About

• ENABLE-6G proposes a significant upgrade of the RAN system, by exploiting the cell-free solution; specifically, ENABLE-6G’s network architecture design is based on the incorporation of the cell-free approach which significantly increases channel capacity, achieves unprecedented spectral efficiency and performance, thus able to efficiently address ultra-dense traffic requirements.
• ENABLE-6G designs a unified network infrastructure approach that simplifies the network management procedures, that resolves current synchronization packet delay issues, and ensures the use of cost-efficient commodity equipment.
• ENABLE-6G proposes SDN-enabled, ML-based slice reconfiguration algorithms, by developing novel predictive slice reconfiguration methods, leveraging Convolutional Neural Networks, by incorporating the unique features of the cell-free based network.
• ENABLE-6G proposes innovative data-driven algorithms for optimal cluster formation focusing on real-time operation, exploring fast Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients with ML models pre-trained with historic data coming from the cell-free radio architecture.

The overall architecture and the structure of the envisioned ENABLE-6G is depicted in the generic schematic of the figure above, and includes all the main infrastructure elements that are deployed within ENABLE-6G project. ENABLE-6G adopts an evolved RAN, which is extended with emerging Cell-Free technologies for network densification, which will offer unprecedented spectral efficiency and performance, which is not constrained by inter-cell interference. Moreover, ENABLE-6G considers an optical transport domain based on Passive Optical Networks (PONs), that provide fronthaul connectivity to two different Cell-Free-based radio access configurations; the first is based on the serial-fronthauling approach, while the second utilizes a mMIMO antenna to provide fronthaul connectivity to several APs. Moreover, ENABLE-6G significantly evolves the MEC system towards fully elastic Edge Computing, by deploying a distributed Edge infrastructure with Data Centres (DCs) structured in 2 tiers, featuring Regional Edge and Radio Edge nodes. Radio Edge DCs hosts the Network Functions of the (virtualized) RAN, which fully aligned with the O-RAN specifications.

Dissemination

Journals

• N. Ghafouri, J. S. Vardakas, K. Ramantas and C. Verikoukis, A Multi-Level Deep RL-Based Network Slicing and Resource Management for O-RAN-Based 6G Cell-Free Networks, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 73, no. 11, pp. 17472-17484, Nov. 2024.
• N. Ghafouri, J. S. Vardakas, A. Ksentini and C. Verikoukis, High-level Service Type Analysis and MORL-based Network Slice Configuration for Cell-Free-based 6G Networks, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2025.
• J. S. Vardakas et al., A Self-driven Virtual Elastic Infrastructure For Cell-free Based 6G Networks, IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 188-195, April 2025.
• N. Ghafouri, J. S. Vardakas, K. Ramantas and C. Verikoukis, Towards Energy-Efficient AI: Learning Generic Assignment Skills with Unsupervised Reinforcement Learning for Network Slicing in Distributed 6G Networks, accepted in IEEE Communications Magazine, 2026.

Conferences

• I. Keramidi, J. Vardakas, I. Moscholios, M. Logothetis, and C. Verikoukis, Computational Load Offloading Mechanism in a Converged SDN Control Plane in a 6G Network, in Proc. IEEE/IET CSNDSP, 2024.
• N. Ghafouri, J. Vardakas, K. Ramantas, and C. Verikoukis, RL-Based High-Level Radio Unit Clustering and Distributed Unit Assignment in User-Centric Cell-free mMIMO for ORAN-Based 6G, in Proc. IEEE ICC 2024.
• G. Famitafreshi, M. Trigka, D. Selis, J. Vardakas, C. Verikoukis, An Innovative Multi-scale Strategy-based Decision Engine for Zero-touch Management and Orchestration in 6G", in Proc. IEEE GLOBECOM 2024.
• S. Chari, L. Garrido, J. Vardakas, K. Ramantas, C. Verikoukis, "MEC Resource Orchestration for Heterogeneous Networks and Services Using Reinforcement Learning, in Proc. IEEE GLOBECOM 2024.
• I. Keramidi, J. S. Vardakas, I. Moscholios and C. Verikoukis, "A Quantitative Comparison of Traffic Management Schemes in a Converged Optical-Wireless 6G Network, in Proc. ICTON 2025.
• N. Ghafouri, J. S. Vardakas, K. Ramantas and C. Verikoukis, Energy-Efficient Edge-Domain Automation and Service Provision in 6G Networks by Deploying Offline Discovered Assignment Skills, in Proc. IEEE ICC 2025.
• I. Keramidi, J. Lakoumentas, P. Zervou, K. Ramantas, J. Vardakas and C. Verikoukis, On the Need for Trustworthy Deep Learning Models for Efficient Resource Management in 6G Networks, in Proc. IEEE ICC 2025.

News

ENABLE-6G has participated in the IEEE/IET CSNDSP 2024 conference, where the project results have been presented!

ENABLE-6G has participated in the IEEE ICC 2024 conference, where the project results have been presented!

ENABLE-6G has published project results in the prestigious IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology journal!

ENABLE-6G has participated in the IEEE GLOBECOM 2024 conference, where the project results have been presented!

ENABLE-6G has participated in the IEEE ICC 2025 conference, where the project results have been presented!

ENABLE-6G has participated in the ICTON 2025 conference, where the project results have been presented!

Contact

Email us at ivardakas@uowm.gr.

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