Wireless Communications and Symmetries

A special issue of Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1164

Special Issue Editors


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Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Av Chapultepec # 1570, San Luis Potosi 78295, SLP, Mexico
Interests: RIS-assisted MIMO systems; index modulatio; multiuser detection; media-based modulation; IA

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Department of Computing and Industries, Universidad Católica del Maule, Maule, Chile
Interests: machine learning applied; fingerprint and palm vein biometrics; visible light systems (LiFi); OFDM-based systems
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Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Álvaro del Portillo 49, Zapopan 45010, Mexico
Interests: digital signal processing; modeling communication systems; embedded systems; MIMO; channels simulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The unprecedented growth of data traffic, driven by the proliferation of connected devices and bandwidth-intensive applications, has accelerated the development of next-generation wireless communication systems. These systems are required to simultaneously satisfy stringent performance constraints, including ultra-high spectral efficiency, massive connectivity, ultra-low latency, high reliability, enhanced security and energy-efficient operation.

To address these challenges, modern wireless communication architectures rely on the tight integration of multiple advanced technologies, including massive and cell-free MIMO, integrated sensing and communication schemes and Artificial Intelligence-driven networks to modern networks such as The Internet of Things and the Internet of Everything, vehicular-to-everything and unmanned aerial vehicle communications.

By leveraging spatial, temporal, frequency and statistical symmetries, wireless systems can achieve significantly enhanced performance in terms of capacity, interference mitigation and energy efficiency. Symmetry principles arise naturally in antenna array configurations, channel models, modulation and coding schemes, multi-user transmission strategies and resource allocation mechanisms.

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive forum for original research contributions that investigate the theoretical foundations, algorithmic frameworks and practical implementations of symmetry-aware wireless communication systems.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Symmetry-aware design and analysis of MIMO, massive MIMO and cell-free MIMO communication systems.
  • Exploitation of spatial, temporal and statistical symmetries in next-generation wireless communication networks.
  • Symmetry in Artificial Intelligence-assisted and learning-based wireless communication systems, including model-driven and data-driven approaches.
  • Symmetric and asymmetric transmission strategies in non-terrestrial networks, including satellite communications and unmanned aerial vehicle-assisted systems.
  • Physical-layer security and symmetry.
  • Symmetry-based optimization and resource allocation schemes for wireless networks, including power control, beamforming and scheduling.

Dr. Francisco R. Castillo-Soria
Dr. David Zabala-Blanco
Prof. Dr. Jose Alberto Del Puerto Flores
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • artificial intelligence-assisted wireless communications
  • 6G
  • V2V/V2X communications
  • integrated sensing and communications
  • unmanned aerial vehicle communications

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 714 KB  
Article
A Teletraffic-Based Energy Efficiency Analysis of QoS-Constrained NOMA for Underlay Secondary Access: A Symmetry/Asymmetry Perspective
by Salvador Perez-Salgado, Luis Alberto Vásquez-Toledo, Enrique Rodriguez-Colina, Jose Alfredo Tirado-Mendez, Yanqueleth Molina-Tenorio and Alfonso Prieto-Guerrero
Symmetry 2026, 18(4), 630; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym18040630 - 9 Apr 2026
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Abstract
This paper develops a teletraffic-based energy-efficiency analysis of QoS-constrained NOMA using an order-statistics framework for underlay secondary-access operation. Throughput is derived from the ordered SIR distribution for an orthogonal reference and for NOMA under minimum-rate requirements. A linear base-station power model is then [...] Read more.
This paper develops a teletraffic-based energy-efficiency analysis of QoS-constrained NOMA using an order-statistics framework for underlay secondary-access operation. Throughput is derived from the ordered SIR distribution for an orthogonal reference and for NOMA under minimum-rate requirements. A linear base-station power model is then incorporated to define energy efficiency, including both transmit power and SIC-related processing. For the multiuser case, the analysis shows that QoS constraints impose a structural feasibility limit on the supported number of users, which is also approximated in closed form through the Lambert W function. By coupling this feasibility result with a birth–death teletraffic model, the average energy efficiency is obtained as a function of the offered load. The results show that stricter QoS requirements reduce energy efficiency, while NOMA preserves a wider feasible region than the orthogonal reference in the setting considered. From a symmetry/asymmetry perspective, the orthogonal reference provides a more symmetric access structure, whereas NOMA introduces asymmetry through user ordering, unequal power allocation, and SIC. The resulting framework links ordered-user operation, QoS feasibility, SIC-aware power consumption, and traffic dynamics in the energy-efficiency characterization of underlay secondary access. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Communications and Symmetries)
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29 pages, 707 KB  
Article
Symmetrical User Fairness in Asymmetric Indoor Channels: A Max–Min Framework for Joint Discrete RIS Partitioning and Power Allocation in NOMA Systems
by Periyakarupan Gurusamy Sivabalan Velmurugan, Vinoth Babu Kumaravelu, Arthi Murugadass, Agbotiname Lucky Imoize, Samarendra Nath Sur and Francisco R. Castillo Soria
Symmetry 2026, 18(4), 563; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym18040563 - 25 Mar 2026
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Abstract
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has emerged as a promising technique to enhance spectral efficiency and coverage in fifth- and sixth-generation wireless networks. However, asymmetric indoor propagation conditions characterized by heterogeneous line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) links often degrade user [...] Read more.
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has emerged as a promising technique to enhance spectral efficiency and coverage in fifth- and sixth-generation wireless networks. However, asymmetric indoor propagation conditions characterized by heterogeneous line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) links often degrade user fairness. This paper investigates a downlink RIS-assisted NOMA system under the standardized 3GPP indoor office (InH) channel model to address fairness-oriented design under realistic link-budget constraints. We formulate an optimization problem for max–min fairness that jointly considers discrete RIS element partitioning and NOMA power allocation to achieve a symmetrical allocation of quality of service (QoS). To enable efficient computation, the non-convex problem is transformed into an epigraph form and solved using a low-complexity, bisection-based quasi-convex optimization framework combined with enumeration over RIS partitions. Numerical results demonstrate significant fairness gains; for instance, doubling the RIS array size yields a substantial improvement in the ergodic max–min rate, corresponding to approximately a 66% gain at moderate transmit power levels. Furthermore, by accounting for practical impairments such as imperfect successive interference cancellation (iSIC), imperfect channel state information (iCSI), and RIS implementation losses, the results reveal that fairness-optimal operation consistently prioritizes the far user to overcome severe indoor NLoS attenuation. The proposed framework is also compared with alternating optimization (AO)-based RIS-NOMA, conventional RIS beamforming without partition and RIS-assisted orthogonal multiple access (OMA) schemes. Simulation results confirm that the proposed framework achieves low computational complexity, making it suitable for practical indoor wireless environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wireless Communications and Symmetries)
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