RIGOLETTO (EngIneeRInG photOnic devices and systems towards a green opticaL nETwork infrasTructure fOr 6G) targets the design, prototyping, and demonstration of an end-to-end optical transport network with an innovation focus on the optical network segments that will support the future 6G infrastructure, specifically:

  1. at the device level, new enabling technologies/material for photonic integrated circuits targeting the design, fabrication of integrated low-energy devices for transmission and switching;
  2. at the data plane level, transmission systems based on space-division multiplexing and secured by quantum key distribution, including seamless integration with Light Fidelity (LiFi) access;
  3. the physical layer validation of the optical communication infrastructure through the creation of a digital twin representing the disaggregated optical network thanks to an accurate impairment modeling;
  4. a seamless SDN control relying on optical layer abstraction and pervasive telemetry data collection to feed AI/ML algorithms that will lead to a sustainable zero-touch optical network;

Research and development activities results will be shown in final prototype validation and testbed/field demonstrations, involving both vendors and operators. 

RIGOLETTO is part of Spoke: 1 – Pervasive and Photonic Network Technologies and Infrastructures

Project PI: Piero Castoldi

RIGOLETTO is focused in the development of a Future proof optical transport infrastructure, employing: 

Photonic integrated circuits (PIC), Consolidate numerous discrete components into a single photonic integrated circuit, Replacing conventional electronic processing in numerous applications, Reducing power consumption;

Use of multiple frequency bands (MB) to transmit data over a single optical fiber, allowing for higher data rates and increased capacity and space division multiplexing (SDM) transmit multiple data streams simultaneously, instead of using separate channels within the same frequency band;

Light Fidelity (Li-Fi), which utilizes visible light for high-speed wireless communication, and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), that enables secure communication. 

The control plane has been refined to improve network impairment models and digital twins enabling agile service delivery, network accelaration and smart network resilience enabled by AI.
  • An Innovative data plane for a future proof transporto infrastructure has been designed. The study on the data plane has addressed the use of photonic integrated circuits (PIC), multiband (MB) and sapce division multiplexing (SDM) techniques. The infrastructure incorporates Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) technology, and QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) is key for aiming to flexibility and security.
  • The control plane aschitecture is defined at a high lever with the aim to identifying the main components and theie interactions for the control of each network segment. The orchestrator will provide the interface toward the network users providing a set of services to be estabilshed in the network.
  • The technologies developeved or enhanced by RIGOLETTO have led to improvements in energy efficiency and security, among other performance parameters. A wide range of sectors include Smart Manufacturing, Energy and Utilities, Transportation, Health Care, Media and Entertainment, Smart Cities, and Governments areas may take advantage in the innovative 6g infrastructure.
The impact is on a wide range of sectors include Smart Manufacturing, Transportation, Health Care, Media and Entertainment, Smart Cities.

Papers:
These are a sample of the most significant publications, although many more would be worth of mention. 

G. S. Sticca, M. Ibrahimi, N. Di Cicco, F. Musumeci and M. Tornatore, "Hollow-Core-Fiber Placement in Latency-Constrained Metro Networks with edgeDCs," 2024 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC), San Diego, CA, USA, March 2024 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10527034 

S. Civelli, E. Forestieri and M. Secondini, "Sequence-Selection-Based Constellation Shaping for Nonlinear Channels," in Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 1031-1043, 1 Feb.1, 2024, doi: 10.1109/JLT.2023.3332487. [Collaborative paper: SSSA, CNR] 

A. Montanaro, C. Porzi, F. Ahmad, M. Chiesa, A. D’Errico, A. Bigongiari, A. Serrano Rodrigo, F. Camponeschi, M. Romagnoli, A. Bogoni, A. Malacarne, "93 GHz Wireless Transmission based on a Fully Packaged mm-Wave Band Optical Clock Generator," 2023 International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics (MWP), Nanjing, China, 15-18 October 2023 doi: 10.1109/MWP58203.2023.10416604. [Collaborative paper: SSSA, CNIT, Ericsson] 
There are two important industrial partners in RIGOLETTO project:
the vendor Ericsson and the network operator OpenFiber. Both are very relevant in the project and they both contributed with significant case studies and research steering from the point of view of industry.

Ericsson has been an active contributor in the architectural aspects of the future optical transport architectures, since they cover the technologies of all network segments. Withing RIGOLETTO they are currently especially active around microwave photonics, i.e. the research covering the use of optics in PIC to generate carrier combs, support to beam forming and signal phase shifting, and high frequency carrier generation.

OpenFiber is especially active on the transport architecture activities. From the architecture they provide useful insight for the use of dark fibers and architectures for the fiber-based access segments. Additional contribution on activities just started, namely the key enabling technologies for joint communication and sensing.
Program partners: Cascade calls partners:
Publications
  • Expected: at least 100 publications on 36 months
  • Accomplished: 79 (8 journal publications + 19 conference publications + 1 master thesis)
  • Readiness: <100%
Joint Publications
  • Expected: >=30% joint publications on 36 months
  • Accomplished: 19 joint publications over 79
  • Readiness: <100%
Talks/Communication events
  • Expected: 30 talks or event chairing/organizing within RIGOLETTO activities on 36 months
  • Accomplished: > 10 (among dissemination events and conference presentations)
  • Readiness: 86%
Demo/PoC
  • Expected: 5 PoCs expected by the end of the project
  • Accomplished: 0
  • Readiness: 0% (work according to plan)
Project Meetings
  • Expected: > 36 meetings
  • Accomplished: 14 meetings
  • Readiness:100%
Patents/Innovations
  • Expected: 10 items over 36 months
  • Accomplished: 3 items submitted to mission 7
  • Readiness: 77%
Open source contributions
  • Expected: 10 items over 36 months
  • Accomplished: 6 items submitted to mission 7
  • Readiness: <100%
Standardization contributions
  • Expected: 10 items over 36 months
  • Accomplished: 3 items submitted to mission 7
  • Readiness: 77%
  • MS0.1 Internal communication tools (M03)
  • MS0.2 Definition of the scientific content of the cascade calls (M03)
  • MS1.1 RIGOLETTO architecture (M12)
  • MS2.1 - Definition of photonic integrated devices for RIGOLETTO (M12)
  • MS3.1 - Data plane technologies for RIGOLETTO network (M12)


  • Expected: 5
  • Accomplished: 5
  • Readiness: 100%

 

Researchers involved: Over the 3 year of project duration the following staff is allocated to S4 RIGOLETTO

    • Approximately 320 pm of permanent staff
    • Approximately 530 pm of recruited researchers
    • Approximately 480 pm of recruited PhD students

Collaboration proposals:

The RIGOLETTO Project is open to collaborations on the following topics:

  • Green optical network architectures
  • Novel materials and novel photonic integrated circuits for datacom
  • Physical layer modeling and capacity scaling in optical communication systems
  • SDN-based control plane of optical networks

For any proposal of collaboration within the project please contact the project PI.

RIGOLETTO News: