Important Dates
Paper Submission
Authors can submit their papers via EDAS.
Submit on EDAS Link TBDBuilding the All-Optical Fabric for Sustainable AI
Overview
In line with previous editions, ONDM 2027 invites contributions on cutting-edge research advances in optical network engineering, covering the data, control and/or management planes, all the segments (access, metro and core), as well as hot topics like fiber sensing, AI/ML use cases and new fiber types. The scope of the conference also includes the design and modelling of networks based on advanced photonic, packet transport and wireless technologies integrated with optical networks.
The continuous growth of data-driven applications from immersive extended reality and autonomous mobility to large-scale AI training and distributed inference is pushing optical network infrastructures to their limits. Meeting these demands requires fundamental and diverse improvements on the optical fabric, becoming more programmable and autonomous while attaining superior sustainability. Tomorrow's networks must self-adapt to dynamic traffic conditions, support stringent and heterogeneous service requirements, and do so across every segment of an increasingly disaggregated ecosystem. Beyond connectivity, the optical fabric is also emerging as a sensing substrate, enabling real-time environmental and network state awareness that feeds directly into closed-loop control.
At the heart of this transformation lies a powerful convergence between artificial intelligence and optical technologies, comprising machine learning-driven optimization, AI-assisted quality-of-transmission estimation, and closed-loop autonomous control operations. Increasingly, agentic AI systems capable of goal-driven reasoning, multi-step planning, and autonomous decision-making are poised to take network intelligence beyond reactive automation toward truly self-managing optical infrastructures. Yet this convergence cuts both ways, as AI reshapes optical networking, optical networking must in turn rise to sustain AI. The increased requirements on bandwidth and energy consumption by modern AI workloads place the all-optical fabric at the center of the sustainability challenge, making energy-aware design not a constraint, but a core architectural principle.
Topics of Interest
The scope of the conference includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:
- Multi-mode/few-modes/multi-core optical spatial division multiplexed (SDM) networks
- Multi-band optical switching and grooming
- Evaluation and impact of Hollow Core Fibers
- Benchmarking the scalability of network designs
- Advance routing and spectrum assignment in flex-grid flex-modulation optical networks
- Novel and multidimensional optical network architectures
- Novel optical node designs including disaggregation and open optical line systems
- Zero-touch network and service management at scale
- Digital twin-based management and design
- Advances in optical network modelling and optimization
- Application of AI/ML in optical networks
- Novel network telemetry and real-time monitoring technologies for optical networks
- Network function acceleration on Smart NICs In-network computing
- Optical network availability, resilience, survivability, security and privacy
- Designing and optimizing large QKD networks
- Quantum Networks on the road to the Quantum Internet
- Fiber sensing use cases
- Optical networks exploiting photonic integrated circuits
- Visible light communications and networks
- Photonics-based Non-terrestrial networks
- Free Space Optical communication
- Optical and wireless network convergence
- Intra-/inter-data centre connectivity for cloud/edge computing
- Optical-packet transport
- Optical networking in support of vertical industries
- Optical network control, management and orchestration including SDN and NFV solutions
- Slicing, service chaining, virtualization and multi-tenancy techniques
- Energy efficient and sustainable networks
Submission Categories
Submission Instructions
Authors are encouraged to submit either abstract / short papers (3 pages) or full papers (up to 6 pages) in standard IEEE conference style https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html, describing original, unpublished research results, not currently under review by another conference or journal, addressing forefront research and development in the area of optical network design and modelling.
Authors of 3-page papers must ensure their papers are formatted correctly, i.e., they are exactly 3 completely filled pages. Only PDF files with all fonts embedded are accepted. Your submitted PDF file and registered EDAS account of a paper must list the same author(s), title and abstract. Papers where the PDF and EDAS account do not match the author(s), title, and/or abstract will be withdrawn by the Technical Program Co-Chairs.
Selected ONDM2027 papers will be considered for publication in an archival journal. The selection criteria include the conference paper's score, novelty and impact. The extensibility of the paper with significant new material is also a key requirement for inclusion in this Special Issue.
Awards
Best Paper Award
Awarded to the best paper presented at ONDM 2027.
Best Student Paper Award
Awarded to the best paper with a student as first author.
Technical Program Committee (TPC) Co-Chairs
PDF will be available once the CFP is finalized.