Manual Configuration Research Articles

Network Automation for Routing and Switching: Leveraging Tools Like Ansible and Netconf

With growing network size and complexity, service providers and enterprises face ever- increasing difficulty to keep the networks in their desired configurations with minimum latency and high availability. Manual configuration and implementation processes are error-prone, inefficient, and costly. Network automation using tools like Ansible or Netconf can definitely aid in reducing implementation errors, reduce engineering time and eventually reduce operational costs. Automation can help enterprises and service providers increase effectiveness, and optimize. This paper describes current difficulties with manual network configurations, talks about automation as a tool for reducing outages, and introduces Ansible and Netconf. This paper also provides the setup and configuration of both tools, configuration examples, and important design considerations when applying network automation tools. Keywords— Manual Network Configuration, Ansible, Netconf, Network Automation, standardization, increase efficiency.

Increasing software deployment speed in agile environments through automated configuration management

In today's fast-paced software development landscape, the ability to deploy applications rapidly while maintaining high quality is crucial for Agile teams. This paper explores the impact of Automated Configuration Management (ACM) on enhancing software deployment speed within Agile environments. By examining the complexities of modern software systems and the challenges associated with manual configuration processes, the study underscores the necessity of automation to streamline workflows and reduce errors. Key ACM tools such as Ansible, Puppet, and Chef are discussed and their role in facilitating efficient configuration management. The integration of ACM with Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) practices is highlighted as a pivotal strategy for achieving faster deployment cycles and improved software reliability. Additionally, the paper emphasizes the importance of fostering a DevOps culture, where collaboration between development and operations teams enhances the overall efficiency of the software delivery pipeline. Ultimately, the findings present a roadmap for Agile teams seeking to implement automated solutions, offering practical recommendations to optimize their deployment processes and adapt to the evolving demands of the market.

The Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Secure Access Service Edge: Enhancing Network Security and Performance

Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture represents a significant advancement in enterprise network security and management. This article examines the transformative impact of AI technologies on SASE implementations, focusing on enhanced threat detection capabilities, dynamic network optimization, and automated compliance management. The article comprehensively analyzes AI-driven security features, including real-time threat detection, zero-trust implementation, and privacy-preserving security measures. Through extensive evaluation of deployment scenarios and performance metrics, our research demonstrates significant improvements in security effectiveness and operational efficiency, including a 90% reduction in threat detection time, a 45% decrease in network latency, and a 65% reduction in manual configuration tasks. The article highlights the system's capability to maintain robust security while preserving data privacy through advanced encrypted traffic analysis techniques. The article addresses current integration challenges and provides insights into successful implementation strategies. This article contributes to the growing body of knowledge on AI-enhanced network security architectures and provides valuable insights for organizations seeking to modernize their security infrastructure while maintaining operational efficiency and compliance with evolving regulatory requirements.

Machine Learning Applications in Salesforce CPQ Transforming Sales

This paper aims to understand the innovative disposals of machine learning applications on Salesforce Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) applications more precisely how these innovations are revolutionizing software development. Salesforce CPQ is an ideal solution for organizations that want a modern tool to help them with their sales processes, and adding machine learning elements significantly improves the system. For example, the study analyses different cases where and how machine learning algorithm is utilised in the application of the following areas: pricing strategy, product configuration and sales forecasting. Upon collection of historical data, machine learning models are able to make computations of patterns that enables businesses to make quick analysis of the best strategies to use in an offer of various prices to the customers in an effort to enhance customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the application of I/A in the context of CPQ decreases the time engaged in manual configurations, liberating software development teams to work on other priorities essentially. These difficulties and strategies are enumerated in the paper: data quality issues and the impossibility of the Machine learning successful implementation without cooperation with other departments, specifically with Salesforce CPQ teams. In addition, it shares its vision on the tendencies in application of machine learning in CPQ systems with reference to software development paradigms. Finally, the scope of this research is as follows: The study will examine how the utilization of machine learning applications in Salesforce CPQ has changed traditional software development practices in today’s dynamic market environment by increasing efficiency and accuracy effectively, improving competitiveness within the market.

When Your Infrastructure Is a Buggy Program: Understanding Faults in Infrastructure as Code Ecosystems

Modern applications have become increasingly complex and their manual installation and configuration is no longer practical. Instead, IT organizations heavily rely on Infrastructure as Code (IaC) technologies, to automate the provisioning, configuration, and maintenance of computing infrastructures and systems. IaC systems typically offer declarative, domain-specific languages (DSLs) that allow system administrators and developers to write high-level programs that specify the desired state of their infrastructure in a reliable, predictable, and documented fashion. Just like traditional programs, IaC software is not immune to faults, with issues ranging from deployment failures to critical misconfigurations that often impact production systems used by millions of end users. Surprisingly, despite its crucial role in global infrastructure management, the tooling and techniques for ensuring IaC reliability still have room for improvement. In this work, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of 360 bugs identified in IaC software within prominent IaC ecosystems including Ansible, Puppet, and Chef. Our work is the first in-depth exploration of bug characteristics in these widely-used IaC environments. Through our analysis we aim to understand: (1) how these bugs manifest, (2) their underlying root causes, (3) their reproduction requirements in terms of system state (e.g., operating system versions) or input characteristics, and (4) how these bugs are fixed. Based on our findings, we evaluate the state-of-the-art techniques for IaC reliability, identify their limitations, and provide a set of recommendations for future research. We believe that our study helps researchers to (1) better understand the complexity and peculiarities of IaC software, and (2) develop advanced tooling for more reliable and robust system configurations.

Rotation Equivariant Proximal Operator for Deep Unfolding Methods in Image Restoration.

The deep unfolding approach has attracted significant attention in computer vision tasks, which well connects conventional image processing modeling manners with more recent deep learning techniques. Specifically, by establishing a direct correspondence between algorithm operators at each implementation step and network modules within each layer, one can rationally construct an almost "white box" network architecture with high interpretability. In this architecture, only the predefined component of the proximal operator, known as a proximal network, needs manual configuration, enabling the network to automatically extract intrinsic image priors in a data-driven manner. In current deep unfolding methods, such a proximal network is generally designed as a CNN architecture, whose necessity has been proven by a recent theory. That is, CNN structure substantially delivers the translational symmetry image prior, which is the most universally possessed structural prior across various types of images. However, standard CNN-based proximal networks have essential limitations in capturing the rotation symmetry prior, another universal structural prior underlying general images. This leaves a large room for further performance improvement in deep unfolding approaches. To address this issue, this study makes efforts to suggest a high-accuracy rotation equivariant proximal network that effectively embeds rotation symmetry priors into the deep unfolding framework. Especially, we deduce, for the first time, the theoretical equivariant error for such a designed proximal network with arbitrary layers under arbitrary rotation degrees. This analysis should be the most refined theoretical conclusion for such error evaluation to date and is also indispensable for supporting the rationale behind such networks with intrinsic interpretability requirements. Through experimental validation on different vision tasks, including blind image super-resolution, medical image reconstruction, and image de-raining, the proposed method is validated to be capable of directly replacing the proximal network in current deep unfolding architecture and readily enhancing their state-of-the-art performance. This indicates its potential usability in general vision tasks.

Robot path planning for metrology in hybrid manufacturing

The objective of the wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) hybrid cell is to significantly reduce lead time associated with large scale parts. The WAAM process utilizes a 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot manipulator in addition to a 2 DOF part positioner. After printing, the part is translated into position for scanning to inform the subtractive manufacturing process. Scanning in a manual setting can be a long and arduous process to generate scans of sufficient quality for the basis of informed machining. Effective path planning for scanning with the intent to reduce scanning time, increase quality of scans, and move toward a full automation of the hybrid manufacturing cell is investigated in this paper. Simulation software is used to create and verify path plans prior to importing and implementing on a 6 DOF robotic manipulator to which a GOM ATOS Q 3D scanner is mounted. The quality, amount of time necessary to produce, and number of scans required to produce a sufficient representation for machining are compared using three methods. The first method is a manual scanning configuration, the second is using a generalized path plan, and the third is using a geometry-based path plan.

A Formalism for Scalable Maritime Traffic Monitoring and Explainable Anomaly Detection and Resolution at Vessel Traffic Services

Abstract Vessel traffic service (VTS) centres around the globe monitor and manage the ship traffic in their areas of responsibility and respond to arising unsafe or inefficient situations. Decision support tools (DST) help vessel traffic service operators (VTSO) to enhance their situational awareness and decision-making process, thus to recognise and assess dangerous situations. However, current DST have unsophisticated features and require manual configuration by the operator. Firstly, triggers for alerts are mostly based on the creation of geographical polygons for spatial-dependent assignment of rules, thresholds, ranges and limits for specific features. Secondly, calculations for the detection of safety-critical situations rely on measurements based on the closest point of approach (CPA) without taking contextual information into account. Thirdly, trajectory predictions are performed considering a constant velocity model (CVM) which does not depict reality. Due to these and other peculiarities, current DST are prone to false alerts. This results into a high workload where unsafe situations may be overlooked. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical formalism as foundation for an anomaly detection and resolution which generates less false alerts. The formalism consists of three hierarchical layers which represent, objects, measurements and situations. The formalism ensures adaptability and extensibility to various VTS areas and traffic patterns. Moreover, due to the given structure, the presented formalism is easily implementable, adaptable and scalable taking the currently available technological capabilities at VTS centres into account. We demonstrate the feasibility of this formalism by implementing a proof-of-concept and assessing it with realistic scenarios. Our implementation utilizes a rule-based system as central framework and it is configured through statistical methods, e.g. machine learning. Given this hybrid approach, the implementation provides reasonable and explainable results. This enables comprehensibility and verifiability by authorities and operators which is crucial for acceptance.

Multi-agent reinforcement learning for task offloading with hybrid decision space in multi-access edge computing

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) has become a significant technology for supporting the computation-intensive and time-sensitive applications on the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. However, it is challenging to jointly optimize task offloading and resource allocation in the dynamic wireless environment with constrained edge resource. In this paper, we investigate a multi-user and multi-MEC servers system with varying task request and stochastic channel condition. Our purpose is to minimize the total energy consumption and time delay by optimizing the offloading decision, offloading ratio and computing resource allocation simultaneously. As the users are geographically distributed within an area, we formulate the problem of task offloading and resource allocation in MEC system as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) and propose a novel multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) -based algorithm to solve it. In particular, two aspects have been modified for performance enhancement: (1) To make fine-grained control, we design a novel neural network structure to effectively handle the hybrid action space arisen by the heterogeneous variables. (2) An adaptive reward mechanism is proposed to reasonably evaluate the infeasible actions and to mitigate the instability caused by manual configuration. Simulation results show the proposed method can achieve 7.12%−20.97% performance enhancements compared with the existing approaches.

An efficient three-dimensional node localization using recurrent neural networks in unmanned aerial vehicle-assisted wireless networks: an optimization perspective

PurposeUnlike many existing methods that are primarily focused on two-dimensional localization, this research paper extended the scope to three-dimensional localization. This enhancement is particularly significant for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications that demand precise altitude information, such as infrastructure inspection and aerial surveillance, thereby broadening the applicability of UAV-assisted wireless networks.Design/methodology/approachThe paper introduced a novel method that employs recurrent neural networks (RNNs) for node localization in three-dimensional space within UAV-assisted wireless networks. It presented an optimization perspective to the node localization problem, aiming to balance localization accuracy with computational efficiency. By formulating the localization task as an optimization challenge, the study proposed strategies to minimize errors while ensuring manageable computational overhead, which are crucial for real-time deployment in dynamic UAV environments.FindingsSimulation results demonstrated significant improvements, including a channel capacity of 99.95%, energy savings of 89.42%, reduced latency by 99.88% and notable data rates for UAV-based communication with an average localization error of 0.8462. Hence, the proposed model can be used to enhance the capacity of UAVs to work effectively in diverse environmental conditions, offering a reliable solution for maintaining connectivity during critical scenarios such as terrestrial environmental crises when traditional infrastructure is unavailable.Originality/valueConventional localization methods in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), such as received signal strength (RSS), often entail manual configuration and are beset by limitations in terms of capacity, scalability and efficiency. It is not considered for 3-D localization. In this paper, machine learning such as multi-layer perceptrons (MLP) and RNN are employed to facilitate the capture of intricate spatial relationships and patterns (3-D), resulting in enhanced localization precision and also improved in channel capacity, energy savings and reduced latency of UAVs for wireless communication.

DELTA: Memory-Efficient Training via Dynamic Fine-Grained Recomputation and Swapping

To accommodate the increasingly large-scale models within limited-capacity GPU memory, various coarse-grained techniques, such as recomputation and swapping, have been proposed to optimize memory usage. However, these methods have encountered limitations, either in terms of inefficient memory reduction or diminished training performance. In response to this, our paper introduces DELTA, an innovative approach for memory-efficient large-scale model training that combines fine-grained memory optimization and prefetching technology to reduce memory usage while maintaining high training throughput concurrently. Initially, we formulate the problem of memory-throughput joint optimization as an easy-solving 0/1 Knapsack problem. Leveraging this formalization, we use an improving polynomial complexity heuristic algorithm to address the problem effectively. Furthermore, we introduce a novel bidirectional prefetching technology into dynamic memory management, which significantly accelerates the model training when compared to relying solely on recomputation or swapping. Finally, DELTA offers users an automated training execution library, eliminating the need for manual configuration or specialized expertise. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of DELTA in reducing GPU memory consumption. Compared to state-of-the-art methods, DELTA achieves substantial memory savings ranging from 40% to 72%, while maintaining comparable convergence performance for various models, including ResNet-50, ResNet-101, and BERT-Large. Notably, DELTA enables the training of GPT2-Large and GPT2-XL with batch sizes increased by 5.5 × and 6 ×, respectively, showcasing its versatility and practicality in enabling large-scale model training on GPU hardware.

An Efficient Modified Black Widow Optimized Node Localization in Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an encouraging technology in various applications like atmosphere monitoring, vehicular systems, and targeting devices. Localization in WSN is performed to identify the current position or coordinates of sensor nodes. The crucial task of localization is to find coordinates without manual configuration and expensive hardware like GPS. This work proposes a new localization algorithm using Modified Black Widow Optimization (MBWO). The proposed method involves an optimal selection of anchor nodes to reduce localization errors. Black Widow Optimization (BWO) is a naturally inspired optimization algorithm encouraged by the unique coupling behaviour of black widow spiders. The performance of black widow optimization is improved by levy flight distribution to escape from local minima. Experimental results show that the proposed MBWO-optimized localization achieves a higher localized node count with minimized localized error compared to other optimization algorithms.

An adaptive feature mode decomposition-guided phase space feature extraction method for rolling bearing fault diagnosis

Abstract The extraction of fault features from rolling bearings is a challenging and highly important task. Since they have complex operating conditions and are usually under a strong noise background. In this study, a novel approach termed phase space feature extraction guided by an adaptive feature mode decomposition (AFMDPSFE) is proposed to detect subtle faults in rolling bearings. Initially, a new method using Kullback-Leiber divergence is introduced to automatically select the optimal mode number and filter length for the decomposition of vibration signals, facilitating the automatic extraction of optimal components and ensuring efficient screening. This eliminates the need for manual configuration of feature mode decomposition parameters. Furthermore, a criterion that could determine two crucial parameters to capture system dynamics characteristics in phase space reconstruction is embedded into AFMDPSFE algorithm. Subsequently, a series of high-dimensional independent components is derived. The envelope spectrum of the principal component exhibiting the highest kurtosis value is computed to achieve fault identification, consequently enhancing the separation of signal from noise. Both simulations and experimental results confirm the effectiveness of AFMDPSFE approach. A comparison analysis shows the excellent performance of AFMDPSFE in extracting fault features from significant noise interference.

High resolution remote sensing recognition of elm sparse forest via deep-learning-based semantic segmentation

Elm (Ulmus pumila L.) sparse forest plays an vital role in maintaining local ecological stability and security in the Otingdag Sandy Land area. Prior studies on elm canopy extraction have predominantly relied on manual parameter configuration, resulting in unsatisfactory levels of generalization. To meet the needs of high-precision and rapid recognition of elm sparse forests in large areas, this study proposed a recognition method for elm sparse forest that orients to high spatial resolution remote sensing imageries, using deep-learning-based semantic segmentation techniques. It can automatically learn features that are conducive to segmenting the canopy of elm trees, and retains good generalization ability on the Gaofen-2 imageries obtained in different regions. First, we constructed a dataset specialized for elm canopy semantic segmentation task, and annotated over 130,000 elm canopies based on Gaofen-2 imageries. In addition, we trained 7 deep-learning semantic segmentation model candidates. Among them, MANet showed the best performance, with its F1-score reaching 81.44%. Lastly, we applied edge detection to the elm canopy coverage area, and automatically extract the elm canopy. The proposed method can provide technical support for the investigation and monitoring of elm sparse forests, while facilitates local desertification prevention efforts in the entire Otingdag Sandy Region.

SalNAS: Efficient Saliency-prediction Neural Architecture Search with self-knowledge distillation

Recent advancements in deep convolutional neural networks have significantly improved the performance of saliency prediction. However, the manual configuration of the neural network architectures requires domain knowledge expertise and can still be time-consuming and error-prone. To solve this, we propose a new Neural Architecture Search (NAS) framework for saliency prediction with two contributions. Firstly, a supernet for saliency prediction is built with a weight-sharing network containing all candidate architectures, by integrating a dynamic convolution into the encoder–decoder in the supernet, termed SalNAS. Secondly, despite the fact that SalNAS is highly efficient (20.98 million parameters), it can suffer from the lack of generalization. To solve this, we propose a self-knowledge distillation approach, termed Self-KD, that trains the student SalNAS with the weighted average information between the ground truth and the prediction from the teacher model. The teacher model, while sharing the same architecture, contains the best-performing weights chosen by cross-validation. Self-KD can generalize well without the need to compute the gradient in the teacher model, enabling an efficient training system. By utilizing Self-KD, SalNAS outperforms other state-of-the-art saliency prediction models in most evaluation rubrics across seven benchmark datasets while being a lightweight model. The code will be available at https://github.com/chakkritte/SalNAS.

Performance Evaluation of Ultrasound Images Using Non-Local Means Algorithm with Adaptive Isotropic Search Window for Improved Detection of Salivary Gland Diseases: A Pilot Study.

Speckle noise in ultrasound images (UIs) significantly reduces the accuracy of disease diagnosis. The aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate its feasibility in salivary gland ultrasound imaging by modeling the adaptive non-local means (NLM) algorithm. UIs were obtained using an open-source device provided by SonoSkills and FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe. The adaptive NLM algorithm automates optimization by modeling the isotropic search window, eliminating the need for manual configuration in conventional NLM methods. The coefficient of variation (COV), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and edge rise distance (ERD) were used as quantitative evaluation parameters. UIs of the salivary glands revealed evident visualization of the internal echo shape of the malignant tumor and calcification line using the adaptive NLM algorithm. Improved COV and CNR results (approximately 4.62 and 2.15 times, respectively) compared with noisy images were achieved. Additionally, when the adaptive NLM algorithm was applied to the UIs of patients with salivary gland sialolithiasis, the noisy images and ERD values were calculated almost similarly. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the applicability of the adaptive NLM algorithm in optimizing search window parameters for salivary gland UIs.

The Diagnosis-Effective Sampling of Application Traces

Distributed tracing is cutting-edge technology used for monitoring, managing, and troubleshooting native cloud applications. It offers a more comprehensive and continuous observability, surpassing traditional logging methods, and is indispensable for navigating modern complex software architectures. However, the sheer volume of generated traces is staggering in distributed applications, and the direct storage and utilization of every trace is impractical due to associated operational costs. This entails a sampling strategy to select which traces warrant storage and analysis. Historically, sampling methods have included a rate-based approach, often relying heavily on a manual configuration. There is a need for a more intelligent approach, and we propose a hierarchical sampling methodology to address multiple requirements concurrently. Initial rate-based sampling mitigates the overwhelming volume of traces, as no further analysis can be performed on this level. In the next stage, more nuanced analysis is facilitated based on the previous foundation, incorporating information regarding trace properties and ensuring the preservation of vital process details even under extreme conditions. This comprehensive approach not only aids in the visualization and conceptualization of applications but also enables more targeted analysis in later stages. As we delve deeper into the sampling hierarchy, the technique becomes tailored to specific purposes, such as the simplification of application troubleshooting. In this context, the sampling strategy prioritizes the retention of erroneous traces from dominant processes, thus facilitating the identification and resolution of underlying issues. The focus of this paper is to reveal the impact of sampling on troubleshooting efficiency. Leveraging intelligent and explainable artificial intelligence solutions enables the detection of malfunctioning microservices and provides transparent insights into root causes. We advocate for using rule-induction systems, which offer explainability and efficacy in decision-making processes. By integrating advanced sampling techniques with machine-learning-driven intelligence, we empower organizations to navigate the complexities of large-scale distributed cloud environments effectively.

Implementation of automation configuration of enterprise networks as software defined network

Software defined network (SDN) is a new computer network configuration concept in which the data plane and control plane are separated. In Cisco system, the SDN concept is implemented in Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI), which by default can be configured through the main controller, namely the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC). Conventional configuration on Cisco ACI creates problems, i.e.: the large number of required configurations causes the increase of time required for configuration and the risk of misconfiguration due to repetitive works. This problem reduces the productivity of network engineers in managing Cisco system. In overcoming these problems, this research work proposes an automation tool for Cisco ACI configuration using Ansible and Python as an SDN implementation for optimizing enterprise network configuration. The SDN is implemented and experimented at PT. NTT Indonesia Technology network, as a case study. The experimental result shows the proposed SDN successfully performs multiple routers configurations accurately and automatically. Observations on manual configuration takes 50 minutes and automatic configuration takes 6 minutes, thus, the proposed SDN achieves 833.33% improvement.

Implementation of automation configuration of enterprise networks as software defined network

Software defined network (SDN) is a new computer network configuration concept in which the data plane and control plane are separated. In Cisco system, the SDN concept is implemented in Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI), which by default can be configured through the main controller, namely the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC). Conventional configuration on Cisco ACI creates problems, i.e.: the large number of required configurations causes the increase of time required for configuration and the risk of misconfiguration due to repetitive works. This problem reduces the productivity of network engineers in managing Cisco system. In overcoming these problems, this research work proposes an automation tool for Cisco ACI configuration using Ansible and Python as an SDN implementation for optimizing enterprise network configuration. The SDN is implemented and experimented at PT. NTT Indonesia Technology network, as a case study. The experimental result shows the proposed SDN successfully performs multiple routers configurations accurately and automatically. Observations on manual configuration takes 50 minutes and automatic configuration takes 6 minutes, thus, the proposed SDN achieves 833.33% improvement.

Evaluation of Ethos intelligent optimization engine for left locally advanced breast cancer.

To evaluate the feasibility to use a standard Ethos planning template to treat left-sided breast cancer with regional lymph nodes. The tuning cohort of 5 patients was used to create a planning template. The validation cohort included 15 patients treated for a locally advanced left breast cancer randomly enrolled. The Ethos planning template was tuned using standard 3 partial arc VMAT and two collimator rotation configurations: 45/285/345° and 30/60/330°. Re-planning was performed automatically using the template without editing. The study was conducted with a schedule of 42.3 Gy in 18 fractions to the breast/chestwall, internal mammary chain (IMC) and regional lymph nodes ("Nodes"). The PTV was defined as a 3D extension of the CTV with a margin of 7mm, excluding the 5mm below the skin. The manual treatment plans were performed using Eclipse treatment planning system with AAA and PO algorithms (v15.6) and a manual arc VMAT configuration and imported in Ethos TPS (v1.1) for a dose calculation with Ethos Acuros algorithm. The automated plans were compared with the manual plans using PTV and CTV coverage, homogeneity and conformity indices (HI and CN) and doses to organs at risk (OAR) via DVH metrics. For each plan, the patient quality assurance (QA) were performed using Mobius3D and gamma index. Finally, two breast radiation oncologists performed a blinded assessment of the clinical acceptability of each of the three plans (manual and automated) for each patient. The manual and automated plans provided suitable treatment planning as regards dose constraints. The dosimetric comparison showed the CTV_breast D99% were significantly improved with both automated plans (p< 0,002) while PTV coverage was comparable. The doses to the organs at risk were equivalent for the three plans. Concerning treatment delivery, the Ethos-45° and Ethos-30° plans led to an increase in MUs compared to the manual plans, without affecting the beam on time. The average gamma index pass rates remained consistently above 98% regardless of the type of plan utilized. In the blinded evaluation, clinicians 1 and 2 assessed 13 out of 15 plans for Ethos 45° and 11 out of 15 plans for Ethos 30° as clinically acceptable. Using a standard planning template for locally advanced breast cancer, the Ethos TPS provided automated plans that were clinically acceptable and comparable in quality to manually generated plans. Automated plans also dramatically reduce workflow and operator variability.