Periklis Chatzimisios , David Soldani , Abbas Jamalipour , Antonio Manzalini and Sajal K. Das
Special Issue on 6G Wireless Systems
While 5G is currently being deployed around the globe, research on 6G is under way aiming at addressing the coming challenges of drastic increase of wireless data traffic and support of other usage scenarios. 6G is expected to extend 5G capabilities even further. Higher bitrates (up to Tbps) and lower latency (less than 1ms) will allow introducing new services – such as pervasive edge intelligence, ultra-massive machine-type communications, extremely reliable low-latency communications, holographic rendering and high-precision communications – and meet more stringent requirements, especially in the following dimensions: energy efficiency; intelligence; spectral efficiency; security, secrecy and privacy; affordability; and customization. Artificial intelligence approaches and techniques, such as machine learning (of which deep learning and reinforcement learning are specific examples), and machine reasoning (which includes planning, scheduling, knowledge representation and reasoning, search and optimization), are the new fundamental enablers to operate networks more efficiently, enhance the overall end user experience and provide innovative service applications. Quantum Optics Computing (QOC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) are almost ready for industrial applications. In particular, massive Internet of Things (mIoT), Industrial IoT (IIoT), fully automated robotic platforms (which include control, perception, sensors and actuators, as well as the integration of other techniques into cyber-physical systems), vehicles and multisensory extended reality are examples of the new data-demanding applications, which will impose new performance targets and motivate 6G design and deployment.
This special issue of JCN presents three high quality research articles related to the area of 6G Wireless Systems. The Guest Editors want to express their thanks to all authors who submitted their manuscripts to this Special Issue, as well as all the reviewers for their competent and timely reviews. Our thank goes to the Journal of Communications Networks for the opportunity to establish this Special Issue and to Grace Kim for her support and guidance during the whole editorial process.
The papers in this special issue report latest research on promising techniques for wireless systems enhancements towards 6G, namely: Spectrum Sharing, Machine Learning and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Wireless Communications.
The first paper “Expansive Networks: Exploiting Spectrum Sharing for Capacity Boost and 6G Vision” by Gurkan Gur, proposes the concept of “expansive networks” for 6G networks to address capacity and scalability challenges. To illustrate this concept, the author considers spectrum resources as a case study and discusses the spectrum sharing vision in 6G networks from a co-existence perspective of diverse networks.
The paper “A Deep-Q Learning Approach to Mobile Operator Collaboration” by Athanasios Karapantelakis and Elena Fersman proposes an agent-based architecture that utilizes machine learning to predict future service demand through the collaboration of Mobile Network Operators. The results of the considered approach demonstrate that the proposed optimal operator collaboration is very efficient in fulfilling service demand and requirements.
The third paper “Optimal 3D UAV BS Placement by Considering Autonomous Coverage Hole Detection, Wireless Backhaul and User Demand”, co-authored by Shahriar Abdullah Al-Ahmed, Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir and Syed Ali Raza Zaidi, studies the problem of coverage holes in the region of network operators. The proposed approach considers the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Q-learning for the detection of coverage holes in a given area together with the optimal deployment of UAV based Base Stations (UAV-BSs), in order to provide an efficient on-demand coverage.
Biography
HPeriklis Chatzimisios
Periklis Chatzimisios serves as Professor in the Department of Science and Technology of the International Hellenic University (Greece). He is also a Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Science & Technology, at Bournemouth University, UK. Dr. Chatzimisios is/has been involved in several standardization and IEEE activities serving as a Member of IEEE ComSoc Education Services Board, Member of the IEEE ComSoc Standards Program Development Board and Industry Outreach Board under the IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc). Dr. Chatzimisios is the Chair of the Communications Chapter and Professional Activities for the IEEE Greece Section and also serves as the Chair of ComSoc Technical Committee on Information Infrastructure and Networking (TCIIN), the Vice Chair of ComSoc Technical Committee on Big Data (TCBD) and an active member of the IEEE Future Networks (5G) Initiative. He is the EiC for the IEEE Standards Education e-Magazine (eZine) and a member of the IEEE Standards Education Committee (SEC). He received his Ph.D. from Bournemouth University (UK) in 2005 and his B.Sc. from Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki (Greece) in 2000. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Biography
David Soldani
David Soldani received a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Engineering with full marks and magna cum laude approbatur from the University of Florence, Italy, in 1994; and a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree in Technology with distinction from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, in 2006. In 2014, 2016 and 2018 he was appointed Visiting Professor, Industry Professor, and Adjunct Professor at University of Surrey, UK, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia, and University of New South Wales (UNSW), respectively. Dr. Soldani is currently at Huawei Technologies, serving as Chief Technology and Cyber Security Office (CTSO) in Australia, Huawei ICT Security Expert within the ASIA Pacific Region, and Chairman of the IMDA 5G task force, in Singapore. Prior to that he was Head of 5G Technology, e2e, global, at Nokia; and Head of Central Research Institute (CRI) and VP Strategic Research and Innovation in Europe, at Huawei European Research Centre (ERC).
Biography
Abbas Jamalipour
Abbas Jamalipour received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan. He is a Professor of Ubiquitous Mobile Networking with the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. He has authored nine technical books, eleven book chapters, over 550 technical papers, and five patents, all in the area of wireless communications. Prof. Jamalipour is a recipient of the number of prestigious awards, such as the 2019 IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Technical Achievement Award in Green Communications, the 2016 IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Technical Achievement Award in Communications Switching and Routing, the 2010 IEEE ComSoc Harold Sobol Award, the 2006 IEEE ComSoc Best Tutorial Paper Award, as well as 15 Best Paper Awards. He is the President of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. He held the positions of the Executive Vice-President and the Editor-in-Chief of VTS Mobile World and has been an elected member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society since 2014. He was the Editor-in- Chief IEEE WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS, the Vice President-Conferences, and a member of Board of Governors of the IEEE Communications Society. He sits on the Editorial Board of the IEEE ACCESS and is an Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, and several other journals. He has been the General Chair or Technical Program Chair for a number of conferences, including IEEE ICC, GLOBECOM, WCNC, and PIMRC. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical, Information, and Communication Engineers and the Institution of Engineers Australia, an ACM Professional Member, and an IEEE Distinguished Speaker.
Biography
Antonio Manzalini
Antonio Manzalini received the M. Sc. Degree in Electronic Engineering from the Politecnico of Turin (Italy) and the PhD (cum Laude) on Computer Networks from Télécom SudParis and Université Pierre & Marie Curie – Sorbonne Universités (France). In 1990 he joined Telecom Italia Lab (formerly CSELT). He started his job with RT&D activities on technologies and architectures for transport optical networks. Then, he was actively engaged (1996-2000) in the ITU-T standardization as Rapporteur. He was involved in several EURESCOM and European Project playing responsibility roles. In 2003 he was appointed as member of the Scientific Committee of CTTC (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya). He was Chair of the IEEE initiative on SDN, and currently is joining the Board of IEEE Comsoc Industry Committee. He was General Chair of the several IEEE Conferences. He owns seven patents on methods and systems for Telecommunications. His results have been published in more than 130 of technical papers and publications. Currently, his activities in TIM includes SDN, NFV, Edge Cloud Computing, 5G and Quantum Communications. He is Chair of IG GSMA work-item on Quantum Technologies and Services.
Biography
Sajal K. Das
Sajal K. Das is a professor of Computer Science and the Daniel St. Clair Endowed Chair at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he was the Chair of Computer Science Department during 2013-2017. He served the NSF as a Program Director in the Computer Networks and Systems division during 2008-2011. Prior to 2013, he was a University Distinguished Scholar Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and founding director of the Center for Research in Wireless Mobility and Networking at the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include wireless and sensor networks, mobile and pervasive computing, mobile crowd sensing, cyber-physical systems and IoT, smart environments (e.g., smart city, smart grid, smart transportation, and smart health), distributed and cloud computing, cyber security, biological and social networks, and applied graph theory and game theory. He has made fundamental contributions to these areas, and published extensively with over 700 research articles in high quality journals and refereed conference proceedings. Dr. Das holds 5 US patents and coauthored 4 books – Smart Environments: Technology, Protocols, and Applications (John Wiley, 2005), Handbook on Securing Cyber-Physical Critical Infrastructure: Foundations and Challenges (Morgan Kauffman, 2012), Mobile Agents in Distributed Computing and Networking (Wiley, 2012), and Principles of Cyber-Physical Systems: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2020). His h-index is 88 with more than 34,500 citations according to Google Scholar. He is a recipient of 10 Best Paper Awards at prestigious conferences like ACM MobiCom and IEEE PerCom, and numerous awards for teaching, mentoring and research including the IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Achievement Award for pioneering contributions to sensor networks and mobile computing, and University of Missouri System President’s Award for Sustained Career Excellence. Dr. Das serves as the founding Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s Pervasive and Mobile Computing Journal, and as Associate Editor of several journals including the IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, and ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks. He is an IEEE Fellow.