Qiaolun Zhang

Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering

Room 031c, Building 20

Via Giuseppe Ponzio, 34 Milano 20133, IT

I am an assistant professor at Politecnico di Milano (PoliMI), Italy. I received my bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China. Besides, I received a double master’s degree from SJTU and PoliMI. I obtained my PHD degree with cum laude under supervision of Prof. Massimo Tornatore from Politecnico di Milano. I also worked with Dr. Patricia Layec in Nokia Bell Labs France as an assistant optical networking researcher in 2023. I visited the Quantum Information Team with Prof. Eleni Diamanti and Prof. Frédéric Grosshans in Sorbonne University for 3 months in 2024.

My research interests cover a broad spectrum of topics in resource allocation for communications networks, which a focus on optimization and machine learning approaches. My research objective is to build a high-performance, green, and intelligent network foundation to support the exponential scaling of AI and the evolution of future communication systems. My research is focused on the following two aspects:

Network for AI | Distributed Training & Distributed Inference Support
- Collective optimization for LLM training
- Edge-Cloud collaborative LLM inference
- Energy efficiency for AI services with satellites
AI for Network | Intelligent Network Optimization and Management
- Multi-agent network management
- AI&Optimization for classical and quantum network design and optimization

Please feel free to reach out via email at qiaolun.zhang@polimi.it :)

news

Jun 26, 2025	I got Springer award from PoliMi!
Mar 20, 2025	One of my first-authored paper on network resiliency is accepted by TNSM!
Jan 13, 2025	I’m happy to share that I received my PhD with Cum Laude!
Dec 06, 2024	One of my first-authored paper about quantum networks is accepted by INFOCOM 2025!
Nov 05, 2024	One of my first-authored paper is accepted by IEEE/OSA JOCN

latest posts

Nov 28, 2024	This will be the blog for my research

selected publications

INFOCOM

Link Configuration for Fidelity-Constrained Entanglement Routing in Quantum Networks

Qiaolun Zhang , Nicola Di Cicco, Memedhe Ibrahimi, and 4 more authors

In IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications, 2025

Bib

@inproceedings{zhang2025LinkConfiguration,
  title = {Link Configuration for Fidelity-Constrained Entanglement Routing in Quantum Networks},
  author = {Zhang, Qiaolun and Di Cicco, Nicola and Ibrahimi, Memedhe and Almeida Júnior, Raul and Gatto, Alberto and Boutaba, Raouf and Tornatore, Massimo},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications},
  year = {2025},
  organization = {IEEE},
}

TNSM

Capacity Sharing for Survivable Virtual Network Mapping against Double-Link Failures (Accepted)

Qiaolun Zhang , Omran Ayoub, Ruikun Wang, and 3 more authors

IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, 2025

Bib

@article{qiaolun2025SINC,
  title = {Capacity Sharing for Survivable Virtual Network
  Mapping against Double-Link Failures (Accepted)},
  author = {Zhang, Qiaolun and Ayoub, Omran and Wang, Ruikun and Viadana, Emanuele and Musumeci, Francesco and Tornatore, Massimo},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}

JSAC

Multi-Failure Localization in High-Degree ROADM-based Optical Networks using Rules-Informed Neural Networks

Ruikun Wang, Qiaolun Zhang^† , Jiawei Zhang, and 6 more authors

IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 2025

Bib

@article{ruikun2024FailureLocalization,
  title = {Multi-Failure Localization in High-Degree ROADM-based Optical Networks using Rules-Informed
    Neural Networks},
  author = {Wang, Ruikun and Zhang, Qiaolun and Zhang, Jiawei and Gu, Zhiqun and Ibrahimi, Memedhe and Yu, Hao and Zhang, Bojun and Musumeci, Francesco and Tornatore, Massimo},
  journal = {IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}

JOCN

Power-consumption analysis for different IPoWDM network architectures with ZR/ZR+ and long-haul muxponders

Qiaolun Zhang , Annalisa Morea, Patricia Layec, and 3 more authors

IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, 2024

Bib

@article{zhang2024power,
  title = {Power-consumption analysis for different IPoWDM network architectures with ZR/ZR+ and long-haul muxponders},
  author = {Zhang, Qiaolun and Morea, Annalisa and Layec, Patricia and Ibrahimi, Memedhe and Musumeci, Francesco and Tornatore, Massimo},
  journal = {IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking},
  volume = {16},
  number = {12},
  pages = {1189--1203},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}

JOCN

DRL-based progressive recovery for quantum-key-distribution networks

Mengyao Li, Qiaolun Zhang^* , Alberto Gatto, and 3 more authors

IEEE/Optica Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, 2024

Bib

@article{li2024drl,
  title = {DRL-based progressive recovery for quantum-key-distribution networks},
  author = {Li, Mengyao and Zhang, Qiaolun and Gatto, Alberto and Bregni, Stefano and Verticale, Giacomo and Tornatore, Massimo},
  journal = {IEEE/Optica Journal of Optical Communications and Networking},
  volume = {16},
  number = {9},
  pages = {E36--E47},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {Optica Publishing Group},
}

TNSM

Routing, Channel, Key-Rate, and Time-Slot Assignment for QKD in Optical Networks

Qiaolun Zhang , Omran Ayoub, Alberto Gatto, and 3 more authors

IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, 2024

Bib

@article{zhang2023routing,
  title = {Routing, Channel, Key-Rate, and Time-Slot Assignment for QKD in Optical Networks},
  author = {Zhang, Qiaolun and Ayoub, Omran and Gatto, Alberto and Wu, Jun and Musumeci, Francesco and Tornatore, Massimo},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management},
  volume = {21},
  number = {1},
  pages = {148--160},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}

IEEE Commun. Mag.

IC-QKD: An Information-Centric Quantum Key Distribution Network

Qiaolun Zhang , Omran Ayoub, Jun Wu, and 2 more authors

IEEE Communications Magazine, 2023

Bib

@article{zhang2023ic,
  title = {IC-QKD: An Information-Centric Quantum Key Distribution Network},
  author = {Zhang, Qiaolun and Ayoub, Omran and Wu, Jun and Lin, Xi and Tornatore, Massimo},
  journal = {IEEE Communications Magazine},
  volume = {61},
  number = {12},
  pages = {148--154},
  year = {2023},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}

TON

Progressive slice recovery with guaranteed slice connectivity after massive failures

Qiaolun Zhang , Omran Ayoub, Jun Wu, and 3 more authors

IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, 2021

Bib

@article{zhang2021progressive,
  title = {Progressive slice recovery with guaranteed slice connectivity after massive failures},
  author = {Zhang, Qiaolun and Ayoub, Omran and Wu, Jun and Musumeci, Francesco and Li, Gaolei and Tornatore, Massimo},
  journal = {IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking},
  volume = {30},
  number = {2},
  pages = {826--839},
  year = {2021},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}