Deep Learning Based Near-Field User Localization with Beam Squint in Wideband XL-MIMO Systems

Extremely large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) is gaining attention as a prominent technology for enabling the sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks. However, the vast antenna array and the huge bandwidth introduce a non-negligible beam squint effect, causing beams of different frequencies to focus at different locations. One approach to cope with this is to employ true-time-delay lines (TTDs)-based beamforming to control the range and trajectory of near-field beam squint, known as the near-field controllable beam squint (CBS) effect. In this paper, we investigate the user localization in near-field wideband XL-MIMO systems under the beam squint effect and spatial non-stationary properties. Firstly, we derive the expressions for Cram\'er-Rao Bounds (CRBs) for characterizing the performance of estimating both angle and distance. This analysis aims to assess the potential of leveraging CBS for precise user localization. Secondly, a user localization scheme combining CBS and beam training is proposed. Specifically, we organize multiple subcarriers into groups, directing beams from different groups to distinct angles or distances through the CBS to obtain the estimates of users' angles and distances. Furthermore, we design a user localization scheme based on a convolutional neural network model, namely ConvNeXt. This scheme utilizes the inputs and outputs of the CBS-based scheme to generate high-precision estimates of angle and distance. More importantly, our proposed ConvNeXt-based user localization scheme achieves centimeter-level accuracy in localization estimates.

Joint Precoding and AP Selection for Energy Efficient RIS-aided Cell-Free Massive MIMO Using Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning

Cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) are two advanced transceiver technologies for realizing future sixth-generation (6G) networks. In this paper, we investigate the joint precoding and access point (AP) selection for energy efficient RIS-aided CF mMIMO system. To address the associated computational complexity and communication power consumption, we advocate for user-centric dynamic networks in which each user is served by a subset of APs rather than by all of them. Based on the user-centric network, we formulate a joint precoding and AP selection problem to maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of the considered system. To solve this complex nonconvex problem, we propose an innovative double-layer multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL)-based scheme. Moreover, we propose an adaptive power threshold-based AP selection scheme to further enhance the EE of the considered system. To reduce the computational complexity of the RIS-aided CF mMIMO system, we introduce a fuzzy logic (FL) strategy into the MARL scheme to accelerate convergence. The simulation results show that the proposed FL-based MARL cooperative architecture effectively improves EE performance, offering a 85\% enhancement over the zero-forcing (ZF) method, and achieves faster convergence speed compared with MARL. It is important to note that increasing the transmission power of the APs or the number of RIS elements can effectively enhance the spectral efficiency (SE) performance, which also leads to an increase in power consumption, resulting in a non-trivial trade-off between the quality of service and EE performance.

Secrecy Energy Efficiency Maximization in IRS-Assisted VLC MISO Networks with RSMA: A DS-PPO approach

This paper investigates intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-assisted multiple-input single-output (MISO) visible light communication (VLC) networks utilizing the rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) scheme. {In these networks,} an eavesdropper (Eve) attempts to eavesdrop on communications intended for legitimate users (LUs). To enhance information security and energy efficiency simultaneously, we formulate a secrecy energy efficiency (SEE) maximization problem. In the formulated problem, beamforming vectors, RSMA common rates, direct current (DC) bias, and IRS alignment matrices are jointly optimized subject to constraints on total power budget, quality of service (QoS) requirements, linear operating region of light emitting diodes (LEDs), and common information rate allocation. Due to the non-convex and NP-hard nature of the formulated problem, we propose a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based dual-sampling proximal policy optimization (DS-PPO) approach. {The approach leverages} dual sample strategies and generalized advantage estimation (GAE). In addition, to further simplify the design, we adopt the maximum ratio transmission (MRT) and zero-forcing (ZF) as beamforming vectors in the action space. Simulation results show that the proposed DS-PPO approach outperforms traditional baseline approaches in terms of achievable SEE and significantly improves convergence speed compared to the original PPO approach. Moreover, implementing the RSMA scheme and IRS contributes to overall system performance, {achieving approximately $19.67\%$ improvement over traditional multiple access schemes and $25.74\%$ improvement over networks without IRS deployment.

An Overview on IRS-Enabled Sensing and Communications for 6G: Architectures, Fundamental Limits, and Joint Beamforming Designs

This paper presents an overview on intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-enabled sensing and communication for the forthcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks, in which IRSs are strategically deployed to proactively reconfigure wireless environments to improve both sensing and communication (S&C) performance. First, we exploit a single IRS to enable wireless sensing in the base station's (BS's) non-line-of-sight (NLoS) area. In particular, we present three IRS-enabled NLoS target sensing architectures with fully-passive, semi-passive, and active IRSs, respectively. We compare their pros and cons by analyzing the fundamental sensing performance limits for target detection and parameter estimation. Next, we consider a single IRS to facilitate integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), in which the transmit signals at the BS are used for achieving both S&C functionalities, aided by the IRS through reflective beamforming. We present joint transmit signal and receiver processing designs for realizing efficient ISAC, and jointly optimize the transmit beamforming at the BS and reflective beamforming at the IRS to balance the fundamental performance tradeoff between S&C. Furthermore, we discuss multi-IRS networked ISAC, by particularly focusing on multi-IRS-enabled multi-link ISAC, multi-region ISAC, and ISAC signal routing, respectively. Finally, we highlight various promising research topics in this area to motivate future work.

Multi-Uncertainty Aware Autonomous Cooperative Planning

Autonomous cooperative planning (ACP) is a promising technique to improve the efficiency and safety of multi-vehicle interactions for future intelligent transportation systems. However, realizing robust ACP is a challenge due to the aggregation of perception, motion, and communication uncertainties. This paper proposes a novel multi-uncertainty aware ACP (MUACP) framework that simultaneously accounts for multiple types of uncertainties via regularized cooperative model predictive control (RC-MPC). The regularizers and constraints for perception, motion, and communication are constructed according to the confidence levels, weather conditions, and outage probabilities, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated in the Car Learning to Act (CARLA) simulation platform. Results demonstrate that the proposed MUACP efficiently performs cooperative formation in real time and outperforms other benchmark approaches in various scenarios under imperfect knowledge of the environment.

Low-Complexity Minimum BER Precoder Design for ISAC Systems: A Delay-Doppler Perspective

Orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation is anticipated to be a promising candidate for supporting integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) systems, which is considered as a pivotal technique for realizing next generation wireless networks. In this paper, we develop a minimum bit error rate (BER) precoder design for an OTFS-based ISAC system. In particular, the BER minimization problem takes into account the maximum available transmission power budget and the required sensing performance. Different from prior studies that considered ISAC in the time-frequency (TF) domain, we devise the precoder from the perspective of the delay-Doppler (DD) domain by exploiting the equivalent DD domain channel due to the fact that the DD domain channel generally tends to be sparse and quasi-static, which can facilitate a low-overhead ISAC system design. To address the non-convex optimization design problem, we resort to optimizing the lower bound of the derived average BER by adopting Jensen's inequality. Subsequently, the formulated problem is decoupled into two independent sub-problems via singular value decomposition (SVD) methodology. We then theoretically analyze the feasibility conditions of the proposed problem and present a low-complexity iterative solution via leveraging the Lagrangian duality approach. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of our proposed precoder compared to the benchmark schemes and reveal the interplay between sensing and communication for dual-functional precoder design, indicating a trade-off where transmission efficiency is sacrificed for increasing transmission reliability and sensing accuracy.

Cooperative Multi-Target Positioning for Cell-Free Massive MIMO with Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) is a promising technology to empower next-generation mobile communication networks. In this paper, to address the computational complexity associated with conventional fingerprint positioning, we consider a novel cooperative positioning architecture that involves certain relevant access points (APs) to establish positioning similarity coefficients. Then, we propose an innovative joint positioning and correction framework employing multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) to tackle the challenges of high-dimensional sophisticated signal processing, which mainly leverages on the received signal strength information for preliminary positioning, supplemented by the angle of arrival information to refine the initial position estimation. Moreover, to mitigate the bias effects originating from remote APs, we design a cooperative weighted K-nearest neighbor (Co-WKNN)-based estimation scheme to select APs with a high correlation to participate in user positioning. In the numerical results, we present comparisons of various user positioning schemes, which reveal that the proposed MARL-based positioning scheme with Co-WKNN can effectively improve positioning performance. It is important to note that the cooperative positioning architecture is a critical element in striking a balance between positioning performance and computational complexity.

Distributed Collaborative User Positioning for Cell-Free Massive MIMO with Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

In this paper, we investigate a cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output system, which exhibits great potential in enhancing the capabilities of next-generation mobile communication networks. We first study the distributed positioning problem to lay the groundwork for solving resource allocation and interference management issues. Instead of relying on computationally and spatially complex fingerprint positioning methods, we propose a novel two-stage distributed collaborative positioning architecture with multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) network, consisting of a received signal strength-based preliminary positioning network and an angle of arrival-based auxiliary correction network. Our experimental results demonstrate that the two-stage distributed collaborative user positioning architecture can outperform conventional fingerprint positioning methods in terms of positioning accuracy.

Analysis of Cross-Domain Message Passing for OTFS Transmissions

In this paper, we investigate the performance of the cross-domain iterative detection (CDID) framework with orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation, where two distinct CDID algorithms are presented. The proposed schemes estimate/detect the information symbols iteratively across the frequency domain and the delay-Doppler (DD) domain via passing either the a posteriori or extrinsic information. Building upon this framework, we investigate the error performance by considering the bias evolution and state evolution. Furthermore, we discuss their error performance in convergence and the DD domain error state lower bounds in each iteration. Specifically, we demonstrate that in convergence, the ultimate error performance of the CDID passing the a posteriori information can be characterized by two potential convergence points. In contrast, the ultimate error performance of the CDID passing the extrinsic information has only one convergence point, which, interestingly, aligns with the matched filter bound. Our numerical results confirm our analytical findings and unveil the promising error performance achieved by the proposed designs.

Firefly Algorithm for Movable Antenna Arrays

This letter addresses a multivariate optimization problem for linear movable antenna arrays (MAAs). Particularly, the position and beamforming vectors of the under-investigated MAA are optimized simultaneously to maximize the minimum beamforming gain across several intended directions, while ensuring interference levels at various unintended directions remain below specified thresholds. To this end, a swarm-intelligence-based firefly algorithm (FA) is introduced to acquire an effective solution to the optimization problem. Simulation results reveal the superior performance of the proposed FA approach compared to the state-of-the-art approach employing alternating optimization and successive convex approximation. This is attributed to the FA's effectiveness in handling non-convex multivariate and multimodal optimization problems without resorting approximations.