Spacing-Based Coupling Radiation Control in Pinching-Antennas Systems for Heterogeneous NOMA Users

Pinching-antennas systems (PASS) offer reconfigurable wireless channels via low-cost dielectric mediums by creating line-of-sight (LoS) communication links. Most of the existing PASS cover mechanisms of equal power pinching antennas for conventional bit-based communication, whereas flexible radiation control remains largely unexplored, particularly for heterogeneous semantic and bit users. In this paper, we investigate the performance of semantic communication (SC) using an adjustable radiation model over PASS, where the coupling strength between the dielectric waveguide and each pinching antenna is determined by the antenna-waveguide spacing. Specifically, the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-assisted heterogeneous users are served by multiple pinching antennas using spacing-controlled adjustable radiation ratios. Uunder this setting, we maximize the semantic spectral efficiency (SE) subject to the bit-user quality of service (QoS) requirement, successive interference cancellation (SIC) feasibility, and the minimum adjacent antennas spacing constraint. An alternating optimization (AO) approach optimizes users power allocation and positions of pinching antennas. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proportional power PASS model in providing higher semantic SE in different geometrical and numerical settings compared to conventional benchmark schemes.

Waveguide to Meaning: Semantic-Aware NOMA for Pinching-Antenna Systems

We investigate the performance of the pinching-antenna systems (PASS) for semantic communication (SC) in both single-waveguide and multi-waveguide scenarios, under the constraints of bit-user quality of service (QoS) and bit-to-semantic decoding order in a heterogeneous users downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). Multiple pinching antennas in the single-waveguide scenario are at a minimum adjacent spacing required to prevent mutual coupling. An alternating optimization (AO)-based algorithm optimizes users power allocation coefficients and position of pinching antennas in the single-waveguide NOMA framework. For the multi-waveguide scenario, assuming adjacent waveguides at a sufficient lateral distance apart, the waveguides power allocation subproblem is solved using monotonic optimization and minorization-maximization (MM) approach. Specifically, a lower bound surrogate is iteratively maximized under the feasibility constraints such that a non-decreasing sequence of objective is obtained. Numerical results demonstrate that the NOMA based PASS exploiting SC offers higher semantic spectral efficiency (SE) while fulfilling the bit-user QoS requirement when compared to the considered conventional fixed antenna system. Notably, the multi-waveguide scenario becomes more beneficial for creating adjustable wireless channels in stringentconditions with higher bit-user QoS and wider coverage area requirements.

MIMO-AFDM Outperforms MIMO-OFDM in the Face of Hardware Impairments

The impact of both multiplicative and additive hardware impairments (HWIs) on multiple-input multiple-output affine frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-AFDM) systems is investigated. For small-scale MIMO-AFDM systems, a tight bit error rate (BER) upper bound associated with the maximum likelihood (ML) detector is derived. By contrast, for large-scale systems, a closed-form BER approximation associated with the linear minimum mean squared error (LMMSE) detector is presented, including realistic imperfect channel estimation scenarios. Our first key observation is that the full diversity order of a hardware-impaired AFDM system remains unaffected, which is a unique advantage. Furthermore, our analysis shows that 1) the BER results derived accurately predict the simulated ML performance in moderate-to-high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), while the theoretical BER curve of the LMMSE detector closely matches that of the Monte-Carlo based one. 2) MIMO-AFDM is more resilient to multiplicative distortions, such as phase noise and carrier frequency offset, compared to its orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) counterparts. This is attributed to its inherent chirp signal characteristics; 3) MIMO-AFDM consistently achieves superior BER performance compared to conventional MIMO-OFDM systems under the same additive HWI conditions, as well as different velocity values. The latter is because MIMO-AFDM is also resilient to the additional inter-carrier interference (ICI) imposed by the nonlinear distortions of additive HWIs. In a nutshell, compared to OFDM, AFDM demonstrates stronger ICI resilience and achieves the maximum full diversity attainable gain even under HWIs, thanks to its intrinsic chirp signalling structure as well as to the beneficial spreading effect of the discrete affine Fourier transform.

DMA-aided MU-MISO Systems for Power Splitting SWIPT via Lorentzian-Constrained Holography

This paper presents an optimal power splitting and beamforming design for co-located simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) users in Dynamic Metasurface Antenna (DMA)-aided multiuser multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems. The objective is to minimize transmit power while meeting users signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and energy harvesting (EH) requirements. The problem is solved via an alternating optimization framework based on semidefinite programming (SDP), where metasurface tunability follows Lorentzian-constrained holography (LCH). In contrast to traditional beamforming architectures, DMA-assisted architectures reduce the need for RF chains and phase shifters but require optimization under the Lorentzian constraint limiting the amplitude and phase optimizations. Hence, the proposed method integrates several LCH schemes, including the recently proposed adaptive-radius LCH (ARLCH), and evaluates nonlinear EH models and circuit noise effects. Simulation results show that the proposed design significantly reduces transmit power compared with baseline methods, highlighting the efficiency of ARLCH and optimal power splitting in DMA-assisted SWIPT systems.

Non-Orthogonal AFDM: A Promising Spectrum-Efficient Waveform for 6G High-Mobility Communications

This paper proposes a spectrum-efficient nonorthogonal affine frequency division multiplexing (AFDM) waveform for reliable high-mobility communications in the upcoming sixth-generation (6G) mobile systems. Our core idea is to introduce a compression factor to enable controllable subcarrier overlapping in chirp-based AFDM modulation. To mitigate intercarrier interference (ICI), we introduce linear precoding at the transmitter and an iterative detection scheme at the receiver. Simulation results demonstrate that these techniques can effectively reduce interference and maintain robust bit error rate (BER) performance even under aggressive compression factors and high-mobility channel conditions. The proposed non-orthogonal AFDM waveform offers a promising solution for next-generation wireless networks, balancing spectrum efficiency and Doppler resilience in highly dynamic environments.

Semantic Communications in 6G: Coexistence, Multiple Access, and Satellite Networks

The exponential growth of wireless users and bandwidth constraints necessitates innovative communication paradigms for next-generation networks. Semantic Communication (SemCom) emerges as a promising solution by transmitting extracted meaning rather than raw bits, enhancing spectral efficiency and enabling intelligent resource allocation. This paper explores the integration of SemCom with conventional Bit-based Communication (BitCom) in heterogeneous networks, highlighting key challenges and opportunities. We analyze multiple access techniques, including Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), to support coexisting SemCom and BitCom users. Furthermore, we examine multi-modal SemCom frameworks for handling diverse data types and discuss their applications in satellite networks, where semantic techniques mitigate bandwidth limitations and harsh channel conditions. Finally, we identify future directions for deploying semantic-aware systems in 6G and beyond.

Lorentzian-Constrained Holographic Beamforming Optimization in Multi-user Networks with Dynamic Metasurface Antennas

Dynamic metasurface antennas (DMAs) are promising alternatives to fully digital (FD) architectures, enabling hybrid beamforming via low-cost reconfigurable metasurfaces. In DMAs, holographic beamforming is achieved through tunable elements by Lorentzian-constrained holography (LCH), significantly reducing the need for radio-frequency (RF) chains and analog circuitry. However, the Lorentzian constraints and limited RF chains introduce a trade-off between reduced system complexity and beamforming performance, especially in dense network scenarios. This paper addresses resource allocation in multi-user multiple-input-single-output (MISO) networks under the Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) constraints, aiming to minimize total transmit power. We propose a holographic beamforming algorithm based on the Generalized Method of Lorentzian-Constrained Holography (GMLCH), which optimizes DMA weights, yielding flexibility for using various LCH techniques to tackle the aforementioned trade-offs. Building upon GMLCH, we further propose a new algorithm, Adaptive Radius Lorentzian Constrained Holography (ARLCH), which achieves optimization of DMA weights with additional degree of freedom in a greater optimization space, and provides lower transmitted power, while improving scalability for higher number of users. Numerical results show that ARLCH reduces power consumption by over 20% compared to benchmarks, with increasing effectiveness as the number of users grows.

Hybrid NOMA Assisted Heterogeneous Semantic and Bit Users Communication

In this paper, we utilize a downlink hybrid Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) framework to support multiple semantic and bit users within the communication network. The hybrid NOMA setup exploits both NOMA and Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA) which has the benefit of enhancing Spectral Efficiency (SE) by allowing users to dynamically access the resources in multiple heterogeneous slots. This enables integrating semantic and bit users based on their channel gains, while adopting bit-to-semantic decoding order in slots including heterogeneous users. An optimization problem for the power allocation is formulated with the aim of maximizing the equivalent ergodic semantic SE with a constraint on the total available power of the Access Point (AP). The proposed algorithm uses NOMA in shared slots and OMA in bit-user-only slots. Simulation results validate the benefits of heterogeneous users hybrid NOMA setup in comparison to OMA-only for heterogeneous users.

Generalized Spatial Modulation Aided Affine Frequency Division Multiplexing

Generalized spatial modulation-aided affine frequency division multiplexing (GSM-AFDM) is conceived for reliable multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications over doubly selective channels. We commence by proposing several low-complexity detectors for large-scale GSM-AFDM systems. Specifically, we introduce the linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) equalizer-based maximum likelihood detector (LMMSE-MLD). By exploiting the GSM properties, we then derive the LMMSE-based transmit-antenna activation pattern (TAP) check-based log-likelihood ratio detector (LMMSE-TC-LLRD). In addition, we propose a pair of new detectors, namely the greedy residual check detector (GRCD) and the reduced space check detector (RSCD). We also derive a bit error rate (BER) upper-bound by considering the MLD. Our simulation results demonstrate that 1) the BER upper bound derived is tight for moderate to high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), 2) the proposed GSM-AFDM achieves lower BER than its conventional counterparts, and 3) the conceived detectors strike a compelling trade-off between the BER and complexity.

Investigation of Holographic Beamforming via Dynamic Metasurface Antennas in QoS Guaranteed Power Efficient Networks

This work focuses on designing a power-efficient network for Dynamic Metasurface Antennas (DMAs)-aided multiuser multiple-input single output (MISO) antenna systems. The main objective is to minimize total transmitted power by the DMAs while ensuring a guaranteed signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SINR) for multiple users in downlink beamforming. Unlike conventional MISO systems, which have well-explored beamforming solutions, DMAs require specialized methods due to their unique physical constraints and wavedomain precoding capabilities. To achieve this, optimization algorithms relying on alternating optimization and semi-definite programming, are developed, including spherical-wave channel modelling of near-field communication. The dynamic reconfigurability and holography-based beamforming of metasurface arrays make DMAs promising candidates for power-efficient networks by reducing the need for power-hungry RF chains. On the other hand, the physical constraints on DMA weights and wave-domain precoding of multiple DMA elements through reduced number of RF suppliers can limit the degrees of freedom (DoF) in beamforming optimizations compared to conventional fully digital (FD) architectures. This paper investigates the optimization of downlink beamforming in DMA-aided networks, focusing on power efficiency and addressing these challenges.