Sherman
Abstract:Despite significant advancements in terrestrial networks, inherent limitations persist in providing reliable coverage to remote areas and maintaining resilience during natural disasters. Multi-tier networks with low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and high-altitude platforms (HAPs) offer promising solutions, but face challenges from high mobility and dynamic channel conditions that cause unstable connections and frequent handovers. In this paper, we design a three-tier network architecture that integrates LEO satellites, HAPs, and ground terminals with hybrid free-space optical (FSO) and radio frequency (RF) links to maximize coverage while maintaining connectivity reliability. This hybrid approach leverages the high bandwidth of FSO for satellite-to-HAP links and the weather resilience of RF for HAP-to-ground links. We formulate a joint optimization problem to simultaneously balance downlink transmission rate and handover frequency by optimizing network configuration and satellite handover decisions. The problem is highly dynamic and non-convex with time-coupled constraints. To address these challenges, we propose a novel large language model (LLM)-guided truncated quantile critics algorithm with dynamic action masking (LTQC-DAM) that utilizes dynamic action masking to eliminate unnecessary exploration and employs LLMs to adaptively tune hyperparameters. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed LTQC-DAM algorithm outperforms baseline algorithms in terms of convergence, downlink transmission rate, and handover frequency. We also reveal that compared to other state-of-the-art LLMs, DeepSeek delivers the best performance through gradual, contextually-aware parameter adjustments.
Abstract:Mixture of Experts (MoE) has emerged as a promising paradigm for scaling model capacity while preserving computational efficiency, particularly in large-scale machine learning architectures such as large language models (LLMs). Recent advances in MoE have facilitated its adoption in wireless networks to address the increasing complexity and heterogeneity of modern communication systems. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the MoE framework in wireless networks, highlighting its potential in optimizing resource efficiency, improving scalability, and enhancing adaptability across diverse network tasks. We first introduce the fundamental concepts of MoE, including various gating mechanisms and the integration with generative AI (GenAI) and reinforcement learning (RL). Subsequently, we discuss the extensive applications of MoE across critical wireless communication scenarios, such as vehicular networks, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellite communications, heterogeneous networks, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), and mobile edge networks. Furthermore, key applications in channel prediction, physical layer signal processing, radio resource management, network optimization, and security are thoroughly examined. Additionally, we present a detailed overview of open-source datasets that are widely used in MoE-based models to support diverse machine learning tasks. Finally, this survey identifies crucial future research directions for MoE, emphasizing the importance of advanced training techniques, resource-aware gating strategies, and deeper integration with emerging 6G technologies.
Abstract:An integration of satellites and terrestrial networks is crucial for enhancing performance of next generation communication systems. However, the networks are hindered by the long-distance path loss and security risks in dense urban environments. In this work, we propose a satellite-terrestrial covert communication system assisted by the aerial active simultaneous transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (AASTAR-RIS) to improve the channel capacity while ensuring the transmission covertness. Specifically, we first derive the minimal detection error probability (DEP) under the worst condition that the Warden has perfect channel state information (CSI). Then, we formulate an AASTAR-RIS-assisted satellite-terrestrial covert communication optimization problem (ASCCOP) to maximize the sum of the fair channel capacity for all ground users while meeting the strict covert constraint, by jointly optimizing the trajectory and active beamforming of the AASTAR-RIS. Due to the challenges posed by the complex and high-dimensional state-action spaces as well as the need for efficient exploration in dynamic environments, we propose a generative deterministic policy gradient (GDPG) algorithm, which is a generative deep reinforcement learning (DRL) method to solve the ASCCOP. Concretely, the generative diffusion model (GDM) is utilized as the policy representation of the algorithm to enhance the exploration process by generating diverse and high-quality samples through a series of denoising steps. Moreover, we incorporate an action gradient mechanism to accomplish the policy improvement of the algorithm, which refines the better state-action pairs through the gradient ascent. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach significantly outperforms important benchmarks.
Abstract:Floor plans can provide valuable prior information that helps enhance the accuracy of indoor positioning systems. However, existing research typically faces challenges in efficiently leveraging floor plan information and applying it to complex indoor layouts. To fully exploit information from floor plans for positioning, we propose a floor plan-assisted fusion positioning algorithm (FP-BP) using Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR). In the considered system, a user holding a smartphone walks through a positioning area with BLE beacons installed on the ceiling, and can locate himself in real time. In particular, FP-BP consists of two phases. In the offline phase, FP-BP programmatically extracts map features from a stylized floor plan based on their binary masks, and constructs a mapping function to identify the corresponding map feature of any given position on the map. In the online phase, FP-BP continuously computes BLE positions and PDR results from BLE signals and smartphone sensors, where a novel grid-based maximum likelihood estimation (GML) algorithm is introduced to enhance BLE positioning. Then, a particle filter is used to fuse them and obtain an initial estimate. Finally, FP-BP performs post-position correction to obtain the final position based on its specific map feature. Experimental results show that FP-BP can achieve a real-time mean positioning accuracy of 1.19 m, representing an improvement of over 28% compared to existing floor plan-fused baseline algorithms.
Abstract:In this paper, to suppress jamming in the complex electromagnetic environment, we propose a joint transmit waveform and receive filter design framework for integrated sensing and communications (ISAC). By jointly optimizing the transmit waveform and receive filters, we aim at minimizing the multiuser interference (MUI), subject to the constraints of the target mainlobe, jamming mainlobe and peak sidelobe level of the receive filter output as well as the transmit power of the ISAC base station. We propose two schemes to solve the problem, including joint transmit waveform and matched filter design (JTMD) and joint transmit waveform and mismatched filter design (JTMMD) schemes. For both schemes, we adopt the alternating direction method of multipliers to iteratively optimize the transmit waveform and receive filters, where the number of targets as well as the range and angles of each target can also be estimated. Simulation results show that both the JTMD and JTMMD schemes achieve superior performance in terms of communication MUI and radar detection performance.
Abstract:Generative AI (GenAI) is driving the intelligence of wireless communications. Due to data limitations, random generation, and dynamic environments, GenAI may generate channel information or optimization strategies that violate physical laws or deviate from actual real-world requirements. We refer to this phenomenon as wireless hallucination, which results in invalid channel information, spectrum wastage, and low communication reliability but remains underexplored. To address this gap, this article provides a comprehensive concept of wireless hallucinations in GenAI-driven communications, focusing on hallucination mitigation. Specifically, we first introduce the fundamental, analyze its causes based on the GenAI workflow, and propose mitigation solutions at the data, model, and post-generation levels. Then, we systematically examines representative hallucination scenarios in GenAI-enabled communications and their corresponding solutions. Finally, we propose a novel integrated mitigation solution for GenAI-based channel estimation. At the data level, we establish a channel estimation hallucination dataset and employ generative adversarial networks (GANs)-based data augmentation. Additionally, we incorporate attention mechanisms and large language models (LLMs) to enhance both training and inference performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid solutions reduce the normalized mean square error (NMSE) by 0.19, effectively reducing wireless hallucinations.
Abstract:The increasing complexity and scale of modern telecommunications networks demand intelligent automation to enhance efficiency, adaptability, and resilience. Agentic AI has emerged as a key paradigm for intelligent communications and networking, enabling AI-driven agents to perceive, reason, decide, and act within dynamic networking environments. However, effective decision-making in telecom applications, such as network planning, management, and resource allocation, requires integrating retrieval mechanisms that support multi-hop reasoning, historical cross-referencing, and compliance with evolving 3GPP standards. This article presents a forward-looking perspective on generative information retrieval-inspired intelligent communications and networking, emphasizing the role of knowledge acquisition, processing, and retrieval in agentic AI for telecom systems. We first provide a comprehensive review of generative information retrieval strategies, including traditional retrieval, hybrid retrieval, semantic retrieval, knowledge-based retrieval, and agentic contextual retrieval. We then analyze their advantages, limitations, and suitability for various networking scenarios. Next, we present a survey about their applications in communications and networking. Additionally, we introduce an agentic contextual retrieval framework to enhance telecom-specific planning by integrating multi-source retrieval, structured reasoning, and self-reflective validation. Experimental results demonstrate that our framework significantly improves answer accuracy, explanation consistency, and retrieval efficiency compared to traditional and semantic retrieval methods. Finally, we outline future research directions.
Abstract:Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) uses the same software and hardware resources to achieve both communication and sensing functionalities. Thus, it stands as one of the core technologies of 6G and has garnered significant attention in recent years. In ISAC systems, a variety of machine learning models are trained to analyze and identify signal patterns, thereby ensuring reliable sensing and communications. However, considering factors such as communication rates, costs, and privacy, collecting sufficient training data from various ISAC scenarios for these models is impractical. Hence, this paper introduces a generative AI (GenAI) enabled robust data augmentation scheme. The scheme first employs a conditioned diffusion model trained on a limited amount of collected CSI data to generate new samples, thereby expanding the sample quantity. Building on this, the scheme further utilizes another diffusion model to enhance the sample quality, thereby facilitating the data augmentation in scenarios where the original sensing data is insufficient and unevenly distributed. Moreover, we propose a novel algorithm to estimate the acceleration and jerk of signal propagation path length changes from CSI. We then use the proposed scheme to enhance the estimated parameters and detect the number of targets based on the enhanced data. The evaluation reveals that our scheme improves the detection performance by up to 70%, demonstrating reliability and robustness, which supports the deployment and practical use of the ISAC network.
Abstract:Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as the potential aerial base stations (BSs) to improve terrestrial communications. However, the limited onboard energy and antenna power of a UAV restrict its communication range and transmission capability. To address these limitations, this work employs collaborative beamforming through a UAV-enabled virtual antenna array to improve transmission performance from the UAV to terrestrial mobile users, under interference from non-associated BSs and dynamic channel conditions. Specifically, we introduce a memory-based random walk model to more accurately depict the mobility patterns of terrestrial mobile users. Following this, we formulate a multi-objective optimization problem (MOP) focused on maximizing the transmission rate while minimizing the flight energy consumption of the UAV swarm. Given the NP-hard nature of the formulated MOP and the highly dynamic environment, we transform this problem into a multi-objective Markov decision process and propose an improved evolutionary multi-objective reinforcement learning algorithm. Specifically, this algorithm introduces an evolutionary learning approach to obtain the approximate Pareto set for the formulated MOP. Moreover, the algorithm incorporates a long short-term memory network and hyper-sphere-based task selection method to discern the movement patterns of terrestrial mobile users and improve the diversity of the obtained Pareto set. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method effectively generates a diverse range of non-dominated policies and outperforms existing methods. Additional simulations demonstrate the scalability and robustness of the proposed CB-based method under different system parameters and various unexpected circumstances.
Abstract:The low-altitude economy (LAE), driven by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aircraft, has revolutionized fields such as transportation, agriculture, and environmental monitoring. In the upcoming six-generation (6G) era, UAV-assisted mobile edge computing (MEC) is particularly crucial in challenging environments such as mountainous or disaster-stricken areas. The computation task offloading problem is one of the key issues in UAV-assisted MEC, primarily addressing the trade-off between minimizing the task delay and the energy consumption of the UAV. In this paper, we consider a UAV-assisted MEC system where the UAV carries the edge servers to facilitate task offloading for ground devices (GDs), and formulate a calculation delay and energy consumption multi-objective optimization problem (CDECMOP) to simultaneously improve the performance and reduce the cost of the system. Then, by modeling the formulated problem as a multi-objective Markov decision process (MOMDP), we propose a multi-objective deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm within an evolutionary framework to dynamically adjust the weights and obtain non-dominated policies. Moreover, to ensure stable convergence and improve performance, we incorporate a target distribution learning (TDL) algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can better balance multiple optimization objectives and obtain superior non-dominated solutions compared to other methods.