Call for Papers

Multiple access techniques in 6Gare envisioned to efficiently cope with the high throughput, heterogeneity of QoS, ultra-reliability, low latency, and massive connectivity requirements of future multi-antenna wireless networks. Recently, rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) based on rate-splitting (RS) is recognized as a more general and powerful transmission framework for the design and optimization of non-orthogonal transmission, multiple access, and interference management strategies. By splitting user messages into common and private parts at the transmitter, and partially decoding interference and treating remaining part of the interference as noise, RSMA enables to softly bridge and therefore reconcile the two extreme interference management strategies of treating interference as noise (as commonly used in 4G/5G, multi-user MIMO, coordinated multipoint-CoMP, massive MIMO, millimetre wave MIMO) and fully decoding interference (as in non-orthogonal multiple access-NOMA). Recent research progress has shown that RSMA provides significant room for spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, coverage, user fairness, reliability, QoS enhancements in a wide range of network loads and user deployments, robustness against imperfect channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) and user mobility, as well as feedback overhead, complexity, and latency reduction over conventional strategies used in 5G. The appealing capabilities make RSMA an excellent candidate for 6G.

This Special Issue focuses on the theory, design, optimization and applications of RSMA and any other potential multiple access (MA) techniques in many different scenarios relevant to wireless communication and signal processing for 6G. It aims at bringing together researchers, industry practitioners, and individuals working on the related areas to share their new ideas, latest findings, and state-of-the-art results.

Original technical contributions are solicited in the relevant areas including, but not limited to, the following:

• Rate-splitting multiple access to generalize SDMA and NOMA
• (RS)MA to achieve the fundamental limits of wireless networks
• (RS)MA for multi-user/multi-cell multi-antenna networks such as MU-MIMO, massive MIMO, networked MIMO
• (RS)MA-based robust interference management
• (RS)MA to generalize existing multiple access strategies
• Physical layer design of (RS)MA
• Cross-layer design, optimization and performance analysis of (RS)MA
• Coding and modulation for (RS)MA
• Physical layer security for (RS)MA
• (RS)MA for millimetre wave and terahertz communications
• (RS)MA in cloud-enabled platforms such as cloud-radio access networks (C-RAN), fog-radio access networks (F-RAN) and wireless caching
• (RS)MA in coordinated multiple point (CoMP), cooperative communications, relaying
• (RS)MA in cognitive radio
• (RS)MA in intelligent reflecting surfaces
• (RS)MA in vehicle-to-everything (V2X), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and satellite networks
• (RS)MA in integrated space–air–ground networks
• (RS)MA in integrated communications and sensing
• (RS)MA in wireless powered communications
• (RS)MA in beyond 5G (B5G) services such as enhanced eMBB, enhanced URLLC, enhanced MTC, massive MTC
• (RS)MA in Internet-of-Things (IoT) networks
• (RS)MA in artificial intelligence-empowered wireless communication networks
• Implementation and standardization of (RS)MA

Authors are strongly invited to contrast their proposed MA techniques with the state-of-the-art, e.g. merely comparing OMA to NOMA is not sufficient.

Submission Guidelines

Prospective authors should submit their manuscripts following the IEEE OJCOMS guidelines. Authors should submit a manuscript through Manuscript Central according to the following schedule:

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 December 2022 (Extended Deadline)
Publication Date: Second Quarter 2023

Lead Guest Editor

Zhaohui Yang, Zhejiang University, China

Guest Editors

Miaowen Wen, South China University of Technology, China
Mingzhe Chen, University of Miami, USA
Fan Wang, Shanghai Huawei Technology Co Ltd, China
Aydin Sezgin, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
Yijie (Lina) Mao, ShanghaiTech University, China
Bruno Clerckx, Imperial College London, UK