Call for Papers

Reliability of communication infrastructures is a top priority for network operators. To ensure reliable network operation, new design and management techniques must be constantly devised to respond to the rapid network and service evolution. As a recent and relevant example, deployments of 5G communication networks will soon enter their second phase, during which the network infrastructure will require upgrades to support new Ultra-Reliable services with availability of up to 6 nines. Similarly, disaster resiliency in communication networks is now attracting the attention of media, governments and industry as never before (consider, e.g., the worldwide network traffic deluge to support remote working during the current Covid19-pandemic!). Luckily, several new technical directions can be leveraged to provide new solutions for network reliability such as for example: increased network reconfigurability enabled by Software Defined Networking (SDN); integration/convergence of multiple technologies (optical, wireless, satellite, datacenter networks); enhanced forms of data/service replication, supported by, e.g., edge computing; network slicing, used to carve highly-reliable logical partitions of network, computing and storage resources. These, and many other technological transformations can enable next-generation high-reliability networks.

Given the strong interest in both industry and academia towards reliability of telecom networks and cloud-computing infrastructures, we organize this IEEE TNSM Special Issue as a second Special Issue as part of a Series on Design and Management of Reliable Networks. in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, with the first issue published in September 2021. The Special Issue aims at the timely publication of recent and innovative research results on this important topic. This Special Issue is organized in collaboration with the International Conference on the Design of Reliable Communication Networks (DRCN), which was held in April this year. DRCN is a well-established forum for scientists from both industry and academy who have interest in reliability and availability of communication networks. As such, this Special Issue will also invite top-scored DRCN papers to share excellent results and new challenges in the field of reliable communication networks and services.

We welcome submissions addressing important challenges (see the non-exhaustive list of topics below) and presenting novel research or experimentation results. Survey papers that offer a perspective on related work and identify key challenges for future research will be considered as well. We look forward to your submissions!

About the Special Issue 

Topics of interest for this special issue, include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Resilience in 5G/6G networks and services
• Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC)
• Design of resilient and reliable IoT systems
• Resilience in Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
• Secure and reliable quantum communication
• Resilient communication networks for the smart grid
• Resilience in satellite communication networks
• High-availability for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) infrastructures
• Reliability issues in softwarized networks
• Dependability and reliability of cloud/wireless/cellular/mobile/datacenter networks
• Resilience in FSO/VLC communications
• Survivability and traffic engineering for optical, IP and multi-layer/multi-domain networks
• Recovery of overlay and peer-to-peer networks
• Risk and reliability in the Internet and enterprise networks
• Communication reliability for smart city applications and intelligent transport systems
• Methods for survivable network and systems design, analysis and operation
• Planning and optimization of reliable networks, systems, and services
• Machine learning for reliable design of communication networks
• Reliable Federated Learning 
• AI empowered reliable autonomous driving and intelligent transportation
• Security of cyber physical and networked control systems
• Reliable design of networked control systems
• Reliable communications in the era of beyond 5G/6G systems
• Failure management based on AI/Machine Learning techniques
• Data analytics and Machine Learning for fault diagnosis
• Network coding techniques to improve resilience
• Quality of Experience (QoE) and network service availability assessments
• Resilience of networked critical infrastructures
• Network robustness to natural disasters
• Robust network design for hostile environments
• Network dependability and energy consumption trade-offs
• Network resilience combined with economics and commercial issues
• Public policy issues for survivability and resilience
• Supply chain reliability
• Reliability aspects in blockchains and distributed ledgers
• Reliability in Unmanned Aerial Vehicular Networks
• Technological sovereignty

Submission Format

Papers will be evaluated based on their originality, presentation, relevance and contribution to the field of design and management of reliable communication networks, as well as their overall quality and suitability for the special issue. The submitted papers must be written in a good English and describe original research which has not been published nor currently under review by other journals or conferences. Previously published conference papers should be clearly identified by the authors at the initial submission stage and an explanation should be provided of how such papers have been extended in order to be considered for this special issue.  

Author guidelines for the preparation of manuscript (including number of pages and potential extra page costs) can be found on the IEEE TNSM Submit a Manuscript page.

For more information, please contact Massimo Tornatore. 

Submission Guidelines

All manuscripts and any supplementary material should be submitted through the IEEE ManuscriptCentral service. Authors must indicate in the submission system that their manuscript is intended for the “Advances in Design and Management of Reliable Communication Networks” special issue.

Important Dates

Paper Submission Date: 1 November 2021 19 November 2021 (Extended Deadline)
First Round Decision Notification: 25 February 2022
Second Round Decision Notification: 30 May 2022
Publication Date*: 1 September 2022 

Guest Editors

(* online published version will be available in IEEE Xplore with the final DOI immediately after the camera ready version has been submitted)