In this task, the general context of each PoC to be implemented will be investigated. Any SW/HW requirements and

identified limitations will be presented as well as the relevant KPIs that will be used in Task 5.2 in order to evaluate each

PoC. The relevant procedures and methodology for evaluating each PoC will also be described in detail. A list of the

planned PoCs has been presented in the Methodology section but we remain flexible to enrich it if further interesting PoCs

are proposed from partners during Task 5.1. The technical solutions will be evaluated versus their promised performance

according to the initial theoretical and simulation studies in WP3/WP4, and their feasibility for implementation within

the project time. WP5 leader will take care of setting up periodic meetings with the other WP leaders for monitoring the

evolution of the design of technology solutions and analyze their feasibility for demonstration.

Also, the relevant criteria for the KPIs to be evaluated in the PoCs will be further refined. Such KPIs are to a large

extent the same as in the simulation studies but need to be tailored to the specific evaluation setup in laboratory

conditions. Particular effort will be spent in the definition of metrics and measurements related to complexity and energy

consumption.

A plan for the implementation phases will also be defined in this task. The first phase is meant as an initial implementation

of the technology features, relying on the initial design in the technical WPs. The second phase will be dedicated to a

more refined implementation leveraging the findings and the further scientific design work in the technical WPs but also

the feedback from the initial PoC implementation on the HW/SW limitations, back to the WP2/WP3 relevant designs.

Such phases will be implemented in the next tasks.

This task will focus on the initial implementation of the PoCs identified in Task 5.1.

Partners will start evaluating SW/HW requirements of their targeted PoC in order to assess the process and feasibility of

integrating them in their testbed facilities. Special care should be taken to make sure that each testbed can be adapted to

the typology of technical features for a specific PoC. Also experiment orchestration and relevant details and procedures

should be presented in order to make clear how each PoC will be evaluated and be able to be reproduced for verification

of the presented results.

A PoC setup architecture will be defined for each testbed along with the features related to the operational environment

(testbed HW setup, software environment, lab conditions).

The initial implementation will be focused on the initial design of the technical solutions designed in WP3 and WP4

(leveraging deliverables D3.1 and D4.1). As highlighted in the Methodology section, implementation will leverage tools

for HW/SW co-design. The implemented PoCs will then be used for two purposes:

• Performance verification of the technology components, to be evaluated against the KPIs defined in Task 5.1.

Performance results will also be critically benchmarked against simulation studies performed in WP3/WP4, with the aim

of identifying specific gaps due to practical constraints in HW/SW implementation that were not foreseen in the design

phase. In this respect, the evaluation results of the initial PoCs can provide input to WP3 and WP4 for optimization of

the designed solutions relying on such experimental feedback.

• Showcase of the capabilities of the designed technology components. Partners will take care of giving an audiencefriendly

aspects to their PoC, for example having real-time demonstration and implementing a graphical user interface

(GUI) for displaying live the performance in terms of e.g., packet error rate, spectral efficiency, latency, energy

consumption Such demos will be used in conferences/booths, and videos will be recorded.

Task 5.3 Refined implementation of PoC components (Task leader: IMEC) [Keysight, Bosch,

This task will focus on the implementation, evaluation, and presentation of the second version of PoCs.

Partners will leverage the learnings from the initial phase, as well as the input from ongoing efforts from WP3 and WP4.

Such technical WPs will indeed move forward with a more evolved design of the technology components, including

optimization for more challenging operational scenarios (e.g., denser deployments, inclusion of non-ideal signaling,

etc), also capitalizing the feedback obtained from the experimental verification in Task 5.2. The evolved features will be

ported in the existing testbed platforms, by using the same tools for HW/SW co-design as in Task 5.1.

Performance will be then verified against the same (or evolved) KPIs, eventually considering more challenging

operational conditions aiming at reproducing the simulation conditions. The obtained results will constitute a final

validation of the technology solutions, strengthening their value beyond simulation studies, or highlighting their

limitations due to practical constraints when analyzed in experimental conditions. In this respect, it will further highlight

the benefits of the proposed designs in light of the next phase of the SNS work programme.

Moreover, the refined PoCs will also be used for a new round of showcases and demonstrations, by leveraging the realtime

and GUI tools defined in Task 5.2.