Connecting the Unconnectable through Feedback

Reliable uplink connectivity remains a persistent challenge for IoT devices, particularly those at the cell edge, due to their limited transmit power and single-antenna configurations. This paper introduces a novel framework aimed at connecting the unconnectable, leveraging real-time feedback from access points (APs) to enhance uplink coverage without increasing the energy consumption of IoT devices. At the core of this approach are feedback channel codes, which enable IoT devices to dynamically adapt their transmission strategies based on AP decoding feedback, thereby reducing the critical uplink SNR required for successful communication. Analytical models are developed to quantify the coverage probability and the number of connectable APs, providing a comprehensive understanding of the system's performance. Numerical results validate the proposed method, demonstrating substantial improvements in coverage range and connectivity, particularly for devices at the cell edge, with up to a 51% boost in connectable APs. Our approach offers a robust and energy-efficient solution to overcoming uplink coverage limitations, enabling IoT networks to connect devices in challenging environments.

Implicit Neural Compression of Point Clouds

Point clouds have gained prominence in numerous applications due to their ability to accurately depict 3D objects and scenes. However, compressing unstructured, high-precision point cloud data effectively remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we propose NeRC$^{\textbf{3}}$, a novel point cloud compression framework leveraging implicit neural representations to handle both geometry and attributes. Our approach employs two coordinate-based neural networks to implicitly represent a voxelized point cloud: the first determines the occupancy status of a voxel, while the second predicts the attributes of occupied voxels. By feeding voxel coordinates into these networks, the receiver can efficiently reconstructs the original point cloud's geometry and attributes. The neural network parameters are quantized and compressed alongside auxiliary information required for reconstruction. Additionally, we extend our method to dynamic point cloud compression with techniques to reduce temporal redundancy, including a 4D spatial-temporal representation termed 4D-NeRC$^{\textbf{3}}$. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of our approach: for static point clouds, NeRC$^{\textbf{3}}$ outperforms octree-based methods in the latest G-PCC standard. For dynamic point clouds, 4D-NeRC$^{\textbf{3}}$ demonstrates superior geometry compression compared to state-of-the-art G-PCC and V-PCC standards and achieves competitive results for joint geometry and attribute compression.

Fractional Fourier Domain PAPR Reduction

High peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) has long posed a challenge for multi-carrier systems, impacting amplifier efficiency and overall system performance. This paper introduces dynamic angle fractional Fourier division multiplexing (DA-FrFDM), an innovative multi-carrier system that effectively reduces PAPR for both QAM and Gaussian signals with minimal signaling overhead. DA-FrFDM leverages the fractional Fourier domain to balance PAPR characteristics between the time and frequency domains, achieving significant PAPR reduction while preserving signal quality. Furthermore, DA-FrFDM refines signal processing and enables one-tap equalization in the fractional Fourier domain through the simple multiplication of time-domain signals by a quadratic phase sequence. Our results show that DA-FrFDM not only outperforms existing PAPR reduction techniques but also retains efficient inter-carrier interference (ICI) mitigation capabilities in doubly dispersive channels.

Integrated Precoder and Trajectory Design for MIMO UAV-Assisted Relay System With Finite-Alphabet Inputs

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are gaining widespread use in wireless relay systems due to their exceptional flexibility and cost-effectiveness. This paper focuses on the integrated design of UAV trajectories and the precoders at both the transmitter and UAV in a UAV-assisted relay communication system, accounting for transmit power constraints and UAV flight limitations. Unlike previous works that primarily address multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems with Gaussian inputs, we investigate a more realistic scenario involving multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with finite-alphabet inputs. To tackle the challenging and inherently non-convex problem, we propose an efficient solution algorithm that leverages successive convex approximation and alternating optimization techniques. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, demonstrating its capability to optimize system performance.

Polarization Aware Movable Antenna

This paper presents a polarization-aware movable antenna (PAMA) framework that integrates polarization effects into the design and optimization of movable antennas (MAs). While MAs have proven effective at boosting wireless communication performance, existing studies primarily focus on phase variations caused by different propagation paths and leverage antenna movements to maximize channel gains. This narrow focus limits the full potential of MAs. In this work, we introduce a polarization-aware channel model rooted in electromagnetic theory, unveiling a defining advantage of MAs over other wireless technologies such as precoding: the ability to optimize polarization matching. This new understanding enables PAMA to extend the applicability of MAs beyond radio-frequency, multipath-rich scenarios to higher-frequency bands, such as mmWave, even with a single line-of-sight (LOS) path. Our findings demonstrate that incorporating polarization considerations into MAs significantly enhances efficiency, link reliability, and data throughput, paving the way for more robust and efficient future wireless networks.

Addressing Out-of-Distribution Challenges in Image Semantic Communication Systems with Multi-modal Large Language Models

Semantic communication is a promising technology for next-generation wireless networks. However, the out-of-distribution (OOD) problem, where a pre-trained machine learning (ML) model is applied to unseen tasks that are outside the distribution of its training data, may compromise the integrity of semantic compression. This paper explores the use of multi-modal large language models (MLLMs) to address the OOD issue in image semantic communication. We propose a novel "Plan A - Plan B" framework that leverages the broad knowledge and strong generalization ability of an MLLM to assist a conventional ML model when the latter encounters an OOD input in the semantic encoding process. Furthermore, we propose a Bayesian optimization scheme that reshapes the probability distribution of the MLLM's inference process based on the contextual information of the image. The optimization scheme significantly enhances the MLLM's performance in semantic compression by 1) filtering out irrelevant vocabulary in the original MLLM output; and 2) using contextual similarities between prospective answers of the MLLM and the background information as prior knowledge to modify the MLLM's probability distribution during inference. Further, at the receiver side of the communication system, we put forth a "generate-criticize" framework that utilizes the cooperation of multiple MLLMs to enhance the reliability of image reconstruction.

Point Cloud Compression with Implicit Neural Representations: A Unified Framework

Point clouds have become increasingly vital across various applications thanks to their ability to realistically depict 3D objects and scenes. Nevertheless, effectively compressing unstructured, high-precision point cloud data remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we present a pioneering point cloud compression framework capable of handling both geometry and attribute components. Unlike traditional approaches and existing learning-based methods, our framework utilizes two coordinate-based neural networks to implicitly represent a voxelized point cloud. The first network generates the occupancy status of a voxel, while the second network determines the attributes of an occupied voxel. To tackle an immense number of voxels within the volumetric space, we partition the space into smaller cubes and focus solely on voxels within non-empty cubes. By feeding the coordinates of these voxels into the respective networks, we reconstruct the geometry and attribute components of the original point cloud. The neural network parameters are further quantized and compressed. Experimental results underscore the superior performance of our proposed method compared to the octree-based approach employed in the latest G-PCC standards. Moreover, our method exhibits high universality when contrasted with existing learning-based techniques.

A Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding Scheme for Hybrid Mobile Multi-hop Networks

Efficient data transmission across mobile multi-hop networks that connect edge devices to core servers presents significant challenges, particularly due to the variability in link qualities between wireless and wired segments. This variability necessitates a robust transmission scheme that transcends the limitations of existing deep joint source-channel coding (DeepJSCC) strategies, which often struggle at the intersection of analog and digital methods. Addressing this need, this paper introduces a novel hybrid DeepJSCC framework, h-DJSCC, tailored for effective image transmission from edge devices through a network architecture that includes initial wireless transmission followed by multiple wired hops. Our approach harnesses the strengths of DeepJSCC for the initial, variable-quality wireless link to avoid the cliff effect inherent in purely digital schemes. For the subsequent wired hops, which feature more stable and high-capacity connections, we implement digital compression and forwarding techniques to prevent noise accumulation. This dual-mode strategy is adaptable even in scenarios with limited knowledge of the image distribution, enhancing the framework's robustness and utility. Extensive numerical simulations demonstrate that our hybrid solution outperforms traditional fully digital approaches by effectively managing transitions between different network segments and optimizing for variable signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). We also introduce a fully adaptive h-DJSCC architecture capable of adjusting to different network conditions and achieving diverse rate-distortion objectives, thereby reducing the memory requirements on network nodes.

MIMO Channel as a Neural Function: Implicit Neural Representations for Extreme CSI Compression in Massive MIMO Systems

Acquiring and utilizing accurate channel state information (CSI) can significantly improve transmission performance, thereby holding a crucial role in realizing the potential advantages of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. Current prevailing CSI feedback approaches improve precision by employing advanced deep-learning methods to learn representative CSI features for a subsequent compression process. Diverging from previous works, we treat the CSI compression problem in the context of implicit neural representations. Specifically, each CSI matrix is viewed as a neural function that maps the CSI coordinates (antenna number and subchannel) to the corresponding channel gains. Instead of transmitting the parameters of the implicit neural functions directly, we transmit modulations based on the CSI matrix derived through a meta-learning algorithm. Modulations are then applied to a shared base network to generate the elements of the CSI matrix. Modulations corresponding to the CSI matrix are quantized and entropy-coded to further reduce the communication bandwidth, thus achieving extreme CSI compression ratios. Numerical results show that our proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art performance and showcases flexibility in feedback strategies.

Process-and-Forward: Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding Over Cooperative Relay Networks

This paper introduces an innovative deep joint source-channel coding (DeepJSCC) approach to image transmission over a cooperative relay channel. The relay either amplifies and forwards a scaled version of its received signal, referred to as DeepJSCC-AF, or leverages neural networks to extract relevant features about the source signal before forwarding it to the destination, which we call DeepJSCC-PF (Process-and-Forward). In the full-duplex scheme, inspired by the block Markov coding (BMC) concept, we introduce a novel block transmission strategy built upon novel vision transformer architecture. In the proposed scheme, the source transmits information in blocks, and the relay updates its knowledge about the input signal after each block and generates its own signal to be conveyed to the destination. To enhance practicality, we introduce an adaptive transmission model, which allows a single trained DeepJSCC model to adapt seamlessly to various channel qualities, making it a versatile solution. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed DeepJSCC compared to the state-of-the-art BPG image compression algorithm, even when operating at the maximum achievable rate of conventional decode-and-forward and compress-and-forward protocols, for both half-duplex and full-duplex relay scenarios.