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Andrea Lacava
Postdoc Research Fellow, Institute for Intelligent Networked Systems
a.lacava@northeastern.edu

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Intelligent Networked Systems (INSI) at Northeastern University, Boston. My current research investigates the integration of Large Language Models and agentic AI into intelligent, data-driven Open RAN architectures, to enhance reasoning and automation in the RAN and fuel spectrum awareness, control, and management.

I completed a dual Ph.D. (graduated with honors) at Northeastern University and Sapienza University of Rome in 2025, advised by Prof. Tommaso Melodia and Prof. Francesca Cuomo. I am the lead designer of dApps — control applications for sub-millisecond, AI-driven decision-making in Open RAN — and the creator of ns-O-RAN, now part of the OSC O-RAN software stack. I am also a member of the AI-RAN Alliance.

Selected honors:

  • Inducted into Northeastern University’s Laurel and Scroll 100 Honor Society (2025)
  • Best Paper Award, IEEE Globecom 2024 (TwiNet)
  • Best Demo Award Runner-Up, IEEE CCNC 2024 (Energy Saving in Open RAN)

You can find a detailed list about my publications at my Google Scholar profile.

Please refer also to my LinkedIn profile for the recent activities.

Interests

  • Open RAN (O-RAN) Architecture and AI-RAN
  • 5G and beyond cellular networks
  • AI and Agentic AI for Cellular Networks
  • Security of the Cellular Networks

Academia

Northeastern University
2020 - 2025
Ph.D. Computer Engineering
supervised by Prof. Tommaso Melodia
Sapienza, University of Rome
2020 - 2025
Ph.D. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
supervised by Prof. Francesca Cuomo
Sapienza, University of Rome
2018 - 2020
M.Sc. Cybersecurity

News

News about projects and researches I am involved
  • Presented the AI-Based Spectrum Sensing and Sharing in the RAN demo at MWC 2026 , Barcelona, Spain, Mar. 2026.
  • Presented dApps at the Annual INSI Industry Day , Northeastern University, Feb. 2026.
  • Presented the AI-Based Spectrum Sensing and Sharing in the RAN demo at the Brooklyn 6G Summit 2025 , NYU Tandon, Fall 2025.
  • Technical Chair at the 3rd RESTART Tech Camp on 5G and Open RAN , Palermo University, Oct. 2025.
  • Joined the AI-RAN Alliance (WG 1 – AI-on-RAN) ,
  • I’ve been selected for the Laurel and Scroll Honor Society – Class of 2025 (induction ceremony) , Northeastern University, May 2025.
  • Best Demo Award Runner-Up at IEEE CCNC 2024 for Enabling Deep Reinforcement Learning Research for Energy Saving in Open RAN , Las Vegas, NV, USA, Jan. 2025.
  • Best Paper Award at IEEE Globecom 2024 for TwiNet: Connecting Real World Networks to their Digital Twins through a Live Bidirectional Link , Cape Town, South Africa, Dec. 2024.

Publications

This list is indicative and does not fully reflect the latest status of my works, which is shown in my Google Scholar and my Scopus profiles.
Design and Evaluation of a Bidirectional Communication Channel for O-RAN Digital Twins, 2026, 2026 IFIP Networking Conference (IFIP Networking)
Ludovica Garufi , Andrea Lacava , Pierluigi Locatelli , Tiziana Cattai , Pedram Johari , Tommaso Melodia , Francesca Cuomo
StormShield: Fingerprint-Based Detection and Mitigation of RRC Signaling Storms in O-RAN 5G RANs, 2026, 19th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (ACM WiSec 2026), Saarbrücken, Germany, doi: 10.1145/3765613.3811685
Noemi Giustini , Andrea Lacava , Leonardo Bonati , Stefano Maxenti , Michele Polese , Tommaso Melodia , Francesca Cuomo
doi
GENESIS: Harnessing AI Agents for Autonomous 6G RAN Synthesis, Research, and Testing, 2026, Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (under review)
Tamerlan Aghayev , Maxime Elkael , Michele Polese , Minh Dat Nguyen , Gabriele Gemmi , Andrea Lacava , Ali Saeizadeh , Reshma Prasad , Paolo Testolina , Angelo Feraudo , Soumendra Nanda , Pedram Johari , Salvatore D'Oro , Tommaso Melodia
arxiv preprint
Performance Characterization of dApps in Open Radio Access Networks, 2026, arXiv preprint (2026)
Conrado Boeira , Eduardo Baena , Andrea Lacava , Tommaso Melodia , Dimitrios Koutsonikolas , Israat Haque
arxiv preprint
Research Report on dApp Architecture and Interfaces, 2026, O-RAN next Generation Research Group (nGRG) Contributed Research Report (nGRG-RR-2025-05)
Northeastern University , SoftBank , NVIDIA
pdf
xDevSM: An Open-Source Framework for Portable, AI-Ready xApps Across Heterogeneous O-RAN Deployments, 2026, Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (under review)
Angelo Feraudo , Stefano Maxenti , Andrea Lacava , Leonardo Bonati , Paolo Bellavista , Michele Polese , Tommaso Melodia
arxiv preprint
How to Poison an xApp: Dissecting Backdoor Attacks to Deep Reinforcement Learning in Open Radio Access Networks, 2025, Computer Networks, vol. 273, doi: 10.1016/j.comnet.2025.111727
Andrea Lacava , Stefano Maxenti , Leonardo Bonati , Salvatore D'Oro , Alina Oprea , Tommaso Melodia , Francesco Restuccia
doi pdf
Method and System for Sub-Millisecond Radio Resource Management and Monitoring in Open RAN, 2025, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/868,906 (Northeastern University)
Salvatore D'Oro , Tommaso Melodia , Michele Polese , Leonardo Bonati , Rajeev Gangula , Niloofar Mohamadi , Andrea Lacava
Multi-UAV Reinforcement Learning With Realistic Communication Models: Recent Advances and Challenges, 2025, IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology, vol. 6, pp. 2067-2081, doi: 10.1109/OJVT.2025.3586774
Tiziana Cattai , Francesco Frattolillo , Andrea Lacava , Prasanna Raut , Jennifer Simonjan , Salvatore D'Oro , Tommaso Melodia , Evgenii Vinogradov , Enrico Natalizio , Stefania Colonnese , Francesca Cuomo , Luca Iocchi
doi
dApps: Enabling real-time AI-based Open RAN control, 2025, Journal of Computer Networks, doi: 10.1016/j.comnet.2025.111342
Andrea Lacava , Leonardo Bonati , Niloofar Mohamadi , Rajeev Gangula , Florian Kaltenberger , Pedram Johari , Salvatore D’Oro , Francesca Cuomo , Michele Polese , Tommaso Melodia
doi github preprint project presentation tutorial
LibIQ: Toward Real-Time Spectrum Classification in O-RAN dApps, 2025, 2025 23rd Mediterranean Communication and Computer Networking Conference (MedComNet), doi: 10.1109/MedComNet65822.2025.11100289
Filippo Olimpieri , Noemi Giustini , Andrea Lacava , Salvatore D'Oro , Tommaso Melodia , Francesca Cuomo
doi
Bridging Simulation and Real-World for Autonomous UAVs in 5G RAN, 2025, 2025 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), doi: 10.1109/WCNC61545.2025.10978271
Riccardo Gobbato , Andrea Lacava , Salvatore D'Oro , Maxime Elkael , Prasanna Raut , Jennifer Simonjan , Evgenii Vinogradov , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
doi
Enabling Intelligent nextG Cellular Networks through the Open RAN Architecture, 2025, Ph.D. Thesis, Sapienza University of Rome & Northeastern University
Andrea Lacava
Demo: Enabling Deep Reinforcement Learning Research for Energy Saving in Open RAN, 2025, 2025 IEEE 22nd Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC) — Best Demo Award Runner-Up, doi: 10.1109/CCNC54725.2025.10975928
Matteo Bordin , Andrea Lacava , Michele Polese , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
doi
Design and Evaluation of Deep Reinforcement Learning for Energy Saving in Open RAN, 2025, 2025 IEEE 22nd Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC), doi: 10.1109/CCNC54725.2025.10976108
Matteo Bordin , Andrea Lacava , Michele Polese , Sai Satish , Manoj AnanthaSwamy Nittoor , Rajarajan Sivaraj , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
doi
TwiNet: Connecting Real World Networks to their Digital Twins Through a Live Bidirectional Link, 2024, GLOBECOM 2024 - 2024 IEEE Global Communications Conference — Best Paper Award, doi: 10.1109/GLOBECOM52923.2024.10901203
Clifton Paul Robinson , Andrea Lacava , Pedram Johari , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
doi
dApps for Real-Time RAN Control: Use Cases and Requirements, 2024, O-RAN next Generation Research Group (nGRG) Contributed Research Report (RR-2024-10)
Northeastern University , NVIDIA , Mavenir , MITRE , Qualcomm
pdf
Listen-While-Talking: Toward dApp-based Real-Time Spectrum Sharing in O-RAN, 2024, MILCOM 2024 - 2024 IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM), doi: 10.1109/MILCOM61039.2024.10773685
Rajeev Gangula , Andrea Lacava , Michele Polese , Salvatore D'Oro , Leonardo Bonati , Florian Kaltenberger , Pedram Johari , Tommaso Melodia
doi
xDevSM: Streamlining xApp Development With a Flexible Framework for O-RAN E2 Service Models, 2024, Proceedings of the 30th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM MobiCom '24), doi: 10.1145/3636534.3697325
Angelo Feraudo , Stefano Maxenti , Andrea Lacava , Paolo Bellavista , Michele Polese , Tommaso Melodia
doi
Colosseum: The Open RAN Digital Twin, 2024, IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 5, pp. 5452-5466, doi: 10.1109/OJCOMS.2024.3447472
Michele Polese , Leonardo Bonati , Salvatore D'Oro , Pedram Johari , Davide Villa , Sakthivel Velumani , Rajeev Gangula , Maria Tsampazi , Clifton Paul Robinson , Gabriele Gemmi , Andrea Lacava , Stefano Maxenti , Hai Cheng , Tommaso Melodia
doi project
Enabling Online Reinforcement Learning Training for Open RAN, 2024, 2024 IFIP Networking Conference (IFIP Networking), pp. 577-582
Andrea Lacava , Tommaso Pietrosanti , Michele Polese , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
Friendship Security Analysis in Bluetooth Low Energy Networks, 2023, 2023 21st Mediterranean Communication and Computer Networking Conference (MedComNet), pp. 83-92, doi: 10.1109/MedComNet58619.2023.10168876
Andrea Lacava , Pierluigi Locatelli , Francesca Cuomo
doi
ns-O-RAN: Simulating O-RAN 5G Systems in ns-3, 2023, Proceedings of the 2023 Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3 '23) — ACM Artifacts Available, doi: 10.1145/3592149.3592161
Andrea Lacava , Matteo Bordin , Michele Polese , Rajarajan Sivaraj , Tommaso Zugno , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
doi github ns-3-mmwave-oran github ns-o-ran presentation tutorial
Device Discovery and Tracing in the Bluetooth Low Energy Domain, 2023, Computer Communications, vol. 202, pp. 42-56, doi: 10.1016/j.comcom.2023.02.008
Pierluigi Locatelli , Massimo Perri , Daniel Mauricio Jimenez Gutierrez , Andrea Lacava , Francesca Cuomo
doi pdf
Internet of Things Security Issues in LoRaWAN and Bluetooth Low Energy, 2023, Towards a Trustworthy Information Exchange in the Digital Era (book chapter), Texmat, pp. 159-190
Andrea Lacava , Pierluigi Locatelli , Pietro Spadaccino , Francesca Cuomo
Programmable and customized intelligence for traffic steering in 5G networks using Open RAN architectures, 2022, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, doi: 10.1109/TMC.2023.3266642
Andrea Lacava , Michele Polese , Rajarajan Sivaraj , Rahul Soundrarajan , Bhawani Shanker Bhati , Tarunjeet Singh , Tommaso Zugno , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
arxiv preprint github ns-3-mmwave-oran github ns-o-ran ieee ns-o-ran presentation tutorial
Securing Bluetooth Low Energy networking: An overview of security procedures and threats, 2022, Journal of Computer Networks
Andrea Lacava , Valerio Zottola , Alessio Bonaldo , Francesca Cuomo , Stefano Basagni
pdf
Intrusion detection system for bluetooth mesh networks: Data gathering and experimental evaluations, 2021, 2021 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops and other Affiliated Events (PerCom Workshops)
Andrea Lacava , Emanuele Giacomini , Francesco D’Alterio , Francesca Cuomo
code pdf
BLUES: A self-organizing BLE mesh-network paradigm for IoT environments, 2020, IEEE 21st International Symposium on "A World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks" (WoWMoM)
Emanuele Giacomini , Francesco D'Alterio , Andrea Lacava , Francesca Cuomo
code pdf
Exploiting Edge Computing for Adaptive Data Update in Internet of Things Networks, 2019, AmI (Workshops/Posters)
Andrea Petroni , Andrea Lacava , Pierluigi Locatelli , Gianluigi Nero , Marcello Pediconi , Francesca Cuomo
code pdf
Demo abstract: BE-Mesh: bluetooth low energy mesh networking, 2019, 2019 IEEE INFOCOM Demo (INFOCOM 2019 Demo)
Andrea Lacava , Gianluigi Nero , Pierluigi Locatelli , Francesca Cuomo , Tommaso Melodia
code pdf play store

Projects

Current and past projects I joined
dApps: Real-Time AI-Based Open RAN Control
github project presentation tutorial
ns-O-RAN: Open Source Open RAN Simulation Platform
github ns-3-mmwave-oran github ns-o-ran presentation tutorial
Colosseum: The World’s Most Powerful Wireless Network Emulator
github website
Research Project: BE-Mesh
github play store
LALAPARK - App di interscambio parcheggi
website