arXiv subjects

Kitae Kim

Publications and source records attributed to Kitae Kim.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Polymer-Regulated Freezing of Water Droplets Revealed by Synchrotron X-ray Imaging and Raman Spectroscopy

Adding a polymer to a sessile water droplet not only lowers its freezing point but also suppresses the tip singularity that forms during its freezing on cold substrates. Here, we employ synchrotron X-ray and Raman imaging to elucidate the spatiotemporal mechanism underlying tip suppression in an aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution, a model polymer solution. As the polymer concentration increases, we observe slower propagation of the freezing front, reduced bubble entrapment, and a progressively more rounded apex across the volumes and molecular weights examined. X-ray tomography reveals that frozen PVA droplets retain low X-ray transmittance domains in their interiors and at the surface, and Raman spectral mapping confirms that these domains correspond to PVA-enriched regions, providing direct evidence of freeze-induced polymer segregation. These findings indicate that PVA is redistributed heterogeneously during water solidification rather than shifting bulk properties homogeneously, providing a spatially resolved framework for interpreting the observed tip blunting and the suppression of discrete bubble entrapment. Our work identifies freeze-induced polymer segregation as a pathway by which a dissolved polymer regulates both the external shape and the internal structure of a freezing droplet, and these findings shed light on potential applications in freezing-based processes such as freeze-casting and cryopreservation.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2025

Vision and Causal Learning Based Channel Estimation for THz Communications

The use of terahertz (THz) communications with massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems in 6G can potentially provide high data rates and low latency communications. However, accurate channel estimation in THz frequencies presents significant challenges due to factors such as high propagation losses, sensitivity to environmental obstructions, and strong atmospheric absorption. These challenges are particularly pronounced in urban environments, where traditional channel estimation methods often fail to deliver reliable results, particularly in complex non-line-of-sight (NLoS) scenarios. This paper introduces a novel vision-based channel estimation technique that integrates causal reasoning into urban THz communication systems. The proposed method combines computer vision algorithms with variational causal dynamics (VCD) to analyze real-time images of the urban environment, allowing for a deeper understanding of the physical factors that influence THz signal propagation. By capturing the complex, dynamic interactions between physical objects (such as buildings, trees, and vehicles) and the transmitted signals, the model can predict the channel with up to twice the accuracy of conventional methods. This model improves estimation accuracy and demonstrates superior generalization performance. Hence, it can provide reliable predictions even in previously unseen urban environments. The effectiveness of the proposed method is particularly evident in NLoS conditions, where it significantly outperforms traditional methods such as by accounting for indirect signal paths, such as reflections and diffractions. Simulation results confirm that the proposed vision-based approach surpasses conventional artificial intelligence (AI)-based estimation techniques in accuracy and robustness, showing a substantial improvement across various dynamic urban scenarios.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2025

FedFeat+: A Robust Federated Learning Framework Through Federated Aggregation and Differentially Private Feature-Based Classifier Retraining

In this paper, we propose the FedFeat+ framework, which distinctively separates feature extraction from classification. We develop a two-tiered model training process: following local training, clients transmit their weights and some features extracted from the feature extractor from the final local epochs to the server. The server aggregates these models using the FedAvg method and subsequently retrains the global classifier utilizing the shared features. The classifier retraining process enhances the model's understanding of the holistic view of the data distribution, ensuring better generalization across diverse datasets. This improved generalization enables the classifier to adaptively influence the feature extractor during subsequent local training epochs. We establish a balance between enhancing model accuracy and safeguarding individual privacy through the implementation of differential privacy mechanisms. By incorporating noise into the feature vectors shared with the server, we ensure that sensitive data remains confidential. We present a comprehensive convergence analysis, along with theoretical reasoning regarding performance enhancement and privacy preservation. We validate our approach through empirical evaluations conducted on benchmark datasets, including CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, MNIST, and FMNIST, achieving high accuracy while adhering to stringent privacy guarantees. The experimental results demonstrate that the FedFeat+ framework, despite using only a lightweight two-layer CNN classifier, outperforms the FedAvg method in both IID and non-IID scenarios, achieving accuracy improvements ranging from 3.92 % to 12.34 % across CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and Fashion-MNIST datasets.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2025

Security Risks in Vision-Based Beam Prediction: From Spatial Proxy Attacks to Feature Refinement

The rapid evolution towards the sixth-generation (6G) networks demands advanced beamforming techniques to address challenges in dynamic, high-mobility scenarios, such as vehicular communications. Vision-based beam prediction utilizing RGB camera images emerges as a promising solution for accurate and responsive beam selection. However, reliance on visual data introduces unique vulnerabilities, particularly susceptibility to adversarial attacks, thus potentially compromising beam accuracy and overall network reliability. In this paper, we conduct the first systematic exploration of adversarial threats specifically targeting vision-based mmWave beam selection systems. Traditional white-box attacks are impractical in this context because ground-truth beam indices are inaccessible and spatial dynamics are complex. To address this, we propose a novel black-box adversarial attack strategy, termed Spatial Proxy Attack (SPA), which leverages spatial correlations between user positions and beam indices to craft effective perturbations without requiring access to model parameters or labels. To counteract these adversarial vulnerabilities, we formulate an optimization framework aimed at simultaneously enhancing beam selection accuracy under clean conditions and robustness against adversarial perturbations. We introduce a hybrid deep learning architecture integrated with a dedicated Feature Refinement Module (FRM), designed to systematically filter irrelevant, noisy and adversarially perturbed visual features. Evaluations using standard backbone models such as ResNet-50 and MobileNetV2 demonstrate that our proposed method significantly improves performance, achieving up to an +21.07\% gain in Top-K accuracy under clean conditions and a 41.31\% increase in Top-1 adversarial robustness compared to different baseline models.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2025

A Deep Incremental Framework for Multi-Service Multi-Modal Devices in NextG AI-RAN Systems

In this paper, we propose a deep incremental framework for efficient RAN management, introducing the Multi-Service-Modal UE (MSMU) system, which enables a single UE to handle eMBB and uRLLC services simultaneously. We formulate an optimization problem integrating traffic demand prediction, route optimization, RAN slicing, service identification, and radio resource management under uncertainty. We decompose it into long-term (L-SP) and short-term (S-SP) subproblems then propose a Transformer model for L-SP optimization, predicting eMBB and uRLLC traffic demands and optimizing routes for RAN slicing. To address non-stationary network traffic with evolving trends and scale variations, we integrate reversible instance normalization (ReVIN) into the forecasting pipeline. For the S-SP, we propose an LSTM model enabling real-time service type identification and resource management, utilizing L-SP predictions. We incorporate continual learning into the S-SP framework to adapt to new service types while preserving prior knowledge. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed framework achieves up to 46.86% reduction in traffic demand prediction error, 26.70% and 18.79% improvement in PRBs and power estimation, 7.23% higher route selection accuracy, and 7.29% improvement in service identification over the baselines with 95% average accuracy in continual service identification across seven sequential tasks.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2024

Federated Hybrid Training and Self-Adversarial Distillation: Towards Robust Edge Networks

Federated learning (FL) is a distributed training technology that enhances data privacy in mobile edge networks by allowing data owners to collaborate without transmitting raw data to the edge server. However, data heterogeneity and adversarial attacks pose challenges to develop an unbiased and robust global model for edge deployment. To address this, we propose Federated hyBrid Adversarial training and self-adversarial disTillation (FedBAT), a new framework designed to improve both robustness and generalization of the global model. FedBAT seamlessly integrates hybrid adversarial training and self-adversarial distillation into the conventional FL framework from data augmentation and feature distillation perspectives. From a data augmentation perspective, we propose hybrid adversarial training to defend against adversarial attacks by balancing accuracy and robustness through a weighted combination of standard and adversarial training. From a feature distillation perspective, we introduce a novel augmentation-invariant adversarial distillation method that aligns local adversarial features of augmented images with their corresponding unbiased global clean features. This alignment can effectively mitigate bias from data heterogeneity while enhancing both the robustness and generalization of the global model. Extensive experimental results across multiple datasets demonstrate that FedBAT yields comparable or superior performance gains in improving robustness while maintaining accuracy compared to several baselines.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2024

Cyber Attacks Prevention Towards Prosumer-based EV Charging Stations: An Edge-assisted Federated Prototype Knowledge Distillation Approach

In this paper, cyber-attack prevention for the prosumer-based electric vehicle (EV) charging stations (EVCSs) is investigated, which covers two aspects: 1) cyber-attack detection on prosumers' network traffic (NT) data, and 2) cyber-attack intervention. To establish an effective prevention mechanism, several challenges need to be tackled, for instance, the NT data per prosumer may be non-independent and identically distributed (non-IID), and the boundary between benign and malicious traffic becomes blurred. To this end, we propose an edge-assisted federated prototype knowledge distillation (E-FPKD) approach, where each client is deployed on a dedicated local edge server (DLES) and can report its availability for joining the federated learning (FL) process. Prior to the E-FPKD approach, to enhance accuracy, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient is adopted for feature selection. Regarding the proposed E-FPKD approach, we integrate the knowledge distillation and prototype aggregation technique into FL to deal with the non-IID challenge. To address the boundary issue, instead of directly calculating the distance between benign and malicious traffic, we consider maximizing the overall detection correctness of all prosumers (ODC), which can mitigate the computational cost compared with the former way. After detection, a rule-based method will be triggered at each DLES for cyber-attack intervention. Experimental analysis demonstrates that the proposed E-FPKD can achieve the largest ODC on NSL-KDD, UNSW-NB15, and IoTID20 datasets in both binary and multi-class classification, compared with baselines. For instance, the ODC for IoTID20 obtained via the proposed method is separately 0.3782% and 4.4471% greater than FedProto and FedAU in multi-class classification.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2024

Semantic Communication Enabled 6G-NTN Framework: A Novel Denoising and Gateway Hop Integration Mechanism

The sixth-generation (6G) non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) are crucial for real-time monitoring in critical applications like disaster relief. However, limited bandwidth, latency, rain attenuation, long propagation delays, and co-channel interference pose challenges to efficient satellite communication. Therefore, semantic communication (SC) has emerged as a promising solution to improve transmission efficiency and address these issues. In this paper, we explore the potential of SC as a bandwidth-efficient, latency-minimizing strategy specifically suited to 6G satellite communications. While existing SC methods have demonstrated efficacy in direct satellite-terrestrial transmissions, they encounter limitations in satellite networks due to distortion accumulation across gateway hop-relays. Additionally, certain ground users (GUs) experience poor signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), making direct satellite communication challenging. To address these issues, we propose a novel framework that optimizes gateway hop-relay selection for GUs with low SNR and integrates gateway-based denoising mechanisms to ensure high-quality-of-service (QoS) in satellite-based SC networks. This approach directly mitigates distortion, leading to significant improvements in satellite service performance by delivering customized services tailored to the unique signal conditions of each GU. Our findings represent a critical advancement in reliable and efficient data transmission from the Earth observation satellites, thereby enabling fast and effective responses to urgent events. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed strategy significantly enhances overall network performance, outperforming conventional methods by offering tailored communication services based on specific GU conditions.

cs.ET↗

arXiv2024

Active STAR-RIS Empowered Edge System for Enhanced Energy Efficiency and Task Management

The proliferation of data-intensive and low-latency applications has driven the development of multi-access edge computing (MEC) as a viable solution to meet the increasing demands for high-performance computing and storage capabilities at the network edge. Despite the benefits of MEC, challenges such as obstructions cause non-line-of-sight (NLoS) communication to persist. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) and the more advanced simultaneously transmitting and reflecting (STAR)-RISs have emerged to address these challenges; however, practical limitations and multiplicative fading effects hinder their efficacy. We propose an active STAR-RIS-assisted MEC system to overcome these obstacles, leveraging the advantages of active STAR-RIS. The main contributions consist of formulating an optimization problem to minimize energy consumption with task queue stability by jointly optimizing the partial task offloading, amplitude, phase shift coefficients, amplification coefficients, transmit power of the base station (BS), and admitted tasks. Furthermore, we decompose the non-convex problem into manageable sub-problems, employing sequential fractional programming for transmit power control, convex optimization technique for task offloading, and Lyapunov optimization with double deep Q-network (DDQN) for joint amplitude, phase shift, amplification, and task admission. Extensive performance evaluations demonstrate the superiority of the proposed system over benchmark schemes, highlighting its potential for enhancing MEC system performance. Numerical results indicate that our proposed system outperforms the conventional STAR-RIS-assisted by 18.64\% and the conventional RIS-assisted system by 30.43\%, respectively.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2024

Optimizing Multi-User Semantic Communication via Transfer Learning and Knowledge Distillation

Semantic communication, notable for ensuring quality of service by jointly optimizing source and channel coding, effectively extracts data semantics, reduces transmission length, and mitigates channel noise. However, most studies overlook multi-user scenarios and resource availability, limiting real-world application. This paper addresses this gap by focusing on downlink communication from a base station to multiple users with varying computing capacities. Users employ variants of Swin transformer models for source decoding and a simple architecture for channel decoding. We propose a novel training regimen, incorporating transfer learning and knowledge distillation to improve low-computing users' performance. Extensive simulations validate the proposed methods.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2024

Advancing Ultra-Reliable 6G: Transformer and Semantic Localization Empowered Robust Beamforming in Millimeter-Wave Communications

Advancements in 6G wireless technology have elevated the importance of beamforming, especially for attaining ultra-high data rates via millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency deployment. Although promising, mmWave bands require substantial beam training to achieve precise beamforming. While initial deep learning models that use RGB camera images demonstrated promise in reducing beam training overhead, their performance suffers due to sensitivity to lighting and environmental variations. Due to this sensitivity, Quality of Service (QoS) fluctuates, eventually affecting the stability and dependability of networks in dynamic environments. This emphasizes a critical need for robust solutions. This paper proposes a robust beamforming technique to ensure consistent QoS under varying environmental conditions. An optimization problem has been formulated to maximize users' data rates. To solve the formulated NP-hard optimization problem, we decompose it into two subproblems: the semantic localization problem and the optimal beam selection problem. To solve the semantic localization problem, we propose a novel method that leverages the K-means clustering and YOLOv8 model. To solve the beam selection problem, we propose a novel lightweight hybrid architecture that combines a lightweight transformer with a CNN architecture through a weighted entropy mechanism. This hybrid architecture utilizes multimodal data sources to dynamically predict the optimal beams. A novel metric, Accuracy-Complexity Efficiency (ACE), has been proposed to quantify this. Six testing scenarios have been developed to evaluate the robustness of the proposed model. Finally, the simulation result demonstrates that the proposed model outperforms several state-of-the-art baselines regarding beam prediction accuracy, received power, and ACE in the developed test scenarios.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2024

Data Service Maximization in Space-Air-Ground Integrated 6G Networks

Integrating terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks has emerged as a promising paradigm to fulfill the constantly growing demand for connectivity, low transmission delay, and quality of services (QoS). This integration brings together the strengths of the reliability of terrestrial networks, broad coverage and service continuity of non-terrestrial networks like low earth orbit satellites (LEOSats), etc. In this work, we study a data service maximization problem in space-air-ground integrated network (SAGIN) where the ground base stations (GBSs) and LEOSats cooperatively serve the coexisting aerial users (AUs) and ground users (GUs). Then, by considering the spectrum scarcity, interference, and QoS requirements of the users, we jointly optimize the user association, AU's trajectory, and power allocation. To tackle the formulated mixed-integer non-convex problem, we disintegrate it into two subproblems: 1) user association problem and 2) trajectory and power allocation problem. We formulate the user association problem as a binary integer programming problem and solve it by using the Gurobi optimizer. Meanwhile, the trajectory and power allocation problem is solved by the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) method to cope with the problem's non-convexity and dynamic network environments. Then, the two subproblems are alternately solved by the proposed block coordinate descent algorithm. By comparing with the baselines in the existing literature, extensive simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed framework.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2024

Transformers with Attentive Federated Aggregation for Time Series Stock Forecasting

Recent innovations in transformers have shown their superior performance in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV). The ability to capture long-range dependencies and interactions in sequential data has also triggered a great interest in time series modeling, leading to the widespread use of transformers in many time series applications. However, being the most common and crucial application, the adaptation of transformers to time series forecasting has remained limited, with both promising and inconsistent results. In contrast to the challenges in NLP and CV, time series problems not only add the complexity of order or temporal dependence among input sequences but also consider trend, level, and seasonality information that much of this data is valuable for decision making. The conventional training scheme has shown deficiencies regarding model overfitting, data scarcity, and privacy issues when working with transformers for a forecasting task. In this work, we propose attentive federated transformers for time series stock forecasting with better performance while preserving the privacy of participating enterprises. Empirical results on various stock data from the Yahoo! Finance website indicate the superiority of our proposed scheme in dealing with the above challenges and data heterogeneity in federated learning.

q-fin.ST↗

arXiv2021

Collaboration in the Sky: A Distributed Framework for Task Offloading and Resource Allocation in Multi-Access Edge Computing

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) assisted multi-access edge computing (MEC) systems emerged as a promising solution for providing computation services to mobile users outside of terrestrial infrastructure coverage. As each UAV operates independently, however, it is challenging to meet the computation demands of the mobile users due to the limited computing capacity at the UAV's MEC server as well as the UAV's energy constraint. Therefore, collaboration among UAVs is needed. In this paper, a collaborative multi-UAV-assisted MEC system integrated with a MEC-enabled terrestrial base station (BS) is proposed. Then, the problem of minimizing the total latency experienced by the mobile users in the proposed system is studied by optimizing the offloading decision as well as the allocation of communication and computing resources while satisfying the energy constraints of both mobile users and UAVs. The proposed problem is shown to be a non-convex, mixed-integer nonlinear problem (MINLP) that is intractable. Therefore, the formulated problem is decomposed into three subproblems: i) users tasks offloading decision problem, ii) communication resource allocation problem and iii) UAV-assisted MEC decision problem. Then, the Lagrangian relaxation and alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) methods are applied to solve the decomposed problems, alternatively. Simulation results show that the proposed approach reduces the average latency by up to 40.7\% and 4.3\% compared to the greedy and exhaustive search methods.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2021

Energy-aware Resource Management for Federated Learning in Multi-access Edge Computing Systems

In Federated Learning (FL), a global statistical model is developed by encouraging mobile users to perform the model training on their local data and aggregating the output local model parameters in an iterative manner. However, due to limited energy and computation capability at the mobile devices, the performance of the model training is always at stake to meet the objective of local energy minimization. In this regard, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC)-enabled FL addresses the tradeoff between the model performance and the energy consumption of the mobile devices by allowing users to offload a portion of their local dataset to an edge server for the model training. Since the edge server has high computation capability, the time consumption of the model training at the edge server is insignificant. However, the time consumption for dataset offloading from mobile users to the edge server has a significant impact on the total time consumption. Thus, resource management in MEC-enabled FL is challenging, where the objective is to reduce the total time consumption while saving the energy consumption of the mobile devices. In this paper, we formulate an energy-aware resource management for MEC-enabled FL in which the model training loss and the total time consumption are jointly minimized, while considering the energy limitation of mobile devices. In addition, we recast the formulated problem as a Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problem (GNEP) to capture the coupling constraints between the radio resource management and dataset offloading. We then analyze the impact of the dataset offloading and computing resource allocation on the model training loss, time, and the energy consumption.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2020

Latency-sensitive Service Delivery with UAV-Assisted 5G Networks

In this letter, a novel framework to deliver critical spread out URLLC services deploying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in an out-of-coverage area is developed. To this end, the resource optimization problem, i.e., resource blocks (RBs) and power allocation, and optimal UAV deployment strategy are studied for UAV-assisted 5G networks to jointly maximize the average sum-rate and minimize the transmit power of UAV while satisfying the URLLC requirements. To cope with the sporadic URLLC traffic problem, an efficient online URLLC traffic prediction model based on Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) is proposed which derives optimal URLLC scheduling and transmit power strategy. The formulated problem is revealed as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP), which is solved following the introduced successive minimization algorithm. Finally, simulation results are provided to show our proposed solution approach's efficiency.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2020

Ruin Theory for Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation in UAV-assisted Cellular Networks

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can provide an effective solution for improving the coverage, capacity, and the overall performance of terrestrial wireless cellular networks. In particular, UAV-assisted cellular networks can meet the stringent performance requirements of the fifth generation new radio (5G NR) applications. In this paper, the problem of energy-efficient resource allocation in UAV-assisted cellular networks is studied under the reliability and latency constraints of 5G NR applications. The framework of ruin theory is employed to allow solar-powered UAVs to capture the dynamics of harvested and consumed energies. First, the surplus power of every UAV is modeled, and then it is used to compute the probability of ruin of the UAVs. The probability of ruin denotes the vulnerability of draining out the power of a UAV. Next, the probability of ruin is used for efficient user association with each UAV. Then, power allocation for 5G NR applications is performed to maximize the achievable network rate using the water-filling approach. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed ruin-based scheme can enhance the flight duration up to 61% and the number of served users in a UAV flight by up to 58\%, compared to a baseline SINR-based scheme.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2019

Radio Resource Allocation in 5G New Radio: A Neural Networks Based Approach)

The minimum frequency-time unit that can be allocated to User Equipments (UEs) in the fifth generation (5G) cellular networks is a Resource Block (RB). A RB is a channel composed of a set of OFDM subcarriers for a given time slot duration. 5G New Radio (NR) allows for a large number of block shapes ranging from 15 kHz to 480 kHz. In this paper, we address the problem of RBs allocation to UEs. The RBs are allocated at the beginning of each time slot based on the channel state of each UE. The problem is formulated based on the Generalized Proportional Fair (GPF) scheduling. Then, we model the problem as a 2-Dimension Hopfield Neural Networks (2D-HNN). Finally, in an attempt to solve the problem, the energy function of 2D-HNN is investigated. Simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed approach.

cs.NI↗