Luis Blanco

Ico_CTTC
Luís Blanco | CTTC

Space and Resilient Communications and Systems (SRCOM)

Phd , Researcher

Phone: +34 93 645 29 00

Dr.  Luis Blanco received his MSc and PhD in Telecommunications engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain, in 2006 and 2017, respectively. He holds a MSc degree in Research on Information and Communications Technologies (MERIT) from the UPC since 2012. Furthermore, he also has a degree in Data Science and Big Data from the University of Barcelona (UB) and a postgraduate degree in quantitative techniques for financial markets from the UPC, obtained in 2016 and 2012, respectively. In addition, Dr. Blanco holds an MBA from IDE-CESEM, Instituto de Directivos de Empresa (Madrid).

In 2007, he joined the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), where he currently holds a position as a researcher. He has actively participated in more than twenty research projects funded by public and private entities, including EC-funded projects (MONB5G, SEMANTIC, EMPhAtic, BeFEMTO, COOPCOM), national projects (e.g., 5G-TRIDENT, FBMC-SILAN, GRE3N), networks of excellence in research (SATNEX IV) with the European Space Agency (ESA) and a plethora of industrial projects with top-tier international companies (e.g, HUAWEI, Keysight technologies, DIMAT-ZIV, Inmarsat, Hispasat, MBI, etc), some as technical leader at CTTC. He has actively participated in obtaining funds from H2020 EU research programs and envisaging the technological transfer in proposals with the industry.

Currently, Dr. Blanco is Project Manager of the MSCA-ITN training network SEMANTIC and is involved in the H2020 project MonB5G, developing Deep Learning algorithms for zero-touch management and orchestration in the support of network slicing at massive scales for 5G and beyond. Besides, he leads the research line on Fast Prototyping of AI-Enhanced Solutions.

Luis was recipient of the INNOVATIA award from IDE-CESEM (Instituto de Directivos de Empresa, Madrid). His primary research areas of interest include optimization, machine learning and big data for wireless communication systems in beyond 5G, M2M/IoT over satellite networks, massive M2M communications for Internet of Things and dense wireless networks.

Miscellaneous

Education

1)      PhD in signal theory and wireless communications (2017). Title of the dissertation: “Subset selection in signal processing using sparsity-inducing norms”, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

2)      MBA, Master in Business Administration, IDE-CESEM Instituto de Directivos de Empresa (Madrid).

3)      Postgraduate Degree on Data Science and Big Data (2016). Universitat de Barcelona (UB). Final degree Project on the development of a new big data algorithm for “Ad click prediction”.

4)      MSc. European Master of Research on Information and Communications technologies (MERIT). 2012, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). Graduated first of his class.

5)      Postgraduate degree in quantitative techniques for financial markets (2012). UPC

6)      MSc.  Telecommunications engineering (2006). UPC

 

Relevant research projects

SEMANTIC (H2020 MSCA-ITN). Role: Project manager. End-to-end slicing and data automation of Next generation of cellular networks with mobile edge clouds.

MONB5G (H2020-ICT-2019-2). Role: Researcher (involved in WPs 2-6 and leads CTTC’s contribution in WP4). Development of Deep Learning algorithms for slice management and zero-touch network automation in Beyond 5G systems with a massive number of slices.

AT4Wireless (R&D project with AT4Wireless). Responsabilities: WP/Task leader & Technical contributor. Migration of the UL/DL LTE-FDD PHY-layer to LTE-TDD, development of a real-time testing platform and implementation of dual-layer beamforming. Design of algorithms for real-time PHY-layer computation, implementation and simulation of the LTE standard. High TRL prototype.

SATNEX IV Work Item 2.3 R&D subproject with the European Space Agency (ESA): “Ultra-Low Power Machine-to-Machine Communications via Satellite Links”. Responsibilities: Technical leader and contributor. Development of new algorithms for grant-free IoT access for a massive number of ground terminals considering Energy Harvesting.

SATNEX IV WI 4.2 (ESA): “NOMA Techniques for Satellite”. Responsabilities: Researcher. Study of random access schemes that enable the heterogeneous coexistence of different class of terminals.

MBI_ESA (R&D Project). Role: Project Leader. Support to the implementation in a compact M2M/IoT terminal of the algorithms developed within the context of  SATNEX IV WI 2.3.

MUMO (R&D project with DIMAT-ZIV). Role: Task leader and technical contributor. Implementation of an end-to-end High Voltage Power Line Communications simulator based on FBMC (high-level TRL).

I-NBIoTASAT (R&D project with INMARSAT). Role: Task leader (business case analysis). I-NBIoTSAT studied the viability of using the NB-IoT communication system for connecting IoT devices directly to a LEO and GEO satellites. Economical and business studies of the NB-IoT solution were provided as well as some prospective studies of this technology in the next decade.

BeFEMTO (ICT-FP7-248523). Responsabilities: Supervision of an undergraduate student and technical contributor. Technical contribution: Detection of primary users in cognitive radios for LTE.

Inmarsat-I6 (R&D project with INMARSAT). Role: Technical contributor.

I-CUBE (R&D project with INMARSAT). Role: Researcher. Analysis and evaluation of the viability of using Ultra-Narrow-Band (UNB) systems in the return link of LEO constellations. Output: Development of a system-level simulator.

ATTACH (R&D project funded by Huawei). Role: Researcher on IoT over LEO satellites. Convergence of satellite communications and 5G and on the investigation of access schemes for satellite systems dedicated to M2M services.

SmallCellAVE (R&D project funded by Hispasat). Role: Task leader and technical contributor. Analysis of network interference and viability study of deploying LTE/3G small-cells in high-speed trains.

MICRONSAT (R&D project). Role: Researcher. Computation of the last mile channel loses from a LEO satellite to an LTE handset.

GEDOMIS (Internal testbed). Role: Task leader of the synchronization algorithms design task. Design and development of LTE synchronization algorithms for the real-time testbed GEDOMIS® and support in the implementation.

COOPCOM (EC-funded FET). Role: Technical contributor. Implementation of a two-hop wireless network where two relays aid one transmitter-receiver pair to communicate.

EMPHATIC (EC-funded FP7). Role: Researcher. Development of new compressive sensing techniques for the detection of primary and secondary users in cognitive radios.

 

Relevant project proposals

Dr. Blanco has actively contributed to different project proposals. Next, some of them are listed:

– European Commission funded projects: GENESIS (Principal investigator, ATTRACT call), Pre-6G EVO (technical leader at CTTC, H2020-ICT-52-2020), SWEET (contributor, H2020-ICT-2019-2).

– Industrial R&D projects: BBVA-MaLIC (project leader, BBVA-BIG DATA), ATTACH (technical contributor, competitive industrial project HIRP), SmallCellAVE (technical contributor), etc.

– Projects funded by the Spanish Government: 5G-TRIDENT (technical contributor).

Publications

He is co-author of 23 scientific publications: 7 journals + 16 international conferences (i10-index: 6, h-index: 7)

Reviewer

He is regular reviewer of the following journals:

–          IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

–          IEEE Transactions of Signal Processing

–          IEEE Transactions on Communications

–          IEEE Signal Processing Letters

–          EURASIP Journal on advances on Signal Processing

–          ELSEVIER Signal Processing Journal

He has been TPC reviewer of IEEE GLOBECOM conference (2017-2020) and regular reviewer of IEEE international conferences: IEEE ICC, IEEE VTC, IEEE ICASSP, IEEE PIMRC.

Awards

He was recipient of the INNOVATIA award from IDE-CESEM (Instituto de Directivos de Empresa, Madrid).

International conference organization

He has contributed to the organization as a local committee member of the ICASSP 2020 and has participated in the organization of ISWCS 2014.

Academic Mentoring

He has co-supervised the Master Thesis of two undergraduate students.

Presence in high-visibility events

–          Participation in the Mobile World Congress 2014, 2015 and 2019.

–          Participation on behalf of CTTC in the Brokerage Event of the MWC in 2014 and 2015.

 

A Novel Approach for Scalable and Sustainable 6G Networks
Ieee Open Journal Of The Communications Society. Vol. 5. pp. 1673-1692 January 2024.
Blanco L., Zeydan E., Barrachina-Munoz S., Rezazadeh F., Vettori L., Mangues-Bafalluy J.
10.1109/OJCOMS.2024.3372426 Google Scholar
Towards natively intelligent networks
Towards Sustainable And Trustworthy 6g: Challenges, Enablers, And Architectural Design. pp. 159-232 January 2023.
Gramaglia M., Li X., García-Aviles G., Alcaraz-Calero J.M., Antti A., Araújo M., Barbosa R., Barmpounakis S., Barrachina-Muñoz S., Bassoli R., Bernini G., Blanco L., Bosneag, A.-M., Chawla A., Christofi L., Dampahalage D., Demestichas P., Ericson M., Farhadi H., Fiore M., Fitzek, F.H.P., Flinck H., Fonseca J., Forsell M., Gabillon V., Garcia-Saavedra A., Han B., Honkala M., Kazmierowski A., Klitis C., Korpi D., Kuklinski S., Pavón I.L., Lamprousi V., Landi G., Lee H., Mangues-Bafalluy J., Khorsandi B.M., Merluzzi M., Mohammadi J., Morin C., Lucena, J.A.O., Pöyhönen P., Rajapaksha N., Rajatheva P., Rezazadeh F., Riggio R., Scheuvens L., Seimler M., Tuononen J., Vilalta R., Wang Q.
10.1561/9781638282396.ch5 Google Scholar
Cloud Native Federated Learning for Streaming: An Experimental Demonstrator
IEEE International Conference on High Performance Switching and Routing. Vol. 2023-June. pp. 46-48 January 2023.
Barrachina-Munoz S., Zeydan E., Blanco L., Vettori L., Rezazadeh F., Mangues-Bafalluy J.
10.1109/HPSR57248.2023.10147920 Google Scholar
On the use of Probabilistic Forecasting for Network Analysis in Open RAN
2023 Ieee International Mediterranean Conference On Communications And Networking, Meditcom 2023. pp. 258-263 January 2023.
Kasuluru V., Blanco L., Zeydan E.
10.1109/MeditCom58224.2023.10266607 Google Scholar
AI-Driven Framework for Scalable Management of Network Slices
IEEE COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE. Vol. 61. No. 11. pp. 216-222 January 2023.
Blanco L., Kuklinski S., Zeydan E., Rezazadeh F., Chawla A., Zanzi L., Devoti F., Kolakowski R., Vlahodimitropoulou V., Chochliouros I., Bosneag A.-M., Cherrared S., Garrido L.A., Barrachina-Munoz S., Mangues J.
10.1109/MCOM.005.2300147 Google Scholar
Blockchain-Based Self-Sovereign Identity for Federated Learning in Vehicular Networks
2023 19th International Conference On Network And Service Management, Cnsm 2023. January 2023.
Zeydan E., Blanco L., Mangues J., Arslan S., Turk Y.
10.23919/CNSM59352.2023.10327817 Google Scholar
A Marketplace Solution for Distributed Network Management and Orchestration of Slices
2023 19th International Conference On Network And Service Management, Cnsm 2023. January 2023.
Zeydan E., Blanco L., Barrachina-Munoz S., Rezazadeh F., Vettori L., Mangues J.
10.23919/CNSM59352.2023.10327832 Google Scholar
A Marketplace Solution for Distributed Network Management and Orchestration of Slices
International Conference On Network And Service Management. January 2023.
Zeydan, E, Blanco, L, Barrachina-Muñoz, S, Rezazadeh, F, Vettori, L, Mangues, J
Google Scholar
Blockchain-Based Self-Sovereign Identity for Federated Learning in Vehicular Networks
International Conference On Network And Service Management. January 2023.
Zeydan, E, Blanco, L, Mangues, J, Arslan, S, Turk, Y
Google Scholar
Statistical Federated Learning for beyond 5G SLA-Constrained RAN Slicing
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS. Vol. 21. No. 3. pp. 2066-2076 January 2022.
Chergui H., Blanco L., Verikoukis C.
10.1109/TWC.2021.3109377 Google Scholar
Toward Zero-Touch Management and Orchestration of Massive Deployment of Network Slices in 6G
IEEE WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS. Vol. 29. No. 1. pp. 86-93 January 2022.
Chergui, H, Ksentini, A, Blanco, L, Verikoukis, C
10.1109/MWC.009.00366 Google Scholar
DEEP GATEWAY SWITCHING
Iet Conference Proceedings. Vol. 2022. No. 29. pp. 233-236 January 2022.
Vázquez M.Á., Henarejos P., Blanco L.
10.1049/icp.2023.1391 Google Scholar
TRAFFIC CONGESTION PREDICTION IN SATELLITE BROADBAND COMMUNICATIONS
Iet Conference Proceedings. Vol. 2022. No. 29. pp. 151-157 January 2022.
Henarejos P., Vázquez M.Á., Blanco L.
10.1049/icp.2023.1379 Google Scholar
CDF-Aware Federated Learning for Low SLA Violations in beyond 5G Network Slicing
IEEE International Conference on Communications. January 2021.
Chergui, H, Blanco, L, Verikoukis, C
10.1109/ICC42927.2021.9501058 Google Scholar
Zero-Touch AI-Driven Distributed Management for Energy-Efficient 6G Massive Network Slicing
IEEE Network. Vol. 35. No. 6. pp. 43-49 January 2021.
Chergui, H, Blanco, L, Garrido, LA, Ramantas, K, Kuklinski, S, Ksentini, A, Verikoukis, C
10.1109/MNET.111.2100322 Google Scholar
A Collaborative Statistical Actor-Critic Learning Approach for 6G Network Slicing Control
2021 Ieee Global Communications Conference, Globecom 2021 - Proceedings. January 2021.
Rezazadeh F., Chergui H., Blanco L., Alonso L., Verikoukis C.
10.1109/GLOBECOM46510.2021.9685218 Google Scholar
New Satellite Random Access Preamble Design Based on Pruned DFT-Spread FBMC
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS. Vol. 68. No. 7. pp. 4592-4604 January 2020.
Caus, M., Perez-Neira, A.I., Bas, J., Blanco, L.
10.1109/TCOMM.2020.2985977 Google Scholar
Study on the Application of NOMA Techniques for Heterogeneous Satellite Terminals
2020 10th Advanced Satellite Multimedia Systems Conference And The 16th Signal Processing For Space Communications Workshop, Asms/spsc 2020. January 2020.
Ramirez T., Mosquera C., Noels N., Caus M., Bas J., Blanco L., Alagha N.
10.1109/ASMS/SPSC48805.2020.9268878 Google Scholar
Phase-only transmit beamforming for spectrum sharing microwave systems
Wsa 2016 - 20th International Itg Workshop On Smart Antennas. pp. 135-141 January 2019.
Vázquez M.Á., Blanco L., Pérez-Neira A., Lagunas M.Á.
Google Scholar
Spectrum Sharing Backhaul Satellite-Terrestrial Systems via Analog Beamforming
IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN SIGNAL PROCESSING. Vol. 12. No. 2. pp. 270-281 January 2018.
Vazquez, MA, Blanco, L, Perez-Neira, AI
10.1109/JSTSP.2018.2824980 Google Scholar
Hybrid Analog-Digital Transmit Beamforming for Spectrum Sharing Backhaul Networks
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SIGNAL PROCESSING. Vol. 66. No. 9. pp. 2273-2285 January 2018.
Vazquez, MA, Blanco, L, Perez-Neira, AI
10.1109/TSP.2018.2806358 Google Scholar
Feasibility of Energy Management Techniques for Ultra-low Power M2M SatCom Terminals
2018 9th Advanced Satellite Multimedia Systems Conference And The 15th Signal Processing For Space Communications Workshop, Asms/spsc 2018. January 2018.
Alagha N., Alonso-Zarate J., Andrenacci M., Biason A., Blanco L., Chesi I., Tarchi D., Zorzi M.
10.1109/ASMS-SPSC.2018.8510748 Google Scholar
Sparse Beamforming for mmWave Spectrum Sharing Systems
European Signal Processing Conference. pp. 1517-1521 January 2018.
Vázquez, MA, Blanco, L, Pérez-Neira, A
Google Scholar
Practical considerations for system-level simulators of UNB IoT devices over LEO satellites
Ka and Broadband Communications Conference. Vol. 2018-October. January 2018.
Bas J., Pedro-Mediano J., Caus M., Blanco L., Perez-Neira A.
Google Scholar
Non-convex consensus ADMM for satellite precoder design
International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing ICASSP. pp. 6279-6283 January 2017.
Vazquez, MA, Konar, A, Blanco, L, Sidiropoulos, ND, Perez-Neira, AI
10.1109/ICASSP.2017.7953364 Google Scholar
Multiuser downlink hybrid analog-digital beamforming with individual SINR constraints
21st International Itg Workshop On Smart Antennas, Wsa 2017. pp. 84-89 January 2017.
Vázquez M.Á., Blanco L., Pérez-Neira A.
Google Scholar
Sparse Multiple Relay Selection for Network Beamforming with Individual Power Constraints Using Semidefinite Relaxation
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS. Vol. 15. No. 2. pp. 1206-1217 January 2016.
Blanco, L, Najar, M
10.1109/TWC.2015.2487439 Google Scholar
Hybrid Analog-Digital Transmit Beamforming for Spectrum Sharing Satellite-Terrestrial Systems
Ieee International Workshop On Signal Processing Advances In Wireless Communications. January 2016.
Vazquez, MA, Blanco, L, Artiga, X, Perez-Neira, A
Google Scholar
Hybrid analog-digital transmit beamforming for spectrum sharing satellite-terrestrial systems
2016 Ieee 17th International Workshop On Signal Processing Advances In Wireless Communications (spawc). Vol. 2016-August. January 2016.
Vazquez M.A., Blanco L., Artiga X., Perez-Neira A.
10.1109/SPAWC.2016.7536819 Google Scholar
RELAY SUBSET SELECTION IN COGNITIVE NETWORKS WITH IMPERFECT CSI AND INDIVIDUAL POWER CONSTRAINTS
European Signal Processing Conference. pp. 1456-1460 January 2015.
Blanco, L, Najar, M
Google Scholar
Interference management in LTE-based HetNets: A practical approach
Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies. Vol. 26. No. 2. pp. 195-215 January 2015.
Font-Bach, O, Bartzoudis, N, Pascual-Iserte, A, Payaro, M, Blanco, L, Bueno, DL, Molina, M
10.1002/ett.2833 Google Scholar
Relay subset selection in cognitive networks with imperfect CSI and individual power constraints
2015 23rd European Signal Processing Conference (eusipco). pp. 1456-1460 January 2015.
Blanco L., Najar M.
10.1109/EUSIPCO.2015.7362625 Google Scholar
Subset relay selection in wireless cooperative networks using sparsity-inducing norms
2014 11th International Symposium On Wireless Communications Systems (iswcs). pp. 501-505 January 2014.
Blanco, L, Najar, M
10.1109/ISWCS.2014.6933405 Google Scholar
Sparse covariance fitting for direction of arrival estimation
EURASIP JOURNAL ON ADVANCES IN SIGNAL PROCESSING. January 2012.
Blanco, L, Najar, M
10.1186/1687-6180-2012-111 Google Scholar
Minimum variance time of arrival estimation for positioning
SIGNAL PROCESSING. Vol. 90. No. 8. pp. 2611-2620 August 2010.
Blanco, L, Serra, J, Najar, M
10.1016/j.sigpro.2010.02.018 Google Scholar
Cramer-Rao bound for time-delay estimation in the frequency domain
European Signal Processing Conference. pp. 1037-1041 January 2009.
Serra J., Blanco L., Nájar M.
Google Scholar
Conformal transformation for efficient root-TOA estimation
2008 3rd International Symposium On Communications, Control, And Signal Processing, Isccsp 2008. pp. 1314-1319 January 2008.
Blanco, L, Serra, J, Najar, M
10.1109/ISCCSP.2008.4537429 Google Scholar
Root minimum variance TOA estimation for wireless location
European Signal Processing Conference. pp. 2204-2208 January 2007.
Blanco L., Serra J., Nájar M.
Google Scholar
Root spectral estimation for location based on TOA
European Signal Processing Conference. January 2006.
Blanco L., Serra J., Nájar M.
Google Scholar
Nehir Sonmez
Researcher R3
Antonio Román
Researcher PO
José Rubio
Researcher R2
David López
Researcher R2
Nikolaos Bartzoudis
Researcher R3