IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society最新文献

{"title":"Integrated Sensing and Communication for Blockage Detection in V2X Networks","authors":"Saleemullah Memon;Ali Krayani;Pamela Zontone;Lucio Marcenaro;David Martín Gómez;Carlo Regazzoni","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3652319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3652319","url":null,"abstract":"The integration of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication paradigms with sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks and artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks enables ultra-reliable, low-latency communication, which is essential for real-time decision-making in autonomous vehicles (AVs) and smart cities. Proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors allow AVs to perceive both their internal states and external surroundings, ensuring rapid responses to critical events. Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) enhances this capability by jointly leveraging perception and communication, enabling V2X systems to adapt intelligently to real-time emergencies. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic, data-driven, hierarchical, interactive, and explainable approach for an intelligent agent, i.e., a base station (BS), to learn the dynamic environmental perception from the 3D LiDAR point clouds and the strength of radio-frequency (RF) power signals between the connected BS and vehicles. An interactive coupled Markov jump particle filter (IC-MJPF) is proposed in the inference phase to leverage the probabilistic information provided by an interactive coupled generalized dynamic Bayesian network (IC-GDBN) to predict various types of LiDAR and RF power blockages, as well as to detect real-time abnormalities in an unsupervised manner arising from dynamic environmental changes. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach consistently outperforms existing baseline studies, achieving superior performance in terms of blockage detection accuracy within 50 milliseconds across various blockage situations. These findings underscore the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed framework in addressing both physical and digital blockage challenges within the ISAC domain for connected V2X networks.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"559-582"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11340648","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146026617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"TTD-Based Hybrid Beamforming for Multi-User Near-Field Communications: A Riemannian Optimization Approach","authors":"Damir Salakhov;Nikola Zlatanov;Alexey Frolov;Manjesh Kumar Hanawal","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3651840","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3651840","url":null,"abstract":"Near-field wideband communication systems, empowered by extra-large scale antenna arrays (ELAAs), face a fundamental challenge: the spatial beam split effect due to frequency-flat analog beamformers. To mitigate this, true-time delay (TTD) based hybrid beamforming architectures have been proposed. Optimizing this architecture remains difficult due to non-convex constraints and frequency-selective channels. In this work, we propose a Riemannian optimization framework for hybrid analog-digital beamforming in fully-connected TTD-based architectures. We formulate the beamformer design as a constrained matrix approximation problem over product manifolds, incorporating unit-modulus constraints and realistic hardware limitations. A tailored Riemannian gradient descent algorithm is developed to efficiently approximate the fully-digital solution across all subcarriers. Through extensive numerical evaluations in near-field multi-user settings, the proposed method consistently delivers superior spectral efficiency and substantially reduced computational complexity relative to existing approaches across a broad frequency band.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"583-597"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11339963","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146026591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"AoI-Aware HAPS-Aided Multi-Agent Framework for Resource Management in V2X Networks","authors":"Ahmet Melih Ince;Ayse Elif Canbilen;Halim Yanikomeroglu","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3651027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3651027","url":null,"abstract":"In the dynamic landscape of wireless communication systems, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS) technology heralds a new era of connectivity solutions. The HAPS ensures uninterrupted operation even under challenging conditions where connectivity via terrestrial networks is unavailable. This approach effectively supports real-time applications by dynamically optimizing resource allocation and communication modes. Considering that, this research addresses the strategic integration of HAPS into vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks. Specifically, multiple autonomous platoons using V2X technology distribute cooperative awareness messages (CAMs) to their followers, attempting to ensure the timely delivery of safety-critical messages not only to the roadside unit (RSU) but also to the HAPS, introducing link-level redundancy to the wireless network. We formulate a multi-objective optimization problem to minimize the age of information (AoI) and power consumption while maximizing the probability of CAM delivery rate. We utilize a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) based resource allocation framework, where each platoon leader (PL) acts as an agent and interacts with the environment to learn its optimal policy. In this framework, based on a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm, in addition to a local critic trained to predict the individual reward of each PL, a global critic is also trained to predict the global expected reward and motivate PLs to cooperative behavior. The presented simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of HAPS integration in the considered V2X scenario and the superiority of the proposed algorithm over benchmark algorithms in terms of AoI and power consumption performance.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"598-613"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11329056","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146026542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"UAV Flight and Trajectory Control for Surveillance Camera Imaging and Wireless Communication Joint Optimization","authors":"Jang-Geun Yoo;Jong-Moon Chung","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2025.3646206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2025.3646206","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the joint optimization of camera control, target acquisition, trajectory planning, and transmission scheduling for surveillance uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) that provide various imaging and delivery services, such as traffic monitoring and security. The objective of the proposed UAV flight and trajectory control for surveillance camera imaging and communication (UTSCC) scheme is to capture images of designated ground targets and deliver the image data to requesting user equipment (UE) within specified deadlines. The UTSCC scheme attempts to maximize the total amount of successfully delivered target data considering realistic characteristics of the camera, UAV trajectory, transmission schedule, and selected targets. The developed framework makes decisions of the target acquisition and transmission scheduling using the exact penalty method (EPM) and applies non-convex optimization of the camera tilt angle and UAV trajectory using successive convex approximation (SCA) considering deadlines for UE delivery. The UTSCC scheme is designed to be practical for real-world UAV surveillance operations, where the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing schemes in terms of delivery performance and overall system efficiency.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"182-195"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11327452","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145929603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimizing UAV Placement With Spatial Threat Exclusion for Secure and Energy-Efficient Wireless Communications","authors":"Faisal Al-Kamali;Francois Chan;James H. Bayes;Claude D’Amours","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3650906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3650906","url":null,"abstract":"Wireless communications in military and civilian applications demand robust security and energy efficiency against evolving threats. This paper presents a novel strategy for optimizing UAV placement via spatial threat exclusion to achieve secure and energy-efficient links without relying on threat channel state information or complex signal processing techniques like beamforming or artificial noise. Our approach is motivated by the inherent alignment between covertness and interference mitigation; it is therefore equally applicable to interference scenarios, enhancing security by lowering detection risk and improving energy efficiency by reducing the communication distance between the UAV and the base station (BS). To ensure robustness, the model is developed for a conservative coverage-edge scenario, which represents the worst-case condition for both signal quality and secrecy, thereby serving as a lower-bound performance benchmark. The proposed method combines closed-form solutions for initial placement with iterative refinements, enabling real-time adaptation to dynamic threat mobility without extra hardware or computational burden. Two algorithms are developed: first for a single-threat, single-user scenario and then extended to multi-threat, multi-user settings. <xref>Algorithm 1</xref> is a computationally efficient, quadratic difference-based method for rapid deployment, while <xref>Algorithm 2</xref> is an inverse quadratic penalty-based technique for threat avoidance in dynamic environments. Simulation results for both scenarios confirm that the proposed algorithms consistently achieve positive secrecy rates across diverse propagation environments while yielding significant energy and time savings compared to an optimal-placement baseline. A comparative evaluation with a particle swarm optimization (PSO) baseline further demonstrates that our algorithms match optimal performance with substantially lower computational overhead.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"539-558"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11329043","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145982369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toward a Multi-Layer Defence Framework for Securing Near-Real-Time Operations in Open RAN","authors":"Hamed Alimohammadi;Samara Mayhoub;Sotiris Chatzimiltis;Mohammad Shojafar;Muhammad Nasir Mumtaz Bhutta","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2025.3650736","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2025.3650736","url":null,"abstract":"Securing the near-real-time (near-RT) control operations in Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) is increasingly critical, yet remains insufficiently addressed, as new runtime threats target the control loop while the system is operational. In this paper, we propose a multi-layer defence framework designed to enhance the security of near-RT RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) operations. We classify operational-time threats into three categories—message-level, data-level, and control logic-level—and design and implement a dedicated detection and mitigation component for each: a signature-based E2 message inspection module performing structural and semantic validation of signalling exchanges, a telemetry poisoning detector based on temporal anomaly scoring using an LSTM network, and a runtime xApp attestation mechanism based on an execution-time hash challenge–response. The framework is evaluated on an Open RAN testbed comprising FlexRIC and a commercial RAN emulator, demonstrating effective detection rates, low latency overheads, and practical integration feasibility. Results indicate that the proposed safeguards can operate within near-RT time constraints while significantly improving protection against runtime attacks, introducing less than 80 ms overhead for a network with 500 User Equipment (UEs). Overall, this work lays the foundation for deployable, layered, and policy-driven runtime security architectures for the near-RT RIC control loop in Open RAN, and provides an extensible framework into which future mitigation policies and threat-specific modules can be integrated.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"480-497"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11322785","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145982353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unified Framework and Comparative Analysis of Delay-Doppler Communication Systems","authors":"Sangeeta Nalluru;Kuntal Deka;Sanjeev Sharma;A. Rajesh","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3687858","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3687858","url":null,"abstract":"Delay-Doppler (DD) system translates a time-varying channel into quasi-static time invariant channel by modulating the information in DD domain. This serves as a core principle behind orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) and orthogonal delay Doppler multiplexing (ODDM), the two prominent DD systems. A comparison of inverse symplectic finite Fourier transform (ISFFT-OTFS) and Zak-OTFS is already presented in the DD literature. But such a comparison between Zak-OTFS and ODDM remained as a research gap. In this paper, we proposed a unified framework for modeling and analyzing of any DD system. Specifically, we investigate five representative schemes: (ISFFT-OTFS), continuous Zak transform-based OTFS (CZT-OTFS), discrete Zak transform-based OTFS (DZT-OTFS), continuous ODDM (C-ODDM) and discrete ODDM (D-ODDM). A generalized approach is introduced to construct time-domain basis functions from sub-pulse trains for any DD system. Using this, we formulated two such structures namely the constant phase pulsone (CPP) and varying phase pulsone (VPP). Later we mathematically showed that CPP and VPP captures the Zak processing techniques and DD domain multicarrier processing respectively. Using the definitions of CPP and VPP we showed that D-ODDM and DZT-OTFS are equivalent and phase sampled C-ODDM is CZT-OTFS. We also concluded that as the number of delay bins <inline-formula> <tex-math>$M$ </tex-math></inline-formula> increases, the performance gap between C-ODDM and CZT-OTFS decreases. Then we analyzed the interference of CPP and VPP by examining the fraction of minimally interfered symbols as a function of normalized Doppler shift. Results indicate that VPP experiences significantly lower interference than CPP. We also establish structural relationships among DD systems by comparing their time-domain basis functions and DD representations. Moreover, we evaluate the diversity gain of each system variant under a doubly dispersive channel. Among all DD schemes, C-ODDM exhibits superior diversity and error performance due to effective decoupling of delay and Doppler. These observations are validated through both analytical derivations and numerical simulations.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"4312-4331"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11495179","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147796114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Privacy-Preserving Mechanism for Smart Metering Against the Honest-but-Curious Utility","authors":"Tiago B. Castro;Helio N. Cunha Neto;Natalia C. Fernandes","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3686782","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3686782","url":null,"abstract":"In smart grids, traditional residential meters are replaced by smart meters, enabling bidirectional communication between users and energy utilities. However, residential metering data may compromise user privacy. Existing solutions employ data aggregation, homomorphic encryption, and pseudonymization to protect user privacy against external attackers; nevertheless, they do not address threats posed by internal attackers. This paper proposes a smart metering mechanism that protects user privacy against honest-but-curious utilities. The mechanism combines blind signatures for pseudonym authentication with decentralized data aggregation, preventing curious aggregators from constructing consumer profiles. The performance evaluation shows that the blind-signature model achieves intermediate CPU usage, typically 30%–50% lower than the partially homomorphic encryption and Shamir secret-sharing models. Overall, the proposed mechanism achieves a favorable balance between privacy guarantees and system performance under realistic threat models.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"4332-4351"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11494049","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147796195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"LLMs and IoT: A Comprehensive Survey on Large Language Models and the Internet of Things","authors":"Fatemeh Sarhaddi;Ngoc Thi Nguyen;Agustin Zuniga;Musfira Khan;Pan Hui;Sasu Tarkoma;Huber Flores;Petteri Nurmi","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3680064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3680064","url":null,"abstract":"The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a technological cornerstone, enabling highly interconnected systems that integrate billions of diverse devices. The combined data output of these devices is estimated at hundreds of exabytes per day. The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) presents new opportunities for managing these devices, processing the data they generate, and addressing the technological and societal challenges posed by IoT ecosystems. However, the integration of LLMs into IoT also introduces significant challenges. This article offers the most comprehensive survey to date on the integration of LLMs into IoT ecosystems. We cover various technical layers, including devices, software engineering, sensing, networking, data processing, privacy and security, and human interaction. We synthesize insights from more than 300 articles, identify open research gaps, and highlight promising future directions, ranging from semantic reasoning and communication to the integration of quantum computing. By addressing the characteristics, challenges, and opportunities associated with LLM integration, this article serves as a foundational resource for researchers and practitioners aiming to enhance IoT functionalities with LLMs while navigating the associated complexities.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"3585-3616"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11471851","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147665356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Performance Analysis of Coherent-State Quantum Optical Wireless Communication Over Turbulent Channels With Pointing Errors","authors":"Jyothisri Kodela;Hemanta Kumar Sahu","doi":"10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3683021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3683021","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the performance of coherent-state quantum optical wireless communication systems operating over atmospheric turbulence channels with pointing errors (PEs). The average error probability (AEP) and average achievable rate (AAR) are analyzed for on–off keying (OOK) and binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) signaling under photon-counting (PC), homodyne, and optimal Helstrom detection. The proposed framework jointly incorporates deterministic path loss, atmospheric turbulence, and PEs, and accommodates multiple statistical channel models, including Gamma-Gamma (GG), doubly inverted Gamma-Gamma (IGGG), and Fisher-Snedecor <inline-formula> <tex-math>$F$ </tex-math></inline-formula> distributions, within a unified analytical formulation. Closed-form expressions for AEP and AAR are derived via direct probability density function (PDF)-based integration of the conditional error probability, along with high-photon-number asymptotic approximations that provide insight into performance scaling behavior. Numerical results validate the analytical expressions and demonstrate the impact of PEs on system performance. The analysis further enables systematic comparison between classical and optimal quantum detection schemes and quantifies the achievable performance gains under different channel conditions. These results provide useful design insights for modulation and receiver selection in turbulent free-space optical (FSO) communication systems.","PeriodicalId":33803,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society","volume":"7 ","pages":"3745-3759"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11479291","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147696707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}