REFRESH 2026

6th International Workshop on Real-life Modeling in 5G/6G networks and beyond

June 22-24, 2026, Reykjavik, Iceland

Paper Important Dates

Submission

5 April, 2026
24 April, 2026

Decision Notification

30 April, 2026
8 May, 2026

Camera-ready

8 May, 2026
22 May, 2026

Invited Talk

Prof. Trung Q. Duong

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

Title: Hybrid Classical–Quantum Learning and Optimization for 6G Wireless Networks

Trung Q. Duong
Trung Q. Duong

Abstact: Quantum computing uses the concept of quantum mechanics to offer a massive leap forward in relations to solving complex computation problems. Hybrid quantum-classical machine learning algorithms can significantly enhance the processing efficiency and exponentially computational speed-up, highly capable of guaranteeing high QoS requirements of 6G networks. This talk presents the state-of-the-art in quantum machine learning and optimization and provide a comprehensive overview of its potential, via machine learning approaches. Furthermore, this talk introduces quantum-inspired machine learning/optimization applications for 6G networks in terms of 6G channel estimation and RF fingerprinting considering their enabling technologies and potential challenges. Finally, some dominating research issues and future research directions for the quantum-inspired machine learning/optimization in 6G networks are elaborated.

Biography: Dr. Trung Q. Duong (IEEE Fellow, IET Fellow, CAE Fellow, EIC Fellow, and AAIA Fellow) is a Canada Excellence Research Chair and Full Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. He is also an adjunct professor at Queen’s University Belfast, UK and a visiting professor under eminent scholar program at Kyung Hee University, South Korea. His current research interests include quantum optimisation and machine learning in wireless communications. He is an author/co-author of 700+ publications with 26,500+ citations and h-index 86.
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Panel

We are happy to announce the panel coordinator and presenter:

Valerio Frascolla, PhD

Director of Research & Innovation at Intel

Panel Title: EU regulations and impact on 6G networks and terminals

Valerio Frascolla
Valerio Frascolla

The Panel focuses on providing system engineers and 6G technical experts with an understanding of the impact on design activities of the EU regulations (AI Act, Data Act, Cybersecurity Act, CRA, etc.). These regulations will establish normative requirements that all products launched in the European common digital market must comply with. The panel provides the audience with the opportunity to raise questions and engage in an open discussion on topics that typically fall outside the everyday work of design engineers.


Biography: Valerio Frascolla (MSc, PhD in Electronic Engineering) works as Director of Research & Innovation at Intel and covered diverse roles at Marconi Research Center, Ancona University, Comneon, and Infineon. He serves as EIC STEP Jury Member and as expert evaluator for the EC, several national science foundations, and EU-funded project Open Calls. He has expertise in wireless systems, telecommunication protocols, standardization, and business & regulation aspects; his main research domains are wireless systems design (Wi-Fi & cellular), spectrum management, edge computing, processing at the convergence of Data & AI, HW-optimization of AI & ML algorithms, sustainable & green technologies.
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Featured Research Presentation

Maria Diamanti, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher, National Technical University of Athens

Title: On the Uncertainties of 3D Networks: The CELESTE Vision

Maria Diamanti
Maria Diamanti, PhD

Abstact: Upcoming 6G systems aim to unify space, aerial, and ground segments by integrating satellite and airborne nodes into the Radio Access Network (RAN), supported by a powerful computing fabric to jointly support communication and computation. This architecture enables in-network processing of offloaded tasks, creating a dynamic resource orchestration environment shaped by mobility, time-varying channels, stochastic computation task arrivals, and time-correlated factors such as device battery levels. This talk presents the vision of the project CELESTE, designing a holistic framework for efficient and resilient radio–computing resource orchestration in 3D networks under stochastic dynamics.
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Biography: Dr. Maria Diamanti is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. She received her Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2018 and her Ph.D. from the National Technical University of Athens in 2023. She has been awarded the M. Stassinopoulos - VIOHALCO Foundation Best Ph.D. Thesis Award for 2023. She has been involved in several national and European RTD projects in the area of 5G/6G systems and is currently the PI of the project titled CELESTE "Taming System UnCErtainties via Efficient and ResiLiEnt Resource OrcheSTration in 3D NEtworks", granted funding by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the “4th Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Postdoctoral Researchers”. Her research interests lie in the areas of 5G/6G wireless networks, resource management and optimization, game theory, contract theory, prospect theory, and reinforcement learning.

General Description

The 6th International Workshop on Real-life Modeling in 5G/6G networks and beyond will take place from June 22-24 2026 in Reykjavik, Iceland, co-located with the International Conference on Distributed Computing in Smart Systems and Internet of Things

The economic and societal potential of emerging 5G/6G and cyber-physical social systems is vastly greater than what has been realized so far, and major investments are being made worldwide to develop the corresponding science and technology. The Future Internet paradigm, the proliferation of emerging networks and architectures, wireless access technologies and multi-homing smart devices are evolving towards a competitive environment, where users and devices have access to various resources, while their behaviors become strongly interdependent. This fact demands and motivates the development of user-centric resource management and optimization frameworks, which enable user’s self-optimization and autonomy. This vision is further motivated and supported by the convergence of various emerging technologies enabling Cyber-Physical Systems operation, including 5G/B5G/6G technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobile Edge Computing and Software Defined Networking, all targeting flexibility and efficiency. To deal with the involved complexity, and driven by the requirements of autonomy and scalability, distributed resource orchestration approaches appear as a necessity rather than a desire.

The REFRESH Workshop aims at stimulating research on the most novel topics of real-life modeling in 5G/6G networks and beyond. This year’s edition encourages submission of theoretical and experimental work (including studies of real deployment), with a primary interest in new directions of wireless networking in concrete application scenarios and demonstrators in areas such as, but not limited to: mobile edge computing, Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, public safety networks, dynamic spectrum utilization, smart grid communications, wireless power communication, green wireless networks, information-centric wireless networks. The workshop seeks original work presented in the form of research papers describing new research and development approaches and results, as well as work-in-progress papers. Highly disruptive work-in-progress and position papers are also welcome, provided they focus on particularly innovative solutions or applications for 5G/6G networks and beyond. All papers shall be forward-looking, describe their relationship to existing work, and shall argue their impact and implications for ongoing or future research. Selected workshop papers will also be considered for publication in a Special Issue and/or Special Sections of international peer-reviewed journals.

Workshop Topics

Indicative topics, but not exhaustive, are listed below

Conference Topics
  • Channel Modeling and Estimation
  • Waveform Design, Advanced Coding, and Modulation
  • Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) and Holographic MIMO
  • Fluid Antennas (FA) and Advanced Antenna Systems
  • Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC / JCAS)
  • Energy Harvesting and Low-Energy Communications
  • Wireless Information and Power Transfer (WIPT)
  • Terahertz (THz) and Sub-THz Communications
  • Short Packet and Finite Block Length Communications
  • Physical Layer Security
  • Age and Value of Information
  • Channel Detection, Scheduling and Access Control
  • Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) and Over-the-Air Computation (AirComp)
  • Hybrid OMA/NOMA Schemes
  • Grant-Free/Random Access
  • Cognitive Radio Communications and Networking
  • Cooperative and Multi-hop Communications and Networking
  • Edge Computing and Computation Offloading
  • Energy Management in Wireless Networks
  • AI-driven Energy Efficiency and Green Networking
  • Economic and Game-Theoretic Approaches to Resource Management
  • Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Multi-Agent Systems for Resource Management
  • Federated Learning (FL) and Decentralized AI for Wireless Communications
  • Agentic AI Systems for Resource Management
  • Machine Learning (ML) and Optimization for the Air Interface and RAN
  • Stochastic, Bayesian, and Robust Optimization for Resource Allocation
  • Optimization under Uncertainties in Wireless Networks
  • Assessment studies for 5G/6G KPIs
  • Multi-cluster and multi-domain trials over 5G/6G infrastructure
  • Energy consumption monitoring and management
  • Vertical applications deployment and management
  • Sustainability metrics and measurements
  • AI-Native 6G Architectures
  • Open/Virtualized RAN (O-RAN) Management and Orchestration (SMO/RIC)
  • Network Digital Twins for Simulation, Emulation, and Management
  • Deterministic Networking and Time-Sensitive Networks (TSN)
  • Cloud-Native 6G Core and Edge-Cloud Continuum
  • Semantic and Goal-Oriented Communications
  • Intent-Based Networking and Autonomous Networks
  • 6G Security: Zero Trust Architectures and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)
  • Attack modeling and prevention
  • Privacy-Preserving Techniques and Management
  • Immersive XR, Holographic Telepresence, and the Tactile Internet
  • Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN): Satellite, HAPS, and UAV Integration
  • Advanced V2X, Autonomous Driving, and Robotic/Drone Communications
  • Wireless for Disaster Recovery, Emergency Services, and Public Safety
  • Massive IoT (mIoT) and Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency (URLLC) Use Cases

Conference Sponsors and Supporters

We invite you to participate in the sponsor program for REFRESH 2026.

Sponsor benefits include:

  • • Sponsor company name and logo will be displayed on website and at the venue
  • • Opportunity for sponsored awards (best paper and best paper honorable mention)
  • • Opportunity to provide named travel grant
  • • Acknowledgment in opening talk and closing remarks

National Technical University of Athens

NTUA NETMODE

Institute of Communication & Computer Systens (ICCS)

ICCS

Arizona State University

ASU

6G-LEADER Horizon Europe Project

6G

Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation

hfri