Published Papers

Semantic Communications for Wireless Sensing: RIS-aided Encoding and Self-supervised Decoding

Published: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications , May, 2023

We propose the inverse semantic communications as a new paradigm. Instead of extracting semantic information from messages, we aim to encode the taskrelated source messages into a hyper-source message for data transmission or storage. Following this paradigm, we design an inverse semantic-aware wireless sensing framework with three algorithms for data sampling, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided encoding, and self-supervised decoding, respectively. Using the sensing data collected from real-world, we show that our framework can reduce the data volume by 95% compared to that before encoding, without affecting the accomplishment of sensing tasks.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiacheng Wang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Junshan Zhang. "Semantic Communications for Wireless Sensing: RIS-aided Encoding and Self-supervised Decoding." IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, arXiv:2211.12727 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.12727

On The Robustness of Channel Allocation in Joint Radar And Communication Systems: An Auction Approach

Published: IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing , May, 2023

We develop a covert JRC system that minimizes the detection probability by wardens, in which friendly jammers are deployed to improve the covertness of the JRC nodes during radar sensing and data transmission operations. Furthermore, we propose a robust multi-item auction design for channel allocation for such a JRC system that considers the uncertainty in bids.

Citation: Lotfi, Ismail, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Sumei Sun, and Dong In Kim. "On The Robustness of Channel Allocation in Joint Radar And Communication Systems: An Auction Approach." IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing arXiv:2208.09821 (2023).
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10128730

AI-Generated Incentive Mechanism and Full-Duplex Semantic Communications for Information Sharing

Published: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications , April, 2023

We analyze the performance of full-duplex D2D communications, including the achievable rate and bit error probability, by using generalized small-scale fading models. To facilitate semantic information sharing among users, we design a contract theoretic AI-generated incentive mechanism. The proposed diffusion model generates the optimal contract design, outperforming two deep reinforcement learning algorithms.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiacheng Wang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Dong In Kim. "AI-Generated Incentive Mechanism and Full-Duplex Semantic Communications for Information Sharing." IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (2023).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.01896

Extremely Large Scale MIMO: Fundamentals, Challenges, Solutions, and Future Directions

Published: IEEE Wireless Communications , April, 2023

To illustrate the differences and similarities among these schemes, we comprehensively review existing XL-MIMO hardware designs and characteristics in this article. Then, we thoroughly discuss the research status of XL-MIMO from “channel modeling”, “performance analysis”, and “signal processing”.

Citation: Wang, Zhe, Jiayi Zhang, Hongyang Du, Wei EI Sha, Bo Ai, Dusit Niyato, and Mérouane Debbah. "Extremely Large-Scale MIMO: Fundamentals, Challenges, Solutions, and Future Directions." IEEE Wireless Communications, arXiv preprint arXiv:2209.12131 (2023).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.12131

Slicing4Meta: An Intelligent Integration Framework with Multi-dimensional Network Resources for Metaverse-as-a-Service in Web 3.0

Published: IEEE Communications Magazine , April, 2023

To provide scalable subscription solutions for Metaverse services, we propose a new concept, named Metaverse-as-a-Service (MaaS), in which various physical-virtual components and technologies in the Metaverse can be delivered as services. Furthermore, to unify the management and orchestration of MaaS, we propose a novel framework, called Slicing4Meta, to customize Metaverse services by intelligently integrating MaaS models and the associated multi-dimensional resources on the components and technologies.

Citation: Yi-Jing Liu, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Gang Feng, Jiawen Kang, and Zehui Xiong. "Slicing4Meta: An Intelligent Integration Framework with Multi-dimensional Network Resources for Metaverse-as-a-Service in Web 3.0." IEEE Communications Magazine, preprint arXiv:2208.06081 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.06081

Rethinking Wireless Communication Security in Semantic Internet of Things

Published: IEEE Wireless Communications , March, 2023

We analyze and compare classical security techniques, i.e., physical layer security, covert communications, and encryption, from the perspective of semantic information security. We highlight the differences among these security techniques when applied to the SIoT. Novel performance indicators such as semantic secrecy outage probability (for physical layer security techniques) and detection failure probability (for covert communication techniques) are proposed.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiacheng Wang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Mohsen Guizani, and Dong In Kim. "Rethinking Wireless Communication Security in Semantic Internet of Things." arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.04474 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.11289.pdf

Semantic Communication-Based Dynamic Resource Allocation in D2D Vehicular Networks

Published: IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology , March, 2023

In high-dynamic vehicular networks, the transmission of semantic information faces challenges in terms of reliability and stability. To address these challenges, a long-term robust resource allocation scheme is proposed under the Device-to-Device (D2D) vehicular (D2D-V) networks, where multiple performance indicators (user satisfaction, queue stability, and communication delay) are considered.

Citation: Jiawei Su, Zhixin Liu, Yuan-ai Xie, Kai Ma, Hongyang Du, Jiawen Kang, and Dusit Niyato. "Semantic Communication-Based Dynamic Resource Allocation in D2D Vehicular Networks." IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (2023).
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10073623?casa_token=8ojvmbirhSEAAAAA:rkhim4gBFsdlFFqtb9m93kcMsxkYM-PZBFWxgt4eCweLDUvyanka-ZE-Nei3PzA89dabEn021Q

Attention-aware Resource Allocation and QoE Analysis for Metaverse xURLLC Services

Published: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications , March, 2023

We develop an attention-aware rendering capacity allocation scheme to improve QoE in Metaverse xURLLC services. Using a user-object-attention level dataset, we validate that the xURLLC can achieve an average of 20.1% QoE improvement compared to the conventional URLLC.

Citation: Du, Hongyang, Jiazhen Liu, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Junshan Zhang, and Dong In Kim. "Attention-aware resource allocation and qoe analysis for metaverse xurllc services." IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 2023.
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05438

Enabling AI Generated Content (AIGC) Services in Wireless Edge Networks

Published: IEEE Wireless Communications , January, 2023

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research work to discuss the deployments, aforementioned challenges, and future directions of AI-Generated Content (AIGC) in wireless edge networks. We propose a general and effective model to illustrate the relationship between computational resources and user-perceived quality evaluation metrics. We propose a deep reinforcement learning-enabled algorithm for the optimal AIGC service provider (ASP) selection.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Zonghang Li, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Dong In Kim. "Enabling AI-Generated Content (AIGC) Services in Wireless Edge Networks." arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.03220 (2023).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.03220

A Unified Blockchain Semantic Framework for Wireless Edge Intelligence Enabled Web 3.0

Published: IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine , January, 2023

We propose a unified blockchain-semantic ecosystems framework for wireless edge intelligence-enabled Web 3.0. Our framework consists of six key components to exchange semantic demands.

Citation: Lin, Yijing, Zhipeng Gao, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Ruilong Deng, and Xuemin Sherman Shen. "A Unified Blockchain-Semantic Framework for Wireless Edge Intelligence Enabled Web 3.0." IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.15130 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.15130

Economics of Semantic Communication System: An Auction Approach

Published: IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology , December, 2022

We propose an incentive design framework for the semantic model trading and semantic information trading to support the deployment of semantic communication systems. We model the competition in the semantic model trading and semantic information trading with auction mechanisms. We propose an effective feature reduction method for data transmission under a limited data transfer budget.

Citation: Zi Qin Liew, Hongyang Du, Wei Yang Bryan Lim, Zehui Xiong, Dusit Niyato, Chunyan Miao, and Dong In Kim. "Economics of Semantic Communication System: An Auction Approach." IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.05040 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05040

A Blockchain-based Semantic Exchange Framework for Web 3.0 toward Participatory Economy

Published: IEEE Communications Magazine , December, 2022

We propose a blockchain-based semantic exchange framework to realize fair and efficient interactions. We first tokenize semantic information into Non-Fungible Token (NFT) for semantic exchange. Then we utilize a Stackelberg game to maximize buying and pricing strategies for semantic trading. We leverage Zero-Knowledge Proof to share authentic semantic information without publishing it before receiving payments.

Citation: Yijing Lin, Zhipeng Gao, Yaofeng Tu, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, and Hui Yang. "A Blockchain-based Semantic Exchange Framework for Web 3.0 toward Participatory Economy." arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.16662 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.16662

Semantic-aware Sensing Information Transmission for Metaverse: A Contest Theoretic Approach

Published: IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications , November, 2022

We propose a semantic transmission framework for transmitting sensing information from the physical world to Metaverse. Leveraging the in-depth understanding of sensing information, we define the semantic bases, through which the semantic encoding of sensing data is achieved for the first time. To further improve Metaverse service quality, we introduce contest theory to create an incentive mechanism that motivates users to upload data more frequently

Citation: Jiacheng Wang, Hongyang Du, Zengshan Tian, Dusit Niyato, and Jiawen Kang. "Semantic-aware sensing information transmission for metaverse: A contest theoretic approach." IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.12783 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.15130

Exploring Attention-Aware Network Resource Allocation for Customized Metaverse Services

Published: IEEE Network , November, 2022

To make efficient use of network resources and improve the Quality-of-Experience (QoE), we design an attention-aware network resource allocation scheme to achieve customized Metaverse services. The aim is to allocate more network resources to virtual objects in which users are more interested.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiacheng Wang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Xuemin (Sherman) Shen, and Dong In Kim. "Exploring attention-aware network resource allocation for customized metaverse services.", to appear, IEEE Network, 2022.
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.00369

RIS-Aided 6G Communication System With Accurate Traceable User Mobility

Published: IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology , October, 2022

We study a timevarying RIS-aided millimeter wave (mmWave) system, a robust complex-valued extended Kalman filter method is proposed to tackle the beam alignment problem. More specifically, the proposed scheme achieves 17% performance gain compared to conventional training-based method.

Citation: Zhang, Peng, Jiayi Zhang, Huahua Xiao, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, and Bo Ai. "RIS-Aided 6G Communication System With Accurate Traceable User Mobility." IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, to appear, 2022.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9920168

Performance Analysis and Optimization for Jammer-Aided Multi-Antenna UAV Covert Communication

Published: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications , August, 2022

To protect user privacy while avoiding detection by a warden, we investigate a jammer-aided UAV covert communication system, which aims to maximize the user’s covert rate with optimized transmit and jamming power. The covert rate maximization problem is formulated as a Nash bargaining game, and the Nash bargaining solution is introduced to investigate the negotiation among users.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Yuanai Xie, Yanyu Cheng, Jiawen Kang, and Dong In Kim, "Performance Analysis and Optimization for Jammer-Aided Multi-Antenna UAV Covert Communication," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 40, pp. 2962-2979, Oct, 2022.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9849051

Rethinking Quality of Experience for Metaverse Services: A Consumer-based Economics Perspective

Published: IEEE Network , July, 2022

Pioneering from consumers’ point of view, we explore an interaction between Metaverse system design and consumer behaviors. Specifically, we rethink QoE and propose an framework that encompasses both the Metaverse service providers (MSPs) and consumer considerations.

Citation: Du, Hongyang, Bohao Ma, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Zhaohui Yang. "Rethinking Quality of Experience for Metaverse Services: A Consumer-based Economics Perspective." IEEE Network, arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.01076 (2022).
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.01076

Performance and Optimization of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided THz Communications

Published: IEEE Transactions on Communications , May, 2022

We investigate the RIS-aided THz communications. We first prove that the small-scale amplitude fading of THz signals can be accurately modeled by the fluctuating two-ray distribution based on two THz signal measurement experiments conducted in a variety of different scenarios. To optimize the phase-shifts at the RIS elements, we propose a novel swarm intelligence-based method that does not require full channel estimation.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Ke Guan, Dusit Niyato, Huiying Jiao, Zhiqin Wang, and Thomas Kürner, "Performance and Optimization of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided THz Communications," IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 70, pp. 3575-3593, May, 2022
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9743437

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Aided Joint Radar and Covert Communications: Fundamentals, Optimization, and Challenges

Published: IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine , May, 2022

We apply covert communication into the joint radar and communication system and propose a joint radar and covert communication (JRCC) system to achieve high spectrum utilization and secure data transmission simultaneously. Considering that the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) can change the signal propagation smartly to improve the networks performance with low cost, we then overview fundamental concepts of JRCC and RIS and propose the RIS-aided JRCC system design.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiawen Kang, Dusit Niyato, Jiayi Zhang, and Dong In Kim. "Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Aided Joint Radar and Covert Communications: Fundamentals, Optimization, and Challenges." IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 17, pp. 54-64, Mar., 2022
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9768334

Covert Communication for Jammer-aided Multi-Antenna UAV Networks

Published: In IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) , May, 2022

We investigate a jammer-aided UAV covert communication system, aiming to maximize the user’s covert rate with optimized transmit and jamming power.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Yuan-ai Xie, Yanyu Cheng, Jiawen Kang, and Dong In Kim. "Covert Communication for Jammer-aided Multi-Antenna UAV Networks." In IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), pp. 91-96., 2022.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9838318

Personalized Saliency-Based Task-Oriented Semantic Communications: Architecture Design and Performance Analysis

Published: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications , March, 2022

We propose an energy-efficient task-oriented semantic communication framework with a triple-based scene graph for image information. We then design a personalized semantic encoder based on user interests to meet the requirements of personalized saliency. We study the effects of dynamic wireless fading channel on semantic transmission mathematically and thus design an optimal multi-user resource allocation scheme by using game theory.

Citation: Jiawen Kang, Hongyang Du, Zonghang Li, Zehui Xiong, Shiyao Ma, Dusit Niyato, and Yuan Li. "Personalized Saliency-Based Task-Oriented Semantic Communications: Architecture Design and Performance Analysis." IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, pp. 186-201, Nov. 2022.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9959884

Optimal targeted advertising strategy for secure wireless edge metaverse

Published: In IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) , January, 2022

we design a privacy preserving targeted advertising strategy for the wireless edge Metaverse. Specifically, a Metaverse service provider (MSP) allocates bandwidth to the VR users so that the users can access Metaverse from edge access points. To protect users’ privacy, the covert communication technique is used in the downlink. Then, the MSP can offer high-quality access services to earn more profits.

Citation: Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Dong In Kim, and Chunyan Miao. "Optimal Targeted Advertising Strategy For Secure Wireless Edge Metaverse." In IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), 2022.
Paper Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.00511

Outage Probability of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided THz Communications

Published: IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC) , July, 2021

With the help of the recently proposed reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) technology, we investigate a RIS-aided THz communication system.

Citation: Huahua Xiao, Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Ke Guan, and Bo Ai. “Outage Probability of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided THz Communications.” In IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC), pp. 415-420., 2021.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9580430

Physical Layer Security Enhancement With Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Aided Networks

Published: IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security , May, 2021

We study the physical layer security of the downlink RIS-aided transmission framework for randomly located users in the presence of a multi-antenna eavesdropper. To show the advantages of RIS-aided networks, we consider two practical scenarios: Communication with and without RIS. In both cases, we apply the stochastic geometry theory to derive exact probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio.

Citation: Jiayi Zhang, Hongyang Du, Qiang Sun, Bo Ai, and Derrick Wing Kwan Ng, "Physical layer security enhancement with reconfigurable intelligent surface-aided networks," IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, vol. 16, pp. 3480-3495, May 2021.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9439833

Millimeter wave communications with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces: Performance analysis and optimization

Published: IEEE Transactions on Communications , January, 2021

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Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Julian Cheng, and Bo Ai, "Millimeter wave communications with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces: Performance analysis and optimization," IEEE Transactions on Communications (Impact Factor: 6.166), vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 2752–2768, Apr. 2021.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9324795

Performance analysis of 5G mobile relay systems for high-speed trains

Published: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications , June, 2020

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Citation: Jiayi Zhang, Hongyang Du, Peng Zhang, Julian Cheng, and Liang Yang, “Performance Analysis of 5G Mobile Relay Systems for High-Speed Trains,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Impact Factor: 13.081), vol. 638, no. 12, pp. 2760-2772, Dec. 2020.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9127464

Sum of Fisher-Snedecor F Random Variables and Its Applications

Published: IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society , March, 2020

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Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Julian Cheng, and Bo Ai, "Sum of Fisher-Snedecor F Random Variables and Its Applications," IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 1, pp. 342–356, Mar. 2020.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9044870

On the Distribution of the Ratio of Products of Fisher-Snedecor Random Variables and Its Applications

Published: IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (Impact Factor: 6.239) , December, 2019

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Citation: Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Kostas P. Peppas, Hui Zhao, Bo Ai and Xiaodan Zhang, "On the Distribution of the Ratio of Products of Fisher-Snedecor F Random Variables and Its Applications," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 69, no. 2, pp. 1855-1866, Feb. 2020.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8939132

Wireless Powered UAV Relay Communications over the Fisher-Snedecoer F Fading Channels

Published: IEEE VTC2019-Fall , May, 2019

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Citation: Peng Zhang, Hongyang Du, Yiyu Cao, and Jiayi Zhang, “Wireless Powered UAV Relay Communications over the Fisher-Snedecor F Fading Channels,” In 2019 IEEE 90th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2019-Fall), pp. 1-5, 2019.
Paper Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8891477/