The city of Split, being the main academic and industrial center as well as an attractive resort at the Croatian Adriatic coast, was a perfect venue for the 27th SoftCOM conference. The International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks - SoftCOM 2019 was held in attractive ambience of the Radisson Blu Resort hotel, Split, 19 to 21 September, 2019. The Conference was organized by the University of Split, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FESB) and Croatian Communications and Information Society (CCIS) under the auspices of the Croatian Academy of Engineering. The Conference has been technically co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) with the support of the Technical Committee on Communications Software (CommSoft).
At the opening ceremony the participants were welcomed on behalf of the organizers by Prof. Dinko Begusic, Ph.D., Soft- COM 2019 General Co-Chair; Prof. Sven Gotovac, the Dean of the University of Split, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FESB); Ms. Radojka Tomašević, Head of Sector for International and EU Projects of the City of Split; Prof. Pascal Lorenz, chair of the IEEE ComSoc France Chapter; Prof. Mario Kusek, Member of the Executive Committee of the IEEE Croatia Section; Prof. Mislav Grgic, Ph.D., University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER); Milan Zivkovic, Director of Business and Strategy Development, Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Zagreb.
The technical conference program featured 20 conference sessions, including five special sessions and three symposia: the Symposium on Green Networking and Computing; the Symposium on Security and Digital Forensics; and the Symposium on Environmental Electromagnetic Compatibility. Researchers and experts from research institutions and industry from 30 countries have submitted in total 224 papers, and 104 papers were accepted for presentation within the scientific technical conference program. The 10th Symposium on Green Networking and Computing (SGNC 2019) was organized by A. Capone, DEIB, Politecnico di Milano, and J. Lorincz, FESB, University of Split, with the support of the IEEE TCGCC. As one of the oldest symposiums in the field, the SGNC served as a platform for academia and industry researchers from all over the world to share ideas and results during special sessions, tutorials and business forum presentations organized within the past 10 symposiums. The conference program featured two invited talks dedicated to the area of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications by recognized researchers and institutional representatives as follows: Machine Learning Techniques for Next-Generation Optical Communication Systems, Darko Zibar, Ph.D., Technical University of Denmark, Denmark; Artificial Intelligence Based Tutors: Past, Present, and Future, Ray Perez, Ph.D., Office of Naval Research, USA.
The SoftCOM 2019 Business Forum featured seven workshops and two round tables with the participation of managers, executives, experts, government and institution representatives. In addition five half-day tutorials were held by worldwide recognized experts. A Professional Workshop on ICT covered the wide spectra of topics in ICT. The 8th Workshop on Software Engineering in Practice, organized by Darko Huljenić, Ph.D., Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Croatia, gathered researchers from academia and professionals from industry to discuss new developments in the area of communications software development. The iPANEL SoftCOM 2019 Innovations Challenge was organized by Marko Bervanakis (Ericsson Global Innovation Facilitator), Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Croatia and Toni Mstelić, Ph.D., Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Split. The Workshop on Integrated Antifraud System (IAFS) was moderated by Prof. Boris Vrdoljak, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Zagreb. The Workshop on Advanced Educational Technologies was moderated by Ani Grubišić, Ph.D., University of Split, Faculty of Science. The GREENMIND Project–Green and Small Mobility was presented by Martin Bucan, Split and Dalmatia County, Split. The Business forum featured a series of industrial presentations including: Danijel Soldo, IBM R&D Center, Boeblingen, Germany; Vedran Ivaniš, Nokia Networks, Croatia; Nikola Morić, MRS Electronic, Croatia.
In conjunction with SoftCOM 2019, the final workshop of the Horizon 2020 SCAVENGE Project (Sustainable Cellular Networks Harvesting Ambient Energy) was organized by P. Dini (CTTC, Barcelona), D. Gunduz (ICL, London), and M. Rossi (UNIPD, Padova). The SoftCOM 2019 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 organization 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 Su?njevi? (University of Zagreb).
The presentations of the master level student projects pursued in the frame of the Ericsson Nikola Tesla Summer Camp 2019, have been held within a special workshop session which was coorganized by Ivana Nižetić Kosović, Ph.D., and Toni Mastelić, Ph.D. (Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Split).
More information about the SoftCOM 2019 conference may be found at the address http://softcom2019.fesb.unist.hr/