IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society

The IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society (OJ-COMS) is an open access, all-electronic journal that publishes original high-quality manuscripts on advances in the state of the art of telecommunications systems and networks. The papers in IEEE OJ-COMS are included in Scopus. Submissions reporting new theoretical findings (including novel methods, concepts, and studies) and practical contributions (including experiments and development of prototypes) are welcome. Additionally, survey and tutorial articles are considered. 🎯 The IEEE OJCOMS received its debut impact factor of 6.3 according to the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) 2024. 🔓 This journal is 100% open access. IEEE Communications Society

✳️ Announcing the Top 10 Most Popular Papers of OJCOMS Published in 2024! ✳️ We are excited to share the TEN most popular papers published in the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society (OJCOMS) this year. These groundbreaking works have significantly contributed to advancements in communications technology. Congratulations to all the authors for their exceptional research! 1. "At the Dawn of Generative AI Era: A Tutorial-cum-Survey on New Frontiers in 6G Wireless Intelligence" 🖋️ Abdulkadir Çelik, Ahmed M. Eltawil 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/gnUG8DZ4 2. "AI and 6G Into the Metaverse: Fundamentals, Challenges and Future Research Trends" 🖋️ Muhammad Zawish, Fayaz Ali Dharejo, Sunder Ali Khowaja , Ph.D., Senior Member IEEE, Saleem Raza, PhD., Steven Davy, Kapal Dev, PhD, Paolo Bellavista 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/gcdFYPgu 3. "Cellular Wireless Networks in the Upper Mid-Band" 🖋️ Seongjoon Kang, Marco Mezzavilla, Sundeep Rangan, Arjuna Madanayake, Satheesh Bojja Venkatakrishnan, Gregory Hellbourg, Monisha Ghosh, Hamed Rahmani, Aditya Dhananjay 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/g27xs2ts 4. "Real-Time Network Packet Classification Exploiting Computer Vision Architectures" 🖋️ Emilio Paolini, Luca Valcarenghi, Luca Maggiani, Nicola Andriolli 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/gE8sxddp 5. "Channel Coding Toward 6G: Technical Overview and Outlook" 🖋️ Mohammad Rowshan, Min Qiu, Yixuan Xie, Xinyi Gu, Jinhong Yuan 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/gAiuc5Gb 6. "AI-RAN in 6G Networks: State-of-the-Art and Challenges" 🖋️ Naveed Ali Khan, Stefan Schmid 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/gqEzgMPn 7. "Understanding the Limits of LoRa Direct-to-Satellite: The Doppler Perspectives" 🖋️ Muhammad Asad Ullah, Gianni Pasolini, Konstantin Mikhaylov, Hirley Alves 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/g2rru98s 8. "Deep Learning for Intelligent and Automated Network Slicing in 5G Open RAN (ORAN) Deployment" 🖋️ Shu-ping Yeh, Sonia Bhattacharya, Rashika Sharma, Hassnaa Moustafa 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/gFNyVaju 9. "RIS-Assisted Integrated Sensing and Communication Systems: Joint Reflection and Beamforming Design" 🖋️ Mohamed I. Ismail, Abdullah M. Shaheen, Mostafa M. Fouda, Ahmed S. Alwakeel 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/g5nptEjw 10. "Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for HAPS User Scheduling in Massive MIMO Communications" 🖋️ Sara Sharifi, Hesam Khoshkbari, Georges Kaddoum, Ouassima Akhrif 🔗 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/gKi4kmEZ #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #PopularPapers2024 #CommunicationsResearch IEEE Communications Society

Each year on 29 October, we observe International Internet Day to recognize the transformative impacts of the modern Internet on how we live, work and connect globally. This year, #IEEE celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Internet. #IEEEi50 showcased the essential contributions of IEEE Life Fellows Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, whose groundbreaking work in developing TCP/IP protocols and Internet architecture paved the way to the World Wide Web as we know it today. Celebrate with IEEE and watch the i50 event recording here: https://bit.ly/4e7d4wH

💡 2024 PAPER WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF CITATIONS 💡 🛰 5️⃣ Explainable AI for 6G Use Cases: Technical Aspects and Research Challenges 🖋 Shen Wang; M. Atif Qureshi; Luis Miralles-Pechuán; Thien Huynh-The; Thippa Reddy Gadekallu; Madhusanka Liyanage Around 2020, 5G began its commercialization journey, and discussions about the next-generation networks (such as 6G) emerged. Researchers predict that 6G networks will have higher bandwidth, coverage, reliability, energy efficiency, and lower latency and will be an integrated “human-centric” network system powered by artificial intelligence (AI). This 6G network will lead to many real-time automated decisions, ranging from network resource allocation to collision avoidance for self-driving cars. However, there is a risk of losing control over decision-making due to the high-speed, data-intensive AI decision-making that may go beyond designers’ and users’ comprehension. To mitigate this risk, explainable AI (XAI) methods can be used to enhance the transparency of the black-box AI decision-making process. This paper surveys the application of XAI towards the upcoming 6G age, including 6G technologies (such as intelligent radio and zero-touch network management) and 6G use cases (such as industry 5.0). Additionally, the paper summarizes the lessons learned from recent attempts and outlines important research challenges in applying XAI for 6G use cases soon. 🔗 Link: https://lnkd.in/grxXT4Cx #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #AI #6G #CITATION #EXPLAINABLE IEEE Communications Society

💡 2024 PAPER WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF CITATIONS 💡 🛰 4️⃣ AI-RAN in 6G Networks: State-of-the-Art and Challenges 🖋 Naveed Ali Khan; Stefan Schmid 6G is a next-generation cellular communication technology that builds up on existing 5G networks which are currently rolled out worldwide. Through the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), the core 5G network is advanced into an intelligent 6G network. The 6G Artificial Intelligence Radio Access Network (AI-RAN) is anticipated to offer advanced features like reduced latency, improved bandwidth, data rates, and coverage. Furthermore, AI-RAN is expected to support complex use cases such as extreme connectivity, multi-user communications, and dynamic spectrum access. This paper provides a detailed survey and thorough assessment of AI-RAN’s vision and state-of-the-art challenges. We first present a concise introduction to 6G AI-RAN followed by background information on the current 5G RAN and its challenges that must be overcome to implement 6G AI-RAN. The paper then examines trending research issues in AI-RAN, i.e., challenges related to spectrum allocation, network architecture, and resource management. We discuss the methods to overcome these challenges, which include the adoption of advanced machine learning and edge computing technologies to boost the performance of 6G AI-RAN. We conclude by stating open research directions. 🔗 Link: https://lnkd.in/gB7RsRaZ #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #CITATION #RAN #AI #6G IEEE Communications Society

💡 2024 PAPER WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF CITATIONS 💡 🛰 3️⃣ 5G-Enabled Internet of Musical Things Architectures for Remote Immersive Musical Practices 🖋 Luca Turchet; Claudia Rinaldi; Carlo Centofanti; Luca Vignati; Cristina Rottondi Networked Music Performances (NMPs) involve geographically-displaced musicians performing together in real-time. To date, scarce research has been conducted on how to integrate NMP systems with immersive audio rendering techniques able to enrich the musicians’ perception of sharing the same acoustic environment. In addition, the use of wireless technologies for NMPs has been largely overlooked. In this paper, we propose two architectures for Immersive Networked Music Performances (INMPs), which differ in the physical positions of the computing blocks constituting the 3D audio toolchain. These architectures leverage a backend specifically conceived to support remote musical practices via Software Defined Networking methods and take advantage of the orchestration, slicing, and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) capabilities of 5G. Moreover, we illustrate how to integrate with the architectures' machine learning algorithms for network traffic prediction and audio packet loss concealment. Traffic predictions at multiple time scales are utilized to achieve an optimized placement of Virtual Network Functions hosting audio mixing and processing functionalities within the available MEC sites, depending on the users’ geographical locations and current network load conditions. An analysis of the technical requirements for INMPs using the two architectures is provided, along with their performance assessment conducted via simulators. 🔗 Link: https://lnkd.in/gmPYV6nc #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #CITATION #MUSIC #5G #IoT #NMP IEEE Communications Society

💡 2024 PAPER WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF CITATIONS 💡 🛰 2️⃣ Cellular Wireless Networks in the Upper Mid-Band 🖋 Seongjoon Kang; Marco Mezzavilla; Sundeep Rangan; Arjuna Madanayake; Satheesh Bojja Venkatakrishnan; Grégory Hellbourg; Monisha Ghosh; Hamed Rahmani; Aditya Dhananjay The upper mid-band – approximately from 7 to 24 GHz — has recently attracted considerable interest for new cellular services. This frequency range has vastly more spectrum than the highly congested bands below 7 GHz while offering more favorable propagation and coverage than the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies. In this regard, the upper mid-band has the potential to provide a powerful and complementary frequency range that balances coverage and capacity. Realizing cellular networks that exploit the full range of these bands, however, presents significant technical challenges. Most importantly, spectrum will likely need to be shared with incumbents, including communication satellites, military RADAR, and radio astronomy. Also, the upper mid-band is simply a vast frequency range. Due to this wide bandwidth, combined with the directional nature of transmission and intermittent occupancy of incumbents, cellular systems will likely need to be agile to sense and intelligently use large spatial and frequency degrees of freedom. This paper attempts to provide an initial assessment of the feasibility and potential gains of such adaptive wideband cellular systems operating across the upper mid-band. The study includes (1) a detailed ray tracing simulation to assess potential gains of multi-band systems in a representative dense urban environment and illustrate the value of a wideband system with dynamic frequency selectivity; (2) an evaluation of potential cross-interference between satellites and terrestrial cellular services and interference nulling to reduce that interference; and (3) design and evaluation of a compact multi-band antenna array structure. Leveraging these preliminary results, we identify potential future research directions to realize next-generation systems in these frequencies. 🔗 Link: https://lnkd.in/gz5nbmvf #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #CELLULAR #WIRELESS IEEE Communications Society

💡 2024 PAPER WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF CITATIONS 💡 🛰 1️⃣ AI and 6G Into the Metaverse: Fundamentals, Challenges and Future Research Trends 🖋 Muhammad Zawish; Fayaz Ali Dharejo; Sunder Ali Khowaja , Ph.D., Senior Member IEEE; Saleem Raza, PhD.; Steven Davy; Kapal Dev, PhD; Paolo Bellavista Since Facebook was renamed Meta, a lot of attention, debate, and exploration have intensified about what the Metaverse is, how it works, and the possible ways to exploit it. It is anticipated that Metaverse will be a continuum of rapidly emerging technologies, usecases, capabilities, and experiences that will make it up for the next evolution of the Internet. Several researchers have already surveyed the literature on artificial intelligence (AI) and wireless communications in realizing the Metaverse. However, due to the rapid emergence and continuous evolution of technologies, there is a need for a comprehensive and in-depth survey of the role of AI, 6G, and the nexus of both in realizing the immersive experiences of Metaverse. Therefore, in this survey, we first introduce the background and ongoing progress in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and spatial computing, followed by the technical aspects of AI and 6G. Then, we survey the role of AI in the Metaverse by reviewing the state-of-the-art in deep learning, computer vision, and Edge AI to extract the requirements of 6G in Metaverse. Next, we investigate the promising services of B5G/6G towards Metaverse, followed by identifying the role of AI in 6G networks and 6G networks for AI in support of Metaverse applications and the need for sustainability in Metaverse. Finally, we enlist the existing and potential applications, usecases, and projects to highlight the importance of progress in the Metaverse. Moreover, in order to provide potential research directions to researchers, we underline the challenges, research gaps, and lessons learned identified from the literature review of the aforementioned technologies. 🔗 Link: https://lnkd.in/g7Rz95-R #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #CITATION #6G #AI #METAVERSE IEEE Communications Society

💡 NEW PUBLISHED SURVEY PAPER 💡 🛰 Open RAN: A Concise Overview 🖋 Mohamad Saalim Wani; Mathias Kretschmer; Bernd Schröder; Andreas Grebe; Michael Rademacher Open RAN has emerged as a transformative approach in the evolution of cellular networks, addressing challenges posed by modern applications and high network density. By leveraging disaggregated, virtualized, and software-based elements interconnected through open standardized interfaces, Open RAN introduces agility, cost-effectiveness, and enhanced competition in the Radio Access Network (RAN) domain. The Open RAN paradigm, driven by the O-RAN Alliance specifications, is set to transform the telecom ecosystem. Despite extensive technical literature, there is a lack of succinct summaries for industry professionals, researchers, and policymakers. This paper addresses this gap by providing a concise, yet comprehensive overview of Open RAN. Compared to previous work, our approach introduces Open RAN by gradually splitting up different components known from previous RAN architectures. We believe that this approach leads to a better understanding for people already familiar with the general concept of mobile communication networks. Building upon this general understanding of Open RAN, we introduce key architectural principles, interfaces, components and use-cases. Moreover, this work investigates potential security implications associated with adopting Open RAN architecture, emphasizing the necessity of robust network protection measures. #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #SURVEY #ORAN #RAN IEEE Communications Society

💡 NEW PUBLISHED SURVEY PAPER 💡 🛰 A Review of UV Communications for UAVs 🖋 Xingguang Li; Xingle Xue; Chen Zhou; Jianshe Ma; Ping Su As an important branch of free-space optical (FSO) communication technology, ultraviolet (UV) communication is mainly applied to mobile communication platforms represented by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). With the development of LEDs and UV detector devices, UAV UV communication technology has shown great potential in related fields. But at the same time, it also faces some challenges. As the communication distance increases, the path loss of the UV communication system can reach 0.12dB/m, and the variation in bit error rate (BER) can rapidly deteriorate from the order of 10-8 to 10-1. Additionally, the UV communication system mounted on a UAV platform can emit radiation into the environment, which may have negative effects on human health when the radiation intensity exceeds 0.5μW/cm2. These issues can be summarized as the availability, stability, and effectiveness of UAV-based UV communication technology. This paper aims to comprehensively address both UAVs and UV communication, providing a detailed introduction to the challenges and solutions facing UAV-based UV communication technology. Focusing on the specific aspects of these three issues, the paper first introduces the research background, value, and challenges of UAV-based UV communication technology, and investigates the current research status of UV communication channel models and positioning techniques. In order to solve the problem of UV environmental radiation, the article goes on to introduce beamforming and power control in UV optical communication technology. To solve the problem of reducing signal attenuation and increasing the communication range, the article introduces diversity technology and networking technology. In order to balance the communication quality and communication rate during UAV movement, the article introduces adaptive modulation and adaptive coding technology. Finally, the future development direction of UAV UV communication technology is summarised. #IEEE #COMSOC #OJCOMS #SURVEY #UAV IEEE Communications Society