COMSNETS 2026

18th International Conference on
COMmunication Systems & NETworkS

January 6 - 10
Chancery Pavilion Hotel, Bengaluru, India

Initiative by COMSNETS Association

Panel Discussions

Panel 1 · Jan 7, 2026 · 5:15 PM – 6:45 PM

6G and WiFi8 Meets Generative AI: Reimagining the Future of Intelligent Connectivity

As the vision for 6G and WiFi8 evolves beyond raw speed and capacity to deliver immersive, intelligent, and trusted digital experiences, Generative AI (GenAI) is emerging as a catalyst for this transformation. This panel will explore the synergies between 6G, WiFi8, and GenAI — how GenAI can power intelligent network design, optimization, and personalization, and how 6G and WiFi8 infrastructure can support low-latency, high-reliability AI applications at scale and at the edge. The discussion will span architectural shifts, spectrum innovation, trust and sovereignty challenges, and transformative use cases such as AI-generated immersive media, autonomous networks, industrial digital twins, and private AI-native connectivity domains. Together, these advances point toward a future where connectivity is not just faster, but context-aware, adaptive, and human-centric.

Discussion Points:

  • Intelligent Network Operations: How GenAI can optimize 6G and WiFi8 network planning, simulation, spectrum use, and self-healing.
  • Edge AI Enablement: Infrastructure requirements for running GenAI at the network edge — from telco clouds to WiFi 8-powered local edge servers.
  • Seamless Fabric: How 6G and WiFi8 interoperate for ubiquitous connectivity, ensuring smooth mobility between wide-area and local-area intelligent networks.
  • Immersive Experiences: AI-generated media, virtual environments, and AR/VR delivered over ultra-reliable, low-latency 6G/WiFi8 links.
  • Private AI-Powered Domains: WiFi 8 as an enabler for on-premise AI networks in enterprises, campuses, and smart factories.
  • Next-gen equipment and AI-assisted design: Using GenAI for chipsets, antennas, and protocol stacks design, accelerating R&D cycles and enabling adaptive hardware/software co-design.
  • Sustainability: How WiFi8’s energy-efficient design and 6G’s green network goals support sustainable GenAI deployments.
  • Cross-sector Innovation: Collaborative R&D opportunities bridging telecom, WiFi, and AI industries.
  • Standardization: Role of 3GPP, IEEE, ITU, and ETSI in driving AI adoption across 6G/WiFi8.
Moderator
Nadeem Akhtar
HFCL
Bangalore, India
Panelists
Vijayalakshmi C
Arista Networks
Bangalore, India
Satish Kanugovi
Nokia
Bangalore, India
Phanimithra G
Qualcomm
Bangalore, India
Guharajan Sivakumar
Aprecomm
Bangalore, India
Rahul Sounderarajan
Tejas Networks
Bangalore, India

Panel 2 · Jan 8, 2026 · 5:45 PM – 7:00 PM

Networks Beyond People: Designing Infrastructure for Autonomous Systems, Machines, and Digital Beings

The internet was designed for people. But the future of connectivity is increasingly machine-first — from autonomous vehicles and drones to smart factories, virtual agents, and AI-powered digital twins. In this world, 6G and WiFi8 provide the ultra-reliable, low-latency fabric, while Generative AI enables intelligence, adaptability, and autonomy at scale. This panel explores the shift toward networks where non-human actors become primary users. What new demands does this place on latency, resilience, addressability, trust, and governance? How must protocols, policies, and architectures evolve to support a world where most traffic is generated, consumed, and acted upon by machines and digital beings?

Discussion Points:

  • Autonomous Agents at Scale: Real-time communication and decisioning challenges for autonomous vehicles, drones, and robotic fleets — enabled by 6G/WiFi8 backbones.
  • Digital Trust & Identity: Establishing authentication, governance, and sovereignty frameworks for AI-driven and non-human ecosystems.
  • Swarm Networking & Distributed Intelligence: Coordinating collectives of machines using GenAI-enhanced self-organization and edge-native architectures.
  • Human vs. Machine Priorities: Ethical and societal implications of optimizing networks for machine users — and how to balance human needs in AI-native infrastructures.
  • Edge-Native AI Infrastructure: Leveraging 6G/WiFi8 edge capabilities to host AI models, robotics control, and digital twin ecosystems locally with minimal latency.
  • Co-Design of Protocols & AI: How protocols, spectrum policies, and network intelligence must evolve in tandem to support AI-native, non-human-first connectivity.
Moderator
Kalapriya Kannan
Intuit
Bangalore, India
Panelists
Carla Fabiana Chiasserini
Politecnico di Torino
Italy
Yogesh Simmhan
IISc
Bangalore, India
Rajkumar Kannan
Google
Bangalore, India
Praveen Jayachandra
IBM Research
Bangalore, India
Karina Fernandez
Shell
Netherlands

Panel 3 · Jan 9, 2026 · 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

Networking for a World Where AI Talks to AI: Autonomous Agents and Next-Gen Traffic

AI is no longer just an application running on networks — it is rapidly becoming a dominant workload shaping them. Large-scale foundation models, multimodal learning, and real-time inference are creating new traffic patterns and architectural stresses that existing networks were never designed for. From bandwidth-hungry distributed training to sub-millisecond edge inference, AI systems are consuming, generating, and reshaping communication infrastructure at a pace that outstrips current evolution cycles. This panel challenges assumptions and asks: Are today’s networking paradigms ready for a world where AI systems communicate with each other as primary actors, not just humans?

Discussion Points:

  • The AI stress on Networks: How distributed training, inference, and massive data movement are driving bandwidth and architectural pressures.
  • The Vanishing Latency Budget: Can networks consistently deliver <1ms latency for edge AI inference and control loops?
  • Multimodal AI Workloads: Text, video, and sensor fusion — what this means for traffic patterns, QoS, and prioritization.
  • AI-Generated Content Explosion: Rethinking content delivery, caching, and distribution in an AI-saturated internet.
  • Security & Sovereignty: Protecting sensitive training/inference data as it moves across global networks.
  • Redesign for AI-Native Traffic: Should future networks treat AI systems as primary workloads — with humans as secondary beneficiaries?
Moderator
Prasant Misra
TCS Research
Bangalore, India
Panelists
Anees Shaikh
Google
USA
Badrinath Ramamurthy
IIIT Bangalore
India
Samir Kanta Satapathy
TCS
Bangalore, India
Yatin Dharamshi
Nokia
Bangalore, India
Geetha Adinarayan
IBM
Bangalore, India