IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society

The seamless integration of multiple radio access technologies (multi-RAT) and cloud/edge resources is pivotal for advancing future networks, which seek to unify distributed and heterogeneous computing and communication resources into a cohesive continuum system, tailored for mobile applications. Many research projects and focused studies are proposing solutions in this area, the impact of which is undoubtedly increased by moving from theoretical and simulation studies to experimental validations. To this aim, this paper proposes a testbed architecture that combines contemporary communication and cloud technologies to provide microservice-based mobile applications with the ability to offload part of their tasks to cloud/edge data centers connected by multi-RAT cellular networks. The testbed leverages Kubernetes, Istio service mesh, OpenFlow, public 5G networks, and IEEE 802.11ad mmWave (60 GHz) Wi-Fi access points. The architecture is validated through a use case in which a ground robot autonomously follows a moving object by using an artificial intelligence-driven computer vision application. Computationally intensive navigation tasks are offloaded by the robot to microservice instances, which are executed on demand within cloud and edge data centers that the robot can exploit during its journey. The proposed testbed is flexible and can be reused to assess communication and cloud innovations focusing on multi-RAT cloud continuum scenarios.

Giuseppe Baruffa

Andrea Detti

Luca Rugini

Francesco Crocetti

Paolo Banelli

Gabriele Costante

Paolo Valigi

AI-Driven Ground Robots: Mobile Edge Computing and mmWave Communications at Work

Cell-free Massive MIMO systems consist of a large number of geographically distributed access points (APs) that serve the users by coherent joint transmission. The spectral efficiency (SE) achieved by each user depends on the power allocation: which APs that transmit to which users and with what power. In this article, we revisit the max-min and sum-SE power allocation policies, which have previously been approached using high-complexity general-purpose solvers. We develop and compare several different high-performance low-complexity power allocation algorithms that are appropriate for use in large systems. We propose two new algorithms for sum-SE power optimization inspired by weighted minimum mean square error (WMMSE) minimization and fractional programming (FP). Further, one new FP-based algorithm is proposed for max-min fair power allocation. The alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is used to solve specific convex subproblems in the proposed algorithms. Our ADMM reformulations lead to multiple small-sized subproblems with closed-form solutions. The proposed algorithms find global or local optimal power allocation solutions for large-scale systems but with reduced computational time compared to previous work.

Sucharita Chakraborty

Ozlem Tugfe Demir

Emil Bjornson

Pontus Giselsson

IEEE Open J. Commun. Soc.

Efficient Downlink Power Allocation Algorithms for Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems

As of today, the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system has been rolled out in many countries and the number of 5G subscribers already reaches a very large scale. It is time for academia and industry to shift their attention towards the next generation. At this crossroad, an overview of the current state of the art and a vision of future communications are definitely of interest. This article thus aims to provide a comprehensive survey to draw a picture of the sixth generation (6G) system in terms of drivers, use cases, usage scenarios, requirements, key performance indicators (KPIs), architecture, and enabling technologies. First, we attempt to answer the question of "Is there any need for 6G?" by shedding light on its key driving factors, in which we predict the explosive growth of mobile traffic until 2030, and envision potential use cases and usage scenarios. Second, the technical requirements of 6G are discussed and compared with those of 5G with respect to a set of KPIs in a quantitative manner. Third, the state-of-the-art 6G research efforts and activities from representative institutions and countries are summarized, and a tentative roadmap of definition, specification, standardization, and regulation is projected. Then, we identify a dozen of potential technologies and introduce their principles, advantages, challenges, and open research issues. Finally, the conclusions are drawn to paint a picture of "What 6G may look like?". This survey is intended to serve as an enlightening guideline to spur interests and further investigations for subsequent research and development of 6G communications systems.

Wei Jiang

Bin Han

Mohammad Asif Habibi

Hans Dieter Schotten

The Road Towards 6G: A Comprehensive Survey

迈向6G之路：一项综合调查

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has become the de facto communication protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart wearable devices for its ultra-low energy consumption, ease of development, good enough network coverage, and data transfer speed.Due to the simplified design of this protocol, there have been lots of security and privacy vulnerabilities.As billions of health care, personal fitness wearable, smart lock, industrial automation devices adopt this technology for communication, its vulnerabilities should be dealt with high priority.Some segregated works on BLE were performed focusing on various vulnerabilities, such as the insecure implementation of encryption, device authentication, user privacy, etc.However, there has been no comprehensive survey on the security vulnerabilities of this protocol.In this survey paper, we present a comprehensive taxonomy for the security and privacy issues of BLE.We present possible attack scenarios for different types of vulnerabilities, classify them according to their severity, and list possible mitigation techniques.We also provide case studies regarding how different vulnerabilities can be exploited in real BLE devices.

Arup Barua

Md Abdullah Al Alamin

Md. Shohrab Hossain

Ekram Hossain

Security and Privacy Threats for Bluetooth Low Energy in IoT and Wearable Devices: A Comprehensive Survey

The fifth-generation (5G) of cellular networks and beyond requires massive connectivity, high data rates, and low latency. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) communications is a key 5G enabling technology to meet these requirements thanks to its technical potentials that can be integrated with other 5G enablers such as ultra-dense networks (UDNs) and massive multiple-input-multiple-output (massive MIMO) systems. However, some technical challenges, which are mainly related to specific characteristics of mmWave propagation, must be addressed. All the aforementioned points will be discussed in this article before presenting the different existing architectures of massive MIMO mmWave systems. This survey mainly aims at presenting a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the channel estimation techniques associated with the different mmWave system architectures. Subsequently, we will provide a comparison among existing solutions in terms of their respective benefits and shortcomings. Finally, some open directions of research are discussed, and challenges that wait to be met are pointed out.

Kais Hassan

Mohammad Masarra

Marie Zwingelstein

Iyad Dayoub

Channel Estimation Techniques for Millimeter-Wave Communication Systems: Achievements and Challenges

毫米波通信系统中的信道估计技术：成就与挑战

Theodore S. Rappaport

Mingjun Ying

Nicola Piovesan

Antonio De Domenico

Dipankar Shakya

Waste Factor and Waste Figure: A Unified Theory for Modeling and Analyzing Wasted Power in Radio Access Networks for Improved Sustainability

废物因素与废物指标：一种用于建模和分析无线接入网络中浪费功率以提升可持续性的统一理论

Jiajie Xu

Mustafa A. Kishk

Xabier Irigoien

Mohamed-Slim Alouini

UCODENs: Underwater Collaborative Detection Networks

UCODENs：水下协同探测网络

Fouzia Samiullah

Ming-Lee Gan

Sedat Akleylek

Y Aun

Quantum Resistance Saber-Based Group Key Exchange Protocol for IoTs

基于量子抗性光剑的物联网群组密钥交换协议

Ayoub El-Niss

Ahmad Alzu’bi

Abdelrahman Abuarqoub

Mohammad Hammoudeh

Ammar Muthanna

SimProx: A Similarity-Based Aggregation in Federated Learning With Client Weight Optimization

SimProx: 基于相似性的联邦学习聚合方法与客户端权重优化

Abbreviation	IEEE Open J. Commun. Soc.
Journal Impact	6.50
Quartiles(Global)	TELECOMMUNICATIONS(Q1)

ISSN	2644-125X
h-index	37

Publication Information	Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: Yes
Basic data	Year of publication: 2020，Proportion of original research papers: 99.31%，Self Citation Rate:4.80%， Gold OA Rate: 98.18%
Journal Fees	$1995Details
Average review cycle	网友分享经验：10 Weeks

IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society

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AI-Driven Ground Robots: Mobile Edge Computing and mmWave Communications at Work

Efficient Downlink Power Allocation Algorithms for Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems

The Road Towards 6G: A Comprehensive Survey

Security and Privacy Threats for Bluetooth Low Energy in IoT and Wearable Devices: A Comprehensive Survey

Channel Estimation Techniques for Millimeter-Wave Communication Systems: Achievements and Challenges

AI-Driven Ground Robots: Mobile Edge Computing and mmWave Communications at Work

Waste Factor and Waste Figure: A Unified Theory for Modeling and Analyzing Wasted Power in Radio Access Networks for Improved Sustainability

UCODENs: Underwater Collaborative Detection Networks

Quantum Resistance Saber-Based Group Key Exchange Protocol for IoTs

SimProx: A Similarity-Based Aggregation in Federated Learning With Client Weight Optimization