arXiv subjects

Petar Popovski

Publications and source records attributed to Petar Popovski.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Effective Communication: When to Pull Updates?

We study a pull-based communication system where a sensing agent updates an actuation agent using a query control policy, which is adjusted in the evolution of an observed information source and the usefulness of each update for achieving a specific goal. For that, a controller decides whether to pull an update at each slot, predicting what is probably occurring at the source and how much effective impact that update could have at the endpoint. Thus, temporal changes in the source evolution could modify the query arrivals so as to capture important updates. The amount of impact is determined by a grade of effectiveness (GoE) metric, which incorporates both freshness and usefulness attributes of the communicated updates. Applying an iterative algorithm, we derive query decisions that maximize the long-term average GoE for the communicated packets, subject to cost constraints. Our analytical and numerical results show that the proposed query policy exhibits higher effectiveness than existing periodic and probabilistic query policies for a wide range of query arrival rates.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2024

Scheduling for On-Board Federated Learning with Satellite Clusters

Mega-constellations of small satellites have evolved into a source of massive amount of valuable data. To manage this data efficiently, on-board federated learning (FL) enables satellites to train a machine learning (ML) model collaboratively without having to share the raw data. This paper introduces a scheme for scheduling on-board FL for constellations connected with intra-orbit inter-satellite links. The proposed scheme utilizes the predictable visibility pattern between satellites and ground station (GS), both at the individual satellite level and cumulatively within the entire orbit, to mitigate intermittent connectivity and best use of available time. To this end, two distinct schedulers are employed: one for coordinating the FL procedures among orbits, and the other for controlling those within each orbit. These two schedulers cooperatively determine the appropriate time to perform global updates in GS and then allocate suitable duration to satellites within each orbit for local training, proportional to usable time until next global update. This scheme leads to improved test accuracy within a shorter time.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2024

Goal-Oriented and Semantic Communication in 6G AI-Native Networks: The 6G-GOALS Approach

Recent advances in AI technologies have notably expanded device intelligence, fostering federation and cooperation among distributed AI agents. These advancements impose new requirements on future 6G mobile network architectures. To meet these demands, it is essential to transcend classical boundaries and integrate communication, computation, control, and intelligence. This paper presents the 6G-GOALS approach to goal-oriented and semantic communications for AI-Native 6G Networks. The proposed approach incorporates semantic, pragmatic, and goal-oriented communication into AI-native technologies, aiming to facilitate information exchange between intelligent agents in a more relevant, effective, and timely manner, thereby optimizing bandwidth, latency, energy, and electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation. The focus is on distilling data to its most relevant form and terse representation, aligning with the source's intent or the destination's objectives and context, or serving a specific goal. 6G-GOALS builds on three fundamental pillars: i) AI-enhanced semantic data representation, sensing, compression, and communication, ii) foundational AI reasoning and causal semantic data representation, contextual relevance, and value for goal-oriented effectiveness, and iii) sustainability enabled by more efficient wireless services. Finally, we illustrate two proof-of-concepts implementing semantic, goal-oriented, and pragmatic communication principles in near-future use cases. Our study covers the project's vision, methodologies, and potential impact.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Greedy Shapley Client Selection for Communication-Efficient Federated Learning

The standard client selection algorithms for Federated Learning (FL) are often unbiased and involve uniform random sampling of clients. This has been proven sub-optimal for fast convergence under practical settings characterized by significant heterogeneity in data distribution, computing, and communication resources across clients. For applications having timing constraints due to limited communication opportunities with the parameter server (PS), the client selection strategy is critical to complete model training within the fixed budget of communication rounds. To address this, we develop a biased client selection strategy, GreedyFed, that identifies and greedily selects the most contributing clients in each communication round. This method builds on a fast approximation algorithm for the Shapley Value at the PS, making the computation tractable for real-world applications with many clients. Compared to various client selection strategies on several real-world datasets, GreedyFed demonstrates fast and stable convergence with high accuracy under timing constraints and when imposing a higher degree of heterogeneity in data distribution, systems constraints, and privacy requirements.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2024

Generative Network Layer for Communication Systems with Artificial Intelligence

The traditional role of the network layer is the transfer of packet replicas from source to destination through intermediate network nodes. We present a generative network layer that uses Generative AI (GenAI) at intermediate or edge network nodes and analyze its impact on the required data rates in the network. We conduct a case study where the GenAI-aided nodes generate images from prompts that consist of substantially compressed latent representations. The results from network flow analyses under image quality constraints show that the generative network layer can achieve an improvement of more than 100% in terms of the required data rate.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2024

Quantized RIS-aided mmWave Massive MIMO Channel Estimation with Uniform Planar Arrays

In this paper, we investigate a cascaded channel estimation method for a millimeter wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system aided by a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) with the BS equipped with low-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), where the BS and the RIS are both equipped with a uniform planar array (UPA). Due to the sparse property of mmWave channel, the channel estimation can be solved as a compressed sensing (CS) problem. However, the low-resolution quantization cause severe information loss of signals, and traditional CS algorithms are unable to work well. To recovery the signal and the sparse angular domain channel from quantization, we introduce Bayesian inference and efficient vector approximate message passing (VAMP) algorithm to solve the quantize output CS problem. To further improve the efficiency of the VAMP algorithm, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based fast computation method is derived. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and the accuracy of the proposed cascaded channel estimation method for the RIS-aided mmWave massive MIMO system with few-bit ADCs. Furthermore, the proposed channel estimation method can reach an acceptable performance gap between the low-resolution ADCs and the infinite ADCs for the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which implies the applicability of few-bit ADCs in practice.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2024

Assessing the Potential of Space-Time-Coding Metasurfaces for Sensing and Localization

Intelligent metasurfaces are one of the favorite technologies for integrating sixth-generation (6G) networks, especially the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) that has been extensively researched in various applications. In this context, a feature that deserves further exploration is the frequency scattering that occurs when the elements are periodically switched, referred to as Space-Time-Coding metasurface (STCM) topology. This type of topology causes impairments to the established communication methods by generating undesirable interference both in frequency and space, which is worsened when using wideband signals. Nevertheless, it has the potential to bring forward useful features for sensing and localization. This work exploits STCM sensing capabilities in target detection, localization, and classification using narrowband downlink pilot signals at the base station (BS). The results of this novel approach reveal the ability to retrieve a scattering point (SP) localization within the sub-centimeter and sub-decimeter accuracy depending on the SP position in space. We also analyze the associated detection and classification probabilities, which show reliable detection performance in the whole analyzed environment. In contrast, the classification is bounded by physical constraints, and we conclude that this method presents a promising approach for future integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) protocols by providing a tool to perform sensing and localization services using legacy communication signals.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Near Real-Time Data-Driven Control of Virtual Reality Traffic in Open Radio Access Network

In mobile networks, Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) provides a framework for implementing network slicing that interacts with the resources at the lower layers. Both monitoring and Radio Access Network (RAN) control is feasible for both 4G and 5G systems. In this work, we consider how data-driven resource allocation in a 4G context can enable adaptive slice allocation to steer the experienced latency of Virtual Reality (VR) traffic towards a requested latency. We develop an xApp for the near real-time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) that embeds a heuristic algorithm for latency control, aiming to: (1) maintain latency of a VR stream around a requested value; and (2) improve the available RAN allocation to offer higher bit rate to another user. We have experimentally demonstrated the proposed approach in an ORAN testbed. Our results show that the data-driven approach can dynamically follow the variation of the traffic load while satisfying the required latency. This results in 15.8% more resources to secondary users than a latency-equivalent static allocation.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2024

Goal-Oriented Communication, Estimation, and Control over Bidirectional Wireless Links

We consider a wireless networked control system (WNCS) with bidirectional imperfect links for real-time applications such as smart grids. To maintain the stability of WNCS, captured by the probability that plant state violates preset values, at minimal cost, heterogeneous physical processes are monitored by multiple sensors. This status information, such as dynamic plant state and Markov Process-based context information, is then received/estimated by the controller for remote control. However, scheduling multiple sensors and designing the controller with limited resources is challenging due to their coupling, delay, and transmission loss. We formulate a Constrained Markov Decision Problem (CMDP) to minimize violation probability with cost constraints. We reveal the relationship between the goal and different updating actions by analyzing the significance of information that incorporates goal-related usefulness and contextual importance. Subsequently, a goal-oriented deterministic scheduling policy is proposed. Two sensing-assisted control strategies and a control-aware estimation policy are proposed to improve the violation probability-cost tradeoff, integrated with the scheduling policy to form a goal-oriented co-design framework. Additionally, we explore retransmission in downlink transmission and qualitatively analyze its preference scenario. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed goal-oriented co-design policy outperforms previous work in simultaneously reducing violation probability and cost

eess.SY↗

arXiv2024

Goal-Oriented Integration of Sensing, Communication, Computing, and Control for Mission-Critical Internet-of-Things

Driven by the development goal of network paradigm and demand for various functions in the sixth-generation (6G) mission-critical Internet-of-Things (MC-IoT), we foresee a goal-oriented integration of sensing, communication, computing, and control (GIS3C) in this paper. We first provide an overview of the tasks, requirements, and challenges of MC-IoT. Then we introduce an end-to-end GIS3C architecture, in which goal-oriented communication is leveraged to bridge and empower sensing, communication, control, and computing functionalities. By revealing the interplay among multiple subsystems in terms of key performance indicators and parameters, this paper introduces unified metrics, i.e., task completion effectiveness and cost, to facilitate S3C co-design in MC-IoT. The preliminary results demonstrate the benefits of GIS3C in improving task completion effectiveness while reducing costs. We also identify and highlight the gaps and challenges in applying GIS3C in the future 6G networks.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2023

On-board Federated Learning for Satellite Clusters with Inter-Satellite Links

The emergence of mega-constellations of interconnected satellites has a major impact on the integration of cellular wireless and non-terrestrial networks, while simultaneously offering previously inconceivable data gathering capabilities. This paper studies the problem of running a federated learning (FL) algorithm within low Earth orbit satellite constellations connected with intra-orbit inter-satellite links (ISL), aiming to efficiently process collected data in situ. Satellites apply on-board machine learning and transmit local parameters to the parameter server (PS). The main contribution is a novel approach to enhance FL in satellite constellations using intra-orbit ISLs. The key idea is to rely on predictability of satellite visits to create a system design in which ISLs mitigate the impact of intermittent connectivity and transmit aggregated parameters to the PS. We first devise a synchronous FL, which is extended towards an asynchronous FL for the case of sparse satellite visits to the PS. An efficient use of the satellite resources is attained by sparsification-based compression the aggregated parameters within each orbit. Performance is evaluated in terms of accuracy and required data transmission size. We observe a sevenfold increase in convergence speed over the state-of-the-art using ISLs, and $10\times$ reduction in communication load through the proposed in-network aggregation strategy.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

Control Aspects for Using RIS in Latency-Constrained Mobile Edge Computing

This paper investigates the role and the impact of control operations for dynamic mobile edge computing (MEC) empowered by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs), in which multiple devices offload their computation tasks to an access point (AP) equipped with an edge server (ES), with the help of the RIS. While usually ignored, the control aspects related to channel estimation (CE), resource allocation (RA), and control signaling play a fundamental role in the user-perceived delay and energy consumption. In general, the higher the resources involved in the control operations, the higher their reliability; however, this introduces an overhead, which reduces the number of resources available for computation offloading, possibly increasing the overall latency experienced. Conversely, a lower control overhead translates to more resources available for computation offloading but impacts the CE accuracy and RA flexibility. This paper establishes a basic framework for integrating the impact of control operations in the performance evaluation of the RIS-aided MEC paradigm, clarifying their trade-offs through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2023

Heterogeneous radio access with multiple latency targets

Since the advent of ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), the requirements of low-latency applications tend to be completely characterized by a single pre-defined latency-reliability target. That is, operation is optimal whenever the pre-defined latency threshold is met but the system is assumed to be in error when the latency threshold is violated. This vision is severely limited and does not capture the real requirements of most applications, where multiple latency thresholds can be defined, together with incentives or rewards associated with meeting each of them. Such formulation is a generalization of the single-threshold case popularized by URLLC and, in the asymptotic case, approximates to defining a cost for each point in the support of the latency distribution. In this paper, we explore the implications of defining multiple latency targets on the design of access protocols and on the optimization of repetition-based access strategies in orthogonal and non-orthogonal multiple access scenarios with users that present heterogeneous traffic characteristics and requirements. We observe that the access strategies of the users can be effectively adapted to the requirements of the application by carefully defining the latency targets and the associated rewards.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

On-board Change Detection for Resource-efficient Earth Observation with LEO Satellites

The amount of data generated by Earth observation satellites can be enormous, which poses a great challenge to the satellite-to-ground connections with limited rate. This paper considers problem of efficient downlink communication of multi-spectral satellite images for Earth observation using change detection. The proposed method for image processing consists of the joint design of cloud removal and change encoding, which can be seen as an instance of semantic communication, as it encodes important information, such as changed multi-spectral pixels (MPs), while aiming to minimize energy consumption. It comprises a three-stage end-to-end scoring mechanism that determines the importance of each MP before deciding its transmission. Specifically, the sensing image is (1) standardized, (2) passed through a high-performance cloud filtering via the Cloud-Net model, and (3) passed to the proposed scoring algorithm that uses Change-Net to identify MPs that have a high likelihood of being changed, compress them and forward the result to the ground station. The experimental results indicate that the proposed framework is effective in optimizing energy usage while preserving high-quality data transmission in satellite-based Earth observation applications.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2023

Value-Based Reinforcement Learning for Digital Twins in Cloud Computing

The setup considered in the paper consists of sensors in a Networked Control System that are used to build a digital twin (DT) model of the system dynamics. The focus is on control, scheduling, and resource allocation for sensory observation to ensure timely delivery to the DT model deployed in the cloud. Low latency and communication timeliness are instrumental in ensuring that the DT model can accurately estimate and predict system states. However, acquiring data for efficient state estimation and control computing poses a non-trivial problem given the limited network resources, partial state vector information, and measurement errors encountered at distributed sensors. We propose the REinforcement learning and Variational Extended Kalman filter with Robust Belief (REVERB), which leverages a reinforcement learning solution combined with a Value of Information-based algorithm for performing optimal control and selecting the most informative sensors to satisfy the prediction accuracy of DT. Numerical results demonstrate that the DT platform can offer satisfactory performance while reducing the communication overhead up to five times.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2023

Channel Scheduling for IoT Access with Spatial Correlation

Spatially correlated device activation is a typical feature of the Internet of Things (IoT). This motivates the development of channel scheduling (CS) methods that mitigate device collisions efficiently in such scenarios, which constitutes the scope of this work. Specifically, we present a quadratic program (QP) formulation for the CS problem considering the joint activation probabilities among devices. This formulation allows the devices to stochastically select the transmit channels, thus, leading to a soft-clustering approach. We prove that the optimal QP solution can only be attained when it is transformed into a hard-clustering problem, leading to a pure integer QP, which we transform into a pure integer linear program (PILP). We leverage the branch-and-cut (B&C) algorithm to solve PILP optimally. Due to the high computational cost of B&C, we resort to some sub-optimal clustering methods with low computational costs to tackle the clustering problem in CS. Our findings demonstrate that the CS strategy, sourced from B&C, significantly outperforms those derived from sub-optimal clustering methods, even amidst increased device correlation.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

On the Impact of Control Signaling in RIS-Empowered Wireless Communications

The research on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) has dominantly been focused on physical-layer aspects and analyses of the achievable adaptation of the wireless propagation environment. Compared to that, questions related to system-level integration of RISs have received less attention. We address this research gap by analyzing the necessary control/signaling operations that are necessary to integrate RIS as a new type of wireless infrastructure element. We build a general model for evaluating the impact of control operations along two dimensions: i) the allocated bandwidth of the control channels (in-band and out-of-band), and ii) the rate selection for the data channel (multiplexing or diversity). Specifically, the second dimension results in two generic transmission schemes, one based on channel estimation and the subsequent optimization of the RIS, while the other is based on sweeping through predefined RIS phase configurations. We analyze the communication performance in multiple setups built along these two dimensions. While necessarily simplified, our analysis reveals the basic trade-offs in RIS-assisted communication and the associated control operations. The main contribution of the paper is a methodology for systematic evaluation of the control overhead in RIS-aided networks, regardless of the specific control schemes used.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

Private Product Computation using Quantum Entanglement

In this work, we show that a pair of entangled qubits can be used to compute a product privately. More precisely, two participants with a private input from a finite field can perform local operations on a shared, Bell-like quantum state, and when these qubits are later sent to a third participant, the third participant can determine the product of the inputs, but without learning more about the individual inputs. We give a concrete way to realize this product computation for arbitrary finite fields of prime order.

quant-ph↗