The Nineteenth International Conference “Prospects for Telecommunications” (“PT-2025”) was held at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from April 14 to 19. Founded at the beginning of the new millennium at the University's Institute of Telecommunication Systems, it now brings together dozens of researchers and engineers working in telecommunications and related fields every year to exchange ideas, information about new technologies, experience, and identify the most promising areas for their future work. Even the years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of a large-scale war were no exception – the plenary and sectional sessions of the conferences were held remotely, which, however, did not prevent the participants from working productively.
This year's forum of telecommunications specialists was organized in a mixed format – in person (opening, first and second plenary sessions, and closing ceremony) and remotely – using online services for video conferencing and webinars (we also owe this opportunity to the achievements of telecommunications technologies in recent decades). The popularity of the conference is evidenced by its statistics: representatives of 10 departments of KPI and 21 scientific and technical organizations from 5 cities of Ukraine, as well as from 4 countries – Great Britain, Sweden, Iraq, and Egypt – took part in “PT-2025.” Participants listened to 10 plenary reports, 109 of the 155 section presentations, and 3 poster presentations. In addition, an online exhibition entitled “Innovative Developments in Telecommunications” was prepared, featuring 3 stands.
Opening the conference, its chair, scientific director of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Telecommunication Systems of the University, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, recalled the words of one of its founders and long-time co-chairman, the renowned scientist, head of the Research Center for Digital Transformation and Law at the Research Institute of Informatics and Law at the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, Professor Oleksandr Baranov, who passed away in 2024: “Modern civilization rests on three pillars: information, various digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, and, of course, information law, which ensures the legal regulation and effective application of artificial intelligence and digital technologies so that civilization can interact effectively.” Conference participants honored his memory with a moment of silence.
Of course, the main focus of the conference was on new technologies, as it was organized by the Igor Sikorsky KPI, the National IT Center, the Research Institute of Telecommunications, and the international scientific and technical journal Information and Telecommunication Science.
“We know that the telecommunications industry is one of the key industries for strengthening our country's defense capabilities,” said Serhiy Stirenko, Vice Rector for Scientific Work at KPI, emphasizing the importance of the telecommunications industry for defense as he welcomed conference participants. "It is no secret that modern wars are technological wars, and information and communications are the first things that must work flawlessly to save the lives of our soldiers, our Armed Forces, and the entire country as a whole. Therefore, effective telecommunications systems are critical for troop management, coordination of actions, information protection, and cybersecurity, among other things. That is why the development of this industry is of strategic importance for our state.“
The title of the conference, ”Prospects for Telecommunications," is very apt. It is indeed about prospects. Mykhailo Ilchenko spoke about them and the main trends in the industry's development in his report, which opened the first plenary session. And the prospects lead to thoughts about the “reality of fantasy” (which, incidentally, was the name of a Ukrainian science fiction magazine that was once recognized as the best science fiction magazine in Europe). However, it would be more accurate to speak of the fantasy of reality, because some of the inventions and developments in the field of telecommunications, which yesterday were considered the fruit of writers' vivid imaginations, are now part of our everyday lives.
In his report, Mykhailo Ilchenko gave a brief overview of the development of telecommunications technologies over the last few decades and, of course, predicted trends for the near future. This overview of scientific and technical progress in this field demonstrates how the wildest fantasies of fiction writers and filmmakers become reality in less than a generation. The most striking example is mobile telephony. Today's youth find it hard to believe that in their parents' youth, not every family had even a regular landline phone. By the end of 2024, the scale of 5G wireless telecommunications deployment reached a historic milestone, with 2.25 billion 5G connections worldwide. At the same time, the development of 5G technologies directly affects the pace of development and expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT devices), as 5G technology is capable of providing data transfer speeds of up to 20 Gbit/s and minimal signal delay, making it possible to create and use devices that until recently were considered a thing of the distant future. Active work is underway on next-generation technologies – 6G, which are expected to be introduced in 2026–2030 and will not only improve mass communications but also ensure a constant connection between a multitude of devices, sensors, machines, and terminals, as well as between terrestrial and satellite networks and Fixed Wireless Access technologies. This will be achieved through artificial intelligence (AI) in various segments of the 6G network. With the development of technology, the need for fast and stable wireless Internet is also growing, which should be ensured by the Wi-Fi 7 standard in the near future. In fact, during this presentation, conference participants heard many other extremely interesting things, so we can only envy the participants of this meeting and the ITS students who attended the first plenary session.
Incidentally, much of the information presented in the report by the scientific director of the ITS was, according to him, published on the institute's website in the “Infotelecommunications News” section (https://its.kpi.ua/uk/infotelecom_news). This resource has been updated almost daily for several years now. During this time, more than 2,000 news items from various areas of telecommunications have been posted there, including approximately 400 reports last year alone.
“This year's ”Telecommunications Prospects“ conference was extremely productive,” says Mykhailo Ilchenko. "The program was based on the decisions of the World Microwave Congress, which took place in May 2024 and identified priority areas in this field of activity. They are quite broad in scope: they included issues related to the introduction of 5G and 6G technologies, problems of the Internet of Things, the development of artificial intelligence in testing and measurement (by the way, AI is increasingly becoming a tool for many fields of science and technology), and some others—in general, the key areas of development of information and communication technologies and systems today."
Participants worked in five sections: 1) “Reliability and efficiency of information transmission”; 2) “Networks, fiber optic technologies, and security”; 3) “Wireless technologies, mobile communication systems”; 4) “Information technologies in telecommunications”; and 5) “Sensor networks and the Internet of Things.” In addition, a virtual exhibition “Innovative Developments in Telecommunications” was organized as part of the conference program.
And, very importantly, along with the conference “Prospects for Telecommunications,” a scientific and technical conference for students and graduate students, “Prospects for the Development of Information and Telecommunications Technologies and Systems” (“PRITS-2025”) was held for the seventeenth time. “This year, students were very active in the conference. They felt that preparing their papers for the conference helped them with their bachelor's and master's theses,” commented Mykhailo Ilchenko. “They are eager to attend the conference.” Incidentally, according to him, not every student paper is accepted for the PRITS conference; they are carefully selected. Then, at the conference, the best ones are chosen and may be published in a collection of conference proceedings. Moreover, the authors of these reports receive recommendations for further refinement and further work on the chosen topic and preparation of publications in professional journals. Promising research can later become the basis for the preparation of a diploma project, master's thesis, or even a doctoral dissertation in the relevant field. Authors of interesting research may also become co-authors of collective monographs prepared by the institute's researchers. In other words, for some students, participation in this conference can be a real gateway to real science.
In general, even the list of topics presented by the participants of “PT-2025” and “PRITS-2025” took several pages of their program, so we will not even attempt to list the most interesting ones. Moreover, in order to determine which of these materials were the most interesting and promising, one would have to be a very serious expert in the field of telecommunications. But this is not necessary in a newspaper publication. After evaluating the scientific level of the reports presented, their practical results, and prospects for implementation, the most interesting ones were selected by the organizers in the PT-2025 conference decisions. They were divided into five groups: 1) 19 reports (15 of which were prepared in collaboration with students and graduate students) – those that aroused the greatest interest and have prospects for use in the educational process; 2) 16 – those that, after some revision, can be recommended for inclusion in the next issue of the monograph published by Springer; 3) 19 – those that, after being formatted in accordance with the requirements of domestic professional scientific journals of category A or B, in particular the journal Information and Telecommunication Sciences, can be published there; 4) 10 – those in which the latest developments are recommended for participation in competitions (festivals) of innovative projects and start-ups, in particular in the Sikorsky Challenge festival; 5) 8 – those that have the potential for further scientific and practical results and are recommended for participation in domestic or international competitions or grant programs.
It was also decided, based on the results of O.O. Trubina's presentation at the plenary session, to recommend his monograph “Introduction to the Theory of Dielectric Resonators” for participation in the competition for the best publications of the Igor Sikorsky KPI, and to adopt a number of organizational and professional recommendations for the preparation of the next conferences “PT-2026” and “PRITS-2026.” A number of organizational and professional recommendations were adopted regarding the preparation of the next conferences “PT-2026” and “PRITS-2026,” which are scheduled to be held in April next year.