Tutorials

ISCIT2023 is pleased to offer 3 tutorial sessions run in parallel with the regular technical sessions. Attendance at the tutorials is included in the registration fee.

Tutorial 1a: Towards Unified Understanding of Semantic Communications and Networking 

Presenters

Jihong Park, Zhijin Qin, and Jinho Choi 

Biographies

Dr. Jihong Park is a Lecturer at the School of IT, Deakin University, Australia. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, in 2009 and 2016, respectively. He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with Aalborg University, Denmark, from 2016 to 2017; the University of Oulu, Finland, from 2018 to 2019. His recent research focus includes AI-native and semantic communications, as well as distributed and quantum machine learning. He served as a Conference/Workshop Program Committee Member for IEEE GLOBECOM, ICC, and INFOCOM, as well as NeurIPS, ICML, and IJCAI. He received the 2023 IEEE Communications Society Heinrich Hertz Award, 2022 FL-IJCAI Best Student Paper Award and IEEE GLOBECOM Student Travel Grant, IEEE Seoul Section Student Paper Prize, and the 6th IDIS-ETNEWS Paper Award in 2014. Currently, he is the co-chair for the IEEE GLOBECOM 2023 Symposium on Machine Learning for Communications, and an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Data Science for Communications and in Signal Processing for Communications. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Member of ACM and AAAI. 

Abstract

Semantic communication (SC) is an emerging approach to designing next-generation communication systems that goes beyond the current paradigm of transmitting bits. In contrast to traditional communication systems that focus solely on delivering bits at Level A, SC encompasses Levels B and C, aiming to convey the semantics behind the bits and maximize their effectiveness for specific tasks, respectively. Although Shannon and Weaver identified Levels B and C over 70 years ago, these issues were largely overlooked due to the lack of appropriate technical tools. However, recent advances in machine learning (ML) have given substance to initial SC concepts, positioning SC as a key enabler for 6G and beyond. Despite growing interest and numerous contemporary studies, several significant limitations persist in this nascent field. Key among them is the absence of clear definitions for semantics, leading to disjointed research on the principles and architectures of SC. Furthermore, the role of ML in SC remains ambiguous, complicating the distinction between SC and other existing ML-based communication frameworks. Lastly, most of the studies concentrate on the physical (PHY) layer in point-point scenarios, raising concerns about scalability and compatibility for multiple users, as well as applicability to the medium access control (MAC) and higher layers. This tutorial aims to consolidate the understanding of SC by presenting a comprehensive definition of semantics and identifying its relationship with ML and communication system architectures. Through this fresh and unified perspective, we will illustrate how ML facilitates PHY-layer SC in point-to-point scenarios and explore the extension of these methodologies to large-scale SC systems. We will also demonstrate their application to MAC layer SC through selected use cases. Finally, we will introduce non-ML and theoretical approaches for modelling ML-based SC frameworks, paving the way for future research directions. The intended audience includes Ph.D. students, postdocs, and researchers with a general background in machine learning and wireless communications. 

Tutorial 1b – Towards 6G: From THz communications to reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS)

Presenter

Taro Eichler (Rohde & Schwarz)

Biography

Taro Eichler is Technology Manager for wireless communications and photonics at Rohde & Schwarz in Munich with a focus on 5G/6G technologies. With 15 years of experience in wireless communication, he is currently working on 6G industry research projects covering THz communication, photonics and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). Prior to joining Rohde & Schwarz, Taro worked for Intel Corporation as specialist for photonic communication solutions and for NTT Basic Research Laboratories. He also worked on research projects at The University of Tokyo in the field of quantum optics with a scholarship by the Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation. He holds a diploma in physics from the Technical University of Munich with thesis at the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Bonn, Germany.

Abstract

Future wireless communication systems will exploit large antenna arrays and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), to achieve a high degree of freedom in the space domain and enhance coverage. RIS have the potential to enable a dynamically changing environment, which allows the transmission channel to be “programmed”. Furthermore, to save the spectrum and hardware resources, Joint Communication and Sensing (JCAS) offers new opportunities by combining communications and radar sensing. AI will be an integral part of the communication system and we will discuss some applications such as an AI-driven neural receiver.
New frequency ranges such as sub-Terahertz and terahertz (THz) waves have frequencies extending from 0.1 THz up to 3 THz and fall in the spectral region between microwave and optical waves and promise a plethora of applications yet to be explored, ranging from communication to imaging, spectroscopy, and sensing. The prospect of offering large contiguous frequency bands to meet the demand for highest data transfer rates up to the terabit/sec range make it a key research area of 6G mobile communication. In light of the approaching ITU World Radio Conference 2023, academic and industrial research is striving to demonstrate the feasibility of this frequency region for communication. To fully utilize this potential, it is crucial to understand the propagation characteristics, and channel measurements are necessary for developing future communication standards. We will discuss the characteristics of channel modeling and propagation in this frequency range and present recent measurement campaign results in the D-band and H-band, including in industrial environments.

Besides using electronic MMICs, alternative methods for generating THz radiation based on photonic technologies will play a key role in the future. Especially with the prospect of miniaturizing today’s lab setups into photonic integrated circuits (PIC), these approaches could become mainstream. Recently R&S is coordinating a research project, 6G-ADLANTIK, funded by the German ministry for education and research with the objective to develop a novel tunable THz system based on ultra-stable photonic sources and optical frequency comb technology for communication and instrumentation.

This tutorial aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the developments in 6G technologies and highlight various research projects dedicated to the different topics.

Tutorial 2a – Miniaturised
and Passive Inspired Millimetre Wave Integrated Circuits in Silicon Technology

Presenter

Dr. Xi (Forest) Zhu (University of Technology Sydney)

Biography

Xi (Forest) Zhu received the B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees
in Electronic Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire,
Hatfield, U.K., in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Since 2016, he has
been with the School of Electrical and Data Engineering, University
of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia. He has authored or co
authored more than 100 papers in international journals and
conferences. His current research interests primarily focus on the
design of analog/mixed signal integrated circuits and radio frequency
integrated circuits (RFICs) for wireless communication and radar
sensing applications.

Dr. Zhu was named Australia’s top researcher in the field of Microelectronics and Electronic Packaging (in the discipline of Engineering) by The Australian 2023 Research Magazine. He is an active reviewer for the IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers and II: Express Briefs. Also, he serves as a member of the Technical Review Board for several IEEE journals and conferences, including ISCAS, the flagship conference organized by the IEEE CAS S. He is also a member of the IE EE CAS-S Analog Signal Processing Technical Committees (ASPTC) and IEEE MTT S TC 14 Microwave and Millimeter Wave Integrated Circuits Committee . He has organized and co-chaired the special session “Millimeter Wave Integrated Circuits Design in CMOS and SiGe Technologies” in IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) 2 019. He is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs , and IET Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation

Abstract

Currently, millimetre wave ( mm Wave integrated circuit IC design is one of the popular research topics within the IEEE Circuits & Systems Society. As footprints of on chip passive devices are inherently getting small at mm Wave region, adopting the classical design approach that is based on distributed element s , such as transmission for on chip passive
components is now fully enabled in standard Silicon based technology , including CMOS and SiGe . Consequently, there are opportunities to re consider how such passive components can be designed and implemented with active components in a more efficient and effective way. In addition, compared with active components design, it is believed that the full potential of on chip passive components is still far from being reached.

In this talk the implementation of miniaturised passive devices as well as the possibility of using such devices to co design with active components will be discussed . The talk will be divided into two parts . In Part I, recent works in miniaturised on chip passive filter design will be presented. Moreover, how to use the passive components to mitigate device level limitation s of silicon will be discussed in Part II.

Tutorial 2b – Towards the ultimate 6G network leveraging Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS), AI and non-terrestrial networks (NTN)

Presenter

Dr. Taro Eichler (Rohde & Schwarz)

Biography

Taro Eichler is Technology Manager for wireless communications and photonics at Rohde & Schwarz in Munich with a focus on 5G/6G technologies. With 15 years of experience in wireless communication, he is currently working on 6G industry research projects covering THz communication, photonics and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). Prior to joining Rohde & Schwarz, Taro worked for Intel Corporation as specialist for photonic communication solutions and for NTT Basic Research Laboratories. He also worked on research projects at The University of Tokyo in the field of quantum optics with a scholarship by the Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation. He holds a diploma in physics from the Technical University of Munich with thesis at the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Bonn, Germany.

Abstract

A core capability introduced by 6G will be the joint support for mobile communications and mobile sensing. Today, mobile robots and XR applications record their surroundings in 3D using sensors such as radar, localization techniques. Another example may be gesture control of smartphones as an evolution of the established touchscreen operation. At the same time, communication takes place between these devices over the cellular network.

With the evolution of cellular systems to mmWave bands in 5G and potentially sub-THz bands in 6G, more bandwidth will become available and provide an unprecedented opportunity to employ the mobile network for sensing.

In the form of machine learning, artificial intelligence has achieved tremendous success in image and video analysis as well as natural language processing. For 6G, researchers propose applying machine learning to signal processing by replacing individual or multiple blocks in the chain with trained models that can perform channel estimation and equalization, for instance. The ultimate goal is to learn the entire communications system model and train a particular type of neural network (autoencoder) to allow modification of the signal to be transmitted.

The cellular layout in the current network architecture is designed to minimize interference at the cell borders between cells. However, to achieve ultra-high speed, high capacity (with improvements in particular on the uplink) and very reliable communications, it is ideal to communicate at short distances via a low-loss path and increase the redundancy over multiple communications paths. One possibility for such a spatially distrib-uted topology involves cell-free networks where base stations distributed over a large area coordinate coherent joint transmission to provide service to each user. This approach will lead to higher signal-to-noise ratio and gain as well as a more consistent quality of experience for users at different locations. This will also impact processing architecture: information and communications technologies will further merge, i.e. the processing of large amounts of data will take place in distributed systems in the network and not necessarily in the end-user device, leading to challenging data rate and latency requirements.

In order to offer new services to drones, aircraft, ships and space stations/satellites and thus provide coverage in remote areas, maritime locations and in space, it is necessary to extend network coverage three-dimensionally and include the vertical direction in addition to horizontal deployments. Such ubiquitous communications could be realized with non-terrestrial networks (NTN), which would utilize drones (high-altitude platform stations (HAPS) in the stratosphere) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations acting as mobile base stations in the sky and leading to a unified network architecture.

Tutorial 3 – Enabling Joint Communication and Radio Sensing in Mobile Networks: A Tutorial on Advancement and Challenges

Presenters

J. Andrew Zhang, Kai Wu, and Zhitong Ni.  

Biographies

Dr. J. Andrew Zhang (IEEE M’04-SM’11) is a professor at the School of Electrical and Data Engineering, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia. He received a B.Sc. degree from Xi’an JiaoTong University, China, in 1996, an M.Sc. degree from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China, in 1999, and the Ph.D. degree from the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, in 2004. Prof. Zhang is passionate about research innovation and is an internationally recognized researcher in wireless communications and sensing. He pioneers the research on perceptive mobile networks. Prof. Zhang has published more than 260 papers in leading international journals and conference proceedings and hold 5 patents. He has won 5 best paper awards for his work, including the best paper award in ICC 2013, the prestigious IEEE Communication Society flagship conference. He is a recipient of CSIRO top award, CSIRO Chairman’s Medal, as a seminal contributor and the Australian Engineering Innovation Award in 2012 for exceptional research achievements in multi-gigabit wireless communications. He is serving as an Editor for IEEE Transactions on Communications.  

Dr Kai Wu is a lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia. He received a B.E. in Information Countermeasure Technology and Ph.D. in Signal and Information Processing, both from Xidian University, Xi’an, China, in 2012 and 2019, respectively. He also received a PhD in Computer Science, from UTS in 2020. His Xidian-PhD was awarded the Excellent Ph.D. Thesis Award from the Chinese Institute of Electronics in 2019. His UTS-PhD was included in the Chancellor’s List 2020. Dr. Wu has been performing ISAC research and implementations since late 2019. He has published the world-first authored book on ISAC. He was a tutorial speaker in WCNC’21 and ICC’21, introducing ISAC in cellular networks. His research interests include signal processing of ISAC in space, time, and frequency domains. Dr. Kai Wu has been the Editor-in-Chief Assistant of the Newsletter for IEEE ComSoc ISAC-ETI. He has served as TPC co-chair/member for numerous flagship international conferences in communications, including ICC’20/22/23 and PIMRC’20/23 etc.  

Dr. Zhitong Ni is a post-doctoral Researcher at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia. He received a B.E. degree in information engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, in 2017. He received his Ph.D. degree from UTS, Australia. His UTS-PhD was included in the Chancellor’s List 2022. His research interests include array signal processing, angle-of-arrival estimations, as well as precoding techniques in various applications including fifth-generation millimetre-wave communications and ISAC systems. He has been conducting ISAC research and implementations since late 2019. So far, he has published many top-tier journal papers, conference papers, letters, and one book on ISAC. He has been a tutorial speaker in ICC’20-CRSS and ICC’22-ISAC, introducing novel algorithms for PMN. He also has experience in tutoring/lecturing network fundamentals and mobile networks. Dr. Ni has been the Editor-in-Chief Assistant of Sensors and served as TPC co/chair/member for a flagship international conference in communications, ICC’23-ISAC. 

Abstract

Joint communication and radar/radio sensing (JCAS) is emerging as a main technology for future communications and sensing networks and services. To take full advantage of the ubiquitous mobile networks, one can integrate sensing functionalities into future mobile networks to create a perceptive mobile network (PMN). It is envisaged that PMNs have the potential to revolutionize future 5G and beyond networks by offering ubiquitous sensing for numerous smart applications. In the proposed tutorial, we aim to provide a timely overview of the latest development in PMN, including new theories, methodologies, and applications. We will also discuss the challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve widespread adoption of these networks. Through a combination of theoretical concepts and practical examples, this tutorial will provide attendees with a comprehensive understanding of the current state of perceptive mobile networks, as well as insights into future directions for research and development in this exciting field.