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Professor Marco Ruffini

Professor in (Computer Science)
      
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Professor Marco Ruffini

Professor in (Computer Science)

 MARCO.RUFFINI@tcd.ie

 3531896 3635/3635


Marco Ruffini is Professor and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, and Associate Dean of Research for the STEM Faculty. He leads the IRIS Network AI and Sensing research group and the OpenIreland laboratory. His research vision focuses on transforming communication infrastructures into intelligent, adaptive and context-aware systems that seamlessly integrate optical, wireless, and cloud technologies. His work spans access-metro convergence, AI driven control and orchestration, digital twins of optical networks, and emerging quantum networking architectures. A unifying theme of his research is the evolution of networks from passive transport platforms into programmable systems capable of perceiving and responding to their environment. In recent years, Professor Ruffini"s work has explored how telecom optical fibres can evolve beyond their traditional role as communication infrastructure to become large-scale sensing platforms. As Principal Investigator of the nationally funded Sea-Scan project, he investigates the use of AI-enhanced Distributed Acoustic Sensing to detect and track dark vessels, effectively transforming subsea telecom fibres into distributed maritime sensors and illustrating the dual use of optical networks for connectivity and environmental awareness. His research also extends to the protection of terrestrial infrastructure, where he studies polarization-based sensing techniques that combine DAS and State-of-Polarization measurements with machine learning to detect and mitigate physical threats. At the European level, he contributes as Principal Investigator to the ICON project, developing control plane for intent and context aware network sensing frameworks that tightly integrate perception, intelligence, and control to support more resilient and adaptive networked systems. Professor Ruffini has given several invited talks at major international conferences. He has authored over 230 publications, holds 12 patents, secured more than €15 million in research funding, and contributed to industry standards, introducing the virtual Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (vDBA) concept adopted by the Broadband Forum.
  Internet technologies   Networks and telecommunications research   Photonic Networks
Details Date
Associated Editor for the IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking (JOCN) since 2018
Associate Editor of the Springer Photonic Network Communications 2015-2018
Managing editor of the Elsevier Optical Fibre Technology special issue on Access networks. 2015
Member of the EPSRC (UK) Associate College, for providing peer reviews of EPSRC funding applicarions 2016
External examiner for the PhD committee of candidate Cristophe Van Praet, from IMEC, University of Ghent, in Belgium, December 2013. 2013
External Ph.D examiner for Alvaro Fernandez Fernandez, from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) 2017
External examiner for the research master student Sidhant Hasija from Waterford Institute of Technology 2018
Steering committee member for IEEE Optical Network Design and Modeling Conference 2018-
Details Date From Date To
Elected steering committee member for the European Technology Platform for communications networks and services (NetWorld2020) forum. 2018 2021
TCD representative for the Broadband Forum standardisation group 2015 2020
Member of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), OpenRAN, Open packet optical and Open City Infrastructure programmes. 2020
Member of OPTICA, optical society of America 2018
IEEE member (senior from 2015) and communications society member 2005
Member of Italian Engineers Associations 2002
D. Briantcev, D. Basu, S. Xie, A. Raj, P. Pahlevanzadeh, H. Leddy, J. Halbach, V.V. Garbhapu, D. Kilper, M. Ruffini and M. Dzaferagic, Digital Twin-Driven Disaggregated Optical Network Reconfiguration and Optimization with Automated Conflict Resolution, Optical Fibre Communications Conference (OFC), 2026, pp3 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
A. Mitrovska, Y. Hirota, V. Karunakaran, A. Raj, S. Xu, T. Suzuki, A. Jafari, N. Dsilva, B. Shariati, Y. Yoshida, A. Autenrieth, M. Ruffini, P. Safari, J. Fischer, R. Freund, Y. Awaji and T. Bauschert, Scaling Optical Testbed Data Space for Data Sharing Across Vendor and Organizational Boundaries, Optical Fibre Communications Conference (OFC), 2026, pp3 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
S. Kojima, K. Anazawa, H. Ishihara, T. Mano, H. Nishizawa, D. Briantcev, D. Kilper, M. Ruffini, Y. Sone and K. Takasugi, Field Experiments on Frame-Based Delay Measurement Using OpenZR+ Pluggable Transceivers: Enabling Latency-Managed IP-over-DWDM for Data Center Interconnects, Optical Fibre Communications Conference (OFC), 2026, pp3 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
A. Raj, V. V. Garbhapu, H. Ishihara, P. Pahlevanzadeh, H. Nishizawa, T. Sasai, D. Kilper and M. Ruffini, OSNR/GSNR Prediction in Brownfield Links via a DLM-Anchored Hybrid Physics/ML Model, Optical Fibre Communications Conference (OFC), 2026, pp3 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
A. Gupta, D. Dass, A. Raj, C. Natalino, M. Ruffini, P. Monti and D. Kilper, Radio-Optical Confluence in Intelligent Edge Networks, Optical Fibre Communications Conference (OFC), 2026, 2026, pp1 - 3, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  URL
P. Pahlevanzadeh, V. V. Garbhapu, A. Raj, D. Briantcev, D. Kilper, M. Ruffini, Spectrum Configuration Framework for Throughput Maximization in Open Systems with Roll-Off-Based QoT Optimization, Optical Network Design and Modeling, 2026, pp1 - 6, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
T. Tian, Y. Zhang, A. Raj, F.-Y. Wu and M. Ruffini, Deep Learning Based Multi-Step Channel Prediction for Adaptive Underwater Acoustic OFDM Systems, IEEE OCEANS 2026, 2026, pp1 - 6, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
T. Tian, A. Raj, L. Flanagan, N. Celli, C. Bean, J. Kennedy and M. Ruffini, DAS-AIS Association Patterns for Vessel Monitoring on an Operational Subsea Fibre Link, IEEE International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2026, pp1 - 4, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
L. Sadighi, S. Karlsson, M. Furdek and M. Ruffini, Resilient SOP-Based ML Classification of Harmful Fiber Vibrations Buried in Realistic Broadband Acoustic Backgrounds, International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2026, pp1 - 4, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
S. Karlsson, L. Sadighi, M. Furdek and M. Ruffini, Detectability of Harmful Fiber Vibrations Buried in Realistic Broadband Acoustic Backgrounds at Varying Intensity, International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2026, pp1 - 4, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
  

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T. Mano, H. Nishizawa, T. Sasai, S. Usui, D. Briantcev, D. Devika; B. Bashaw, E. Kenny, M. Ruffini, Y. Sone, K. Takasugi and D. Kilper, Beyond Redundancy: Toward Agile Resilience in Optical Networks to Overcome Unpredictable Disasters, IEEE Communications Magazine, 2026, p1 - 7, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
M. Ruffini, The Open Ireland research infrastructure: from open networking to digital twins, Telecom SudParis University, 2022, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
M. Ruffini, OpenIreland: end-to-end testbed for network disaggregation using open source and open hardware, Cork Smart Gateway webinar, 2021, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
M. Ruffini, Open Networking to enable end-to-end network research across wireless, optical and cloud domains, ComReg, 2020, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
P. Alvarez, N. Marchetti, M. Ruffini, D.B. Payne, 'Method and Scheduler for Grouped Transmission Containers in Passive Optical Networks', UK patent office, 1418192.9, 2015, 1 December 2022, Patent, GRANTED
M. Ruffini, D. O'Mahony, L. Doyle, CTVR-2: The vision, the technology: the network, HEAnet workshop, Dublin, June 2010, 2010, HEAnet, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
D. O'Mahony, M. Ruffini, Optical IP Switching - A Responsive Solution for Grid Interconnect, International Workshop on Autonomic Grid Networking and Management, Dublin, 2006, 2006, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
M. Ruffini, Optical IP Switching & UCLP, UCLP Workshop, Edinburgh, UK, August 2006, 2006, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Prize phase of the Research Innovation Challenge 2026 2026
Innovation Award at the Analytics & AI Awards 2026
Winner of Technology Ireland Awards Ceremony IBEC 2022 on "Outstanding Academic Achievement of the Year" 2022
Winner of the Trinity Innovations Award "ones to watch" category 2020
Fellow of The University of Dublin, Trinity College. 2018
Shortlisted for the Trinity Innovations Award " Industry Engagment" category 2021
Shortlisted for the Technology Ireland Awards Ceremony IBEC 2021 on "Outstanding Academic Achievement of the Year" 2021
My research featured in the SFI annual report 2021 2021
My research featured in the SFI annual report 2020 2020
Best paper award, IEEE Optical Network Design and Modeling conference (ONDM) 2021 2021
Best paper award at Asia Communications and Photonics Conference (ACP) 2018 2018
Awarded best paper award at IEEE Optical Network Design and Modeling Conference (ONDM) 2016. 2016
Senior IEEE member 2015
Ireland'Champions of EU Research 2012, presented by Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins 2012
My research activity appeared in the TCD Provost Annual Review 2012-2013 2012
Distinguished Paper Award at IEEE NTERNATIONAL EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING (Europar) 2012 2012