Special Session 7 EUCNC 2024

Prof. Athanasios G. Kanatas (UPRC)

Beyond Joint Communication and Sensing: The Road Towards Joint Communication, Computation, Sensing, and Power Transfer for 6G

The idea of integrating communication and sensing capabilities, into one system leading to joint communication and sensing (JCS) carries the possibility of a disruptive change in the evolution of the different Gs. For the first time the network will not be communication only but will have an embedded radio sensing component. This has the potential to bring about significant advances in various sixth-generation (6G)-related fields, such as smart transportation, smart cities, smart homes, healthcare, security, and environmental monitoring. To fulfill all expectations and requirements, as well as for low-end devices, 6G will rely on the offloading of computationally demanding tasks in the Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) services at the 6G edge cloud. In this context, the Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power transfer (SWIPT) can play a significant role in prolonging the limited lifetime of energy-constrained devices and ensuring uninterrupted and cost-effective service provisioning with quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees. To meet the challenges and the stringent requirements imposed by the upcoming 6G era, JCS now becomes an integral part of the 6G edge cloud and SWIPT. However, although the integration of 6G edge cloud and SWIPT into JCS is inevitable, it comes with significant challenges, such as the needs for efficient signal processing techniques, advanced antenna designs, and efficient power management systems. These challenges require the development of advanced 6G-related key enabling technologies that can enable seamless integration of communication and sensing capabilities. Triggered by the ever-increasing need of extending beyond JCS, this special session proposes the definition and development of Joint Communication, Computation, Sensing, and Power transfer (JCCSP) unified radio platform, which is accompanied by all support elements of the proposed solutions in future 6G revolutions by integrating, exploiting, and supporting 6G key enabling technologies.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

a) JCCSP-oriented novel passive and active antenna solutions with intelligent reconfiguration capabilities;
b) JCCSP-optimized physical layer design including waveform design, frame structure design, channel modeling, precoding/beamforming with respect to open radio access network architectural paradigm;
c) JCCSP-enabled cross-layer schemes design under new capabilities in terms of service-oriented network architecture;
d) JCCSP-implemented system-level solutions for providing new functionalities towards a cell-free 6G network;
e) JCCSP-enabled Electromagnetic Signal and Information Theory (ESIT) and Near-Field Communication Models;
f) Localization with MEC support for JCCSP;
g.) JCS-oriented network synchronization tools based on photonics;
h) Architectures for tight integration of sensing and communications. Despite having drawn huge attention from both academia and industry, many open problems are still to be investigated. This session aims at bringing together researchers from academia and industry to identify and discuss the major technical challenges, recent breakthroughs, and novel applications related to JCCSP. The proposed special session will involve several speakers which are members of the consortiums of the related iSEE-6G and 6G-MUSICAL projects.

The proposed session’s speakers involve but not limited to the following researchers from academia and industry:

• Konstantinos Maliatsos (iSEE-6G Technical Manager), University of Aegean, Greece
• Ioannis Krikidis, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
• Sofie Pollin, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
• Wilhelm Keusgen, Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany
• Izzat Darwazeh (6G-MUSICAL Technical Manager), University College London, United Kingdom
• Atílio Gameiro, Instituto de Telecomunicaçães, Portugal
• Rreze Halili, University of Antwerp - IMEC, Belgium
• Christos Oikonomopoulos (Project Manager), IMST Gmbh, Germany
• Razvan Mihai (Development & Innovation Manager), Orange Romania, Romania