Our senior researcher, Dr. Agapi Mesodiakaki (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH and WinPhoS Research Group), represented ELIXIRION with her team’s work (Charalampos Bratsoudis, Panagiotis Konstantinou, Dr. Marios Gatzianas, Dr. George Kalfas, Prof. Nikos Pleros & Prof. Amalia Miliou) on "Techno-economic Analysis of Sustainable Terrestrial, Aerial, and Space 6G Networks".

Their research dives into optimizing the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) in 6G to handle coverage and capacity.

Key highlights include:

✅ Minimizing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) across terrestrial, aerial, and space base stations.

✅ A detailed energy and cost analysis model tailored for 6G, addressing the access network’s role as an energy bottleneck.

✅ Findings show NTNs can reduce TCO by up to 4.4x in coverage-driven scenarios, underscoring the importance of an integrated TN-NTN 6G architecture.

📡 This research bridges sustainability, cost efficiency, and cutting-edge network innovation—paving the way for greener, smarter 6G networks! 🚀

From 18-22 November 2024, the Amsterdam UMC proudly hosted two impactful training schools in The Netherlands:

📘 1st School: Healthcare 4.0: Challenges and Opportunities

📘 2nd School: 3GPP Architecture and Introduction to the 6G Enabling Technologies Towards Healthcare 4.0

These schools brought together the vibrant group of ELIXIRION doctoral candidates, academic experts, and industry leaders to explore how cutting-edge communication technologies can revolutionize healthcare.

A heartfelt thank you to our incredible invited speakers, whose expertise and insights made this week unforgettable:

✅ Dr. Ali Rezaki (Nokia)

✅ Mr. Dave Bouman (Amsterdam UMC)

✅ Dr. Marcela Tuler de Oliveira (Delft University of Technology)

✅ Mr. Sai Tejeswar Reddy Chintha (MCS Data Labs GmbH)

✅ Dr. Minas Pertselakis (Suite5 Data Intelligence Solutions)

✅ Dr. Marios Gatzianas (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH))

💡 A special thank you to all our ELIXIRION partners Agapi Mesodiakaki, Nikolaos Pappas, Lechosław Tomaszewski, Konstantinos Ntontin, Henk Marquering, Praneeta Konduri, Andreas_Pfeiffer, Holger Schlingloff for their time, effort, and dedication in sharing their knowledge with our doctoral candidates. Your support and collaboration have been instrumental in making these training schools a success.

Congratulations to all participants for their dedication and enthusiasm!

The 2nd brochure is here covering all ELIXIRION highlights and global outreach. We are talking about a project which has been making significant strides in telecommunications and network innovations, engaging both academic and industry leaders through an array of events, professional development programs, and conferences around the world.

Key Events and Participation

ELIXIRION representatives have been active in numerous global technology forums. At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024, held in Barcelona, Mr. Lazaros Liatsas, a doctoral candidate at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Dr. Angelos Antonopoulos, Search and Innovation Director at Nearby Computing S.L., showcased the project, presenting groundbreaking advancements in network technologies to a global audience.

Mr. Lazaros Liatsas at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024

Thought Leadership in Communication and Networking

Several prominent academics involved in the ELIXIRION Project are actively disseminating knowledge on cutting-edge network technologies and communication methodologies, making significant impacts globally. Dr. Nikolaos Pappas, an Associate Professor at Linköping University and a key contributor to the project, has been leading efforts to introduce the concept of Goal-oriented Semantic Communication through a series of talks, tutorials, and seminars worldwide. His sessions have included prestigious venues and events, such as IEEE GLOBECOM 2023 and the IEEE/IFIP Networking 2024 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

In addition to these high-profile conferences, Dr. Pappas has delivered presentations at several leading academic institutions across the globe. His recent seminars and talks took place at Yonsei University in South Korea, the American University of Beirut, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) in China, HIT-Shenzhen in Shenzhen, and HUST (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) in Wuhan, China. This extensive engagement illustrates ELIXIRION's commitment to promoting understanding of goal-oriented communication strategies, a critical area as the industry advances toward 6G technology.

Prof. Nikolaos Pappas and his audience during his lecture at HUST

Plenary Meetings and Collaborative Growth

The ELIXIRION team has organized multiple plenary meetings to foster collaboration and plan the project's future steps. The first online plenary meeting, held on May 24, 2024, facilitated initial project discussions.

Consortium at 1st online plenary meeting

Later, a second in-person meeting in Thessaloniki, hosted at the WinPhoS Research Group premises, provided a valuable opportunity for in-depth discussions and networking among the project’s international team members.

Consortium at the 2nd plenary meeting in Thessaloniki

Educational and Professional Development Initiatives

From October 1–4, 2024, the project hosted two major courses at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation (KEDEK) in Thessaloniki, Greece. These courses, focusing on Scientific Writing, Research Integrity, and Misconduct as well as Presentation, Communication, and Teamwork Skills Improvement, served as platforms to enhance both the technical and soft skills of participants, emphasizing ELIXIRION’s commitment to comprehensive professional development.

Complementary course 2

Engagement in Conferences and Symposia

ELIXIRION’s contributions were also highlighted at events like She STEMs 2024, hosted by Greek Women in STEM, where Dr. Agapi Mesodiakaki from the WinPhoS Research Group at AUTH delivered a talk titled Experience and Lessons Learnt Towards Next-Generation Networks.

Moreover, Prof. Dionysis Xenakis of NKUA joined a panel at the Navigating the Future II Conference in Athens, where he discussed advancements in 6G technologies, including AI and space-based computing, underscoring ELIXIRION's role in shaping the future of telecommunications.

Dr. Dionysis Xenakis at a panel discussion in Navigating the future 2 conference

Dr. Dionysis Xenakis

Community Engagement and Public Dissemination

In April 2024, Dr. Xenakis hosted Prof. Symeon Chatzinotas from the University of Luxembourg for a lecture on large satellite constellations and their integration with terrestrial networks. This event illustrated ELIXIRION's commitment to public dissemination of complex network technologies and highlighted the importance of 6G innovations, such as artificial intelligence and computing in space.

Prof. Symeon Chatzinotas and Prof. Dionysis Xenakis at NKUA

Furthermore, ELIXIRION’s presence at Researchers' Night in Greece, represented by Mrs. Upaangana Das and Dr. Mesodiakaki, showcased the project to the public, celebrating the success and importance of science in society.

Dr. Agapi Mesodiakaki at Researcher's night 2024

A Future Focused on Next-Generation Networks

ELIXIRION's activities reflect a multi-faceted approach to advancing network technology and fostering global collaboration. The project's active involvement in educational, professional, and community events underscores its commitment to driving innovation and influencing the future of next-generation networks.

Dr. Nikolaos Pappas, Associate Professor at Linköping University and a valuable member of ELIXIRION, continues to make strides in advancing the field of Goal-oriented Semantic Communication. On September 3rd, 2024, Dr. Pappas proudly represented ELIXIRION at the IEEE PIMRC 2024 in Valencia, Spain, with a comprehensive online tutorial that tackled key technical challenges and shared recent breakthroughs in this evolving paradigm, critical for the future of wireless networks.

Tutorial Overview: Advancing Goal-Oriented Semantic Communication

Dr. Pappas’ tutorial was structured to guide participants through a detailed exploration of goal-oriented semantic communication, an emerging area of research that leverages the freshness and importance of information for network performance optimization. Divided into four parts, the tutorial provided both theoretical foundations and practical applications, while also offering a future outlook.

Part I: Semantics-aware Communications

In the first section, the rationale and background were explained, essential definitions were provided, and both historical and current approaches to goal-oriented semantic communication were reviewed. This section also introduced the concept of the semantics of information, moving beyond traditional proxy metrics like the age and value of information.

• Motivation and initial definitions considering the end-to-end information chain
• Age, Quality, and Value of Information
• Initial models, approaches, and tools

Part II: Information Theoretic Approaches to Goal-oriented Semantic Communication

The second section focused on information-theoretic methods for goal-oriented communication, drawing on recent findings from rate-distortion-perception theory.

• Semantic source coding
• Indirect rate-distortion modeling
• Rate-distortion-perception: modeling and computation

Part III: End-to-end information chain

In the third section, the tutorial presented findings on autonomous maintenance in industrial IoT, semantic source coding, and autonomous systems.

• Remote tracking, reconstruction, and actuation
• Autonomous maintenance
• Effective AoI

Part IV: Concluding remarks, open problems, and future directions

Finally, the fourth section concluded the tutorial with an outlook on the future of goal-oriented semantic communication and networking.

By presenting this comprehensive tutorial at IEEE PIMRC 2024, Dr. Pappas reaffirmed ELIXIRION’s position at the cutting edge of research and development in wireless communication.