University of Baghdad College of Engineering Discusses a PhD Dissertation in the Department of Electrical Engineering

The College of Engineering at the University of Baghdad witnessed the public defense of the PhD student Sura Fawzi Ismail from the Department of Electrical Engineering for her dissertation titled:

“Optimal Resource Management for 6G Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN)”,

on August 28, 2025, in Professor Dr. Nizar Khalil Hall, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Diaa Jassim Kazem.

The dissertation aimed to develop an intelligent framework for resource management in 6G networks using Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) architecture. The study focused on two main aspects:

Infrastructure Level: A Deep Q-Network (DQN) algorithm was proposed to efficiently manage the migration of virtual baseband units (BBUs), achieving balance in processor, memory, and energy consumption.

User Level: A hybrid method based on Fuzzy Logic and Deep Reinforcement Learning (DQN) was developed to manage user association with remote radio heads (RRHs), aiming to reduce handover failures, enhance throughput, and reduce latency.

The dissertation also included the implementation of a comprehensive simulation environment using OMNeT++, Simu5G, and iCanCloud to simulate high-load conditions and user mobility. The results demonstrated that the proposed model outperforms traditional and statistical methods in terms of energy efficiency and quality of service.

Accordingly, the dissertation presented several recommendations, including:

1. Adopting AI and deep reinforcement learning (DRL/DQN) algorithms as a fundamental approach for resource management in 6G networks, due to their proven efficiency in reducing energy consumption and unnecessary migrations.
2. Integrating simulation tools such as Simu5G, iCanCloud, and OMNeT++ in future studies to evaluate network performance under more realistic conditions, which supports telecom network developers in the pre-commercial deployment phase.
3. Focusing on balancing infrastructure efficiency and end-user quality of service, by adopting integrated resource management strategies at both levels (user and infrastructure) to ensure sustainable performance in high-density 6G environments.

After the scientific discussion by the committee members and listening to the researcher’s defense and evaluating the dissertation, the candidate was awarded the PhD degree with distinction in Electrical Engineering / Control and Computers specialization.