Goal-Oriented Communication: Freshness, Semantics, and Beyond
A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Information Theory, Probability and Statistics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 4 June 2025 | Viewed by 1063
Special Issue Editors
Interests: information theory; networks; distributed learning; age of information; resilience and scalability
2. Department of Computer and Information Systems, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Interests: information theory; networking; internet of things; machine learning
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Goal-oriented communication represents a paradigm shift from traditional communication networks, which prioritize bit-level accuracy, towards achieving specific tasks with a focus on efficiency, relevance, and timeliness. This framework addresses the growing demands of IoT, cyber–physical systems, and upcoming 6G infrastructures, aiming to transfer only the information needed to fulfill a desired objective.
The concept of freshness has evolved over the past decade with the metric Age of Information (AoI), which assesses the timeliness of information in decision-making and control. As research has progressed, the metric has expanded to include the Semantics of Information (SoI), which shifts the focus from information timeliness to the significance of information, enhancing decision-making processes by prioritizing data that are not only timely but also purpose-driven and contextually significant. Metrics such as the Value of Information (VoI) and Age of Incorrect Information (AoII) partially illustrate the SoI. In relation to the SoI, estimation theory seeks to infer unknown states from observed data. While traditional estimation focuses on minimizing error variance, integrating semantics means emphasizing estimation outcomes that enhance system performance. Incorporating AI/ML-based methods into these metrics is another dimension of research that allows one to not only design tailored optimization algorithms and protocols, but also to understand the relationships among metrics and their impact on goal-oriented communications.
We invite contributions in but not limited to the following areas:
- Age and Semantics of Information in multi-agent systems;
- Freshness and semantic-aware remote estimation in networked systems;
- Distributed learning for goal-oriented communications;
- Freshness and semantic-oriented massive access in IoT;
- Freshness and semantic-based dynamic resource allocation;
- Theoretical relationships among freshness, semantics, and estimations.
Dr. Xingran Chen
Dr. Shirin Saeedi Bidokhti
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- goal-oriented communications
- age of information
- semantics of information
- estimation
- distributed learning
- IoT
- 6G
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