Distinguished Keynote Speakers
Dr. Joerg Widmer
Research Director of IMDEA Networks,
Madrid, Spain
Wireless Sensing: From Localization to Coherent Imaging
Dr. Andres Garcia Saavedra
NEC Laboratories Europe
Cost and energy-efficient RAN virtualization
Miguel Santos
MASORANGE
Emerging market trends and opportunities in Autonomous Networks
Rafael Cantó Palancar
Telefonica Quantum Journey
Operationalizing Quantum Technologies in Telecom Networks
More About Keynote Speakers
Dr. Joerg Widmer
Wireless Sensing: From Localization to Coherent Imaging
Next generation wireless communication systems are increasingly capable of providing accurate sensing in addition to connectivity. By reusing spectrum and infrastructure, these systems can provide capabilities traditionally associated with radar, including precise localization and motion tracking. This keynote discusses the evolution of wireless sensing from simple device localization to advanced imaging in distributed multi-static wireless systems. The talk will cover how time and frequency offsets can be handled for accurate sensing among unsynchronized devices, how sparse frequency bands can be combined to increase resolution, and how receivers can cooperate to form synthetic apertures for coherent imaging of dynamic scenes. We will emphasize experimental testbeds and real-world demonstrations, highlighting both practical challenges and opportunities in turning communication networks into pervasive sensing infrastructures.
Joerg Widmer is Research Professor and Research Director of IMDEA Networks in Madrid, Spain, where he leads the Wireless Networking Research Group. Previously, he worked at DOCOMO Euro-Labs in Munich, Germany and EPFL, Switzerland, and has held visiting researcher positions at ICSI Berkeley (USA), University College London (UK), and TU Darmstadt (Germany). His research focuses on wireless networks, ranging from extremely high frequency millimeter-wave communication and wireless sensing to mobile network architectures. Joerg Widmer authored over 250 conference and journal papers, and holds 14 patents. He was awarded an ERC consolidator grant, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, a Mercator Fellowship of the German Research Foundation, a Spanish Ramon y Cajal grant, as well as 16 best paper awards. He is an IEEE Fellow and Distinguished Member of the ACM.
Dr. Andres Garcia-Saavedra
Cost and energy-efficient RAN virtualization
Carrier-grade virtualized Radio Access Networks (vRANs) struggle with high costs and energy demands to meet strict processing deadlines. This keynote establishes that cost- and energy-efficient RAN virtualization requires combining two complementary strategies. First, intra-DU solutions redesign the base station pipeline for non-deterministic platforms. To achieve this, we developed Nuberu, an architecture that decouples data tasks to guarantee a minimum viable subframe during capacity shortages to preserve user synchronization. Second, inter-DU solutions pool heterogeneous processors across multiple distributed units. For this approach, we introduce CloudRIC, a brokering system that coordinates access to these shared resources to proactively prevent deadline violations during network congestion. This two-fold approach enables vRANs to sustain over 95% of theoretical spectrum efficiency while cutting computing requirements by at least 80% and guarantee 99.999% processing reliability, all while delivering 3x higher energy efficiency and 15x higher cost efficiency than dedicating hardware, the industry-standard approach.
Andres Garcia-Saavedra is a Principal Research Scientist at NEC Laboratories Europe, based in Madrid, Spain. He applies mathematical modeling and artificial intelligence to programmable wireless systems. His research targets resource allocation in virtualized radio access networks (vRAN), energy efficiency in O-RAN, and non-terrestrial networks, including low Earth orbit satellite constellations. He builds physical prototypes to evaluate the experimental performance of new network protocols and architectures.
Dr. Garcia-Saavedra focuses on high-impact research, publishing conference papers in venues such as ACM SIGCOMM, MobiCom, MobiSys, and IEEE INFOCOM, and journal articles in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing and IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He holds 20 granted patents and 35 registered inventions. He earned his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Telematics Engineering from the University Carlos III of Madrid, and a B.Sc. in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Cantabria.
Miguel Santos
Emerging market trends and opportunities in Autonomous Networks
Autonomous networks are reshaping digital infrastructure by enabling systems that can self‑configure, self‑monitor, self‑heal, and self‑optimize with minimal human intervention.
Driven by advances in AI, machine learning, and cloud‑native architectures, these networks improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance resilience.
Key trends include closed‑loop automation, predictive analytics, and integration with emerging technologies such as 5G/6G, edge computing, and network slicing.
As demand for highly dynamic and reliable connectivity grows, autonomous networks will become essential to supporting next‑generation services and complex, distributed environments
Miguel has spent the last 10 years as the Chief Technology Officer at MASMOVIL/MASORANGE, reporting to the CEO as a member of the Executive Committee, where he was in charge of the Network, IT, O&M, Cybersecurity as well as Products Delivery. Prior to this, he worked at Vodafone Spain for 20 years managing different roles in the Technology Area (Radio, Transmission, Deployment, TV, Fixed, Strategy, Software development, Product development, …). Miguel has an MBA from the Manchester Business School and the Escuela de Organización Industrial as well as a degree as Telecommunications Engineer. In 2024, he was awarded as CTO of the Year in ‘Gamechanger’ category by Mobile Europe.
Rafael Cantó Palancar
Operationalizing Quantum Technologies in Telecom Networks
This talk explores the quantum journey of a telecommunications operator, establishing the rationale for quantum technologies through information-theoretic foundations and network-engineering imperatives. It introduces core quantum principles—qubits, entanglement, and no-cloning theorem—and maps them to practical applications in large-scale networks, emphasizing quantum key distribution (QKD), quantum-safe architectures, and the quantum internet paradigm. The presentation reviews the state of the art in quantum communications, featuring recent performance metrics from deployed testbeds, alongside standardization efforts by ETSI, ITU-T, and IETF that define interoperable architectures and interfaces. Finally, it outlines an operator’s strategic roadmap—from proof-of-concept pilots to pre-operational integration—covering quantum link embedding in optical transport networks, control/management-plane enhancements, interoperability protocols, security-by-design principles, and key research challenges for achieving production-ready quantum-enhanced infrastructures
Rafael Cantó Palancar holds an MSc in Telecommunication Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and has been with Telefónica I+D since 1998. His early research and professional activity focused on Radio Access technologies, followed by leadership roles in Optical Networks and Fixed Access systems.
Since 2013, his work has been centred on IP and Transport Technologies. He is currently Head of IP and Emergent Connectivity Technologies at Telefónica CTIO, where his innovation activities focus on advanced network architectures and quantum communications. In this role, he leads research and innovation initiatives in quantum technologies, including the deployment of the TEFQCI network, the coordination of multiple experimental trials and customer-oriented proofs of concept, and active participation in national and European R&D projects. His work is particularly oriented towards the industrialisation and operational deployment of Quantum Key Distribution technologies in operator networks, contributing to initiatives such as EuroQCI and IberianQCI.