Quantization-Aware Collaborative Inference for Large Embodied AI Models

Large artificial intelligence models (LAIMs) are increasingly regarded as a core intelligence engine for embodied AI applications. However, the massive parameter scale and computational demands of LAIMs pose significant challenges for resource-limited embodied agents. To address this issue, we investigate quantization-aware collaborative inference (co-inference) for embodied AI systems. First, we develop a tractable approximation for quantization-induced inference distortion. Based on this approximation, we derive lower and upper bounds on the quantization rate-inference distortion function, characterizing its dependence on LAIM statistics, including the quantization bit-width. Next, we formulate a joint quantization bit-width and computation frequency design problem under delay and energy constraints, aiming to minimize the distortion upper bound while ensuring tightness through the corresponding lower bound. Extensive evaluations validate the proposed distortion approximation, the derived rate-distortion bounds, and the effectiveness of the proposed joint design. Particularly, simulations and real-world testbed experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed joint design in balancing inference quality, latency, and energy consumption in edge embodied AI systems.

Robust Multi-modal Task-oriented Communications with Redundancy-aware Representations

Semantic communications for multi-modal data can transmit task-relevant information efficiently over noisy and bandwidth-limited channels. However, a key challenge is to simultaneously compress inter-modal redundancy and improve semantic reliability under channel distortion. To address the challenge, we propose a robust and efficient multi-modal task-oriented communication framework that integrates a two-stage variational information bottleneck (VIB) with mutual information (MI) redundancy minimization. In the first stage, we apply uni-modal VIB to compress each modality separately, i.e., text, audio, and video, while preserving task-specific features. To enhance efficiency, an MI minimization module with adversarial training is then used to suppress cross-modal dependencies and to promote complementarity rather than redundancy. In the second stage, a multi-modal VIB is further used to compress the fused representation and to enhance robustness against channel distortion. Experimental results on multi-modal emotion recognition tasks demonstrate that the proposed framework significantly outperforms existing baselines in accuracy and reliability, particularly under low signal-to-noise ratio regimes. Our work provides a principled framework that jointly optimizes modality-specific compression, inter-modal redundancy, and communication reliability.

MIMO Pinching-Antenna-Aided SWIPT

Pinching-antenna systems (PASS) have recently emerged as a promising technology for improving wireless communications by establishing or strengthening reliable line-of-sight (LoS) links by adjusting the positions of pinching antennas (PAs). Motivated by these benefits, we propose a novel PASS-aided multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT), where the PASS are equipped with multiple waveguides to provide information transmission and wireless power transfer (WPT) for several multiple antenna information decoding receivers (IDRs), and energy harvesting receivers (EHRs), respectively. Based on the system, we consider maximizing the sum-rate of all IDRs while guaranteeing the minimum harvested energy of each EHR by jointly optimizing the pinching beamforming and the PA positions. To solve this highly non-convex problem, we iteratively optimize the pinching beamforming based on a weighted minimum mean-squared-error (WMMSE) method and update the PA positions with a Gauss-Seidel-based approach in an alternating optimization (AO) framework. Numerical results verify the significant superiority of the PASS compared with conventional designs.

Empowering Intelligent Low-altitude Economy with Large AI Model Deployment

Low-altitude economy (LAE) represents an emerging economic paradigm that redefines commercial and social aerial activities. Large artificial intelligence models (LAIMs) offer transformative potential to further enhance the intelligence of LAE services. However, deploying LAIMs in LAE poses several challenges, including the significant gap between their computational/storage demands and the limited onboard resources of LAE entities, the mismatch between lab-trained LAIMs and dynamic physical environments, and the inefficiencies of traditional decoupled designs for sensing, communication, and computation. To address these issues, we first propose a hierarchical system architecture tailored for LAIM deployment and present representative LAE application scenarios. Next, we explore key enabling techniques that facilitate the mutual co-evolution of LAIMs and low-altitude systems, and introduce a task-oriented execution pipeline for scalable and adaptive service delivery. Then, the proposed framework is validated through real-world case studies. Finally, we outline open challenges to inspire future research.

The Larger the Merrier? Efficient Large AI Model Inference in Wireless Edge Networks

The growing demand for large artificial intelligence model (LAIM) services is driving a paradigm shift from traditional cloud-based inference to edge-based inference for low-latency, privacy-preserving applications. In particular, edge-device co-inference, which partitions LAIMs between edge devices and servers, has emerged as a promising strategy for resource-efficient LAIM execution in wireless networks. In this paper, we investigate a pruning-aware LAIM co-inference scheme, where a pre-trained LAIM is pruned and partitioned into on-device and on-server sub-models for deployment. For analysis, we first prove that the LAIM output distortion is upper bounded by its parameter distortion. Then, we derive a lower bound on parameter distortion via rate-distortion theory, analytically capturing the relationship between pruning ratio and co-inference performance. Next, based on the analytical results, we formulate an LAIM co-inference distortion bound minimization problem by jointly optimizing the pruning ratio, transmit power, and computation frequency under system latency, energy, and available resource constraints. Moreover, we propose an efficient algorithm to tackle the considered highly non-convex problem. Finally, extensive simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design. In particular, model parameter distortion is shown to provide a reliable bound on output distortion. Also, the proposed joint pruning ratio and resource management design achieves superior performance in balancing trade-offs among inference performance, system latency, and energy consumption compared with benchmark schemes, such as fully on-device and on-server inference. Moreover, the split point is shown to play a critical role in system performance optimization under heterogeneous and resource-limited edge environments.

Pinching-Antenna Systems (PASS) Aided Over-the-air Computation

Over-the-air computation (AirComp) enables fast data aggregation for edge intelligence applications. However the performance of AirComp can be severely degraded by channel misalignments. Pinching antenna systems (PASS) have recently emerged as a promising solution for physically reshaping favorable wireless channels to reduce misalignments and thus AirComp errors, via low-cost, fully passive, and highly reconfigurable antenna deployment. Motivated by these benefits, we propose a novel PASS-aided AirComp system that introduces new design degrees of freedom through flexible pinching antenna (PA) placement. To improve performance, we consider a mean squared error (MSE) minimization problem by jointly optimizing the PA position, transmit power, and decoding vector. To solve this highly non-convex problem, we propose an alternating optimization based framework with Gauss-Seidel based PA position updates. Simulation results show that our proposed joint PA position and communication design significantly outperforms various benchmark schemes in AirComp accuracy.

Semantic Communications for 3D Human Face Transmission with Neural Radiance Fields

This paper investigates the transmission of three-dimensional (3D) human face content for immersive communication over a rate-constrained transmitter-receiver link. We propose a new framework named NeRF-SeCom, which leverages neural radiance fields (NeRF) and semantic communications to improve the quality of 3D visualizations while minimizing the communication overhead. In the NeRF-SeCom framework, we first train a NeRF face model based on the NeRFBlendShape method, which is pre-shared between the transmitter and receiver as the semantic knowledge base to facilitate the real-time transmission. Next, with knowledge base, the transmitter extracts and sends only the essential semantic features for the receiver to reconstruct 3D face in real time. To optimize the transmission efficiency, we classify the expression features into static and dynamic types. Over each video chunk, static features are transmitted once for all frames, whereas dynamic features are transmitted over a portion of frames to adhere to rate constraints. Additionally, we propose a feature prediction mechanism, which allows the receiver to predict the dynamic features for frames that are not transmitted. Experiments show that our proposed NeRF-SeCom framework significantly outperforms benchmark methods in delivering high-quality 3D visualizations of human faces.

Networked ISAC for Low-Altitude Economy: Transmit Beamforming and UAV Trajectory Design

This paper studies the exploitation of networked integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) to support low-altitude economy (LAE), in which a set of networked ground base stations (GBSs) transmit wireless signals to cooperatively communicate with multiple authorized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and concurrently use the echo signals to detect the invasion of unauthorized objects in interested airspace. Under this setup, we jointly design the cooperative transmit beamforming at multiple GBSs together with the trajectory control of authorized UAVs and their GBS associations, for enhancing the authorized UAVs' communication performance while ensuring the sensing requirements for airspace monitoring. In particular, our objective is to maximize the average sum rate of authorized UAVs over a particular flight period, subject to the minimum illumination power constraints for sensing over the interested airspace, the maximum transmit power constraints at individual GBSs, and the flight constraints at UAVs. This problem is non-convex and challenging to solve, due to the involvement of integer variables and the coupling of optimization variables. To solve this non-convex problem, we propose an efficient algorithm by using the techniques of alternating optimization (AO), successive convex approximation (SCA), and semi-definite relaxation (SDR). Numerical results show that the obtained transmit beamforming and UAV trajectory designs in the proposed algorithm efficiently balance the tradeoff between the sensing and communication performances, thus significantly outperforming various benchmarks.

Intelligent Reflecting Surface Aided AirComp: Multi-Timescale Design and Performance Analysis

The integration of intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) into over-the-air computation (AirComp) is an effective solution for reducing the computational mean squared error (MSE) via its high passive beamforming gain. Prior works on IRS aided AirComp generally rely on the full instantaneous channel state information (I-CSI), which is not applicable to large-scale systems due to its heavy signalling overhead. To address this issue, we propose a novel multi-timescale transmission protocol. In particular, the receive beamforming at the access point (AP) is pre-determined based on the static angle information and the IRS phase-shifts are optimized relying on the long-term statistical CSI. With the obtained AP receive beamforming and IRS phase-shifts, the effective low-dimensional I-CSI is exploited to determine devices' transmit power in each coherence block, thus substantially reducing the signalling overhead. Theoretical analysis unveils that the achievable MSE scales on the order of ${\cal O}\left( {K/\left( {{N^2}M} \right)} \right)$, where $M$, $N$, and $K$ are the number of AP antennas, IRS elements, and devices, respectively. We also prove that the channel-inversion power control is asymptotically optimal for large $N$, which reveals that the full power transmission policy is not needed for lowering the power consumption of energy-limited devices.

Rethinking Resource Management in Edge Learning: A Joint Pre-training and Fine-tuning Design Paradigm

In some applications, edge learning is experiencing a shift in focusing from conventional learning from scratch to new two-stage learning unifying pre-training and task-specific fine-tuning. This paper considers the problem of joint communication and computation resource management in a two-stage edge learning system. In this system, model pre-training is first conducted at an edge server via centralized learning on local pre-stored general data, and then task-specific fine-tuning is performed at edge devices based on the pre-trained model via federated edge learning. For the two-stage learning model, we first analyze the convergence behavior (in terms of the average squared gradient norm bound), which characterizes the impacts of various system parameters such as the number of learning rounds and batch sizes in the two stages on the convergence rate. Based on our analytical results, we then propose a joint communication and computation resource management design to minimize an average squared gradient norm bound, subject to constraints on the transmit power, overall system energy consumption, and training delay. The decision variables include the number of learning rounds, batch sizes, clock frequencies, and transmit power control for both pre-training and fine-tuning stages. Finally, numerical results are provided to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed design. It is shown that the proposed joint resource management over the pre-training and fine-tuning stages well balances the system performance trade-off among the training accuracy, delay, and energy consumption. The proposed design is also shown to effectively leverage the inherent trade-off between pre-training and fine-tuning, which arises from the differences in data distribution between pre-stored general data versus real-time task-specific data, thus efficiently optimizing overall system performance.