Positioning and Navigation in Challenging Environments

Submission Deadline:  31 July 2022

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Positioning and Navigation in Challenging Environments.   

In recent years, positioning and navigation has become a vital part of modern life especially with the continuous performance enhancement and modernization of the four global navigation satellite systems. Positioning and navigation industry has been growing quickly and has played a significant role in the industrial chain. Although great progress and many achievements have been made over the past few decades, there are a range of significant issues to be dealt with, especially in challenging environments.

In complex (e.g. large, multi-floor) indoor environments, it is a challenge to generate a valid positioning and navigation solution by a remote cloud platform with both offline and online data (e.g. WiFi and magnetic fingerprint data) recorded with smartphones The problem may become more complex if a pedestrian goes through different scenarios, such as from one floor to another floor of the same building, or from one building to another connected or neighboring building. There is a preference to avoid any interruption in the provision of valid position information. Thus, in the design of next-generation (beyond 5G) communication systems, the positioning functions need to be enabled and standardization of positioning technology such as in 3GPP should be taken into account.

As natural resources of the earth’s surface and shallow sea are becoming scarce, it is inevitable to acquire resources from deep underground, deep underwater and outer space. Regarding deep underground mining, there are currently a good number of deep mines in the world, including Mponeng Gold Mine and Tau Tona Mine, both located in South Africa with a depth of about 3.9km, and Kidd Creek Copper and Zinc Mine located in Ontario, Canada with a depth of about 2.9km. Deep underground mining is a challenging scenario which usually has high humidity and irregular space distribution, requiring stricter restrictions on the design and building of positioning and navigation systems.

Deep sea mining is promising because of abundant minerals on and under the deep seabed. For instance, a large amount of polymetallic nodules, containing rich concentrations of manganese, nickel, copper, and cobalt, are found in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a great abyssal plain as wide as the continental United States that lies 4 to 6 km below the surface of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Abundant naturel gas and oil also exist deep under the sea. Positioning and navigation is important for vehicles and robots to pick up the seabed surface minerals and to perform drilling and extraction of minerals under the seabed.

Space mining is currently a hot topic and should become a reality in the next few decades. , It is crucial to provide accurate and reliable positioning and navigation information for spacecraft and/or space robots which will approach and then usually land on the target planet (e.g. moon) or asteroid, followed by exploration, mining and so on; or simply catch and hold a rather small asteroid and move it back to Earth. For instance, a small Japanese space capsule carrying pristine pieces of the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu touched down on 5 December 2020, northwest of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. This was a successful initial step towards space mining on asteroids.

Positioning and navigation is vital for safe, reliable and effective operations in the scenarios of the frontier applications mentioned above. This Special Section aims to report the recent advances on positioning and navigation in such challenging scenarios. Researchers and engineers are also encouraged to perform more research and development to make advances in this area.

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

• Positioning and navigation in complex indoor environments
• Deep underground positioning and navigation
• Positioning and navigation for deep ocean operations and mining
• Positioning and navigation for space exploration and mining
• Cloud computing for positioning and navigation
• High sensitivity GNSS receivers
• Suppression of GNSS jamming and spoofing
• Positioning for communication systems beyond 5G
• Standardization of positioning technology

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility and downloads of articles.

Associate Editor:  Kegen Yu, China University of Mining and Technology, Mainland of China

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Andrew Dempster, University of New South Wales, Australia
   2. Pau Closas, Northeastern University, USA
   3. Shih-Hau Fang, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan
   4. Guenther Retscher, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
   5. Ali Broumandan, Hexagon Autonomy and Positioning, Canada

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. 1. GNSS, Localization, and Navigation Technologies
   2. Intelligent Systems for the Internet of Things
   3. Convergence of Sensor Networks, Cloud Computing, and Big Data in Industrial Internet of Things

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

 For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: kegenyu@foxmail.com.

Internet of Space: Networking Architectures and Protocols to Support Space-Based Internet Services

Submission Deadline:  31 January 2022

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Internet of Space: Networking Architectures and Protocols to Support Space-Based Internet Services.   

This Special Section is focused on the most recent scientific research and insights on the evolution of communication architectures and protocols for an Internet of Space, able to boost the creation of a truly global Internet by means of the integration of the current Internet with a new Internet of Space. Such evolution is expected to have a significant impact on several markets such as IoT/Industrial IoT, Mobile services, Industry 4.0, Government enterprise, and Connected mobility.

The section shall cover work focused on aspects such as how to support the operation of Tier-1, Tier-2 or even Tier-3 airborne/spaceborne networks; how to address interoperability, within and across different protocol layers in the network architecture, leveraging cross-layer design; and finally how to design a more unified next generation Internet architecture able to transparently include spaceborne and airborne platforms in a way that allows for user-centric services, and a smooth operation of transient networks.

However, an original and competent Internet of Space, calls for the definition of a networking framework able to accommodate specific properties of dynamic systems, including heterogeneous physical layers, frequent changes in network topology, high propagation delays, and intermittent connectivity. The dominant success factor for such a networking framework is low-cost bandwidth, although its capability to support low latency and high-throughput services plays an important role.

Secondly, a global Internet is only possible with a transparent integration of an Internet of Space with the current Internet, while supporting multi-tenants, multi-systems in different orbits and altitudes, as well as multiple markets. Such an integration requires rethinking the Internet architecture in order to extend its operation to all systems above the Earth’s surface, which requires the integration of heterogeneous communication devices and protocols. Such a unifying networking framework will have a truly global reach, allowing the connection between information producers and consumers in any corner of Earth and Space. Last but not least, the seamless integration of an Internet of Space with the current Internet will lead to a global empowerment, providing information access to everyone who may need it to sustain enriched human life, while mitigating some of the major limitations of a network infrastructure that is built on Earth’s surface, which is subjected not only to geographic limits but also to political limits.

From a technical perspective this Special Section is focused on the design and performance evaluation of networking architectures and protocols for the Internet of Space, as well as on a more unified design that best deals with the networking challenges to be faced. 

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

• Network architectures, able to support multi-tenants, multi-systems in different orbits and altitudes, as well as multiple markets, while being transparently integrated in the current Internet architecture. Such new, unifying, network architecture may require the exploitation of paradigms such as Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN), and Information Centric Networking (ICN).
• Network virtualization, leveraging well-known technologies such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), as well as their integration with the emerging concept of Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), allowing the virtualization of networking, storage and computing fabrics at the edge, required for the offloading of tasks that have latency constraints from the core to the edge.
• Decentralized Internet Infrastructure, allowing a scalable Internetworking between computing processes and service hosted at the network edge (including flying platforms and spaceborne platforms, such as smart satellite constellations), leading to an end-to-end latency reduction due to user proximity, as well as a reduction of network traffic through traffic localization and device-to-device communications.
• Network management, such as support for the global orchestration of network functions on board  spaceborne platforms (e.g., satellites) to best support data processing and aggregation; seamless interoperation of mobile Edge infrastructure and devices; resilience and seamless adaptation based on the capability to anticipate the behavior of services on a global scale.
• Cognitive networking, in which programmable spaceborne networks allow networked devices to perform customized computation, including the usage of Artificial Intelligence. Such cognitive functions will be exploited to develop more intelligent, adaptive networks, able to perceive network conditions, decide upon those conditions, and learn from the consequences of its actions.
• Networking protocols, including support for inter-satellite communications, and satellite to ground communications, Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE), integrated security, and mobility, and their integration with existing protocols such as IP routing (e.g. segment routing), transport protocols from the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) to Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), and application protocols such as Domain Name Service (DNS).
• Wireless technologies, including not only the usage of radio frequency systems but also free space optical systems, and a combination of both.
• Network measurement & performance, to assist in understanding and exposing the performance of spaceborne networking resources, infrastructure, and available communication protocols in a variety of ground-to-space, inter-satellite communication scenarios.
• Privacy, security and trustworthiness, assuming end-to-end scenarios involving satellites with computational and storage capabilities, and covering aspects such as data security, decentralized trust architectures.
• Impact on Internet services, such as advanced IoT services (e.g., Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality in manufacturing or farming) served by spaceborne platforms and spaceborne communications; real-time IoT applications (e.g., critical monitoring of public infrastructures); awareness services (e.g., public safety services).
• Impact on data management aspects, including the support of the next generation of Edge computing in space, as well as a fast cooperation between a large set of Edge-based producers of data.

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility and downloads of articles.

Associate Editor: Rute C. Sofia, fortiss GmbH, Germany

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Paulo Mendes, Airbus, Germany
   2. Vassilis Tsaoussidis, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
   3. Tomaso de Cola, DLR, Germany
   4. Scott Burleigh, California Institute of Technology, USA
   5. Mianxiong Dong, Muroran Institute of Technology, Japan
   6. Eduardo Cerqueira, University Federal of Pará, Brazil

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. 1. Networks of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Wireless Communications, Applications, Control and Modelling
   2. Communications in Harsh Environments
   3. Edge Intelligence for Internet of Things

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

 For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: sofia@fortiss.org.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided Communications for 6G and Beyond

Submission Deadline:  31 August 2021

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided Communications for 6G and Beyond.   

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) aided wireless communications is a hot research topic in academic and industry communities since it can enhance both the spectrum and energy efficiency of wireless systems by artificially reconfiguring the wireless propagation environment. RIS can configure tiny antenna elements or scatterers, which can be judiciously tuned to enhance signal power at desired users, such as primary users in cognitive radio networks, or suppress signal power at undesired users, such as eavesdroppers in physical layer security networks. The RIS also finds promising applications in dense urban areas or indoor scenarios, where electromagnetic waves are prone to be blocked by obstacles such as buildings and walls. There are numerous advantages associated with RIS. For instance, since RIS needs no analog-to-digital converters or radio frequency chains, it saves energy consumption to improve its sustainability, and reduces system cost. RIS can be fabricated in small size and light weight, which can be easily deployed on a building’s facade, walls, ceilings, street lamps, etc. Furthermore, since RIS is a complementary device, it can be readily integrated into current wireless networks (both cellular network and WIFI) without many standardization modifications. Due to these appealing advantages, RIS-aided wireless communications is envisioned to be a revolutionary technique, and one of the key technologies for the sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks.

To reap the full potential offered by RIS, a number of emerging challenges for the transceiver design of RIS-aided wireless communications needs to be tackled. The transceiver beamforming design requires advanced low complexity signal processing algorithms, the incorporation of RIS in wireless communications will consume more pilot resources for the RIS-related channel estimation, and the time slots left for data transmission will be reduced. It is imperative to justify the benefits of introducing RIS when taking into account additional pilot overhead. Furthermore, most of the existing contributions on transceiver design are based on perfect channel state information (CSI), which is challenging to achieve in RIS-aided communications. Hence, robust transmission design needs to be investigated. Finally, in practice, the RIS elements are designed with discrete shifts, which further pose new challenges for evaluating its performance.

This Special Section aims to summarize recent advancements in RIS-aided wireless communications and spur more efforts in this area to make it a reality. The scope of this Special Section covers a wide range of disciplines such as wireless communications, metamaterials, signal processing, and artificial intelligence. In this Special Section, we invite high-quality, original, technical and survey articles, which have not been published previously on RIS-related techniques and their applications in wireless communications.

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

• Integration of RIS in emerging wireless applications (e.g., RIS-aided wireless power transfer, RIS-aided mobile edge computing, RIS-aided physical layer security, IRS-aided UAV communications, etc)
• Pilot overhead reduction schemes for channel estimation in RIS-aided wireless communications (e.g. compressed-sensing method by exploiting the sparsity of the channels)
• Robust transceiver design based on imperfect channel state information or/and imperfect phase shift models
• Transceiver design based on statistical channel state information
• Joint active and beamforming for RIS-aided wireless communications
• Information theoretical results of the capacity of RIS
• The impact and design of using practical hardware, e.g. discrete phase shifts
• Energy supply of RIS
• Mobility and handover management for RIS-aided wireless communications
• Association and coordination among RIS, base stations and users
• Resource allocation and interference management in RIS-aided wireless communications
• Fundamental limits, scaling laws analysis, performance analysis, and information-theoretic analysis
• Channel and propagation models
• Control information exchange protocols design
• Energy efficient system design
• Machine learning based design
• RIS-aided mmWave/Terahertz communications
• Measurement studies and real-world prototypes and test-beds
• Integration of RIS-enabled networks into the standard

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility and downloads of articles.

Associate Editor:  Cunhua Pan, Queen Mary University of London, UK

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Ying-Chang Liang, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), China
   2. Marco Di Renzo, Paris-Saclay University, France
   3. Lee Swindlehurst, University of California Irvine, USA
   4. Vincenzo Sciancalepore, NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH, Germany

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. 1. Beyond 5G Communications
   2. Millimeter-Wave Communications: New Research Trends and Challenges
   3. Millimeter-wave and Terahertz Propagation, Channel Modeling and Applications

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

 For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: c.pan@qmul.ac.uk.

Beyond 5G Communications

Submission Deadline: 30 September 2020

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Beyond 5G Communications.

As the commercial deployment of the fifth generation of cellular networks (5G) is well underway in many countries of the world, academia as well as industrial research organizations turn their attention to what comes next. As it typically takes ten years to develop a new cellular communication standard, it is now the perfect time to identify promising topics and research directions for the next decade, which will lay the foundations for a possible 6G system. Moving from 4G to 5G, no disruptive changes to the physical layer were made. The main novelty was to simultaneously support a set of diverse applications with different throughput, latency, and reliability requirements, thanks to a flexible OFDM numerology and the concept of network slicing. Also, the spectral efficiency could be dramatically increased by supporting larger bandwidths and antenna arrays at the base station, i.e., massive MIMO. Although machine learning is currently one of the hottest topics in the field of communications, it did not play any role in the design of 5G and will mainly be used to implement, optimize, and operate such systems efficiently. 6G will likely be driven by a mix of past trends (e.g., more cells, larger and distributed antenna arrays, higher spectrum) as well as new technologies, services, applications, and devices.

The aim of this Special Section is to gather forward-looking contributions on radio access technologies beyond 5G. Topics of interest comprise new frequency bands, new multiple-antenna technologies (passive and/or active), new network deployments, new waveforms, and new applications of RF signals beyond mere communications, as well as the fusion of wireless and sensor information. A tool of central importance is machine learning, to either learn entirely new communication protocols or simply enhance traditional algorithms. Since the development of a new standard is largely driven by use cases, e.g., mobile broadband, mission critical applications, massive machine-type traffic, we explicitly solicit opinion and vision articles concerning the potential requirements and key enablers of 6G.

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

• New wireless communication systems, network deployments, and spectrum sharing
• Machine learning-based wireless systems and services
• Terahertz communications and networks
• Radar enhanced wireless systems
• New multiple antenna technologies and deployments
• Massive connectivity in communication systems
• Edge intelligence for beyond 5G networks
• Wireless big data enabled technologies
• Photonics and wireless integration
• Autonomous networks

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility and downloads of articles.

Associate Editor:  Jakob Hoydis, Nokia Bell Labs, France

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Ulf Gustavsson, Ericsson AB, Sweden
   2. Urbashi Mitra, University of Southern California, USA
   3. Luca Sanguinetti, University of Pisa, Italy
   4. Christoph Studer, Cornell University, USA
   5. Meixia Tao, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. Antenna and Propagation for 5G and Beyond
2. 5G and Beyond Mobile Wireless Communications Enabling Intelligent Mobility 
3. Millimeter-wave and Terahertz Propagation, Channel Modeling and Applications

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: jakob.hoydis@nokia-bell-labs.com.

Edge Intelligence for Internet of Things

Submission Deadline: 31 December 2020

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Edge Intelligence for Internet of Things.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a key enabler for many modernized applications, from marine monitoring to outer space exploration. In recent years, we have witnessed the proliferation of edge/mobile computing and IoT, where billions of mobile and IoT devices are connected to the Internet, generating a huge volume of data at the network edge. Driven by this trend, edge computing, an emerging computing paradigm, has received a tremendous amount of interest. By pushing data storage, computing, analysis and control closer to the network edge, edge computing has been widely recognized as a promising solution to meet the requirements of low latency, high scalability and energy efficiency, as well as alleviate the network traffic.

However, with the emergence of diverse IoT applications (e.g., smart home, smart city, industrial automation, connected vehicles), it becomes challenging for edge computing to deal with these heterogeneous IoT environments with edge big data. Motivated by the success of artificial intelligence (AI) in a wide spectrum of fields, it is envisaged that AI-powered edge computing can overcome the emerging challenges by fully unleashing the potential of the edge big data. The resulting new inter-discipline, edge AI or edge intelligence, is beginning to receive a tremendous amount of interest. However, research on edge intelligence for IoT is still in its infancy stage, and a dedicated venue for exchanging the recent advances of edge intelligence is highly desired by both the computer system and artificial intelligence communities. There are still many fundamental challenges faced in how to improve the architecture of IoT while fully utilizing these techniques (communication, big data processing, and computing etc.,) Some open issues require immediate review, such as:

• How can we utilize advanced capabilities of IoT, such as in-network storage and caching, to offload the IoT data in order to release the traffic scale in the cellular networks and provide low-latency IoT services via edge intelligence?
• Can we leverage recent advances in computing and machine learning to develop IoT?
• How can we design novel security schemes such as lightweight encryption and blockchain, to reduce the energy consumption of a secure IoT network?
• How can we support good system observability and controllability with the employment of edge intelligence in the IoT platform?
• How can we realize big data analysis at the edge of IoT to promote traditional IoT to content-centric IoT integrated with 5G/6G?

The aim of this Special Section is to solicit original submissions related to edge intelligence for IoT including but not limited to:

• Advanced system modeling, including computation modeling, content modeling, threat/security modeling, and energy consumption modeling
• Novel transmission technologies for learning-based applications at the network edge
• Scheduling schemes for efficient training, inference for edge learning/edge intelligence
• Timely data acquisition mechanisms to support delay sensitive edge processing
• Big data analytics for edge intelligence
• Coded computing for edge intelligence
• Enabling technologies, e.g., SDN, NFV, CRAN, D2D, cloud/fog computing and networking
• Emerging applications via edge intelligence: vehicular networking, massive IoT, smart grid, healthcare, intelligent manufacturing
• Novel network architecture: convergence of computing, communications and caching, content/information-centric network, cognitive computing and networking, big data analytics
• Context-aware schemes: incentive mechanism for computing and caching, pricing, game-theoretic approach, network economics, caching placement and delivery
• Mobility management for mobile edge computing and proactive caching, i.e., exploiting mobility for more computing and caching opportunities
• Energy efficiency aspects: energy harvesting, energy storage, energy transfer
• Novel pricing schemes for edge computing, communications, energy, AI model, data resources
• AR/VR applications
• Tactile Internet
• Novel security technologies such as adapted blockchain, differential privacy, intrusion detection, traceability, etc.
• Novel applications for edge intelligence such as autonomous driving, Industry 4.0, networked robots, networked UAV, smart grid, energy Internet, etc.
• Prototyping, test-beds and field trials

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility and downloads of articles.

Associate Editor:  Zhenyu Zhou, North China Electric Power University, China

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Takuro Sato, Professor, Waseda University, Japan
   2. Zheng Chang, Associate Professor, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
   3. Sherali Zeadally, Associate Professor, University of Kentucky, USA
   4. Haris Gacanin, Department Head, Nokia Bell Labs, Belgium

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. Edge Computing and Networking for Ubiquitous AI
2. Communication and Fog/Edge Computing Towards Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICVs)
3. Cloud-Fog-Edge Computing in Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSS)

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: zhenyu_zhou@ncepu.edu.cn.

Communications in Harsh Environments

Submission Deadline: 31 December 2020

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Communications in Harsh Environments.

Communication systems deployed in harsh environments, such as a high-speed train, subway, desert, trench, forest, or underground mining, should be specially constructed to withstand extreme conditions such as high or low temperatures, corrosive humidity, extreme weather or excessive dust and dirt. Such applications require specially designed wireless communication, fiber-optic communications, satellite communication, or signal processing techniques that can perform under extreme conditions and meet the QoS, security, and reliability requirement.

Quite often, communications in harsh environments have extremely low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), high doppler shift, and long latency, and often consumes more power and energy. Bandwidth limitation in harsh environment requires spectrum efficient communications. The current state of art technologies such as massive MIMO, advanced modulation and channel coding, artificial intelligence, and signal processing provide different venues to explore this challenging area. The goal of the Special Section is to publish the most recent (unclassified) results of communications in harsh environments. Review articles on this topic are also welcome.

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

• Wireless channel modeling for communications in harsh environments
• Signal processing techniques for communications in harsh environments
• Massive MIMO for communications in harsh environments
• Space-time coding for communications in harsh environments
• Information theory foundation for communications in harsh environments
• Fiber-optic communications in harsh environments
• Satellite communications in harsh environments
• Ultra-wide band communications in harsh environments
• Spectrum efficiency for communications in harsh environments
• Energy efficiency for communications in harsh environments
• New modulation for communications in harsh environments
• New multiple access techniques for communications in harsh environments
• Channel coding for communications in harsh environments
• Artificial intelligence for communications in harsh environments
• Sensor communications in harsh environments

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility and downloads of articles.

Associate Editor:  Qilian Liang, University of Texas at Arlington, USA

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Tariq S. Durrani, University of Strathclyde, UK
   2. Xin Wang, Qualcomm Inc, USA
   3. Wei Wang, Tianjin Normal University, China
   4. Jinhwan Koh, Gyeongsang National University, Korea
   5. Qiong Wu, Amazon, USA

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. Millimeter-Wave Communications: New Research Trends and Challenges
2. Artificial Intelligence for Physical-Layer Wireless Communications
3. Millimeter-wave and Terahertz Propagation, Channel Modeling and Applications

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: liang@uta.edu.

New Advances in Blockchain-Based Wireless Networks

Submission Deadline: 31 December 2020

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of New Advances in Blockchain-Based Wireless Networks.

Blockchain, as a game changer for ultra-secured and efficient digital society, has been gaining ever-increasing attention far beyond its initial application in digital currencies. One of the most fascinating topics currently is how to characterize the privacy and security in blockchain-based wireless networks. On the one hand, modern wireless communication systems are suffering from a wide range of security threats. On the other hand, traditional security operations such as encryption and protocol design are becoming increasingly incompetent for guaranteed reliability and safety in contemporary wireless networks. Against this background, providing effective blockchain proposals for efficient and secure transactions in modern wireless networks emerges as a pressing research issue both in academia and industry.

Although there have been some legacy algorithms and techniques which can prevent the disclosure of private information as well as the destruction of wireless links, such as AES encryption and beamforming in 5G networks, they may not be effective in a wide range of applications which are important to people in different specialty areas. As a matter of fact, venerability scanning has revealed a series of weaknesses in different layers of existing wireless networks. This motivates researchers in wireless security related areas to develop effective solutions to prevent the wireless systems from being hacked and/or damaged. From this point of view, our proposed Special Section will provide a valuable and timely platform for the exchange of the latest advances in this area.

A tremendous effort has been devoted to protecting privacy and security in wireless networks. Apart from many cryptography and security protocols, there has been solid work on enforcing industry standards such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and government policies (e.g., the IMT-2020 and 802.11) to grant individuals control over their own security operations. These techniques and policies aim to block the illegal disclosure of secured communication to a certain extent but may be incompetent for secured wireless transmissions at all times.

This Special Section solicits high-quality contributions that focus on the design and development of novel algorithms, technologies, and tools to address the security and privacy issues towards blockchain-based wireless networks.

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

• New network architectures for blockchain systems
• Performance evaluation in blockchain-based wireless networks
• Network management in blockchain-based wireless networks
• Privacy-aware secured protocols for blockchain-based wireless networks
• Privacy and security in physical, link and network layer transmission for blockchain-based wireless networks
• Heterogeneous cooperation techniques for blockchain-based wireless networks
• Resource allocation and scheduling in blockchain-based wireless networks
• Physical layer security in blockchain-based wireless networks
• Cognitive and sensing techniques for blockchain-based wireless networks
• Artificial intelligence assisted techniques for blockchain-based wireless networks
• Routing techniques for blockchain-based wireless networks
• Hybrid encryption techniques for blockchain-based wireless networks
• Cross layer operations in blockchain-based wireless networks
• Information theory and related signal processing techniques for blockchain theories, models and applications
• Smart contracts in wireless networks
• Semantic blockchain & knowledge-based blockchain in digital world

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility and downloads of articles.

Associate Editor:  Yuan Gao, Tsinghua University, China

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Zhipeng Cai, Georgia State University, USA
   2. Yunchuan Sun, Beijing Normal University, China
   3. Ruidong Zhang, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, China
   4. Lei Zhang, University of Glasgow, UK
   5. Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir, University of the West of Scotland, UK
   6. Hamed Ahmadi, University of York, UK

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. Blockchain-Enabled Trustworthy Systems
2. Secure Communication for the Next Generation 5G and IoT Networks

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: yuangao08@tsinghua.edu.cn.

Body Area Networks

Submission Deadline: 30 July 2020

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of body area networks, wireless sensors networks, medical ICT, intelligent health management, and big data analysis.

Wearable communications and personal health management are the future trends of the healthcare industry. To make this happen, new technologies are required to provide trustable measurement and communication mechanisms, from the data source to medical health databases. Wireless body area networks (WBAN) are the focus of this Special Section, not just on-body devices, but also technologies providing information from inside the body. Dependable communications combined with accurate localization and behavior analysis will benefit WBAN technology and make healthcare processes more effective.

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

• Wearable computing
• Embedded devices and medical applications
• In-, on- and off-body communications & networking
• Antennas and propagation
• Security and privacy of health data communications
• Smart BAN for social inclusion
• Socio-economic aspects of health caring
• Medical device regulation
• Human bond communications
• Remote patient management and preventive care
• Radio coexistence and interference management
• Rehabilitation and activity monitoring
• Wellness and sport applications of body area networks
• ICT solutions for health and wellness education
• Molecular communications
• WBANs supporting cognitive impairments

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility, downloads, and citations of articles.

Associate Editor:  Lorenzo Mucchi, University of Florence, Italy

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Matti Hämäläinen, University of Oulu, Finland
   2. Massimiliano Pierobon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
   3. Diep Nguyen, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
   4. Hirokazu Tanaka, Hiroshima Hiroshima City University, Dept. of Biomedical Information Sciences

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. Wearable and Implantable Devices and Systems
2. Molecular Communication Networks
3. Advances of Multisensory Services and Technologies for Healthcare in Smart Cities

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact: lorenzo.mucchi@unifi.it.

Edge Computing and Networking for Ubiquitous AI

Submission Deadline: 15 May 2020

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Edge Computing and Networking for Ubiquitous AI.

Edge computing has become an important solution to break through the bottleneck of emerging technology development by virtue of its advantages of reducing data transmission, decreasing service latency and easing cloud computing pressure. It can also be applied to extensive application scenarios, such as smart city, manufacturing, logistics and transportation, healthcare, and smart grid. In these scenarios, transmitting massive data and requests generated by edge devices to the cloud data center is no longer the only option, and the edge computing architecture can be complementary to the cloud. Among several application scenarios, such as network optimization, intelligent manufacturing, and real-time video analytics, the combination of Deep Learning (DL) and edge computing shows its advantages.

For example, the DL model trained for face recognition can be deployed on the edge architecture to achieve real-time identity verification. In addition, from predictive maintenance to network and resource management, many researchers are paying attention to “artificial intelligence” plus “edge computing,” aiming to enhance the computing, storage and communication capabilities of edge computing networks through artificial intelligence techniques, especially Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). With the increment of smart devices and the diversification needs, the network environment is becoming more complex. Traditional network technologies rely on fixed mathematical models, which are not applicable in a rapidly changing network environment. The emergence of artificial intelligence can effectively solve this problem. When network devices face some complex and fuzzy network information, artificial intelligence technology relies on its powerful learning and reasoning ability to extract valuable information from massive data, and can realize intelligent management.

However, such ubiquitous intelligence potentially enabled by both edge computing and learning still faces a major challenge, i.e., the effective deployment fashion of the learning model on the collaborated “edge-cloud” architecture is still not determined. The deployment of deep learning models should concern the training and inference of them, and the edge computing architecture shall be well devised.

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

• Deep learning applications enabled by edge computing
• Deep learning and deep reinforcement learning for optimizing edge computing networks
• Deep learning-based traffic offloading prediction and optimization
• Distributed and collaborative AI with edge computing and networking
• Hardware platforms and software stacks for deploying deep learning on the edge
• Data processing and business intelligence on the edge
• Offloading scheme for intensive deep learning tasks
• Architecture and orchestration of deep learning services in edge computing
• Deep learning for the management of edge computing networks
• Transfer learning for the preliminary deployment of deep learning models on the edge
• Training scheme of deep learning model at the edge
• Federated learning for massive edge devices, edge nodes and the cloud data center
• Federated learning devised for deep reinforcement learning, i.e., federated reinforcement learning
• Compression of deep learning models for deploying them on edge devices or edge nodes
• Segmentation of deep learning models for collaborative intelligence between cloud and the edge
• “Early exit of inference” of deep learning models for accelerating the edge intelligence
• Incentive-based training and inference schemes for heterogeneous devices in the edge
• The fusion of training and inference in the edge computing network
• New AI-based edge computing and networking testbed and trials

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility, downloads, and citations of articles.

Associate Editor:  Victor Leung, The University of British Columbia, China

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Xiaofei Wang, Tianjin University, China
   2. Abbas Jamalipour, The University of Sydney, Australia
   3. Xu Chen, Sun Yat-sen University, China
   4. Samia Bouzefrane, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, France

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. Communication and Fog/Edge Computing Towards Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICVs)
2. 5G and Beyond Mobile Wireless Communications Enabling Intelligent Mobility
3. Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing for Communications and Networks

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact:  xiaofeiwang@tju.edu.cn.

Green Internet of Things

Submission Deadline: 01 May 2020

IEEE Access invites manuscript submissions in the area of Green Internet of Things.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a key enabler for many modernized applications, from marine monitoring to outer space exploration. However, complicated operations (such as device interconnection, data transmission and service optimization) will consume substantial energy in contrast with the limited energy storage of IoT devices. To improve architectural sustainability and ultimately reduce systemic cost, the energy efficient (green) design of IoT has become more prominent. In particular, with the continuous penetration of advanced information and communications (ICT) technologies (such as VR/AR, UAVs, and automobiles), our smart world is being surrounded by big IoT data that craves energy-efficient caching, computing, networking and securing.

Some emerging techniques (e.g., edge computing, SDN/ICN, artificial intelligence) are thought to have promise with novel approaches to overcome the sustainability limitations of current IoT systems. However, fully utilizing these techniques from communication, data processing, and computing etc., to improve the energy efficiency of IoT still faces many fundamental challenges. Some open issues require immediate studies, such as:

• Achieving much higher energy efficiency of the IoT network with limited bandwidth provisioning and low transmit power
• Utilizing advanced capabilities of IoT, such as in-network storage and caching, and offload the IoT data in order to release the traffic scale in the cellular networks and provide low-latency IoT services in an energy efficient manner
• Leveraging recent advances in computing to design an energy efficient computing platform for IoT
• Designing lightweight security schemes such as encryption, to reduce the energy consumption of a secure IoT network
• Supporting good system observability and controllability with the employment of green IoT

Therefore, the aim of this Special Section in IEEE Access is to solicit original submissions with novel contributions on Green IoT, from the perspective of energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption. Contributions by the applications of emerging technologies (e.g., social computing, big data computing, fog computing, edge computing, emotional computing, SDN) to address the energy efficiency issue of IoT are also welcome.

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

• Energy-efficient transmission for IoT
• Energy-efficient resource allocation for IoT
• Energy-efficient computing for IoT
• Energy-efficient networking protocol for IoT
• Energy-efficient IoT architecture
• Energy-efficient caching for IoT
• Energy-efficient UAV for IoT
• Energy-efficient vehicular networking for IoT
• Energy-efficient D2D/M2M
• Energy-efficient cognitive IoT
• Social networking and computing for green IoT
• Big data for green IoT
• Cloud computing for green IoT
• Edge computing for green IoT
• Software-defined networks for green IoT
• Network virtualization for green IoT
• Middleware for green IoT
• Testbeds for green IoT
• Novel applications for green IoT
• Artificial intelligence for green IoT
• Cybersecurity for green IoT
• SDN-based green IoT for Energy Internet
• Energy Internet and smart grid communication monitoring techniques through green IoT
• Green energy resource management through IoT

We also highly recommend the submission of multimedia with each article as it significantly increases the visibility, downloads, and citations of articles.

Associate Editor: Zhenyu Zhou, North China Electric Power University, China

Guest Editors:

1. 1. Takuro Sato, Wasida University, Japan
   2. Haris Pervaiz, SCC, Lancaster University, UK
   3. Jun Wu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
   4. Haris Gačanin, Nokia-Bell Lab, Belgium
   5. Nan Cheng, University of Toronto, Canada
   6. Juan C. Vasquez, Aalborg University, Denmark

Relevant IEEE Access Special Sections:

1. Green Signal Processing for Wireless Communications and Networking
2. Intelligent and Cognitive Techniques for Internet of Things
3. Emerging Technologies for Device to Device Communications

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

Article submission: Contact Associate Editor and submit manuscript to:
http://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/ieee-access

For inquiries regarding this Special Section, please contact:  zhenyu_zhou@ncepu.edu.cn.