Foundations of Goal-Oriented Semantic Communication in Intelligent Networks

Dear Colleagues,

With continued momentum around the deployment of 5G technologies, research communities in communications, control, and networking have already started looking at the requirements and technology components for the next generation of intelligent networks.  In the envisioned beyond-5G era, it is expected that data demands will continue to rapidly increase, leading to a world where everything is to be sensed and endowed with connected intelligence, fueled by the interconnection of myriad autonomous devices (robots, vehicles, drones, etc.). Consider, for example, data aggregated by an autonomous vehicle starting from at least 700 Mbit/s, whereas industrial Internet of Things deployments may deal with the transmission of 1 Gbit/s of aggregated data for remote actuation and digital twins. Gradually, wireless connectivity will become a true commodity that will serve a plethora of arising societal-scale applications such as consumer robotics, environmental monitoring and healthcare.

On the other hand, wireless connectivity is traditionally seen as a non-transparent data pipe carrying information whose importance, impact and usefulness for achieving a specific task have been deliberately set aside. This communication paradigm, although suitable for classical communication, is inefficient and inadequate to support the staggering amount of data and the timely communication needs of the next generation of intelligent networks. Therefore, it is vital to elevate wireless networks to generate, process and attempt to convey excessive real-time data using a new communication paradigm that accounts for the semantic goal-oriented importance of information that is generated, processed, transmitted, and utilized. 

In this Special Issue, we will consolidate the latest ideas and findings on the applications and theory of semantics and goal-oriented communications for networked intelligent systems.

Dr. Photios A. Stavrou
Dr. Giulia Cervia
Dr. Serkan Sarıtaş
Dr. Nikolaos Pappas
Guest Editors

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