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Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G...
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Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G Networks

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2023) | Viewed by 12784

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Qinghe Du

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Information and Communications Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Interests: 5G/B5G/6G; wireless networks; cyber-physical systems; blockchain; physical-layer security; Internet-of-Things
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Li Sun

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Guest Editor
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Shenzhen 518129, China
Interests: 6G; integrated computing and communications; physical layer security, cooperative communications; wireless AI
Dr. Hamed Ahmadi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electronic Engineering, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
Interests: 6G; internet of things; aerial networks; machine learning; spectrum management
Dr. Xiao Tang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
Interests: 6G networks; information security; UAV communications; Internet of Things; machine learning; game theory
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The maturation and commercial uses of 5G have boosted various services and applications, leading to more congested usages of scarce spectral resources for communications, as well as a tight budget on resources for computing and storage. Recently, the coexistence and cohabitation of radar/sensing and communications have attracted widespread interest, both from scholars and industries, revealing the great potential lying behind the technologies integrating sensing and communications functions with the same frequency band, contributing to much more efficient usage of the spectral resources. Studies on this topic have inspired further research attempts towards more generic integration across resources in multiple different domains, including resources for sensing, computing, storage, and communications.  By harmonizing the original competing relationship between sensing and communications, as well as the isolating processing functions of communications, storage, and computing, integration across two or more aforementioned functions/domains has attracted a great deal of research attention. Such integrations aim at achieving: (1) integration gains that enable the efficient usage of resources and hardware; (2) coordination gains that empower new features and applications through mutual support and cooperation among them; (3) The discovery of new ways to fulfill users’ requirement in one domain by making use of resources in other domains.  As a consequence, the integration of sensing, computing, storage, and communications (I-SCSC) is expected to attain substantial gains over spectral, energy, time, and chip resources, while sufficiently reducing the costs. In this respect, I-SCSC is envisioned as one of the keys for the future 6G wireless networks, supporting various scenarios such as the Internet of things, vehicular networks, smart cities, space-air-ground integrated networks, etc.

Despite the great potential of I-SCSC toward the 6G era, this technology is still in its very infant stage and there are many ongoing problems to be investigated. Consequently, there is the urgent need to delve into research on integration over sensing, computing, storage, and communications. This Special Issue intends to embrace the efforts and contributions from both researchers and practitioners in relevant areas to raise discussions regarding the techniques, applications, implementations, etc., related to I-SCSC in the generic sense; that is, integration over two or more domains/functions across sensing, computing, storage, and communications. We solicit high-quality original research papers addressing the topics including, but not limited to:

  • Architecture study and design of I-SCSC;
  • Information theoretical analysis on I-SCSC;
  • Physical layer technique for I-SCSC, including the waveform, coding, signal, etc.;
  • Channel measurement and modeling for I-SCSC;
  • Antenna and antenna array design for I-SCSC;
  • Spectrum analysis and management for I-SCSC;
  • Network protocols towards I-SCSC;
  • Co-design of I-SCSC with existing standards, such as 5G, WLAN, etc.;
  • Co-design of I-SCSC in sub-6G and mmWave communications;
  • Resource allocation and management for I-SCSC;
  • Security and privacy issues for I-SCSC;
  • Physical layer security technique for I-SCSC;
  • I-SCSC with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces;
  • I-SCSC in space-air-ground integrated networks;
  • I-SCSC in vehicular to everything (V2X) networks;
  • I-SCSC with artificial intelligence-based approaches;
  • Prototype or implementation of I-SCSC;
  • Field test or simulation of I-SCSC;
  • Hardware design and system of I-SCSC.

Prof. Dr. Qinghe Du
Dr. Li Sun
Dr. Hamed Ahmadi
Dr. Xiao Tang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • 6G
  • wireless networks
  • wireless communications
  • artificial intelligence
  • integrated sensing-computing-storage-communications
  • optimization
  • autonomous networks

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 1294 KiB  
Article
Overview of the Integration of Communications, Sensing, Computing, and Storage as Enabling Technologies for the Metaverse over 6G Networks
by Likang Zhang, Qinghe Du, Lei Lu and Shijiao Zhang
Electronics 2023, 12(17), 3651; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12173651 - 29 Aug 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2083
Abstract
The metaverse, as an envisioned paradigm of the future internet, aims to establish an immersive and multidimensional virtual space in which global users can interact with one another, as in the real world. With the rapid development of emerging technologies—such as digital twins [...] Read more.
The metaverse, as an envisioned paradigm of the future internet, aims to establish an immersive and multidimensional virtual space in which global users can interact with one another, as in the real world. With the rapid development of emerging technologies—such as digital twins (DT), blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI)—the diverse potential application scenarios of the metaverse have attracted a great deal of research attention and have created a prosperous market. The demand for ubiquitous communications, pervasive sensing, ultra-low latency computing, and distributed storage has consequently surged, due to the massive heterogeneous devices and data in the metaverse. In order to achieve the metaverse, it is essential to establish an infrastructure system that integrates communications, sensing, computing, and storage technologies. Information about the physical world can be obtained by pervasive sensing, computing resources can be scheduled in a reasonable manner, quick data access can be achieved through the coordination of centralized and distributed storage, and, as the bridge, mobile communications systems connect communications, sensing, computing, and storage in a new system, which is the integration of communications, sensing, computing, and storage (I-CSCS). Following this trend, this paper discusses the requirements of the metaverse for spectrum resources, ultra-reliable transmission, seamless coverage, and security protection in wireless mobile communications systems, and analyzes the fundamental supporting role of the sixth-generation mobile communications system (6G) in the metaverse. Then, we explore the functions and roles of the integrated sensing and communications technologies (ISAC), as well as the integration of communications, computing, and storage technologies for the metaverse. Finally, we summarize the research directions and challenges of I-CSCS in the metaverse. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G Networks)
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22 pages, 4887 KiB  
Article
Quantification and Analysis of Carrier-to-Interference Ratio in High-Throughput Satellite Systems
by Zanyang Dong, Longteng Yi, Pengfei Qin, Yejun Zhou, Cheng Zhang and Kang Liu
Electronics 2023, 12(16), 3443; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12163443 - 15 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 823
Abstract
Recently, the demand for high data traffic transmission is experiencing unstoppable growth, and multi-beam high-throughput satellite (HTS) systems have proven to be effective solutions. However, how to manage and eliminate the co-channel interference caused by frequency reuse in multi-beam HTS systems is still [...] Read more.
Recently, the demand for high data traffic transmission is experiencing unstoppable growth, and multi-beam high-throughput satellite (HTS) systems have proven to be effective solutions. However, how to manage and eliminate the co-channel interference caused by frequency reuse in multi-beam HTS systems is still a challenging issue. Motivated by this background, this paper begins with discussing the interference mechanism in the uplink and downlink of HTS systems and then uses the quantification method of carrier-to-interference ratio (CIR), whereby the influencing factors of the CIR are accordingly analyzed. In addition, the common CIR selection strategies are summarized and compared with each other in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. Based on the proposed CIR quantification and statistical selection methods, two frequency plan cases are simulated for the scenario of 19 beams with 4-color reuse. The results show that the proposed quantification and selection methods are rather practical and offer a feasible approach for frequency plan adjustment based on CIR optimization. Finally, a simulation analysis of the CIR under different power spectral density (PSD) values is conducted, and the results show that the PSD has a substantial impact on the CIR. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G Networks)
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21 pages, 846 KiB  
Article
Secure Decision Fusion in ISAC-Oriented Distributed Wireless Sensing Networks with Local Multilevel Quantization
by Guomei Zhang, Hao Sun and Jiayue Yu
Electronics 2023, 12(6), 1428; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12061428 - 16 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1028
Abstract
Distributed deployment for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) can improve the sensing accuracy by exploring spatial diversity for covering the target state. However, secure fusion and limited energy consumption are still challenges for wireless-transmission-based distributed ISAC. In this paper, a secure decision-fusion scheme [...] Read more.
Distributed deployment for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) can improve the sensing accuracy by exploring spatial diversity for covering the target state. However, secure fusion and limited energy consumption are still challenges for wireless-transmission-based distributed ISAC. In this paper, a secure decision-fusion scheme under energy constraint is proposed. First, the local likelihood ratios (LRs) of the local observations at sensing nodes are quantified at multiple levels corresponding to a multiple phase-shift keying (MPSK) constellation, in order to retain more sensing information. Second, an antieavesdropping scheme, which randomly rotates the constellation based on the main channel information between the nodes and ally fusion center (AFC), is proposed to confuse the data fusion of the eavesdropping fusion center (EFC). In addition, the local quantization thresholds and the rotating threshold are optimized to realize the perfect security under energy constraint and maximum rotation angle of π. In addition, the optimized rotation angle is discussed under a relaxed security requirement of the EFC in exchange for reducing the AFC error. Performance evaluation results show that the AFC error probability of the proposed scheme with a two-bit quantization and soft fusion outperforms the single-bit case and three-bit case by above 3 dB and about 0.5 dB at the error probability of 10−2, respectively. The former gain is just contributed by the more local information kept with two-bit against single-bit quantization. However, for the three-bit case, the advantage of more levels of quantization is eliminated by the worse transmission of denser constellation over a noisy channel. Moreover, the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional channel-aware encryption method under a stricter energy constraint and higher signal noise ratio (SNR). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G Networks)
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16 pages, 5418 KiB  
Article
Design of Irregularly Distributed Antenna Array towards Smart 6G Networks
by Kunye Wang, Zheng Ma, Yao Zhao, Yunkai Deng, Yunhua Luo, Mang He and Haitao Xu
Electronics 2022, 11(19), 3150; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11193150 - 30 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1429
Abstract
The integration of sensing, computing, storage, and communications is one of the main research directions of current network development. To achieve the integration, an innovative design in the antenna array is essential. This paper presents a novel design of an irregularly distributed antenna [...] Read more.
The integration of sensing, computing, storage, and communications is one of the main research directions of current network development. To achieve the integration, an innovative design in the antenna array is essential. This paper presents a novel design of an irregularly distributed antenna array for smart 6G networks. Firstly, to solve the problem of fast amplitude and phase distribution of conformal arrays, the fast electromagnetic code of the multilevel fast multipole (MLFMA) based on volume surface integral equations (VSIE) is used to simulate the radiation characteristics of the irregularly distributed antenna arrays. Secondly, another stochastic global optimization algorithm, Simulated Annealing (SA), has been widely used to solve multiscale nonlinear problems. Finally, the performance of the proposed antenna array is given by simulation results and tests, to prove the effectiveness and correctness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G Networks)
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14 pages, 1676 KiB  
Article
Integrating Communication and Sensor Arrays to Model and Navigate Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems
by Sirani M. Perera, Rodman J. Myers, Killian Sullivan, Kyle Byassee, Houbing Song and Arjuna Madanayake
Electronics 2022, 11(19), 3023; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11193023 - 23 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1802
Abstract
The emerging concept of drone swarms creates new opportunities with major societal implications. However, future drone swarm applications and services pose new communications and sensing challenges, particularly for collaborative tasks. To address these challenges, in this paper, we integrate sensor arrays and communication [...] Read more.
The emerging concept of drone swarms creates new opportunities with major societal implications. However, future drone swarm applications and services pose new communications and sensing challenges, particularly for collaborative tasks. To address these challenges, in this paper, we integrate sensor arrays and communication to propose a mathematical model to route a collection of autonomous unmanned aerial systems (AUAS), a so-called drone swarm or AUAS swarm, without having a base station of communication but communicating with each other using multiple spatio-temporal data. The theories of structured matrices, concepts in multi-beam beamforming, and sensor arrays are utilized to propose a swarm routing algorithm. We address the routing algorithm’s computational and arithmetic complexities, precision, and reliability. We measure bit-error-rate (BER) based on the number of elements in sensor arrays and beamformed output of the members of the swarm to authenticate and secure the routing for the decentralized AUAS networking. The proposed model has the potential to enable future drone swarm applications and services. Finally, we discuss future work on obtaining a machine-learning-based low-cost drone swarm routing algorithm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G Networks)
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Review

Jump to: Research

42 pages, 2868 KiB  
Review
A Survey on Resource Management for 6G Heterogeneous Networks: Current Research, Future Trends, and Challenges
by Hayder Faeq Alhashimi, MHD Nour Hindia, Kaharudin Dimyati, Effariza Binti Hanafi, Nurhizam Safie, Faizan Qamar, Khairul Azrin and Quang Ngoc Nguyen
Electronics 2023, 12(3), 647; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12030647 - 28 Jan 2023
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4411
Abstract
The sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system is expected to meet the different service needs of modern communication scenarios. Heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have received a lot of attention in recent years due to their potential as a novel structure for evolutionary networks. When [...] Read more.
The sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system is expected to meet the different service needs of modern communication scenarios. Heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have received a lot of attention in recent years due to their potential as a novel structure for evolutionary networks. When compared to homogeneous networks, HetNets provide more potential for spatial spectrum reuse and higher quality of service (QoS). However, effective resource management (RM) solutions are essential to prevent interference and accomplish spectrum sharing due to mutual interference. This paper presents a comprehensive review of resource management in 6G HetNets. The study aims to give crucial background on HetNets to aid in the creation of more effective methods in this field of study. First, a detailed examination of recent work is presented in resource management aspects such as power allocation, user association, mode selection, and spectrum allocation. Second, we identify the most severe challenges associated with the current resource management methods and propose suitable solutions. Finally, several open issues and emerging areas of research are highlighted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Sensing, Computing, Storage and Communications towards Smart 6G Networks)
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