Large Generative Model Assisted 3D Semantic Communication

Semantic Communication (SC) is a novel paradigm for data transmission in 6G. However, there are several challenges posed when performing SC in 3D scenarios: 1) 3D semantic extraction; 2) Latent semantic redundancy; and 3) Uncertain channel estimation. To address these issues, we propose a Generative AI Model assisted 3D SC (GAM-3DSC) system. Firstly, we introduce a 3D Semantic Extractor (3DSE), which employs generative AI models, including Segment Anything Model (SAM) and Neural Radiance Field (NeRF), to extract key semantics from a 3D scenario based on user requirements. The extracted 3D semantics are represented as multi-perspective images of the goal-oriented 3D object. Then, we present an Adaptive Semantic Compression Model (ASCM) for encoding these multi-perspective images, in which we use a semantic encoder with two output heads to perform semantic encoding and mask redundant semantics in the latent semantic space, respectively. Next, we design a conditional Generative adversarial network and Diffusion model aided-Channel Estimation (GDCE) to estimate and refine the Channel State Information (CSI) of physical channels. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed GAM-3DSC system in effectively transmitting the goal-oriented 3D scenario.

Secure MIMO Communication Relying on Movable Antennas

This paper considers a movable antenna (MA)-aided secure multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system consisting of a base station (BS), a legitimate information receiver (IR) and an eavesdropper (Eve), where the BS is equipped with MAs to enhance the system's physical layer security (PLS). Specifically, we aim to maximize the secrecy rate (SR) by jointly optimizing the transmit precoding (TPC) matrix, the artificial noise (AN) covariance matrix and the MAs' positions under the constraints of the maximum transmit power and the minimum distance between MAs. To solve this non-convex problem with highly coupled optimization variables, the block coordinate descent (BCD) method is applied to alternately update the variables. Specifically, we first reformulate the SR into a tractable form by utilizing the minimum mean square error (MMSE) method, and derive the optimal TPC matrix and the AN covariance matrix with fixed MAs' positions by applying the Lagrangian multiplier method in semi-closed forms. Then, the majorization-minimization (MM) algorithm is employed to iteratively optimize each MA's position while keeping others fixed. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and the significant advantages of the MA-aided system over conventional fixed position antenna (FPA)-based system in enhancing system's security.

Fluid Antenna Array Enhanced Over-the-Air Computation

Over-the-air computation (AirComp) has emerged as a promising technology for fast wireless data aggregation by harnessing the superposition property of wireless multiple-access channels. This paper investigates a fluid antenna (FA) array-enhanced AirComp system, employing the new degrees of freedom achieved by antenna movements. Specifically, we jointly optimize the transceiver design and antenna position vector (APV) to minimize the mean squared error (MSE) between target and estimated function values. To tackle the resulting highly non-convex problem, we adopt an alternating optimization technique to decompose it into three subproblems. These subproblems are then iteratively solved until convergence, leading to a locally optimal solution. Numerical results show that FA arrays with the proposed transceiver and APV design significantly outperform the traditional fixed-position antenna arrays in terms of MSE.

Large Language Model Enhanced Multi-Agent Systems for 6G Communications

The rapid development of the Large Language Model (LLM) presents huge opportunities for 6G communications, e.g., network optimization and management by allowing users to input task requirements to LLMs by nature language. However, directly applying native LLMs in 6G encounters various challenges, such as a lack of private communication data and knowledge, limited logical reasoning, evaluation, and refinement abilities. Integrating LLMs with the capabilities of retrieval, planning, memory, evaluation and reflection in agents can greatly enhance the potential of LLMs for 6G communications. To this end, we propose a multi-agent system with customized communication knowledge and tools for solving communication related tasks using natural language, comprising three components: (1) Multi-agent Data Retrieval (MDR), which employs the condensate and inference agents to refine and summarize communication knowledge from the knowledge base, expanding the knowledge boundaries of LLMs in 6G communications; (2) Multi-agent Collaborative Planning (MCP), which utilizes multiple planning agents to generate feasible solutions for the communication related task from different perspectives based on the retrieved knowledge; (3) Multi-agent Evaluation and Reflecxion (MER), which utilizes the evaluation agent to assess the solutions, and applies the reflexion agent and refinement agent to provide improvement suggestions for current solutions. Finally, we validate the effectiveness of the proposed multi-agent system by designing a semantic communication system, as a case study of 6G communications.

Large AI Model Empowered Multimodal Semantic Communications

Multimodal signals, including text, audio, image and video, can be integrated into Semantic Communication (SC) for providing an immersive experience with low latency and high quality at the semantic level. However, the multimodal SC has several challenges, including data heterogeneity, semantic ambiguity, and signal fading. Recent advancements in large AI models, particularly in Multimodal Language Model (MLM) and Large Language Model (LLM), offer potential solutions for these issues. To this end, we propose a Large AI Model-based Multimodal SC (LAM-MSC) framework, in which we first present the MLM-based Multimodal Alignment (MMA) that utilizes the MLM to enable the transformation between multimodal and unimodal data while preserving semantic consistency. Then, a personalized LLM-based Knowledge Base (LKB) is proposed, which allows users to perform personalized semantic extraction or recovery through the LLM. This effectively addresses the semantic ambiguity. Finally, we apply the Conditional Generative adversarial networks-based channel Estimation (CGE) to obtain Channel State Information (CSI). This approach effectively mitigates the impact of fading channels in SC. Finally, we conduct simulations that demonstrate the superior performance of the LAM-MSC framework.

LAMBO: Large Language Model Empowered Edge Intelligence

Next-generation edge intelligence is anticipated to bring huge benefits to various applications, e.g., offloading systems. However, traditional deep offloading architectures face several issues, including heterogeneous constraints, partial perception, uncertain generalization, and lack of tractability. In this context, the integration of offloading with large language models (LLMs) presents numerous advantages. Therefore, we propose an LLM-Based Offloading (LAMBO) framework for mobile edge computing (MEC), which comprises four components: (i) Input embedding (IE), which is used to represent the information of the offloading system with constraints and prompts through learnable vectors with high quality; (ii) Asymmetric encoderdecoder (AED) model, which is a decision-making module with a deep encoder and a shallow decoder. It can achieve high performance based on multi-head self-attention schemes; (iii) Actor-critic reinforcement learning (ACRL) module, which is employed to pre-train the whole AED for different optimization tasks under corresponding prompts; and (iv) Active learning from expert feedback (ALEF), which can be used to finetune the decoder part of the AED while adapting to dynamic environmental changes. Our simulation results corroborate the advantages of the proposed LAMBO framework.

Training Latency Minimization for Model-Splitting Allowed Federated Edge Learning

To alleviate the shortage of computing power faced by clients in training deep neural networks (DNNs) using federated learning (FL), we leverage the edge computing and split learning to propose a model-splitting allowed FL (SFL) framework, with the aim to minimize the training latency without loss of test accuracy. Under the synchronized global update setting, the latency to complete a round of global training is determined by the maximum latency for the clients to complete a local training session. Therefore, the training latency minimization problem (TLMP) is modelled as a minimizing-maximum problem. To solve this mixed integer nonlinear programming problem, we first propose a regression method to fit the quantitative-relationship between the cut-layer and other parameters of an AI-model, and thus, transform the TLMP into a continuous problem. Considering that the two subproblems involved in the TLMP, namely, the cut-layer selection problem for the clients and the computing resource allocation problem for the parameter-server are relative independence, an alternate-optimization-based algorithm with polynomial time complexity is developed to obtain a high-quality solution to the TLMP. Extensive experiments are performed on a popular DNN-model EfficientNetV2 using dataset MNIST, and the results verify the validity and improved performance of the proposed SFL framework.

Large AI Model-Based Semantic Communications

Semantic communication (SC) is an emerging intelligent paradigm, offering solutions for various future applications like metaverse, mixed-reality, and the Internet of everything. However, in current SC systems, the construction of the knowledge base (KB) faces several issues, including limited knowledge representation, frequent knowledge updates, and insecure knowledge sharing. Fortunately, the development of the large AI model provides new solutions to overcome above issues. Here, we propose a large AI model-based SC framework (LAM-SC) specifically designed for image data, where we first design the segment anything model (SAM)-based KB (SKB) that can split the original image into different semantic segments by universal semantic knowledge. Then, we present an attention-based semantic integration (ASI) to weigh the semantic segments generated by SKB without human participation and integrate them as the semantic-aware image. Additionally, we propose an adaptive semantic compression (ASC) encoding to remove redundant information in semantic features, thereby reducing communication overhead. Finally, through simulations, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the LAM-SC framework and the significance of the large AI model-based KB development in future SC paradigms.

Over-the-Air Federated Averaging with Limited Power and Privacy Budgets

To jointly overcome the communication bottleneck and privacy leakage of wireless federated learning (FL), this paper studies a differentially private over-the-air federated averaging (DP-OTA-FedAvg) system with a limited sum power budget. With DP-OTA-FedAvg, the gradients are aligned by an alignment coefficient and aggregated over the air, and channel noise is employed to protect privacy. We aim to improve the learning performance by jointly designing the device scheduling, alignment coefficient, and the number of aggregation rounds of federated averaging (FedAvg) subject to sum power and privacy constraints. We first present the privacy analysis based on differential privacy (DP) to quantify the impact of the alignment coefficient on privacy preservation in each communication round. Furthermore, to study how the device scheduling, alignment coefficient, and the number of the global aggregation affect the learning process, we conduct the convergence analysis of DP-OTA-FedAvg in the cases of convex and non-convex loss functions. Based on these analytical results, we formulate an optimization problem to minimize the optimality gap of the DP-OTA-FedAvg subject to limited sum power and privacy budgets. The problem is solved by decoupling it into two sub-problems. Given the number of communication rounds, we conclude the relationship between the number of scheduled devices and the alignment coefficient, which offers a set of potential optimal solution pairs of device scheduling and the alignment coefficient. Thanks to the reduced search space, the optimal solution can be efficiently obtained. The effectiveness of the proposed policy is validated through simulations.

Beyond 5G Networks: Integration of Communication, Computing, Caching, and Control

In recent years, the exponential proliferation of smart devices with their intelligent applications poses severe challenges on conventional cellular networks. Such challenges can be potentially overcome by integrating communication, computing, caching, and control (i4C) technologies. In this survey, we first give a snapshot of different aspects of the i4C, comprising background, motivation, leading technological enablers, potential applications, and use cases. Next, we describe different models of communication, computing, caching, and control (4C) to lay the foundation of the integration approach. We review current state-of-the-art research efforts related to the i4C, focusing on recent trends of both conventional and artificial intelligence (AI)-based integration approaches. We also highlight the need for intelligence in resources integration. Then, we discuss integration of sensing and communication (ISAC) and classify the integration approaches into various classes. Finally, we propose open challenges and present future research directions for beyond 5G networks, such as 6G.