HPSR 2026 (IEEE Conference on High Performance Switching and Routing) is a CORE C conference held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 2026-06-17. The paper submission deadline is 2026-01-30 (extended). Acceptance notifications are sent on 2026-02-28.
Future and Next Generation networks are envisioned to exhibit self-management properties, such as self-healing, self-configuration, self-optimization, self-protection and so on. Specifically, emergent networking technologies, applications and the ever expanding network infrastructure necessitate an autonomic network management, minimizing error-prone and human-driven configurations. At the same time, recent communication paradigms such as 5G/6G and Internet of Everything, allows various verticals and simple end users to interact with the network on a daily basis. Thus, networks are expected to become smart through the amalgamation of network and Artificial Intelligent capabilities, leveraging extensive monitoring data, while also becoming more user-friendly to meet the demands from users and verticals spanning from common enterprises to complex multi-domain networks.
The main focus of the HPSR 2026 – the 27th edition of HPSR conference – will be to assess how breakthrough changes occurring to Future Communications and Computing Systems are affecting areas related to switching and routing, towards achieving self-governed networks. We are soliciting original and thought-provoking works on big data, data analytics, cloud and edge services, and artificial intelligent techniques applied to networking and switching and routing. Works on autonomous networks, intent-based networking, zero-touch networks, 5G/6G, Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing, social networks, network programmabilty, cybersecurity, virtualization, and other advanced topics are also welcome. Papers describing original, previously unpublished research, experimental efforts, practical experiences, as well as visionary roadmaps, in all aspects of switching and routing, and autonomous networks and systems are solicited. Research works on the following topics, but not limited to, are welcome for submission through the following symposia.
Technical Tracks
Track A: Autonomous Communications and Computing Systems Symposium
Topics
Application of data analytics to switching and routing
Artificial intelligent routing and resource-allocation algorithms
Behavior-aware human-centric networks and systems
Deep-learning technologies for networks
Informed Network Routing
Intent Based Networking
Zero-Touch Networking
Traffic monitoring and modeling applied to switching and routing
Traffic predictions in routing and resource assignment
Network Assurance
Quality of Service Self-Optimization and resource allocation
Experimental measurements and testbed implementations
Quality of Experience resulting from intelligent routing
Large Language Models for switching and routing
Automatic policy enforcement
Policy conflict detection
Policy conflict resolution
Track B: Enabling Technologies for Autonomous Systems Symposium
Topics
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Software Defined-WAN (SD-WAN)
Network Function Virtualization (NFV)
Architectures of high-performance switches and routers, with a focus towards reconfigurable pipelines (P4, OpenFlow, etc.)
Applied ML/AI for switching and routing
Multi-access edge computing (MEC)
Fog Computing
Internet of Things (IoT)
Digital Continuum -- device-to-edge-to-fog-to-Cloud continuum
Smart Factory/Industry 4.0 applications
Blockchain technologies
Computational offloading
Network Slicing
5G/6G Communication
Green networks and routing
Intelligent and connected vehicular networks
Network performance for Human-Agent-Robot Teamwork (HART)
Space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGIN)
Track C: High-Performance High Functionality Architectures Symposium
Topics
I/O architectures for packet switching
Monitoring architectures for routing and switching
Address lookup algorithms, packet classification, scheduling, and dropping
Applications of data science and analysis on high-performance networks
Applications of GPU on network functions
Efficient data structures for networking applications
Physical-layer aspects of switching and routing
Future technologies for IoT
High-speed packet processors
Multiprocessor networks
Nano-communication networks
Quantum networking
Network traffic characterization and measurements
Optical switching and routing
Power-aware switching, bridging, and routing protocols
Switching, bridging, and routing protocols whether wide-area or data centers
Switching support to Extended reality (including virtual, augmented, and mixed reality)
Traffic characterization and engineering
Standardization activities of emerging high performance switching and routing
High performance, programmable networks for the Internet of Things
Track D: Network Security Symposium
Topics
Zero Trust security models
Adversarial machine learning
Applied cryptography for cyber, information, and network security
Attack prediction, detection, response, and prevention
Authentication protocols and key management
Blockchain security
Cloud, data center, and distributed systems security
Future Internet Architecture (FIA) security and privacy
Intrusion detection with artificial intelligent techniques
Malware detection and damage recovery
Network security and privacy protection
Security in SDN and networking slicing
Security aspects of social networks
Security in smart grid communications
Security in virtualized network functions built or managed using software-defined networks
Security and privacy in the Age of Information
Trust management in networks through emerging technologies
Virtual Private WANs