Abstract

As we stand on the brink of 6G, we are witnessing major technological advancements and paradigm shifts that are propelling us into the future. 6G is poised to redefine wireless communication, promising unprecedented data rates that will exceed terabits per second, ultra-low latency of the order of microseconds to enable near-instantaneous responses, ultra-massive device connectivity exceeding 107 million devices per square kilometer to enable the Internet of Everything, and seamless integration with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum communication, holographic communication, and augmented reality.  In particular and in contrast to previous generations, 6G will revolutionize wireless from “connected things” to “connected intelligence”, enabling interconnections between humans, things, and intelligence within a deeply intertwined and hyper-connected cyber-physical world, characterized by the integration of communications, intelligence, sensing, control, and computing.  To achieve this, 6G must overcome formidable and complex challenges that must be addressed to realize its full potential. In this talk, we begin by putting forward 6G vision with a focus on the challenges, roadmap, and opportunities.  We will then describe some of the important technologies and innovations that are needed to meet the demands of future wireless networks and guarantee broadband ubiquitous communications of all things, including human-to-machine and machine-to-machine, for a connected world.  Of particular interest is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for supporting connected intelligence and optimizing resource allocation problems in wireless networks.

Bio

Dr. Letaief is an internationally recognized leader in wireless communications and networks with research interest in artificial intelligence, mobile edge computing, tactile Internet, and 6G systems.  He is a Member of the United States National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, and Member of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is also recognized by Thomson Reuters as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher with over 49,000 citations and h-index of 98 and was listed among the 2020 top 30 of AI 2000 Internet of Things Most Influential Scholars.

He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.  He is the recipient of many distinguished awards and honors including the 2022 IEEE Edwin Howard Armstrong Achievement Award; 2021 IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive Networks Recognition Award; 2021 IEEE Communications Society Best Survey Paper Award; 2019 IEEE Communications Society and Information Theory Society Joint Paper Award; 2018 IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award, 2016 IEEE Marconi Prize Paper Award in Wireless Communications, 2011 IEEE Communications Society Harold Sobol Award, 2010 Purdue University Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer Award; and 2007 IEEE Communications Society Joseph LoCicero Publications Exemplary Award.

He is well recognized for his dedicated service to professional societies and in particular IEEE where he has served in many leadership positions.  These include the IEEE Communications Society President, the world's leading organization for communications professionals with headquarter in New York City and members in 162 countries. Since 1993, he has been with HKUST (ranked No. 20 worldwide according to the 2021 QS World’s Top Universities in Engineering & Technology) where he has held many administrative positions, including Acting Provost, Dean of Engineering, and Head of the Electronic and Computer Engineering department.  He is currently serving as member of the IEEE Board of Directors.

Dr. Letaief received the BS degree with distinction, MS and Ph.D. Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University at West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

Abstract

A rapid increase in the use of wireless services over the last few decades has led to the problem of radio-frequency (RF) spectrum exhaustion. More specifically, due to this RF spectrum scarcity, additional RF bandwidth allocation, as utilized in the recent past over "traditional bands", is not anymore enough to fulfill the demand for more wireless applications and higher data rates. The talk goes first over the potential offered by extreme band communication (XB-Com) systems to relieve spectrum scarcity.  Indeed, mm-wave, THz, and free space optics broadband wireless systems recently attracted several research interests worldwide due to the progress in electronics and photonics technologies. By utilizing these extreme frequency bands and employing extreme large bandwidths, the 6G target data rates over 100 Gbps could be achieved. The talk then summarizes (i) some of the challenges that need to be surpassed before such kinds of systems can be deployed and (ii) some of on-going activities in this area in order to achieve this goal.

Bio

Mohamed-Slim Alouini was born in Tunis,  Tunisia. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical  Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1998. He served as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota then in the Texas A&M University at Qatar before joining in 2009 the  King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) where he is now a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prof. Alouini is a Fellow of the IEEE and OPTICA (Formerly the Optical Society of America (OSA)). He is currently particularly interested in addressing the technical challenges associated with the uneven distribution, access to, and use of information and communication technologies in rural, low-income, disaster, and/or hard-to-reach areas.