NetLab

We are delighted to extend our warmest congratulations to Alexey Rolich, Ion Turcanu, Alexey Vinel, and Andrea Baiocchi for their exceptional achievement at the 21st Mediterranean Communication and Computer Networking Conference (MedComNet 2023). Their paper titled "Impact of Persistence on the Age of Information in 5G NR-V2X Sidelink Communications" has earned them this year's prestigious Mario Gerla Best Paper Award.

The distinguished authors have made significant contributions to the field of cooperative awareness and its evolution to collective perception in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Their research emphasizes the critical role of continuous update message exchanges between neighboring nodes, including vehicles, pedestrians, and infrastructure, to achieve cooperative awareness on the road.

Their investigation focuses on the potential of 5G NR-V2X, a promising technology enabling sidelink communications through its Mode 2 operation mode. Specifically, they explore the Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) technique, which empowers vehicles to autonomously select and reserve resources for transmitting successive messages.

While previous studies have examined the general performance of SPS, Rolich, Turcanu, Vinel, and Baiocchi delve into the unexplored territory of the impact of persistence on the freshness of update messages. Their research aims to answer a crucial question: Is persistence beneficial in terms of the average Age of Information (AoI) metric? To address this, they develop a simplified model of SPS, enabling analytical evaluation and optimization.

Through meticulous simulations and rigorous analysis, the authors establish the accuracy and robustness of their model. Their groundbreaking findings shed light on the existence of an optimal persistence level, which becomes evident when viewing the system through the lens of average AoI. This key insight challenges conventional performance metrics like throughput or PAoI.

Moreover, we take pride in highlighting the exceptional achievements of the authors in their respective fields. Alexey Rolich is a 2nd-year Ph.D. student at DIET Sapienza University of Rome, while Ion Turcanu serves as the Head of the Edge Computing & Networks (EDGE) group at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). Alexey Vinel is a renowned Professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and Andrea Baiocchi is also a Professor at DIET, Sapienza University of Rome.

Their remarkable contributions to academia and their dedication to pushing the boundaries of knowledge have garnered well-deserved recognition. We commend their outstanding work, which exemplifies the spirit of innovation and excellence within their respective institutions.

To learn more about their award-winning paper and the groundbreaking research conducted by these exceptional individuals, please visit out his link https://ion-turcanu.net/publication/rolich2023impact/rolich2023impact.pdf. Join us in celebrating their achievements and stay updated on their future endeavors as they continue to shape the landscape of cooperative awareness and communication systems in ITS.