Abstract: With the commercialization of 5G communication networks, the global telecommunication community has shifted its focus to R&D for 6G networks. To support disruptive new applications along with growing service demands, it is envisioned that 6G will require agile network architectures in the presence of network dynamics, intelligent network management to address complexity due to extreme connectivity, and customized service provision to meet diverse service requirements. In this presentation, we will discuss potential ideas and solutions towards intelligent network architectures and flexible network management. First, we will briefly introduce network slicing and digital twin, and present how network slicing and digital twin can support flexible network management, taking advantage of advances in artificial intelligence. Then, we will focus on potential realization of intelligent network architectures, followed by our recent work on digital twin empowered resource allocation for collaborative sensing as a case study.  

Biography: Xuemin (Sherman) Shen is a University Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests include user mobility and network resource management, wireless network security, for future communication systems. Professor Shen is the Technical Program Committee Chair for IEEE Globecom'24, Globecom'16, IEEE Infocom14, IEEE VTC’10 Fall, and IEEE Globecom'07. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Network, and IET Communications. Professor Shen served as the 2022-2023 President of IEEE Communications Society. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering, and Engineering Institute of Canada, a Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and an International Fellow of the Engineering Academy of Japan.