Andrea Lacava

Andrea Lacava is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT) at Northeastern University. He holds a double PhD in Computer Engineering and Information and Communication Technology from Northeastern University and Sapienza University of Rome. His research focuses on 5G and beyond networks, Open RAN architectures, real-time AI-based control, Deep Reinforcement Learning, and network security. He is the lead creator of ns-O-RAN, a framework that integrates an O-RAN-compliant E2 interface with ns-3 simulations to enable xApp development and large-scale data generation. He has also contributed several proposals to the Open RAN paradigm, including the architectural design of dApps—distributed control applications for sub-millisecond, AI-driven decision-making in Open RAN systems. His work has been recognized with several awards, including the IEEE Globecom 2024 Best Paper Award.