Workshop on Experimental Research on Networking (ERN)
The networking research community has made tremendous strides in developing novel architectures, protocols, and management paradigms for next-generation communication networks. However, a number of results presented at major venues are grounded in analytical modeling and simulation-based evaluations. While these methodologies are essential, the field faces a critical and growing reproducibility and experimental validation gap: research outcomes that have not been tested on real hardware, real protocol stacks, or realistic testbed environments risk remaining disconnected from practical deployment realities.
The Workshop on Experimental Research on Networking (ERN) aims to fill this gap by providing a dedicated forum for presenting experimental results, reproducible methodologies, prototyping efforts, and testbed-driven research at the networking layer and above. ERN specifically targets work that involves real-world experimentation, hardware-in- the-loop validation, and end-to-end system prototyping.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Experimental evaluation of 5G/6G network architectures and protocol stacks
- O-RAN testbeds: xApp/rApp development, RIC deployment, and performance benchmarking
- Optical networking experiments: space-division multiplexing, multi-core fiber testbeds, flex-grid systems
- Quantum networking prototypes: QKD testbeds, entanglement distribution, quantum network control planes
- Satellite and non-terrestrial network integration: experimental testbeds and measurement campaigns
- Network orchestration and slicing: end-to-end experimental validation across heterogeneous domains
- AI/ML for networking: experimental deployment and reproducibility of ML-driven network management
- Software-defined and programmable networking: P4-based, eBPF-based, and intent-based experimentalplatforms
- Edge and fog computing: experimental evaluation of latency, reliability, and resource management
- Cybersecurity for networks: intrusion detection systems, anomaly detection evaluated on real traffic
Reproducible research methodologies, open datasets, and benchmarking suites for networking research
Submission Guidelines:
Papers must follow the standard IEEE conference format (max 6 pages, 10-point font).
Authors are invited to submit paper through EDAS at: https://edas.info/N35286
Important Dates:
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- Paper Submission Deadline: July 11, 2026
- Acceptance Notification: August 15, 2026
- Camera-Ready Deadline: August 25, 2026
- Workshop Date: September 29, 2026
Workshop Chairs:
- Andrea Marotta (University of L’Aquila, Italy)
- Koteswararao Kondepu (IIT Dharwad, India)
- Riccardo Bassoli (TU Dresden, Germany)