Integrated Sensing and Communication for Future Wireless Networks

Future wireless networks are expected to provide ubiquitous connectivity with ultrahigh throughput and reliability and ultralow latency, as well as realize the ability to sense, control, and even optimize wireless environments by integrating sensing with communications. With the rapid advent of intelligent age, new applications, such as extended reality, holographic communication, autonomous driving, smart medical, and intelligent industry, have emerged and require mass data transmission, centimeter-level localization, and highly fine-grained environmental information. Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is anticipated to play a pivotal role in meeting these requirements and achieving these applications.

 

The technology of ISAC deviates from traditional pattern of the isolated design of communication and sensing, which can utilize wireless resources efficiently and potentially avail of mutual benefits by combining sensing and communication systems. The sensing function of the ISAC system can obtain the direction, distance, velocity, position, and image of the target, map the propagation environment, as well as monitor vital signs. ISAC can be implemented from a co-existence perspective, where strategies are mainly focused on spectrum and hardware resource allocation and interference management between separate sensing and communication systems. ISAC can also be implemented via co-design, where communications and sensing systems are able to operate in parallel with jointly optimized performance. A high-level integration of communication and sensing is realized through the shared use of a single hardware platform and a joint signal processing framework. The ultimate goal of the ISAC system is in two aspects. On the one hand, the wireless communication system obtains new functions, which can track devices, localize targets, identify objects, and map radio environments. On the other hand, communication performance is enhanced through sensing. Therefore, ISAC has been recently identified as an enabling technology for B5G/6G and future wireless networks with considerable gains in terms of spectrum, energy, hardware, and cost efficiency.

 

To fully unleash the potential of ISAC, challenging fundamental research problems and many practical design issues must be addressed. The main goal of this special issue is to attract academic and industrial researchers in an effort to identify and discuss the major technical challenges, recent breakthroughs, and new applications related to ISAC.

 

Topics include (but not limited to):

● Fundamental theory and performance analysis for ISAC

● Network architectures/transmission protocols/frame designs for ISAC

● Signal processing for ISAC

● MIMO, massive MIMO, and extremely large antenna array (ELAA) for ISAC

● Reflective intelligent surfaces (RIS) for ISAC

● Machine learning/AI enhanced ISAC

● Millimeter wave and THz techniques of ISAC

● Spectrum analysis and management for ISAC

● Full duplex/interference management techniques of ISAC

● Modulation/waveform/precoding/transceiver designs for ISAC

● Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques of ISAC

● Wi-Fi sensing/positioning/detection for ISAC

● Sensor-assisted designs for ISAC

● ISAC in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) networks

● ISAC in vehicular-to-everything (V2X) networks

● ISAC in Internet of Things (IoT) networks

● Edge computing/computing offloading for ISAC

● Security and privacy issues for ISAC

● ISAC with environmental radio maps

● Sensing assisted wireless communications

● Standardization progress of ISAC

● Experimental demonstrations, testbeds, and prototypes for ISAC

 

Schedule

Submission Deadline: February 28, 2023

Acceptance Notification (1st round): April 25, 2023

Minor Revision Due: May 31, 2023

Final Decision Due: June 20, 2023

Final Manuscript Due: July 15, 2023

Publication Date: September 15, 2023

 

Guest editors

Shi Jin, Southeast University, China.

Christos Masouros, University College London, UK.

Fan Liu, Southern University of Science and Technology, China.

Jie Xu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.

Jie Yang, Southeast University, China.

 

Submission guidelines

This is the first special issue on the topic of ISAC in China Communications and it will be an ideal venue for researchers to discuss new results related to ISAC, which will substantially advance and enrich the knowledge base in the field of dual-functional wireless communications.

 

Papers should be submitted in two separate .doc files (preferred) or .pdf files: 1) Main Document (including paper title, abstract, key words, and full text); 2) Title page (including paper title, author affiliation, acknowledgement and any other information related with the authors’ identification) through the Manuscript Central. Please register or login at http://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/chinacomm, then go to the author center and follow the instructions there. Remember to select “Integrated Sensing and Communication for Future Wireless Networks---September Issue 2023” as your manuscript type when submitting; otherwise, it might be considered as a regular paper.

 

Each submission must be accompanied by the following information:

● an abstract of no more than 150 words

● 3-8 keywords

● original photographs with high-resolution (300 dpi or greater); eps. ortif. format is preferred.

● sequentially numbered references. The basic reference format is: author name, “article name”, issue name (italic), vol., no., page, month, year. for example: Y. M. Huang, “peradventure in wireless heterogeneous…”, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas, vol. 27, no. 5, pp 34-50, May, 2009.

● brief biographies of authors (50-75 words)

● contact information, including email and mailing addresses