name