Mini-symposium on Next generation ultra-high-capacity access/metro optical networks
Date: 15 July 2025
Format: Remotely via MS Teams
Time: 10am-1pm (CET)
Overview
The concept of Network Digital Twinning (NDT) is emerging as a significant development in next-generation communication systems, with the potential to transform the design, deployment, and operation of 6G networks. Creating a real-time digital replica of the physical network infrastructure enables the creation of a sandbox where models can be trained, and different scenarios can be tested before deployment on physical network controllers. Likewise, this sandbox can also be used for a large number of operations, ranging from network planning, what-if scenario analysis, AI inference and training, and so on. This capability is critical for addressing the growing complexity of 6G architectures, which will integrate AI-native solutions, edge intelligence, and unprecedented levels of network flexibility.
This symposium will introduce the main challenges that operators’ networks need to face with the introduction of 6G in terms of flexibility, dynamicity, resilience, sustainability, real-time performance, etc. All these motivates the need of developing NDT solutions.
Registration for non-NESTOR members by 14.07.2025
Programme
10:00 – 11:00 “How 6G will impact transport networks?” by Prof Marc Ruiz, UPC
11:00 – 11:15 Break
11:15 – 12:15 “Network Digital Twin: Objectives, Challenges and Use Cases” by Prof Luis Velasco, UPC
12:15 – 12:30 Break
12:30 – 13:00 “Demonstration of OCATA optical time domain digital twin” by Hailey Shakespear Miles, UPC
Speakers Bios
Prof. Luis Velasco is a Full Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and Scientific Director of the Advanced Broadband Communications Center (CCABA). With over three decades of experience, he holds a B.Sc. in Telecommunications Engineering from UPM (1989), an M.Sc. in Physics from UCM (1993), an MBA from UPM (2001), and a PhD from UPC (2009).
Beginning his career at Telefónica, he was instrumental in early SDH network deployment and standardisation. In 1995, he founded Simedia—an Internet-focused SME later acquired by a major player. His academic work centres on multilayer optical networks, SDN, and AI/ML for autonomous network operation, pioneering digital-twin applications. His recent interests extend into quantum communications and secure network architectures.
Prof. Velasco has co-authored more than 270 peer-reviewed publications and two books. He has led and coordinated numerous European Horizon projects, currently including Horizon B5G-OPEN, SEASON, PREDICT‑6G, DESIRE6G, ALLEGRO, REAL‑NET, MENTOR, and UNICO5G TIMING. He is also active on editorial boards and conference committees, and industry collaborations with Cisco, Telefónica, and Infinera.
Awarded the ICREA Academia prize in 2015 and 2020, his current research interests focus on intent‑based networking, AI‑driven automation, digital twinning for 5G+, and quantum‑secure communications.
Prof Marc Ruiz received the M.Sc. degree in Statistics and Operations Research in 2009 from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC). In 2009 he joined the Advanced Broadband Communications Center (CCABA) to start his pre-doctoral research, receiving the PhD degree (with honors) in Computer Science in 2012 from the Computers Architecture Department (DAC) at UPC.
Hailey J. Shakespear Miles is a researcher specialising in optical and next‑generation networking at UPC’s Advanced Broadband Communications Center (CCABA). Her recent work includes real‑time optical network control, both centralized and distributed approaches, and quality-of-service optimisation in multi-domain environments. She is active in the international conference circuit, including ICTON 2023/24 and ECOC 2022.
Organiser: Prof Luis Velasco and UPC team
