Innovative Trends in 6G Ecosystems

Submission Deadline:  15 September 2023

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Innovative Trends in 6G Ecosystems.   

Next generation wireless networks will need to provide a variety of efficient and flexible services, such as improved mobile broadband access, ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine-type communications. Future networks will have to support multiple operational standards to exploit the network heterogeneity, which stems from different types of base stations and user equipment as well as from traffic variability. Future networks should be able to process information generated from a huge volume of heterogeneous sources and should have an intrinsic durability to deal with potential security threats. These networks are expected to make intelligent and informed decisions by adapting to appropriate network functionality under constraints set by the time-varying workload. Therefore, the key question is how to set up a wireless ecosystem, which is not only faster, but also more energy-efficient and smarter.

The proposal refers to new technological solutions to deal with high data rate, increased capacity, efficient spectrum usage, reduced latency, adaptive traffic routing, longer battery life, etc. New principles are expected to be proposed for licensed shared access in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band in line with optimal business models, in order to improve capacity, data rate and reliability of future networks. New artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms must be introduced in order to perform network prediction and also to ensure quality of experience in wireless ecosystems. Also, an intelligent Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) architecture is expected to be developed to support a Management and Orchestration (MANO) framework. In addition, novel beamforming techniques and direction of arrival estimation algorithms must be introduced in a massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) environment by using machine learning, neural networks as well as deep learning concepts, in order to enhance the communication efficiency, save energy and thus make the ecosystem environmentally friendly. The communication efficiency will further be enhanced in the mmWave and terahertz band by newly proposed antennas installed either on base stations, or on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or on users (wearable antennas, antennas on terminal equipment), and based on recent technological solutions, like metamaterials, periodic metasurfaces, graphene, and graphene products.

The present Special Section aspires to provide researchers with a body of knowledge in different interdisciplinary areas that are critical to the future development of mobile and wireless communications, and to contribute to the development of innovative solutions to significant challenges in future wireless networks. This Special Section also aims to provide researchers with the opportunity to understand both the scientific and business aspects of future ecosystems. The research results are expected to activate many new areas related to AI in wireless communications, antenna design, spectrum management, business models, UAV communications, and IoT platforms, and will attract the interest not only of large research institutes and organizations, but also of private companies and government agencies.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • AI-assisted spectrum sharing in 6G ecosystems
 – Dynamic spectrum access
 – Licensed shared access
 – Blockchain-based approach to spectrum management
 – Business models for spectrum access
 – Cognitive radio techniques

  • Propagation and channel modeling in the mmWave and terahertz bands
 – mmWave/terahertz measurements
 – mmWave/terahertz antennas and devices
 – Scattering and blockage from humans and objects

  • MIMO techniques in 6G ecosystems
 – Analog and digital beamforming
 – Direction of arrival estimation
 – Simultaneous localization and mapping
 – Location-aware communications

  • Antenna design in 6G ecosystems
 – Optimization of base station antennas, UAV antennas, terminal antennas, wearable antennas
 – Reconfigurable antenna design
 – MIMO antennas

  • Network prediction in 6G ecosystems
 – NFV architecture
 – MANO framework
 – Routing and re-transmission protocols
 – Network sharing techniques
 – Quality of experience
 – Self-organizing networks
 – Cloud radio access network (C-RAN) and open radio access network (O-RAN)

  • Other relevant topics in 6G ecosystems
 – Energy-efficient communications
 – Energy-harvesting communications
 – UAV communications for safety and security
 – Massive connectivity in communication systems
 – IoT algorithms for URLLC

 

We also highly recommend the submission of a video with each article as it significantly increases the visibility of articles.

 

Associate Editors: 

    1. Zaharias Zaharis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
    2. Pavlos Lazaridis, University of Huddersfield, UK

Guest Editors:

    1. Ramjee Prasad, Aarhus University, Denmark
    2. Alexandros Feresidis, University of Birmingham, UK
    3. Vladimir Poulkov, Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria
    4. Karu Esselle, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
    5. Ashutosh Dutta, Johns Hopkins University, USA
    6. Seshadri Mohan, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA
    7. Anand Prasad, Deloitte Tohmatsu Cyber LLC, Japan

 

IEEE Access Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Derek Abbott, University of Adelaide

Article submission: Submit manuscripts to: http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For information regarding IEEE Access, including its peer review policies and APC information, please visit the website http://ieeeaccess.ieee.org

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: zaharis@auth.gr.