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Nan Cheng

Publications and source records attributed to Nan Cheng.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

RadioDiff-Loc: Diffusion Model Enhanced Scattering Congnition for NLoS Localization with Sparse Radio Map Estimation

Accurate localization of non-cooperative signal sources in non-line-of-sight (NLoS) environments remains a critical challenge with a wide range of applications, including autonomous navigation, industrial automation, and emergency response. In such settings, traditional positioning techniques relying on line-of-sight (LoS) or cooperative signaling fail due to severe multipath propagation and unknown transmit power. This paper proposes a novel generative inference framework for NLoS localization based on conditional diffusion models. By leveraging the physical insight that diffracted electromagnetic energy concentrates near building edges, we develop a sampling strategy that collects sparse received signal strength (RSS) measurements at the geometric vertices of obstacles--locations that maximize Fisher information and mutual information with respect to the unknown source. To overcome the lack of known transmission power, we normalize all sampled RSS values relative to the maximum observed intensity, enabling the construction of a power-invariant radio map (RM). A conditional diffusion model is trained to reconstruct the full RM based on environmental layout and sparse RSS observations. Localization is then achieved by identifying the brightest point on the generated RM. Moreover, the proposed framework is compatible with existing RSS-based localization algorithms, enabling a dual-driven paradigm that fuses physical knowledge and data-driven inference for improved accuracy. Extensive theoretical analysis and empirical validation demonstrate that our approach achieves high localization accuracy with significantly reduced sampling cost, offering a scalable and physically grounded solution for non-cooperative NLoS emitter localization.

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Multibeam High Throughput Satellite: Hardware Foundation, Resource Allocation, and Precoding

With its wide coverage and uninterrupted service, satellite communication is a critical technology for next-generation 6G communications. High throughput satellite (HTS) systems, utilizing multipoint beam and frequency multiplexing techniques, enable satellite communication capacity of up to Tbps to meet the growing traffic demand. Therefore, it is imperative to review the-state-of-the-art of multibeam HTS systems and identify their associated challenges and perspectives. Firstly, we summarize the multibeam HTS hardware foundations, including ground station systems, on-board payloads, and user terminals. Subsequently, we review the flexible on-board radio resource allocation approaches of bandwidth, power, time slot, and joint allocation schemes of HTS systems to optimize resource utilization and cater to non-uniform service demand. Additionally, we survey multibeam precoding methods for the HTS system to achieve full-frequency reuse and interference cancellation, which are classified according to different deployments such as single gateway precoding, multiple gateway precoding, on-board precoding, and hybrid on-board/on-ground precoding. Finally, we disscuss the challenges related to Q/V band link outage, time and frequency synchronization of gateways, the accuracy of channel state information (CSI), payload light-weight development, and the application of deep learning (DL). Research on these topics will contribute to enhancing the performance of HTS systems and finally delivering high-speed data to areas underserved by terrestrial networks.

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RadioMamba: Breaking the Accuracy-Efficiency Trade-off in Radio Map Construction via a Hybrid Mamba-UNet

Radio map (RM) has recently attracted much attention since it can provide real-time and accurate spatial channel information for 6G services and applications. However, current deep learning-based methods for RM construction exhibit well known accuracy-efficiency trade-off. In this paper, we introduce RadioMamba, a hybrid Mamba-UNet architecture for RM construction to address the trade-off. Generally, accurate RM construction requires modeling long-range spatial dependencies, reflecting the global nature of wave propagation physics. RadioMamba utilizes a Mamba-Convolutional block where the Mamba branch captures these global dependencies with linear complexity, while a parallel convolutional branch extracts local features. This hybrid design generates feature representations that capture both global context and local detail. Experiments show that RadioMamba achieves higher accuracy than existing methods, including diffusion models, while operating nearly 20 times faster and using only 2.9\% of the model parameters. By improving both accuracy and efficiency, RadioMamba presents a viable approach for real-time intelligent optimization in next generation wireless systems.

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Large Language Model-Based Task Offloading and Resource Allocation for Digital Twin Edge Computing Networks

In this paper, we propose a general digital twin edge computing network comprising multiple vehicles and a server. Each vehicle generates multiple computing tasks within a time slot, leading to queuing challenges when offloading tasks to the server. The study investigates task offloading strategies, queue stability, and resource allocation. Lyapunov optimization is employed to transform long-term constraints into tractable short-term decisions. To solve the resulting problem, an in-context learning approach based on large language model (LLM) is adopted, replacing the conventional multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) framework. Experimental results demonstrate that the LLM-based method achieves comparable or even superior performance to MARL.

cs.NI↗

Enhanced Velocity-Adaptive Scheme: Joint Fair Access and Age of Information Optimization in Vehicular Networks

In this paper, we consider the fair access problem and the Age of Information (AoI) under 5G New Radio (NR) Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Mode 2 in vehicular networks. Specifically, vehicles follow Mode 2 to communicate with Roadside Units (RSUs) to obtain accurate data for driving assistance.Nevertheless, vehicles often have different velocity when they are moving in adjacent lanes, leading to difference in RSU dwelltime and communication duration. This results in unfair access to network resources, potentially influencing driving safety. To ensure the freshness of received data, the AoI should be analyzed. Mode 2 introduces a novel preemption mechanism, necessitating simultaneous optimization of fair access and AoI to guarantee timely and relevant data delivery. We propose a joint optimization framework for vehicular network, defining a fairness index and employing Stochastic Hybrid Systems (SHS) to model AoI under preemption mechanism. By adaptively adjusting the selection window of Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) in Mode 2, we address the optimization of fairness and AoI. We apply a large language model (LLM)-Based Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm Based on Decomposition (MOEA/D) to solve this problem. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our scheme in balancing fair access and minimizing AoI.

cs.NI↗

Latent Diffusion Model Based Denoising Receiver for 6G Semantic Communication: From Stochastic Differential Theory to Application

In this paper, a novel semantic communication framework empowered by generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is proposed, to enhance the robustness against both channel noise and transmission data distribution shifts. A theoretical foundation is established using stochastic differential equations (SDEs), from which a closed-form mapping between any signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the optimal denoising timestep is derived. Moreover, to address distribution mismatch, a mathematical scaling method is introduced to align received semantic features with the training distribution of the GAI. Built on this theoretical foundation, a latent diffusion model (LDM)-based semantic communication framework is proposed that combines a variational autoencoder for semantic features extraction, where a pretrained diffusion model is used for denoising. The proposed system is a training-free framework that supports zero-shot generalization, and achieves superior performance under low-SNR and out-of-distribution conditions, offering a scalable and robust solution for future 6G semantic communication systems. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed semantic communication framework achieves state-of-the-art performance in both pixel-level accuracy and semantic perceptual quality, consistently outperforming baselines across a wide range of SNRs and data distributions without any fine-tuning or post-training.

cs.LG↗

RadioDiff-3D: A 3D$\times$3D Radio Map Dataset and Generative Diffusion Based Benchmark for 6G Environment-Aware Communication

Radio maps (RMs) serve as a critical foundation for enabling environment-aware wireless communication, as they provide the spatial distribution of wireless channel characteristics. Despite recent progress in RM construction using data-driven approaches, most existing methods focus solely on pathloss prediction in a fixed 2D plane, neglecting key parameters such as direction of arrival (DoA), time of arrival (ToA), and vertical spatial variations. Such a limitation is primarily due to the reliance on static learning paradigms, which hinder generalization beyond the training data distribution. To address these challenges, we propose UrbanRadio3D, a large-scale, high-resolution 3D RM dataset constructed via ray tracing in realistic urban environments. UrbanRadio3D is over 37$\times$3 larger than previous datasets across a 3D space with 3 metrics as pathloss, DoA, and ToA, forming a novel 3D$\times$33D dataset with 7$\times$3 more height layers than prior state-of-the-art (SOTA) dataset. To benchmark 3D RM construction, a UNet with 3D convolutional operators is proposed. Moreover, we further introduce RadioDiff-3D, a diffusion-model-based generative framework utilizing the 3D convolutional architecture. RadioDiff-3D supports both radiation-aware scenarios with known transmitter locations and radiation-unaware settings based on sparse spatial observations. Extensive evaluations on UrbanRadio3D validate that RadioDiff-3D achieves superior performance in constructing rich, high-dimensional radio maps under diverse environmental dynamics. This work provides a foundational dataset and benchmark for future research in 3D environment-aware communication. The dataset is available at https://github.com/UNIC-Lab/UrbanRadio3D.

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AI-based Environment-Aware XL-MIMO Channel Estimation with Location-Specific Prior Knowledge Enabled by CKM

Accurate and efficient acquisition of wireless channel state information (CSI) is crucial to enhance the communication performance of wireless systems. However, with the continuous densification of wireless links, increased channel dimensions, and the use of higher-frequency bands, channel estimation in the sixth generation (6G) and beyond wireless networks faces new challenges, such as insufficient orthogonal pilot sequences, inadequate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for channel training, and more sophisticated channel statistical distributions in complex environment. These challenges pose significant difficulties for classical channel estimation algorithms like least squares (LS) and maximum a posteriori (MAP). To address this problem, we propose a novel environment-aware channel estimation framework with location-specific prior channel distribution enabled by the new concept of channel knowledge map (CKM). To this end, we propose a new type of CKM called channel score function map (CSFM), which learns the channel probability density function (PDF) using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. To fully exploit the prior information in CSFM, we propose a plug-and-play (PnP) based algorithm to decouple the regularized MAP channel estimation problem, thereby reducing the complexity of the optimization process. Besides, we employ Tweedie's formula to establish a connection between the channel score function, defined as the logarithmic gradient of the channel PDF, and the channel denoiser. This allows the use of the high-precision, environment-aware channel denoiser from the CSFM to approximate the channel score function, thus enabling efficient processing of the decoupled channel statistical components. Simulation results show that the proposed CSFM-PnP based channel estimation technique significantly outperforms the conventional techniques in the aforementioned challenging scenarios.

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On-Demand Multimedia Delivery in 6G: An Optimal-Cost Steiner Tree Approach

The exponential growth of multimedia data traffic in 6G networks poses unprecedented challenges for immersive communication, where ultra-high-definition, multi-quality streaming must be delivered on demand while minimizing network operational costs. Traditional routing approaches, such as shortest-path algorithms, fail to optimize flow multiplexing across multiple destinations, while conventional Steiner tree methods cannot accommodate heterogeneous quality-of-service (QoS) requirements-a critical need for 6G's personalized services. In this paper, we address a fundamental but unsolved challenge: the minimum flow problem (MFP) with multi-destination, heterogeneous outflow demands, which is pivotal for efficient multimedia distribution such as adaptive-resolution video streaming. To overcome the limitations of existing methods, we propose a two-stage dynamic programming-enhanced On-demand Steiner Tree (OST) algorithm, the first approach that jointly optimizes flow aggregation and QoS-aware path selection for arbitrary outflow requirements. We rigorously prove the optimality of OST using mathematical induction, demonstrating that it guarantees the minimum-cost multicast flow under differentiated service constraints. Extensive experiments in 6G-like multimedia transmission scenarios show that OST reduces total network flow by over 10% compared to state-of-the-art methods while ensuring on-demand QoS fulfillment. The complete code is available at https://github.com/UNIC-Lab/OST.

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Semantic-Aware Spectrum Sharing in Internet of Vehicles Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

This work aims to investigate semantic communication in high-speed mobile Internet of vehicles (IoV) environments, with a focus on the spectrum sharing between vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. We specifically address spectrum scarcity and network traffic and then propose a semantic-aware spectrum sharing algorithm (SSS) based on the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) soft actor-critic (SAC) approach. Firstly, we delve into the extraction of semantic information. Secondly, we redefine metrics for semantic information in V2V and V2I spectrum sharing in IoV environments, introducing high-speed semantic spectrum efficiency (HSSE) and semantic transmission rate (HSR). Finally, we employ the SAC algorithm for decision optimization in V2V and V2I spectrum sharing based on semantic information. This optimization encompasses the optimal link of V2V and V2I sharing strategies, the transmission power for vehicles sending semantic information and the length of transmitted semantic symbols, aiming at maximizing HSSE of V2I and enhancing success rate of effective semantic information transmission (SRS) of V2V. Experimental results demonstrate that the SSS algorithm outperforms other baseline algorithms, including other traditional-communication-based spectrum sharing algorithms and spectrum sharing algorithm using other reinforcement learning approaches. The SSS algorithm exhibits a 15% increase in HSSE and approximately a 7% increase in SRS.

cs.LG↗

Semantic-Aware Resource Allocation Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning for 5G-V2X HetNets

This letter proposes a semantic-aware resource allocation (SARA) framework with flexible duty cycle (DC) coexistence mechanism (SARADC) for 5G-V2X Heterogeneous Network (HetNets) based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) proximal policy optimization (PPO). Specifically, we investigate V2X networks within a two-tiered HetNets structure. In response to the needs of high-speed vehicular networking in urban environments, we design a semantic communication system and introduce two resource allocation metrics: high-speed semantic transmission rate (HSR) and semantic spectrum efficiency (HSSE). Our main goal is to maximize HSSE. Additionally, we address the coexistence of vehicular users and WiFi users in 5G New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) networks. To tackle this complex challenge, we propose a novel approach that jointly optimizes flexible DC coexistence mechanism and the allocation of resources and base stations (BSs). Unlike traditional bit transmission methods, our approach integrates the semantic communication paradigm into the communication system. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed solution outperforms traditional bit transmission methods with traditional DC coexistence mechanism in terms of HSSE and semantic throughput (ST) for both vehicular and WiFi users.

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Deep-Reinforcement-Learning-Based AoI-Aware Resource Allocation for RIS-Aided IoV Networks

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) is a pivotal technology in communication, offering an alternative path that significantly enhances the link quality in wireless communication environments. In this paper, we propose a RIS-assisted internet of vehicles (IoV) network, considering the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication method. In addition, in order to improve the timeliness of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) links and the stability of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) links, we introduce the age of information (AoI) model and the payload transmission probability model. Therefore, with the objective of minimizing the AoI of V2I links and prioritizing transmission of V2V links payload, we construct this optimization problem as an Markov decision process (MDP) problem in which the BS serves as an agent to allocate resources and control phase-shift for the vehicles using the soft actor-critic (SAC) algorithm, which gradually converges and maintains a high stability. A AoI-aware joint vehicular resource allocation and RIS phase-shift control scheme based on SAC algorithm is proposed and simulation results show that its convergence speed, cumulative reward, AoI performance, and payload transmission probability outperforms those of proximal policy optimization (PPO), deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG), twin delayed deep deterministic policy gradient (TD3) and stochastic algorithms.

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Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Assisted VEC Based on Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Vehicular edge computing (VEC) is an emerging technology that enables vehicles to perform high-intensity tasks by executing tasks locally or offloading them to nearby edge devices. However, obstacles such as buildings may degrade the communications and incur communication interruptions, and thus the vehicle may not meet the requirement for task offloading. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) is introduced to support vehicle communication and provide an alternative communication path. The system performance can be improved by flexibly adjusting the phase-shift of the RIS. For RIS-assisted VEC system where tasks arrive randomly, we design a control scheme that considers offloading power, local power allocation and phase-shift optimization. To solve this non-convex problem, we propose a new deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework that employs modified multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient (MADDPG) approach to optimize the power allocation for vehicle users (VUs) and block coordinate descent (BCD) algorithm to optimize the phase-shift of the RIS. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperforms the centralized deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) scheme and random scheme.

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Resource Allocation for Twin Maintenance and Computing Task Processing in Digital Twin Vehicular Edge Computing Network

As a promising technology, vehicular edge computing (VEC) can provide computing and caching services by deploying VEC servers near vehicles. However, VEC networks still face challenges such as high vehicle mobility. Digital twin (DT), an emerging technology, can predict, estimate, and analyze real-time states by digitally modeling objects in the physical world. By integrating DT with VEC, a virtual vehicle DT can be created in the VEC server to monitor the real-time operating status of vehicles. However, maintaining the vehicle DT model requires ongoing attention from the VEC server, which also needs to offer computing services for the vehicles. Therefore, effective allocation and scheduling of VEC server resources are crucial. This study focuses on a general VEC network with a single VEC service and multiple vehicles, examining the two types of delays caused by twin maintenance and computational processing within the network. By transforming the problem using satisfaction functions, we propose an optimization problem aimed at maximizing each vehicle's resource utility to determine the optimal resource allocation strategy. Given the non-convex nature of the issue, we employ multi-agent Markov decision processes to reformulate the problem. Subsequently, we propose the twin maintenance and computing task processing resource collaborative scheduling (MADRL-CSTC) algorithm, which leverages multi-agent deep reinforcement learning. Through experimental comparisons with alternative algorithms, it demonstrates that our proposed approach is effective in terms of resource allocation.

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DRL-Based Federated Self-Supervised Learning for Task Offloading and Resource Allocation in ISAC-Enabled Vehicle Edge Computing

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) leverage Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) to enhance data exchange between vehicles and infrastructure in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV). This integration inevitably increases computing demands, risking real-time system stability. Vehicle Edge Computing (VEC) addresses this by offloading tasks to Road Side Unit (RSU), ensuring timely services. Our previous work FLSimCo algorithm, which uses local resources for Federated Self-Supervised Learning (SSL), though vehicles often can't complete all iterations task. Our improved algorithm offloads partial task to RSU and optimizes energy consumption by adjusting transmission power, CPU frequency, and task assignment ratios, balancing local and RSU-based training. Meanwhile, setting an offloading threshold further prevents inefficiencies. Simulation results show that the enhanced algorithm reduces energy consumption, improves offloading efficiency and the accuracy of Federated SSL.

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Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided Vehicular Edge Computing: Joint Phase-shift Optimization and Multi-User Power Allocation

Vehicular edge computing (VEC) is an emerging technology with significant potential in the field of internet of vehicles (IoV), enabling vehicles to perform intensive computational tasks locally or offload them to nearby edge devices. However, the quality of communication links may be severely deteriorated due to obstacles such as buildings, impeding the offloading process. To address this challenge, we introduce the use of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS), which provide alternative communication pathways to assist vehicular communication. By dynamically adjusting the phase-shift of the RIS, the performance of VEC systems can be substantially improved. In this work, we consider a RIS-assisted VEC system, and design an optimal scheme for local execution power, offloading power, and RIS phase-shift, where random task arrivals and channel variations are taken into account. To address the scheme, we propose an innovative deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework that combines the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm for optimizing RIS phase-shift coefficients and the Multi-Agent Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (MADDPG) algorithm for optimizing the power allocation of vehicle user (VU). Simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperforms the traditional centralized DDPG, Twin Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (TD3) and some typical stochastic schemes.

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DRL-Based Resource Allocation for Motion Blur Resistant Federated Self-Supervised Learning in IoV

In the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), Federated Learning (FL) provides a privacy-preserving solution by aggregating local models without sharing data. Traditional supervised learning requires image data with labels, but data labeling involves significant manual effort. Federated Self-Supervised Learning (FSSL) utilizes Self-Supervised Learning (SSL) for local training in FL, eliminating the need for labels while protecting privacy. Compared to other SSL methods, Momentum Contrast (MoCo) reduces the demand for computing resources and storage space by creating a dictionary. However, using MoCo in FSSL requires uploading the local dictionary from vehicles to Base Station (BS), which poses a risk of privacy leakage. Simplified Contrast (SimCo) addresses the privacy leakage issue in MoCo-based FSSL by using dual temperature instead of a dictionary to control sample distribution. Additionally, considering the negative impact of motion blur on model aggregation, and based on SimCo, we propose a motion blur-resistant FSSL method, referred to as BFSSL. Furthermore, we address energy consumption and delay in the BFSSL process by proposing a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL)-based resource allocation scheme, called DRL-BFSSL. In this scheme, BS allocates the Central Processing Unit (CPU) frequency and transmission power of vehicles to minimize energy consumption and latency, while aggregating received models based on the motion blur level. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of our proposed aggregation and resource allocation methods.

cs.CV↗

Blockchain-Enabled Variational Information Bottleneck for Data Extraction Based on Mutual Information in Internet of Vehicles

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) network can address the issue of limited computing resources and data processing capabilities of individual vehicles, but it also brings the risk of privacy leakage to vehicle users. Applying blockchain technology can establish secure data links within the IoV, solving the problems of insufficient computing resources for each vehicle and the security of data transmission over the network. However, with the development of the IoV, the amount of data interaction between multiple vehicles and between vehicles and base stations, roadside units, etc., is continuously increasing. There is a need to further reduce the interaction volume, and intelligent data compression is key to solving this problem. The VIB technique facilitates the training of encoding and decoding models, substantially diminishing the volume of data that needs to be transmitted. This paper introduces an innovative approach that integrates blockchain with VIB, referred to as BVIB, designed to lighten computational workloads and reinforce the security of the network. We first construct a new network framework by separating the encoding and decoding networks to address the computational burden issue, and then propose a new algorithm to enhance the security of IoV networks. We also discuss the impact of the data extraction rate on system latency to determine the most suitable data extraction rate. An experimental framework combining Python and C++ has been established to substantiate the efficacy of our BVIB approach. Comprehensive simulation studies indicate that the BVIB consistently excels in comparison to alternative foundational methodologies.

cs.CR↗