Industry Panels

IF Panel 1 – 5G Challenges and Opportunities

Tuesday 09:00

Chair: Prof. Hamid Aghvami, Kings College London

Room: ICC Auditorium

As envisaged, 5G comprises heterogeneous networks, both cellular (wide-area) and non-cellular (local area) networks. What are not yet known are the design approach (evolutionary or revolutionary) and design road maps. The panel will address end-to-end 4G requirements, challenges and opportunities, and user, operator and service provider expectations. It will also discuss the potential use of the following mechanisms and techniques for the design of 5G networks: • Software Defined Network (SDN) (Separation of control and data planes) • Network Function Virtualization (end-to- end network resource sharing) • Cloud computing • Full automation (measurements and reporting) • Self-X (self-configuration, self-optimization and self-healing) These techniques offer other advantages such as easy and fast roll out, easy capacity and coverage expansion, easy network upgrading, support for multi-vendors' equipment, lower energy consumption, network sharing and more

IF Panel 02: Can we Ensure the Long-Term Sustainability of the Internet?

Tuesday 09:00

Chairs: Prof. Jaafar Elmirghani, University of Leeds, (UK) ; Prof. Kerry Hinton, Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunications (AU)

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

In 2011 a projection for the growth of power consumption by the Internet indicated that, by 2025, the Internet's power consumption (excluding data centres) will grow from about 1.5% of global electricity consumption to greater than 10% and even over 50%. Since then the telecommunications industry has been working on avoiding such an unsustainable outcome by allocating significant resources to improve the energy efficiency of networks. This panel will provide several perspectives on key areas of the network in which significant work has been undertaken in developing technologies and strategies for improving network energy efficiency. The areas to be covered will be: - Wireless access networks - Wireline access networks - Metro/core networks - Anywhere, anytime, ubiquitous cloud services and content distribution - The Internet of Things Participants will gain an up-to-date overview of the current situation and future trends in Internet energy efficiency.

IF Panel 03: Smart City and Sustainable Ecology: A Trans-disciplinary and Trans-continental Perspective

Tuesday 14:30

Chair: Dr. Paulina Chan (Imperial College Ambassador and Principal & CEO of Global Mutual Consortium, Hong Kong)

Room: ICC Auditorium

Planning and building Digital Portals, Smart Cities & Smart Nations, and transforming our world as an Intelligent Planet have been a major focus of novel technologies and innovative development across industries, academic institutions, and political parties. Successful translation and deployment of smart technologies into commercial products and services, as well as their social acceptance require trans-disciplinary commitments, cross-cultural partnerships, and trans-continental support. All is done for the benefits of improving quality of life and global ecology. Invited panelists of this international session are notable leaders and distinguished professionals in multidisciplinary industries, academia, and governments. They are responsible for and committed to approving, planning, building, and maintaining digital cities, intelligent-projects, and sustainable environment worldwide. Showcase implementations, success stories and lessons learned in London, the European Union, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and the USA will be shared and discussed. Audience at the session will also be invited and encouraged to interact with the subject matter experts to share common interests and ideas such as application-based R&D, feasible opportunities, and user experience.

IF Panel 04: 5G Architecture

Tuesday 14:30

Chair: Simone Redana (Nokia Networks, Germany)

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

Mobile networks have become the main communication vehicle for the upcoming connected society. In addition to humans, billions of machines will be connected to the network in the future, yielding a 10.000 traffic increase beyond 2020. However, such traffic increase does not necessarily lead to a similar increase in the revenue of mobile network operators, which need to make very high investments to handle all this traffic. This challenges the deployment of a mobile network that can satisfy the requirements of the society and at the same time is sustainable for network operators. A fundamental piece to address this challenge is the design of a novel mobile network architecture that provides the necessary flexibility to offer new services in an efficient way and inherently can share or distribute infrastructure resources dynamically, such that operators can increase their revenue through the new services, while leveraging the efficiency of the architecture to do so in a cost-effective way. Current mobile networks are not well suited to address the above challenge. In 4G mobile networks, large effort was made in making the air interface fully adaptive to changing radio conditions, but lack similar functionality to optimize the network side. Eventually, while current architectures have been very successful in the last few years, they do not provide the required flexibility to cope with the service and traffic diversity required by 5G mobile networks as well as the current trends in terms of topologies. Such trends (in terms of traffic and topologies) make networks increasingly heterogeneous and require tailored solutions to adapt to each specific scenario and service in an efficient way. In order to overcome the limitations of today's networks, the central goal of this panel is to discuss about future mobile network architectures that can flexibly adapt its operation to the specific characteristics and requirements of a given service and scenario.In this panel we invite representatives from key vendors, operators, vertical industry and experts from academia.

IF Panel 05: 5G Eco-systems and Platforms in Future Cities

Tuesday 16:30

Chair: Simon Fletcher (NEC, United Kingdom), Stuart Revell (TechUK, United Kingdom)

Room: ICC Auditorium

The TechUK Future Technologies Network (FTN) brings thought leaders from public and private organisations working together with industry and especially SMEs to stimulate new business models and service innovations. Representatives from the FTN Radio and IoT working groups come together in this session to analyse the key elements of the 5G and IoT technologies and identify any unifying themes that may signify emerging platforms upon which SMEs can locate their business models.
 
IF Panel 06: 5G Initiatives

Tuesday 16:30

Chair: Dr Zhu Peiying, Huawei Technologies

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

Over the past few years, 5G has been a hot topic both in industry and academia. Several 5G vision and white papers have been published by various companies, 5G forums and research committees. Recently, NGMN published the 5G white paper to express the operators' views. 3GPP RAN will organize workshop in Sept 2015 to discuss standardization aspects, which signaling a step forward bringing 5G from concept to reality. Various potential technologies have been discussed; however, it is far from consensus what the 5G key enabling potential technologies are and weather the proposed technologies can meet the 5G requirements.In this panel, we propose to invite representatives from key vendors and operators to have interactive dialogues and debates on the following (not limited) topics• What are the key technologies?• Why and when do we need these technologies?• How can these technologies meet 5G requirements?• What are the relatively mature technologies to be standardized?• What are the steps/processes to ensure a successful 5G standard and products?• Which mmWave band will have the best chance in 5G?TBC.

IF Panel 07: 5G Channel Measurement and Model

Wednesday, 09:00

Chair: Dr Yi Wang, Huawei Technologies

Room: ICC Auditorium

With the explosive increase in mobile traffic in recent years, it has become urgent to study a new generation of wireless communication systems to meet future needs. Recently a growing discussion on 5G wireless is emerging both in industry and academia. A widely accepted view is that 5G will consider both low frequency bands (below 6GHz) as well as higher frequency bands, typically 6-100GHz, to get additional and wider bandwidth spectrum for radio access networks. New technologies such as massive MIMO, new waveforms and new networks architectures are being widely discussed for use with both low frequency bands and higher frequency bands. A fundamental question is whether the channel studied for 5G will be much different than current 4G channels. The changes are coming from a few factors:1) Carrier frequencies are moving to higher frequency bands (e.g., above 6GHz) and the corresponding channel propagation properties are still not well known in cellular environments. Recently there have been a number of publications on channel propagation for the mmWave bands, but not enough measurements have been done to provide full insight into the channel characteristics. Moreover, it is not clear whether traditional channel models (e.g., models in 3GPP, ITU and WINNER projects) are suitable for bands above 6GHz.2) With the introduction of new technologies to 5G (e.g., massive MIMO) and new scenarios to 5G (e.g., UDN), traditional channel models may no longer be suitable. Such changes may include the power delay profile, different materials, and the coupling of the antenna pattern with channels. Thus, it is widely accepted that 5G needs to have a new channel model for technical studies and standardization.In this panel, we focus on the topic of 5G channel measurement and models in order to clarify the latest progress from various companies and academics in trying to answer the above questions. Initial topics from invited speakers will cover: 1. Channel measurements of higher frequency bands (6-100GHz) 2. Channel measurements of massive MIMO channels 3. New channel models of 5G in both low frequency bands as well as higher frequency bands 4. The implications of mmWave propagation on the overall 5G system

IF Panel 08: CAP Theorem Challenges and DevOps Approaches to Operating Next-generation Virtualized Telecom Network Infrastructure

Wednesday 09:00

Chair: Catalin Meirosu, Ericsson

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

DevOps is a paradigm shift in the way of developing and operating software and systems, based on close ties between Dev (writing and testing code) and Ops (operating the virtual infrastructure, functions and applications) activities. Next-generation telecom infrastructure as defined by the ETSI NFV initiative consists of series of virtualized network functions implemented in software and executed on general-purpose compute, network and storage platforms. Expectations are that such infrastructure is able to fulfil carrier-grade requirements in terms of availability, performance, management and security. The Consistency Availability Partition tolerance (CAP) theorem poses a set of interesting challenges with respect to what could be achieved through sheer technological power in a software-defined infrastructure. The purpose of the panel is to briefly discuss the most important requirements for operating next-generation telecom virtualized infrastructure and debate the applicability of agile operations techniques inspired by large-scale cloud computing infrastructure, as well as the effect of automation introduced by intelligent orchestrator and controller functions.

IF Panel 09: 5G Networks in Frequency Bands over 6 GHz

Wednesday 14:30

Chair: Amitava Ghosh, Nokia Networks

Room: ICC Auditorium

The wireless industry is currently looking to define 5G as a higher-capacity, lower-latency successor to 4G. The exact details of what 5G will look like is still being debated, but general consensus is for peak rates of greater than ten times 4G, "everywhere" rates of at least 100 Mbps, and latencies less than 1 msec. One of the key components of meeting these 5G targets will be exploiting the incredible amount of spectrum available from 6 to 100 GHz. This panel attempts to answer some of the key questions on how 5G will look and operate at bands greater than 6 GHz.The first discussion topic will be the view of each panelist on what will characterize a 5G system above 6 GHz. Next the panel will provide their views of the world-wide spectrum and regulatory issues which will determine which particular frequencies above 6 GHz are likely to be available for use in 5G. Next the panel will give their views of how 5G above 6 GHz will evolve from a standards viewpoint including their projected timeline for standards completion. From the panel's extensive knowledge of channel modeling above 6 GHz, challenges of the propagation environment at these frequencies will be elaborated including the differences/similarities expected across the frequencies from 6 to 100 GHz. The panel additionally will comment on their views of which 5G air interface or interfaces are most appropriate for the various frequencies above 6 GHz. Finally discussions of the RF and antenna technologies needed for these frequencies will be provided including the risks associated with these technologies.Chairs: Amitava Ghosh, Nokia Networks (USA)Yoshihisa Kishiyama, NTT DOCOMO, INC. (Japan)Panellists: Erik Dahlman, Ericsson (USA)Jeongho Park, SamsungAli Sadri, IntelRobert W. Heath Jr., University of Texas (USA)Prof. Nuria Gonzalez Prelcic, University of Vigo (Spain)

IF Panel 10: Real-world experience of Self Organizing Networks (SON)

Wednesday 14:30

Chair: Scott Bicheno, Editorial Director, Telecoms.com, USA

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

This panel will explore the benefits and challenges for the Mobile network operator to deploy automated SON solutions to complex heterogeneous networks. 1.The need for SON.Self-Configure, Self-Optimize, and Self-Heal complex HetNets. 2.Benefits of SON.Summary of Key business and technical advantages. Tips for getting the most from SON. 3.SON deployment strategy. Centralized, Distributed, and hybrid SON solutions.

IF Panel 11: Towards a Complete Picture for mmW based 5G Technology: From Regulatory Issues to First Deployment

Wednesday 16:30

Chairs: Monisha Ghosh, InterDigital, (USA)

Room: ICC Auditorium

It is widely accepted today that the use of higher frequency bands will be a fundamental enabler for next generation networks, e.g. 5G systems. Recently, there have been significant industry and academic research and development efforts driven by the new and encouraging mmW channel measurement results as well as encouraging progress in the antenna, silicon and system architecture domains. Moreover, recent supportive actions by the world leading regulatory bodies, e.g. FCC, ECC, and their Asian counterparts on allowing additional mmW frequency availability has further solidified the role of mmW in 5G systems. Some of the core areas to be explored in the panel include: - Can mmW be a reliable carrier for the outdoor network considering the propagation characteristics and mobility? - Is mmW destined to be a stand-alone technology or a supplemental carrier under the umbrella of incumbent O-band systems, e.g. LTE-A? - World-wide regulatory issues, orchestration of mmW bands - Standardization aspects: 3GPP vs independent track - mmW technology for machine type communications (MTC) - Health issues: How confident are we? Is more research and data needed?

IF Panel 12: Preparing the Next Generation of Communications Designers with Education and Training

Wednesday 16:30

Chair: Erik Luther, National Instruments

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

Communications engineering education is very close to being recognized as distinct education discipline by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc) which accredits more than 680 universities and colleges in 24 countries. Its now the role of the communications community to design programs and the underlying courses and course materials needed to effectively train and prepare students for their careers. In this session divide the time among invited lectures and panel discussion to learn the needs, available resources, and best practices that educators should consider and benefit from as they develop the classrooms and labs of the future. Panelists include educators, tool vendors, and employers to provide a balanced view covering all aspects of the classroom and lab.

IF Panel 13: Evolving LTE-Advanced in 3GPP Release 13 and 14

Thursday 09:00

Chair: Juho Lee, Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd (Korea); Jianzhong Zhang, Samsung Telecommunications America (USA)

Room: ICC Auditorium

In this proposed Panel, we will bring together leading experts from major operators, infrastructure, terminal and chipset vendors as well as other key members of wireless communications industry ecosystem. We believe this panel can articulate a clear evolution path of LTE-Advanced to 5G, and to shed some lights on the important technology drivers for the industry to focus on in LTE Rel-13/14 so that we will have a smooth transition from current 4G to the future 5G network. The views and insights shared by these experts will have a lasting impact on the extended cellular R&D community for years to come.

IF Panel 14: SDN and NFV: Opportunities and Challenges for Network Management

Thursday 09:00

Chair: Kashinath Basu (Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom)

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

For last few years there has been a tremendous growth in data traffic due to high adoption rate of mobile devices and cloud computing. Internet of things (IoT) will stimulate this even further growth. This is increasing scale and complexity of telecom/internet service provider (SP) and enterprise data center (DC) compute and network infrastructures. As a result, managing these large network-compute converged infrastructures is becoming complex and cumbersome. Traditional network management approaches and Network Management Systems (NMS) are falling short on this. This problem has a complex interplay with SDN and NFV. Some aspects of this problem will be addressed by SDN and NFV solutions. On the other hand, this problem also hinders SDN and NFV adoption. In this panel discussion we propose to the following high level questions: How does SDN, NFV interplay with network manageability? How SDN, NFV is going to change network management practice? What are the security related imperatives of SDN, NFV?

IF Panel 15: Cellular IoT Technology

Thursday 14:30

Chair: John Haine, U-blox United Kingdom

Room: ICC Auditorium

It is predicted that by the early years of the next decade over 20 billion devices will be wirelessly connected in the Internet of Things (IoT). A ubiquitous public cellular network that was easy to use, penetrated deeply into almost all locations, and allowed for truly low-cost/low-energy devices capable of operating for years on a small battery, would be of enormous benefit. It would serve many existing machine-to-machine (M2M) applications such as metering, remote sensing, and telemetry; but more importantly would fuel the rapid development of the mass Internet of Things market by providing reliable and accessible connectivity for even the most low-cost/low-energy device. It would be a platform for substantial revenue growth for mobile network operators globally. Today's cellular networks have a few shortcomings in relation to the new demands from IoT. Whilst existing cellular technologies give in-building service they do not provide sufficiently deep coverage for some m2m applications such as metering. No current cellular technology (Rel-11 and earlier) can support very long terminal operating life on a small battery. Today, cellular GSM/GPRS comes closest to serving this market but does not sufficiently provide all characteristics of the ubiquitous cellular network for IoT. LTE, the latest cellular radio access technology, has been designed from the ground up to provide efficient mobile broadband data communications. Both LTE and UMTS/HSPA devices in their current forms are significantly more expensive than GSM/GPRS. In this Cellular IoT panel, the speakers will discuss the opportunity and technology feasibility of the revolutionary technology which is being standardized in GERAN. And different aspects of the Cellular IoT will be deeply discussed by each party from end-to-end point of view, such as the mobile operator, infrastructure vendor, chipset provider, module provider and applications such as the water meters.

IF Panel 16: Mobile Fronthaul Era - Are We There Yet?

Thursday 14:30

Chair: Anthony Magee, ADVA Optical Networking, United Kingdom.

Room: ICC Capital Suite:14+15+16

ADVA Optical Networking Mobile architectures are coming under a lot of attention at the moment in order to serve the growing demand in mobile cell sites and coverage. Challenges such as how to deploy small-cells, how to enable CoMP, and how to prepare for future architectures that may arise from 5G are leading many to look at and evaluate Fronthaul as an enabler. Fronthaul is not without its challenges and mobile operators and carriers need to be convinced of the technology and business case. A panel discussion covering the following questions will drive interest and attendance, and hopefully provide answers to help industry understand whether this technology is still to mature or whether it is ready for deployment. 1. Introduction short statement of interests in fronthaul, explaining need for industry debate 2. Fronthaul State/C-RAN of play, Business Case and deployment readiness 3. Challenges and Carrier/MNO Needs for Fronthaul, the need for SLAs, and evolution to 5G 4. Solutions and ideas for overcoming barriers to entry, possible adoption of Mid-Haul 5. Questions and Answers directed towards the Panel 6. Summing up and Key Messages a. Fronthaul needed today b. Long term Mid-haul may be needed c. Fronthaul Networks will enable Mid-haul and 5G.

IF Panel 17: 5G Testbeds, Experiments, Demonstrations

Thursday 16:30

Chairs: David Soldani, Huawei Technologies Duesseldorf GmbH & European Research Centre (Germany)

Room: ICC Auditorium

The panel will present the crucial test cases and corresponding scenarios to demonstrate the new capabilities of the advanced 5G infrastructure, especially for meeting latency, reliability and spectral efficiency requirements, looking at mission critical machine communication and massive machine type of traffic, with maximal exploitation of available spectra: from cellular band to visible light. How, what and when to be tested (from link level performance to capacity tests for Full Immersive 3D Experience and Anything or Everything as a Service, beyond the SPI Models of Cloud Computing) to achieve large scale trials in EU and globally, through International Collaborations, will be also discussed. The main target is to verify the technical feasibility and business viability of the new 5G enabling technologies, leveraging SDN, NFV and MEC.