The 28th International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM 2020)

By Dinko Begusic - Croatia, Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues - Brazil/Portugal, Nikola Rozic - Croatia and Pascal Lorenz - France

The 28th International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM 2020) was held as a virtual conference, 17–19 September, 2020. The Conference was technically co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) with the support of the Technical Committee on Communications Software (CommSoft) and the IEEE Croatian Section. The Conference was organized by the University of Split, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FESB), and the Croatian Communications and Information Society (CCIS) under the auspices of the Croatian Academy of Engineering.

The technical conference program featured 20 conference sessions including 10 general conference sessions, one symposium, and eight special sessions. The symposium was dedicated to Robotic and ICT Assisted Wellbeing. The special sessions were dedicated to hot topics including: QoS in Wired and Wireless Networks, Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks, Green Networking and Computing, Service Quality, Reliability and Security, Security and Digital Forensics, Advances in Machine Learning for Business and Finance, Environmental Electromagnetic Compatibility, and Advanced Educational Technologies. The contributions were submitted by researchers and experts from research institutions and industry in 30 countries. Following the selection through a reviewing process, 100 papers were accepted for presentation within the scientific technical conference program.

A plenary keynote talk titled “5G: New Engine of Digital Economic Growth” was presented by Siniša Krajnović, Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Services in Market Area North East Asia, Ericsson. The conference program featured two invited talks dedicated to the area of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications as follows: “Machine Learning and Cryptocurrency Markets“ by Nino Antulov-Fantulin, Ph.D., ETH Zurich, Switzerland; and “Advancing Optical Communication and Measurement Systems Using Machine Learning”, by Darko Zibar, Ph.D., DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.

The SoftCOM 2020 Business Forum featured three workshops and a panel discussion with participation by managers, executives, experts, government and institution representatives. In addition, two half-day tutorials were held by worldwide recognized experts. A professional Workshop on ICT was dedicated to the wide spectra of topics in ICT. The 9th Workshop on Software Engineering in Practice, was organized by Darko Huljenić, Ph.D., Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Croatia. iWORKSHOP: 7 x iSkills Fundamental Innovation Skills was organized by Marko Bervanakis (Ericsson Global Innovation Facilitator), Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Croatia. The Panel discussion “Possibilities of Development of NGA Networks in Croatia: A Technical Perspective, organized in collaboration with Djoni Garmaz, B.Sc., Split, and Dalmatia County, Split, gathered representatives of the leading telecom operators in Croatia.

An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Information Security and Intellectual Property (ISIP) was organized by Prof. Marija Boban, Ph.D., University of Split, Faculty of Law, and Prof. Gordan Ježić, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, featuring two invited talks: Food Fraud: Criminal Protection in Croatia, Ivan Vukušić, Ph.D., Assistent Professor, University of Split Faculty of Law; and “Croatia and The Movement and Structure of Cybercrime in the Republic of Croatia: Some New Trends, Vlatka Ružić, PhD, Polytechnics Nikola Tesla, Gospić, Croatia.

The SoftCOM 2020 conference featured two events aimed at students: The SoftCOM 2020 Ph.D. Forum for doctoral students, and the Workshop on Software Development for master level students. The SoftCOM 2020 Ph.D. Forum for doctoral students in the area of ICT was organized as a poster session, preceded by a fast-paced introduction by each student. The forum was coordinated by Prof. Maja Matijasevic (University of Zagreb) and Prof. Dinko Begusic (University of Split), and moderated by Asst. Prof. Maja Skiljo (University of Split), Prof. Višnja Križanović (University of Osijek), and Mirko Sužnjević (University of Zagreb), Goran Mauša (University of Rijeka), and Andrej Grgurić, Ericsson Nikola Tesla. The presentations of the master level student projects were held at the University and Industry Collaboration; the Workshop on Software Development - Master Thesis Use Cases was coorganized by Toni Mastelić, Ph.D. (Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Split) and Linda Vicković, Ph.D. (University of Split, FESB).

More information about the SoftCOM 2020 conference may be found at http://softcom2020.fesb.unist.hr/