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The research group started in 1992 and belongs to the Computer Architecture Department of the Tecnical University of Catalunya (UPC BarcelonaTECH). The University has been granted as Campus of International Excellence (Barcelona Knowledge Campus) and the Computer Architecture Department holds a PhD Program awarded by a Quality Mention with Honors by the Spanish Ministry since 2003.
The research group is recognised both as a research group of the UPC and as a consolidated research group of the Catalan Goverment Generalitat de Catalunya.
2005SGR-0481, for the period 2005-2008,
2009SGR-1140, for the period 2009-2013,
2014SGR-1427, for the period 2014-2016, and
2017SGR-1037, for the period 2017-2021.
As member of CER UPC IDEAI is recognized as a consolidated reserach group:
2021SGR-01532.
The CBA (BroadBand Communications) group focuses its research activities in the field of computer networks as well as communication technologies. The main goal of the group is to understand and anticipate the future requirements of networks and meet them both through applied and fundamental research. The group carries research in the following topics: cybersecurity, new Internet architectures, optical networks, low-energy networks, traffic monitoring and analysis, autonomous networks based on machine learning, network-on-chip, quality of service as well as nanonetworks. The group has an extensive record of establishing collaborations with top-tier international research teams, both in the academic and industrial fields.
Members of the research group participate in the following initiatives.
In 2020 a group of CBA researchers setup the Barcelona Neural Networking Center (BNN-UPC)
In 2008 a group of CBA researchers started this initiative: The NaNoNetworking Center in Catalonia (N3Cat).
In January 2021 the group joined the joint research center at UPC CER IDEAI.
The Broadband Communications Systems and Architectures Research Group (CBA) was a founding member of the Advanced Broadband Communications Center (CCABA) of the UPC. CCABA started its activities in January 1994.
In January 2021, after establishing new goals and a new structure, CBA ceased its membership.
Most of the topics covered by this research group are strongly related with broadband networks and broadband services and applications: switching, protocol development and performance, traffic modeling, network resource management policies and bandwidth allocation, traffic and congestion control, routing strategies, internetworking, network management, IP and optical networks convergence, quality of service management and transport protocols.
Key research topics are:
Network Architectures
- Quality of Service in IP networks
- IPv6 (coexistence and transition)
- Mobility (Mobile IPv4 and IPv6)
- MPLS and TE (QoS and Resilience)
- Inter‐domain routing
- Future Internet Architectures
- Locator/Id Split Protocol (LISP). LISPmob
- Software-Defined Networking (VNF)
- Network architecture for 5G Networks
- Network architecture for IoT
- Machine learning for network management
- Network Economics
- Data privacy
- Security of communications
- Digital Identity and Electronic Signature
Knowledge-Defined Networking
The research community has considered in the past the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to control and operate networks. A notable example is the Knowledge Plane proposed by D.Clark et al. However, such techniques have not been extensively prototyped or deployed in the field yet. In this paper, we explore the reasons for the lack of adoption and posit that the rise of two recent paradigms: Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Analytics (NA), will facilitate the adoption of AI techniques in the context of network operation and control. We describe a new paradigm that accommodates and exploits SDN, NA and AI, and provide use cases that illustrate its applicability and benefits. We also present simple experimental results that support its feasibility. We refer to this new paradigm as Knowledge-Defined Networking (KDN).
Optical Networking
- IP over ASON/GMPLS networks
- Optical Packet Switching
- Optical Burst Switching
- Multilayer/technology Interoperability
- Protection/restoration
- Resource management
- Physical Impairments aware Optical Networks
- Energy Consumption aware Optical Networks
- OF/SDN based optical Networks
- Data Centers inter/intra connection
Traffic Monitoring and Analysis
Green Networking
- Energy‐aware algorithms and protocols for telecommunication networks
- Energy‐aware Routing and Wavelength Assignment algorithms
- Heuristics and ILP formulations
- Energy‐aware OSPF‐TE extensions for reducing GHG emissions
- Energy‐oriented Network Re‐optimization
- Energy models
- Renewable energy sources
Computer Networks Technologies and Psychoanalysis
In this research line we propose to bring together elements of Psychoanalysis with advanced Computer Networks Technologies concepts, towards a deeper understanding of the individual as well as the collective behaviour of people, when generating data in socially interactive media. Computer Networks Technologies provide the formal tools and rigorous mathematical methods while psychoanalysis gives a fundamentally different insight in human behaviour and decision-making processes. This must provide a new technology paradigm, in which user data in social applications can be understood and analysed in a robust way by the interaction of the two Sciences.
Nanonetworking Communications
- Molecular communications
- EM Nano‐sensor networks (in the THz band)
- Channel modelingNanonetwork architectures
- General purpose simulator
Network-on-Chip
- Wireless Network-on-Chip
- Graphene Wireless Communications
- Coding and Modulation
- MAC protocols for NoC
