Recent Advances in Near-Field Beam Training and Channel Estimation for XL-MIMO Systems

Extremely large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) is a key technology for next-generation wireless communication systems. By deploying significantly more antennas than conventional massive MIMO systems, XL-MIMO promises substantial improvements in spectral efficiency. However, due to the drastically increased array size, the conventional planar wave channel model is no longer accurate, necessitating a transition to a near-field spherical wave model. This shift challenges traditional beam training and channel estimation methods, which were designed for planar wave propagation. In this article, we present a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art beam training and channel estimation techniques for XL-MIMO systems. We analyze the fundamental principles, key methodologies, and recent advancements in this area, highlighting their respective strengths and limitations in addressing the challenges posed by the near-field propagation environment. Furthermore, we explore open research challenges that remain unresolved to provide valuable insights for researchers and engineers working toward the development of next-generation XL-MIMO communication systems.

Out-of-Distribution Generalization in Time Series: A Survey

Time series frequently manifest distribution shifts, diverse latent features, and non-stationary learning dynamics, particularly in open and evolving environments. These characteristics pose significant challenges for out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization. While substantial progress has been made, a systematic synthesis of advancements remains lacking. To address this gap, we present the first comprehensive review of OOD generalization methodologies for time series, organized to delineate the field's evolutionary trajectory and contemporary research landscape. We organize our analysis across three foundational dimensions: data distribution, representation learning, and OOD evaluation. For each dimension, we present several popular algorithms in detail. Furthermore, we highlight key application scenarios, emphasizing their real-world impact. Finally, we identify persistent challenges and propose future research directions. A detailed summary of the methods reviewed for the generalization of OOD in time series can be accessed at https://tsood-generalization.com.

Resource Management for IRS-Assisted Full-Duplex Integrated Sensing, Communication and Computing Systems

In this paper, we investigate an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) assisted full-duplex (FD) integrated sensing, communication and computing system. Specifically, an FD base station (BS) provides service for uplink and downlink transmission, and a local cache is connected to the BS through a backhaul link to store data. Meanwhile, active sensing elements are deployed on the IRS to receive target echo signals. On this basis, in order to evaluate the overall performance of the system under consideration, we propose a system utility maximization problem while ensuring the sensing quality, expressed as the difference between the sum of communication throughput, total computation bits (offloading bits and local computation bits) and the total backhaul cost for content delivery. This makes the problem difficult to solve due to the highly non-convex coupling of the optimization variables. To effectively solve this problem, we first design the most effective caching strategy. Then, we develop an algorithm based on weighted minimum mean square error, alternative direction method of multipliers, majorization-minimization framework, semi-definite relaxation techniques, and several complex transformations to jointly solve the optimization variables. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the utility performance of the proposed algorithm and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed scheme compared with the baseline scheme.

Carrier Aggregation Enabled MIMO-OFDM Integrated Sensing and Communication

In the evolution towards the forthcoming era of sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems characterized by ubiquitous intelligence, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is in a phase of burgeoning development. However, the capabilities of communication and sensing within single frequency band fall short of meeting the escalating demands. To this end, this paper introduces a carrier aggregation (CA)- enabled multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) ISAC system fusing the sensing data on high and low-frequency bands by symbol-level fusion for ultimate communication experience and high-accuracy sensing. The challenges in sensing signal processing introduced by CA include the initial phase misalignment of the echo signals on high and low-frequency bands due to attenuation and radar cross section, and the fusion of the sensing data on high and lowfrequency bands with different physical-layer parameters. To this end, the sensing signal processing is decomposed into two stages. In the first stage, the problem of initial phase misalignment of the echo signals on high and low-frequency bands is solved by the angle compensation, space-domain diversity and vector crosscorrelation operations. In the second stage, this paper realizes symbol-level fusion of the sensing data on high and low-frequency bands through sensing vector rearrangement and cyclic prefix adjustment operations, thereby obtaining high-precision sensing performance. Then, the closed-form communication mutual information (MI) and sensing Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for the proposed ISAC system are derived to explore the theoretical performance bound with CA. Simulation results validate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed ISAC system.

Real-Time and Security-Aware Precoding in RIS-Empowered Multi-User Wireless Networks

In this letter, we propose a deep-unfolding-based framework (DUNet) to maximize the secrecy rate in reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) empowered multi-user wireless networks. To tailor DUNet, first we relax the problem, decouple it into beamforming and phase shift subproblems, and propose an alternative optimization (AO) based solution for the relaxed problem. Second, we apply Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions to obtain a closed-form solutions for the beamforming and the phase shift. Using deep-unfolding mechanism, we transform the closed-form solutions into a deep learning model (i.e., DUNet) that achieves a comparable performance to that of AO in terms of accuracy and about 25.6 times faster.

Out-of-Distribution Generalized Dynamic Graph Neural Network for Human Albumin Prediction

Human albumin is essential for indicating the body's overall health. Accurately predicting plasma albumin levels and determining appropriate doses are urgent clinical challenges, particularly in critically ill patients, to maintain optimal blood levels. However, human albumin prediction is non-trivial that has to leverage the dynamics of biochemical markers as well as the experience of treating patients. Moreover, the problem of distribution shift is often encountered in real clinical data, which may lead to a decline in the model prediction performance and reduce the reliability of the model's application. In this paper, we propose a framework named Out-of-Distribution Generalized Dynamic Graph Neural Network for Human Albumin Prediction (DyG-HAP), which is able to provide accurate albumin predictions for Intensity Care Unit (ICU) patients during hospitalization. We first model human albumin prediction as a dynamic graph regression problem to model the dynamics and patient relationship. Then, we propose a disentangled dynamic graph attention mechanism to capture and disentangle the patterns whose relationship to labels under distribution shifts is invariant and variant respectively. Last, we propose an invariant dynamic graph regression method to encourage the model to rely on invariant patterns to make predictions. Moreover, we propose a dataset named Albumin level testing and nutritional dosing data for Intensive Care (ANIC) for evaluation. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of our method compared to several baseline methods in human albumin prediction.

Resource Allocation for RIS-Empowered Wireless Communications: Low-Complexity and Robust Designs

This article delves into advancements in resource allocation techniques tailored for systems utilizing reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), with a primary focus on achieving low-complexity and resilient solutions. The investigation of low-complexity approaches for RIS holds significant relevance, primarily owing to the intricate characteristics inherent in RIS-based systems and the need of deploying large-scale RIS arrays. Concurrently, the exploration of robust solutions aims to address the issue of hardware impairments occurring at both the transceivers and RIS components in practical RIS-assisted systems. In the realm of both low-complexity and robust resource allocation, this article not only elucidates the fundamental techniques underpinning these methodologies but also offers comprehensive numerical results for illustrative purposes. The necessity of adopting resource allocation strategies that are both low in complexity and resilient is thoroughly established. Ultimately, this article provides prospective research avenues in the domain of low-complexity and robust resource allocation techniques tailored for RIS-assisted systems.

Carrier Aggregation Enabled Integrated Sensing and Communication Signal Design and Processing

The future mobile communication systems will support intelligent applications such as Internet of Vehicles (IoV) and Extended Reality (XR). Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is regarded as one of the key technologies satisfying the high data rate communication and highly accurate sensing for these intelligent applications in future mobile communication systems. With the explosive growth of wireless devices and services, the shortage of spectrum resources leads to the fragmentation of available frequency bands for ISAC systems, which degrades sensing performance. Facing the above challenges, this paper proposes a Carrier Aggregation (CA)-based ISAC signal aggregating high and low-frequency bands to improve the sensing performance, where the CA-based ISAC signal can use four different aggregated pilot structures for sensing. Then, an ISAC signal processing algorithm with Compressed Sensing (CS) is proposed and the Fast Iterative Shrinkage-Thresholding Algorithm (FISTA) is used to solve the reconfiguration convex optimization problem. Finally, the Cram'er-Rao Lower Bounds (CRLBs) are derived for the CA-based ISAC signal. Simulation results show that CA efficiently improves the accuracy of range and velocity estimation.

Joint Beamforming Optimization for Active STAR-RIS Assisted ISAC systems

In this paper, we investigate an active simultaneously transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (STAR-RIS) assisted integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) system, in which a dual-function base station (DFBS) equipped with multiple antennas provides communication services for multiple users with the assistance of an active STARRIS and performs target sensing simultaneously. Through optimizing both the DFBS and STAR-RIS beamforming jointly under different work modes, our purpose is to achieve the maximized communication sum rate, subject to the minimum radar signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) constraint, active STAR-RIS hardware constraints, and total power constraint of DFBS and active STAR-RIS. To solve the non-convex optimization problem formulated, an efficient alternating optimization algorithm is proposed. Specifically, the fractional programming scheme is first leveraged to turn the original problem into a structure with more tractable, and subsequently the transformed problem is decomposed into multiple sub-problems. Next, we develop a derivation method to obtain the closed expression of the radar receiving beamforming, and then the DFBS transmit beamforming is optimized under the radar SNR requirement and total power constraint. After that, the active STAR-RIS reflection and transmission beamforming are optimized by majorization minimiation, complex circle manifold and convex optimization techniques. Finally, the proposed schemes are conducted through numerical simulations to show their benefits and efficiency.

Physical Layer Security for NOMA Systems: Requirements, Issues, and Recommendations

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been viewed as a potential candidate for the upcoming generation of wireless communication systems. Comparing to traditional orthogonal multiple access (OMA), multiplexing users in the same time-frequency resource block can increase the number of served users and improve the efficiency of the systems in terms of spectral efficiency. Nevertheless, from a security view-point, when multiple users are utilizing the same time-frequency resource, there may be concerns regarding keeping information confidential. In this context, physical layer security (PLS) has been introduced as a supplement of protection to conventional encryption techniques by making use of the random nature of wireless transmission media for ensuring communication secrecy. The recent years have seen significant interests in PLS being applied to NOMA networks. Numerous scenarios have been investigated to assess the security of NOMA systems, including when active and passive eavesdroppers are present, as well as when these systems are combined with relay and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). Additionally, the security of the ambient backscatter (AmB)-NOMA systems are other issues that have lately drawn a lot of attention. In this paper, a thorough analysis of the PLS-assisted NOMA systems research state-of-the-art is presented. In this regard, we begin by outlining the foundations of NOMA and PLS, respectively. Following that, we discuss the PLS performances for NOMA systems in four categories depending on the type of the eavesdropper, the existence of relay, RIS, and AmB systems in different conditions. Finally, a thorough explanation of the most recent PLS-assisted NOMA systems is given.