About Us
The UPC's reference center on 5G & Beyond communications systems
Its activities were launched in January 1994 with the goal of integrating several research groups at UPC in the field of broadband communications. All upcoming technologies associated to transmission, cable networks, fiber optics and radio support, switching and interconnectivity, management of telecommunications networks, protocols and services are the field of interests of the CCABA.
For some years now, new emerging technologies have been developed under the generic name of Next Generation of Communications Networks and Services (NGNS) (like 5G and beyond, IoT, Virtualization of Networks and Services, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, Smart Cities, etc.). They have influenced the structure and the research lines of CCABA: the focus has gradually turned to design, integrate and validate an Artificial Intelligence-based platform that provides end-to-end 5G & Beyond smart networks and services. CCABA leads the participation of UPC in the 5G-BCN consortium and is currently participating in several projects on 6G technology.
Areas in CCABA
Fundamental technologies
This research area involves 32 Researchers, including 2 PIs, 11 senior, researchers, 6 postdoctoral researchers, 1 postdoctoral trainee, and 12 PhD students.
The area covers theoretical principles and practical aspects of optical and wireless communications and signal processing: physical-access layers in 5G and beyond networks, ultra-dense networks, mmWave transmission, massive machine-type-communications, efficient utilization of TDD and FDD bands, heterogeneous networks, wireless power transfer, energy-efficient application offloading on multiple cloud servers, energy-efficient high-dimensional MIMO processing, visible light communications, positioning systems, data analytics (including reinforcement learning and graph signal processing) for the analysis and operation of wireless networks (5G, IoT, URLLC) and optical networks, (SDN, optical access for FTTH and FTTA).
Communications systems
This area involves 22 Researchers, including 2 PIs, 12 senior researchers, and 8 PhD students.
The area specializes in the development of wireless and wired communications subsystems. The activities include topics such as functional and protocol design, network optimisation, cloud RAN and radio resource management, self-organizing networks, network slicing and sharing, radio access network virtualization, as well as the application of artificial intelligence and data analytics for optimization and operational automation of 5G networks
Networks and services
This area involves 41 Researchers, including 3 PIs, 9 senior researchers, 5 postdoctoral researchers, and 24 PhD students.
It includes the following research activities: SDN / NFV architecture for xPON, Fog-to-cloud (F2C) computing architectures, cybersecurity, extreme data management in highly dynamic scenarios, embedded systems, sensor and ad-hoc networks, IoT, E-health monitoring systems, Smart sensors for Industry 4.0. Drone technologies, Protocol architectures, Integrated Body Sensor Network (BSN).