publications

2025

1. Advancing O-RAN to Facilitate Intelligence in V2X

   Eugenio Moro, Francesco Linsalata, Maurizio Magarini, Umberto Spagnolini, and Antonio Capone

   IEEE Network, 2025

   DOI
2. Toward Digital Network Twins: Integrating Sionna RT in ns-3 for 6G Multi-RAT Networks Simulations

   Roberto Pegurri, Francesco Linsalata, Eugenio Moro, Jakob Hoydis, and Umberto Spagnolini

   In IEEE INFOCOM WKSHPS: Digital Twins over NextG Wireless Networks (DTWIN 2025) (INFOCOM DTWIN 2025), May 2025

   Abs

   The increasing complexity of 6G systems demands innovative tools for network management, simulation, and optimization. This work introduces the integration of ns-3 with Sionna RT, establishing the foundation for the first open source full-stack Digital Network Twin (DNT) capable of supporting multi-RAT. By incorporating a deterministic ray tracer for precise and site-specific channel modeling, this framework addresses limitations of traditional stochastic models and enables realistic, dynamic, and multilayered wireless network simulations. Tested in a challenging vehicular urban scenario, the proposed solution demonstrates significant improvements in accurately modeling wireless channels and their cascading effects on higher network layers. With up to 65% observed differences in application-layer performance compared to stochastic models, this work highlights the transformative potential of ray-traced simulations for 6G research, training, and network management.

3. Advanced Network Planning in 6G Smart Radio Environments

   Reza Aghazadeh Ayoubi, Marouan Mizmizi, Eugenio Moro, Ilario Filippini, and Umberto Spagnolini

   In 2025 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC): Mobile and Wireless Networks Symposium (IEEE ICC’25 - MWN Symposium), Jun 2025

   Abs

   The growing demand for high-speed, reliable wireless connectivity in 6G networks necessitates innovative approaches to overcome the limitations of traditional Radio Access Network (RAN). Reconfigurable Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) and Network-Controlled Repeater (NCR) have emerged as promising technologies to address coverage challenges in high-frequency millimeter wave (mmW) bands by enhancing signal reach in environments susceptible to blockage and severe propagation losses. In this paper, we propose an optimized deployment framework aimed at minimizing infrastructure costs while ensuring full area coverage using only RIS and NCR. We formulate a cost-minimization optimization problem that integrates the deployment and configuration of these devices to achieve seamless coverage, particularly in dense urban scenarios. Simulation results confirm that this framework significantly reduces the network planning costs while guaranteeing full coverage, demonstrating RIS and NCR’s viability as cost-effective solutions for next-generation network infrastructure.

2024

1. Towards Smarter Vehicular Communications: Leveraging Open RAN for Enhanced Vehicle-to-Vehicle Resources Management

   Franci Gjeci, Eugenio Moro, Francesco Linsalata, Ilario Filippini, and Antonio Capone

   In 2024 IEEE 100th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2024-Fall), Jun 2024

   DOI
2. Open RAN-Empowered V2X Architecture: Challenges, Opportunities, and Research Directions

   Francesco Linsalata, Eugenio Moro, Maurizio Magarini, Umberto Spagnolini, and Antonio Capone

   In 2024 IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference (VNC) (IEEE VNC 2024), May 2024

   Abs

   The advances in the automotive industry with the ever-increasing request for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) are pushing for a new epoch of networked wireless systems. Vehicular communications, or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), are expected to be among the main actors of the future beyond 5G and 6G networks. However, the challenging application requirements, the fast variability of the vehicular environment, and the harsh propagation conditions of high frequencies call for sophisticated control mechanisms to ensure the success of such a disruptive technology. While traditional Radio Access Networks (RAN) lack the flexibility to support the required control primitives, the emergent concept of Open RAN (O-RAN) appears as an ideal enabler of V2X communication orchestration. However, how to effectively integrate the two ecosystems is still an open issue. In this paper, we discuss possible integration strategies, highlighting the challenges and opportunities of leveraging O-RAN to enable real-time V2X control. Additionally, we enrich our discussion with potential research directions stemming from the current state-of-the-art and we provide preliminary simulation results that validate the effectiveness of the proposed integration

3. An Experimental Assessment of 5G Uplink Ranging

   Pietro Morri, Viola Bernazzoli, Mattia Brambilla, Eugenio Moro, Ilario Filippini, and Monica Nicoli

   In 2024 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 & IoT (MetroInd4.0 & IoT) (IEEE MetroInd 2024), May 2024

   Abs

   Positioning is one of the most promising feature of the latest fifth generation (5G) standard for mobile communications. Positioning functionalities can exploit both the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) communication direction. While most of the research efforts are devoted to DL positioning, in this work we investigate the problem of UL positioning. Differently from DL, UL communication is severely influenced by the synchronization mechanism used by the Base Station (BS) to control the User Equipment (UE), which primarily relies on timing advance procedure, and whose errors impact directly on the ranging accuracy. By developing a virtualized open-source 5G standalone network, we leverage the UL 5G Sounding Reference Signals (SRSs), broadcasted for channel quality assessments by the UE in a communication session, to perform ranging between the UE and a BS. We analyze the ranging accuracy in terms of measurement error distribution by placing a commercial mobile phone device at different distances from the BS, assessing a range error of 9 m in 95% of the observations.

4. Exploring Upper-6GHz and mmWave in Real-World 5G Networks: A Direct on-Field Comparison

   Marcello Morini, Eugenio Moro, Ilario Filippini, Antonio Capone, and Danilo De Donno

   May 2024
5. Optimal Planning for Heterogeneous Smart Radio Environments

   Reza Aghazadeh Ayoubi, Eugenio Moro, Marouan Mizmizi, Dario Tagliaferri, Ilario Filippini, and Umberto Spagnolini

   arXiv e-prints, Nov 2024

   DOI
6. Addressing Control Challenges in Vehicular Networks through O-RAN: a Novel Architecture and Simulation Framework

   Francesco Linsalata, Eugenio Moro, Franci Gjeci, Maurizio Magarini, Umberto Spagnolini, and Antonio Capone

   IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Nov 2024

   DOI

2023

1. 5G Ranging: Towards Flexible Positioning Services

   Viola Bernazzoli, Eugenio Moro, and Ilario Filippini

   In Proceedings of the on CoNEXT Student Workshop 2023, Paris, France, Nov 2023

   Abs DOI

   In a world where positioning is becoming increasingly important and emerging applications have progressively tighter requirements, the current satellite-based positioning solutions can not address their needs. We propose a new network-based positioning approach based on O-RAN 5G. The solution is easily deployable, transparent to the users, and flexible to the application needs, thanks to the programmability of the network. This is the first step towards a positioning network service targeting a flexible accuracy level, minimizing the number of parameters, and optimizing the resource and computation utilization.

2. Will the Upper 6 GHz Bands Work for 5G NR? A Urban Field Trial

   Marcello Morini, Eugenio Moro, Ilario Filippini, and Antonio Capone

   In Proceedings of the 17th ACM Workshop on Wireless Network Testbeds, Experimental Evaluation & Characterization, Madrid, Spain, Nov 2023

   Abs DOI

   In the never-ending pursuit of bandwidth, mid-bands have been recently reconsidered as the primary spectrum for 5G NR and its evolution. Laying between the crowded lower frequency bands and the propagation-unfriendly higher bands (i.e., millimeter wave), the upper 6 GHz band (6425-7125 MHz) presents a valuable compromise between capacity and coverage. Recognizing its potential, the research community has expressed interest in this spectrum and conducted several studies. Despite this enthusiasm, the deployment of upper 6 GHz testbeds remains elusive. This paper aims to address this gap by presenting the results of a comprehensive measurement campaign conducted on a 5G NR cellular system operating in the upper 6 GHz band (6425-7125 MHz), specifically deployed within the Politecnico di Milano campus. Our objective was to evaluate the system’s performance in a realistic environment and provide insights supported by empirical measurements. The measurement campaign yielded positive results, showcasing a remarkable channel capacity in urban areas, which remained consistently high even at the cell edge and in challenging non-line-of-sight and outdoor-to-indoor scenarios.

3. An Open RAN Framework for the Dynamic Control of 5G Service Level Agreements

   Eugenio Moro, Michele Polese, Antonio Capone, and Tommaso Melodia

   In 2023 IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks (NFV-SDN) (NFV-SDN’23), Nov 2023

   Abs

   The heterogeneity of use cases that next-generation wireless systems need to support calls for flexible and programmable networks that can autonomously adapt to the application requirements. Specifically, traffic flows that support critical applications (e.g., vehicular control or safety communications) often come with a requirement in terms of guaranteed performance. At the same time, others are more elastic and can adapt to the resources made available by the network (e.g., video streaming). To this end, the Open Radio Access Network (RAN) paradigm is seen as an enabler of dynamic control and adaptation of the protocol stack of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks in the 5th generation (5G) and beyond. Through its embodiment in the O-RAN Alliance specifications, it introduces the RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs), which enable closed-loop control, leveraging a rich set of RAN Key Performance Measurements (KPMs) to build a representation of the network and enforcing dynamic control through the configuration of 3GPP-defined stack parameters. In this paper, we leverage the Open RAN closed-loop control capabilities to design, implement, and evaluate multiple data-driven and dynamic Service Level Agreement (SLA) enforcement policies, capable of adapting the RAN semi-persistent scheduling patterns to match users’ requirements. To do so, we implement semi-persistent scheduling capabilities in the OpenAirInterface (OAI) 5G stack, as well as an easily extensible and customizable version of the Open RAN E2 interface that connects the OAI base stations to the near-real-time RIC. We deploy and test our framework on Colosseum, a large-scale hardware-in-the-loop channel emulator. Results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed Open RAN-based solution in managing SLA in near-real-time.

4. Toward Open Integrated Access and Backhaul with O-RAN

   Eugenio Moro, Gabriele Gemmi, Michele Polese, Leonardo Maccari, Antonio Capone, and Tommaso Melodia

   In 2023 21st Mediterranean Communication and Computer Networking Conference (MedComNet) (MedComNet 2023), Jun 2023
5. A System-level Perspective on New Services and Technologies for Radio Access Networks

   Eugenio Moro

   Doctoral dissertation, Jun 2023

2022

1. IABEST: an Integrated Access and Backhaul 5G Testbed for Large-scale Experimentation

   Eugenio Moro, Michele Polese, Ilario Filippini, Stefano Basagni, Antonio Capone, and Tommaso Melodia

   In Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing And Networking, Jun 2022
2. Towards Reliable mmWave 6G RAN: Reconfigurable Surfaces, Smart Repeaters, or Both?

   Giuseppe Leone, Eugenio Moro, Ilario Filippini, Antonio Capone, and Danilo De Donno

   In 2022 20th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt), Jun 2022
3. Boosting 5G Mm-Wave IAB Reliability With Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

   Paolo Fiore, Eugenio Moro, Ilario Filippini, Antonio Capone, and Danilo De Donno

   In 2022 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), Jun 2022

2021

1. Planning Mm-Wave Access Networks With Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

   Eugenio Moro, Ilario Filippini, Antonio Capone, and Danilo De Donno

   In 2021 IEEE 32nd Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), Jun 2021
2. Joint Management of Compute and Radio Resources in Mobile Edge Computing: a Market Equilibrium Approach

   Eugenio Moro, and Ilario Filippini

   IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Jun 2021

2020

1. Strategic Network Slicing Management in Radio Access Networks

   Alessandro Lieto, Ilaria Malanchini, Silvio Mandelli, Eugenio Moro, and Antonio Capone

   IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Jun 2020

2019

1. Strategies For Network Slicing Negotiation in a Dynamic Resource Market

   Alessandro Lieto, Eugenio Moro, Ilaria Malanchini, Silvio Mandelli, and Antonio Capone

   In 2019 IEEE 20th International Symposium on" A World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks"(WoWMoM), Jun 2019