Honorary Chair

Mohammad S. Obaidat
KASIT, Univ. of Jordan, Jordan

General Chair

Malamati Louta
Univ. of Western Macedonia, Greece

Program Co-Chairs

Joaquín Entrialgo
Univ. of Oviedo, Spain

George Karetsos
TEI of Thessaly, Greece

Paolo Bellavista
Univ. of Bologna, Italy

Tutorial Chair

Maria Calzarossa
Univ. of Pavia, Italy

Publication Chair

Elias Tragos
Insight Centre for Data Analytics, UCD, Ireland

Webmaster

Antonio Bueno
Univ. of Girona, Spain

2019 International Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems

July 22-24, 2019, Berlin, Germany

The goal of this annual conference is to provide a forum for professionals and researchers to discuss and disseminate the most promising contributions on performance evaluation of computer and telecommunication systems. Papers describing results of theoretic and/or practical significance are solicited. Experimental, modeling, analysis, and simulation studies as well as testbed deployment, field trials and experiences gained are all in the scope of the conference. Work presenting novel performance evaluation methods or providing insights on design and runtime tradeoffs are particularly encouraged.

Sponsor SCS logo The Society for Modeling and Simulation International www.scs.org

Technical Sponsor ComSoc logo www.comsoc.org

Papers and tutorials are solicited in (but not limited to) the following subjects of interest:

Networking Technologies and Telecommunication Systems

  • Future Internet and next Generation Networking
  • 5G & Beyond
  • Hyperdense networks
  • Massive MIMO
  • mm Wave communications
  • Multiple access, multiplexing, modulation and coding techniques
  • Cooperative communications and networking
  • Cognitive radio and networking
  • Autonomic Networks
  • Software Defined Networking
  • Network Function Virtualization
  • Cloud Radio Access Networks
  • Radio over Fiber
  • Flexible optical networks
  • Optical-Wireless communication and systems
  • Visible light communications
  • Internet of Things and enabling technologies
  • Machine to Machine systems
  • Device to Device communications
  • Cyber Physical Systems
  • Wireless ad-hoc Networks
  • Wireless Sensor Networks
  • Delay Tolerant Networks
  • Opportunistic Networks
  • Vehicular ad-hoc networks / connected vehicles
  • Nanonetworks
  • Satellite and Space communications and networking
  • Network design, optimization, management and performance evaluation
  • Traffic engineering, network reliability, Quality of Service / Experience

Computer Systems

  • Parallel and Distributed Computing
  • Service Oriented Architectures and Microservices
  • Cloud and Edge Computing
  • High Performance Computing
  • Distributed and Mobile Middleware
  • Computer Architectures
  • Microprocessors
  • Multi-core processors
  • Memory systems
  • High performance I/O
  • Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence Applications and Machine Learning
  • Software Engineering, Performance, Evaluation and Testing
  • Verification and Validation
  • Programming Languages
  • Parallel Algorithms
  • Data Storage Systems
  • Fault tolerance, signal processing, and coding techniques

Tools & Methodologies

  • Modeling and Analysis
  • Performance Optimization, Bounds and Models
  • Stochastic Models
  • Queuing Systems and Networks
  • Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic Applications
  • Integrated Modeling and Measurement
  • Mathematical Aspects and Integrated Design of Performance
  • Verification and Validation
  • On-Line Performance Adaptation and Tuning
  • Parallel and Distributed Simulation
  • Case studies, Testbed deployments, field trials and experiences
  • Scalability Studies

Special Tracks and Areas of Interest

  • Security and Performance in Computer and Telecommunication Systems
       Chairs: Jean-Pierre Seifert, Altaf Shaik, Robert Buhren

    Data security is vital to ensure protection against cyber threats that continue to raise and diversify at a rapid speed. But often, while deploying security mechanisms, the performance of the system is affected in adverse ways. A key challenge in the design of computer and telecommunication systems is to identify a neutral ground between security and performance. Whilst the widespread of devices spanning into networks and generating countless amounts of data absolutely require high performance systems. This makes us to rethink our security systems that can guarantee a high level of performance and also an acceptable level of security. In this respect, we invite researchers and security enthusiasts to submit papers that study and analyze various issues but not limited to such as tradeoff between security and performance, new security protocols in secure communication systems.

  • Edge Computing and Edge-enabled AI for Network Management
       Chairs: Paolo Bellavista, Luca Foschini, Carlo Giannelli

    Edge computing is rapidly emerging as the most relevant architectural approach to manage some hard and open technical challenges associated with wide-scale and quality-sensitive Internet of Things (IoT) applications, which typically exploit the elastic availability of cloud resources on the server side. EAINM specifically focuses on network quality configuration, optimization, configuration, control, and management enabled by edge computing in three-layer deployment environments (device, edge, cloud). In particular, EAINM considers as central all methodological, design, implementation, and deployment experiences that investigate digital twin creation at the cloud layer and distributed enforcement of twin control actions also at the edge, typically with complex machine learning processing at the cloud side and more lightweight digital twin execution and refinement at edge nodes. Contributions about enabling AI techniques for these architectures and practical application prototyping/deployment experiences (e.g., for manufacturing production quality control and optimized management of distributed caching) are strongly welcome.

  • Aspects and trends of software evaluation
       Chairs: George Tsihrintzis, Maria Virvou

    Software applications are evolving rapidly and are expanding their use to all the areas of human activity by the means of all sorts of hardware, including computers, handheld devices, smart things, digital signage etc. The vast use of software in many contexts imposes the need for the development of new evaluation methodologies, frameworks and processes to address software quality characteristics that include reliability, reusability, effectiveness, correctness, accuracy and also security and privacy that conform to new law regulations. Moreover, the important software quality characteristics of usability, user friendliness and utility have to be ensured for end users of a vast range of disciplines and backgrounds. Thus, measuring and evaluating the quality of software applications has become of critical importance and should attract a lot of research energy. The aim of ASE is to address current aspects and trends of software evaluation.

  • Modeling and Evaluation of Wireless Body Area Networks
       Chair: Yahya Osais

    Wireless Body Area Not (WBAN) are networks of medical sensors which are attached or implanted into the body of a human being or animal to monitor and control biological processes. Their performance is limited by their constrained resources and side effects such as heat. Before the full potential of WBANs can be realized, many fundamental issues must be studied using performance evaluation tools and measurements. The aim of MEWBAN is to provide the necessary insights to make the needed progress.

  • Social Network Analysis and Performance Aspects of Socially-Aware Networking
       Chairs: Magdalini Eirinaki, Iraklis Varlamis, Malamati Louta

    The rapid development of wireless communications and the rise of social networks established a new research field that stands between telecommunications and social network theory. Smart and wearable mobile devices act as alternative gateways for participation in social networks and introduced “mobility” as a new aspect of social networking and applications. The aim of SANet is to provide a forum where researchers from the fields of Social Network Analysis and Telecommunication Systems Performance will come together, exchange ideas and generate new collaborations that bring us a step closer to Socially-Aware Networking.

Call for Papers

You can download the PDF format Call for Papers (PDF, 156 KiB)

Deadlines

Paper Submission

Please submit your complete papers electronically to https://www.softconf.com/sim/SummerSim19/

Authors of accepted papers

Current templates supplied by IEEE must be used. Submissions should not exceed 8 two-column, 8.5×11" pages (including figures, tables, and references) in 10 point fonts. Please include 5-10 keywords, complete postal and e-mail address, and fax and phone numbers of the corresponding author. If you have difficulties with electronic submission, please contact the Program Co-Chairs or the Publication Chair.

The camera-ready papers (i.e. the final versions of accepted papers) must also not include headers or footers, including any kind of pagination. Proofread your source document thoroughly to confirm that it will require no revision. Papers must be validated and signed via PDF eXpress for Xplore compatibility before being uploaded, using the 47012X Conference ID.

The Transfer of Copyright and Author Certification forms to be signed and uploaded are also available in the author's kit webpage (http://scs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/AuthorsKitForms-TransferOfCopyrightAuthorCert.pdf).

For uploading both the camera-ready paper and the Copyright form, please visit: https://www.softconf.com/sim/SummerSim19/. Remember that the submission deadline is June 3, 2019.

For registering at the conference visit http://www.scs.org/summersim.

Best Paper Awards

All accepted papers will be evaluated for a best paper award based on originality and technical contribution by an external commission.

Call for Tutorial Proposals

SPECTS 2019 is soliciting proposals for tutorials (max 2 hours) to be held in conjunction with the conference. Tutorials should address established as well as new emerging research topics and practical applications in the area of performance evaluation of computer and telecommunication systems. Tutorials should present a comprehensive overview of the state of the art and outline open research and technical challenges.

A tutorial proposal should contain the following information:

The extended abstracts of the tutorials will be included in the conference proceedings. Tutorial proposals should be submitted for review in a single PDF file — not exceeding five pages — mailed to the tutorial chair.

Important Dates for Tutorials

Tutorial Chair

Please address questions to the Tutorial Chair.

Keynote

Using any Surface to Realize a New Paradigm for Wireless Communications, through Software-controlled Metasurfaces

Summary

Wireless communications is undeniably becoming ubiquitous in everyday life, with user demands growing at a very fast pace. Despite impressive breakthroughs in almost every part of our wireless systems-from antennas to hardware to operating software-this demand is getting increasingly challenging to address. The humongous scale of research effort and investment in the upcoming 5th generation of wireless communications (5G) reflects the scale of the challenge. This talk will introduce a valuable and unnoticed resource, which could be exploited to tackle these increasing challenges.

Wireless communication environments, i.e., the set of physical objects (such as walls, doors, desks, and humans) that stand between two wireless communicating devices, are unaware of the ongoing data exchange efforts within them. Moreover, their effects on the communication quality are intractable in all but the simplest cases. These ensuing effects are degenerative, due to such phenomena as the path loss, the multi-path scattering, and the Doppler effect, exacerbated as operating frequencies scale up, e.g. mm-wave solutions for 5G. Existing proposals for mitigating these effects generally tackle the problem by adopting device-side approaches, treating the environment as an uncontrollable factor that does not participate into the communication process. Examples include device-oriented (e.g. MIMO techniques, real-time adaptation of signal modulation and coding), and retransmitter-oriented (e.g. intelligent placement of passive or active amplifiers) techniques. These effects, as well as different approaches to minimize them, and their inability to tackle the problem at its root, will be briefly overviewed.

Next, the talk will introduce a new approach that could control these effects, producing a wireless environment with software-defined electromagnetic behavior. The novel idea of HyperSurfaces*, which are software-controlled metamaterials embedded in any surface in the environment (e.g. by coating walls, doors, furniture, poles, and other objects) will be motivated. HyperSurfaces are envisioned to realize a new generation of applications, as for example programmatically controlled wireless environments, realizing application related functionalities such as perfect absorption, beam steering via anomalous reflection, or polarization control. These materials can interact with electromagnetic waves in a fully software-defined fashion, even unnaturally. Thus, the electromagnetic behavior of the environment as a whole can become deterministic, controlled and tailored to the needs of mobile devices within it. HyperSurfaces have inter-networking capabilities, allowing for the first time the participation of electromagnetic properties of materials into control loops, leading to the concept of the Internet of Smart Materials. Our solution will be briefly contrasted with closer in concept approaches, such as phased antennas and reflect arrays, which can only support coarse EM steering, e.g., for beamforming applications in wireless devices.

Beyond the conceptual introduction of the topic, a specific application scenario of a Programmable Wireless indoor Environment (PWE) will be presented, from inception to design to evaluation in 2.4 and 60 GHz setups.

In conclusion the talk will highlight the substantial gains in communication quality, communication distance and battery savings of mobile devices, and even in security and privacy, will discuss open problems and plausible research directions, as well as outline its potential application in diverse areas, as e.g. highly efficient energy harvesting photovoltaics, and thermophotovoltaics, ultra-high resolution medical imaging, sensing, quantum optics and military applications.

Open discussion with the audience will be encouraged.

(*) VISORSURF project is funded by the European Union via the Horizon 2020: Future Emerging Topics call (FETOPEN), grant EU736876

Short Bio

Andreas Pitsillides is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus, heads NetRL, the Networks Research Laboratory, and is appointed Visiting Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), School of Electrical and Information engineering, Johannesburg, South Africa. His broad research interests include communication networks (fixed and mobile/wireless), Nananetworks and Software Defined Metamaterials, the Internet- and Web- of Things, Smart Spaces (Home, Grid, City), and Internet technologies and their application in Mobile e-Services, especially e-health, and security. He has a particular interest in adapting tools from various fields of applied mathematics such as adaptive non-linear control theory, computational intelligence, game theory, and nature inspired techniques, to solve problems in communication networks. Published over 270 referred papers in flagship journals (e.g. IEEE, Elsevier, IFAC, Springer), international conferences and book chapters, 2 books (one edited), participated in over 30 European Commission and locally funded research projects as principal or co-principal investigator, received several awards, including best paper, presented keynotes, invited lectures at major research organisations, short courses at international conferences and short courses to industry, and serves/served on several journal and conference executive committees.

SPECTS Steering Committee

Technical Program Committee

Venue Address

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin)
Main Building (Building H)
Straße des 17. Juni 135
10623 Berlin
Website: https://www.tu-berlin.de/menue/home/parameter/en/

The TU Berlin is located in the heart of the science city of Berlin. Its central campus is located in the City-West between Kurfürstendamm and the new landmark of the city, the main train station. A second campus is located in the Technology and Innovation Park Berlin in the district of Wedding. In addition, there are isolated locations in the north and south of the city. The central campus of the TU Berlin is located in the Charlottenburg district. It is divided by the road of June 17 into a north and a south half. In addition to the main building, the buildings include mathematics, chemistry, physics and architecture.

Arriving to TU Berlin

By Car

From Hamburg / Rostock (motorway A24)

At the autobahn intersection Oranienburg turn onto the A111 in the direction of Berlin-Zentrum, at the interchange Charlottenburg change onto the A100 (Stadtring) in the direction of Funkturm. Leave the ring road at the Kaiserdamm junction and turn left at the end of the exit. Drive straight on the Kaiserdamm (later Bismarckstraße) to Ernst-Reuter-Platz. Half circle the course, turn into the street of June 17th and look for a parking space. The main building is the second house (number 135) on the right.

From Hannover (A2) and Leipzig / Nürnberg (A9)

Take the A10 (Berliner Ring) to Drewitz interchange, then change to the A115 (AVUS) towards Berlin-Zentrum. At the interchange Funkturm keep to direction Wedding, but immediately take the next exit Kaiserdamm and turn right. Drive straight on the Kaiserdamm (later Bismarckstraße) to Ernst-Reuter-Platz. Half circle the course, turn into the street of June 17th and look for a parking space. The main building is the second house (number 135) on the right.

By Train

From the main train station take the regional train or the S-Bahn (all lines in the direction of Charlottenburg, Westkreuz, Potsdam or Spandau) to the Zoologischer Garten station. From there either take the underground line 2 in the direction of Ruhleben and get off at the next station (Ernst-Reuter-Platz) or take the bus lines M45, 245 or X9 to Ernst-Reuter-Platz.
(Travel time: approx. 15 minutes).

By Plane

Tegel Airport

Take the bus line X9 to Ernst-Reuter-Platz. (Travel time: approx. 15 minutes).

Schoenefeld Airport

At the S-Bahn station Berlin-Schönefeld either take the regional express RE7 (direction Dessau) or take the S-Bahn line 9 (direction Pankow, change at Ostkreuz direction Zoologischer Garten). Zoologischer Garten get off again. From there either take the underground line 2 in the direction of Ruhleben and get off at the next station (Ernst-Reuter-Platz) or take the bus lines M45, 245 or X9 to Ernst-Reuter-Platz.
(Travel time: about 1 hour).

Take the X7 or 171 bus to Rudow Underground Station.There take the underground line 7 (direction Rathaus Spandau) and drive to Bismarckstraße. Change to line 2 (direction Pankow) and get off at the second station (Ernst-Reuter-Platz).
(Travel time: about 1 hour).

Bus and train stops near the central campus

Subway
Ernst-Reuter-Platz, line 2 (red line)
Bus
Ernst-Reuter-Platz, lines M45, 245 and X9
Stone Square, lines M45 and 245
Train
Zoological garden, lines S5, S7, S75
Tiergarten, lines S5, S7, S75

Accommodation

You may consider the following hotels for accommodation (no rooms have been reserved by SPECTS).

B&B Hotel Berlin -Tiergarten

Englische Str. 1-4, 10587
Phone: +49 30 3300660
Website: https://www.hotelbb.de/en/berlin-tiergarten

Novum Hotel Gates Berlin Charlottenburg

Knesebeckstraße 8-9, 10623 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 311060
Website: https://www.novum-hotels.com/en/hotel-gates-berlin

Novotel Hotel Berlin Am Tiergarten

Straße des 17. Juni 106-108, 10623 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 600350
Website: https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-3649-novotel-berlin-am-tiergarten/index.shtml