Satellite-terrestrial interworking: a pillar of forthcoming 5G systems

Planned format of the workshop:

This proposal is for a half-day workshop, with strong involvement of the audience. The final length (4 to 5 hours) can be tuned according to the organizers’ needs. The idea is to run it similarly to an innovation workshop, where first ideas are presented, then the audience is asked to select a few most interesting ones (3-4 topic) and then in the second part a deep-dive on those topics is organized, with a strong involvement from all the audience. The workshop is structured in two main blocks, whose extensions can be accommodated according to the needs of the conference organizers.

The first block starts with three visionary invited talks that will introduce the audience to some key aspects and some still open issues of the integration of satellite and terrestrial networks, thus setting the scene for the following parts of the workshop. This block also contains four papers selected from the Workshop call for papers (see attached). Finally, involving the audience, a set of the most interesting topics is selected for further discussions.

The second block is meant to be much more interactive and will allow a direct involvement of the workshop participants. At first a World Café’ is organized, with themes coming out of the work presented in the first block and the feedback received from the audience, finally a panel will be run to sum-up the findings of the World Café and to focus on the most interesting proposed topics, plus potentially additional ones suggested by the audience.

Timing of the workshop:

• Part I: Start time + 2 hours and 15 minutes (135 minutes)
• Coffee break (30 minutes)
• Part II: 2 hours and 15 minutes

In total 5 hours (can be reduce to 4 hours if needed).

Part I:

This block lasts 135 minutes (2 hours and 15 minutes) and is composed of the following contributions:

1. Welcome speech, introduction of the workshop, and presentation of the speakers (10 minutes) – workshop organizers
2. Invited talk 1 (15 min + 5 Q&A): main research content of the 5GENESIS project on satellite and terrestrial interaction – Georgios Gardikis, Space Hellas Cyprus, Cyprus
3. Invited talk 2 (15 min + 5 Q&A): main research content of the 5GALLSTAR project on satellite and terrestrial interaction – Emilio Calvanese Strinati, CEA-Leti, Grenoble, France
4. Invited talk 3 (15 min + 5 Q&A): main research content of the SaT5G project on satellite and terrestrial interaction – Simon Watts, Avanti Communications, UK
5. 15 min x 4 papers, selected from the workshop CFP
6. 20 min of open and interactive discussion with the audience, in order to identify a set of topics on which to focus the Part II of the Workshop.

All invited speakers confirmed their participation.

The invited talks and the selected papers will introduce some key aspects on terrestrial-satellite interactions (from the research, market, business, and industrial point of views) and will be provided by a mix of different expertise and organizations (research center, industry, university), which will synergize among themselves, in order to give the audience the broadest possible coverage of different aspects related to the topics in focus.

The review of the refereed papers will be done according to the ComSoc’s academic best-practices. Each paper will have three reviewers chosen among the members of the TCP on the basis of their expertise. The three chairs will take the final decision in case of controversial reviews.

Part II:

This block lasts 135 minutes and is composed of a world café followed by a panel discussion.

80 minutes: World café

A World Café links ideas within a large group to leverage on the “collective intelligence” in the room: participants move among a series of small groups or tables (depending on the logistic and the available room), where they continue the discussion in response to a set of questions, which are predetermined and focused on the specific goals of the workshop. Such questions will be compiled as a mix of topics defined by the workshop drivers before the workshop, and by the audience during the Part I of the workshop. The discussion in the tables or groups into which the audience is split is driven by the invited speakers and the paper presenters, who will align and coordinate before the workshop on a common strategy. Finally the last part of the workshop reports to the whole audience the main results obtained out of the parallel discussions held in the different tables or groups. The workshop organizers will drive this last part, ensuring a live and fruitful discussion.

During the World Café the set of most relevant topics as defined in Part I will be further elaborated, and a deep dive will be performed on those selected topics. Each table or group will address one topic, and the audience is asked to move table or group (and therefore to move the discussed topic), in a round-robin way. At the end of the World Café’ all people in the audience will have the opportunity to discuss all the chosen topics.

55 minutes; Panel and open discussion

The panel is run by the workshop organizers and is composed by the invited speakers and the papers presenters.

At the end of the World Café all the discussions held in the different tables or groups will be will be summarized by the workshops organizers and shared with all the audience at the beginning of the panel. Panelists will be asked to further comment on the obtained results and will steer the discussion on additional topics that didn’t make it to be discussed during the World Café’.

Finally the main discussed topics in the World Café and the outcome of the panel will be summarized in a publicly available short document, which will be made available for download to everyone. The document will be hosted in the publicly available part of the 5GENESIS, SaT5G and 5GALLSTAR projects websites.