PAINLESS workshop

September 26, 2022

Workshop:

Towards Net-Zero Energy Communication Networks

at VTC2022-Fall

A full-day workshop organized by the PAINLESS project

PAINLESS is a multi-partner European Training Network (ETN) project, within the framework of the H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITNs). The project was launched in 2018 with the visionary aim to establish a training and research platform to pioneer green, energy-autonomous portable network nodes which are self-subsistent and limitlessly-scalable, to satisfy future demands with minimal infrastructure. PAINLESS relates to H2020-MSCA with a vision to produce the first generation of experts in a radically new wave of energy autonomous networks that will revolutionise the wireless networking technology landscape and the plethora of associated vertical business sectors.

Scope of workshop

Net-zero energy systems have become central to the global sustainability policy, aiming to address the climate crisis. At the same time addressing the digital divide and offering connectivity in the developing world has been acknowledged as a key enabler for development, education and financial prosperity. While the issue of energy efficiency (EE) has been a key research topic for wireless communication for more than a decade, EE alone does not enable the reach of wireless networks beyond the reach of the power grid. Energy autonomous and portable networks are acknowledged as a key enabling technology, and while there has been certain consensus on the importance of their use-cases (remote areas, emergency communications, connectivity in the developing world, etc) and related business opportunities, there are still several key challenges that must be addressed before such technological and commercial promises can be kept.

Net-zero energy communications are key to i) enable 100% coverage in urban environments in a power-efficient manner ii) connect the remaining 3+ billion in areas with limited power grid infrastructure, iii) address network provisioning in emergency and disaster areas, and iv) materialize the identified global sustainability challenges and the climate crisis. This workshop aims at bringing together academic and industrial researchers, showcase key results in the area, and identify and discuss the major technical challenges, recent breakthroughs, and new applications related to energy autonomous communications towards a net-zero energy operation.

Call for papers

Topics

We seek original completed and unpublished work not currently under review by any other journal/magazine/conference. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Energy management towards energy autonomous communication network operation
Balancing energy generation, storage and consumption for the operation of a wireless communication network
New metrics, analyses and theory for energy autonomous networks
Fundamental information theoretical limits for energy autonomous networks
Joint design and optimization of energy and information for the combined wireless power-and-information distribution
Network architectures/transmission protocols/frame designs for energy autonomous networks
Machine learning/Network Intelligence for energy autonomous networks
Energy generation and harvesting from renewable sources
Radiated energy harvesting
Energy neutral access points
Portable networks, and their design with energy constraints
UAV based aerial networks, and their design with energy constraints
Industrial efforts towards energy autonomous and net-zero energy networks
Experimental demonstrations and prototypes