T7: Multi-Tier Computing in Decentralized 6G Communication Networks

Co-organizer: Aydin Sezgin, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Co-organizer: Hayssam Dahrouj, University of Sharjah, UAE
Co-organizer: Robert-Jeron Reifert, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

Abstract: This tutorial is intended to provide the audience with a broad vision of multi-tier computing for the sixth generation (6G) of wireless communication networks by emphasizing on their modeling, resource allocation challenges, and distributed management schemes. To best promote a fair digital service, the tutorial starts from traditional cloud-radio access networks (C-RANs), and then extends to multi-cloud radio access networks (MC-RANs), which already calls for a decentralized optimization approach given the inter-cloud communication limits. In an effort to achieve a digitally sustainable, energy efficient communication landscape, the tutorial further highlights that, through leveraging the power of the central cloud (CC), the close proximity of edge computers (ECs) to the marginalized areas, and the flexibility of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), a UAVaided hybrid CC/MEC architecture promises to handle the stringent latency and computation requirements of future network applications, e.g., extended reality (XR). The tutorial, in particular, focuses on physical layer resource allocation, advanced multiple access schemes, and user cooperation by harvesting the joint gains of cloud and mobile-edge computing under different setups. In each of the tutorial parts, we introduce new concepts to describe the corresponding system models, performance-enhancing methodologies, and techniques from optimization theory for wireless resource management. Backed up by numerical simulations, we illustrate the performance of the proposed architectures in terms of various metrics, namely, sum-rate, energy efficiency, fairness, scalability, and runtime. The tutorial seeks to convey the vision of well-managed resource allocation via multi-tier computing as a crucial factor towards serving future decentralized 6G applications.

Co-organizer’s Bios:

Aydin Sezgin

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Aydin Sezgin was born in 1975 in Kemah, Anatolia. He received the Dipl.-Ing. (M.S.) degree in communications engineering and the Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) degree in electrical engineering from the TFH Berlin in 2000 and the TU Berlin, in 2005, respectively. From 2001 to 2006, he was with the Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (HHI), Berlin. From 2006 to 2008, he was a Post-doc and Lecturer at the Information Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University. From 2008 to 2009, he was a Post-doc at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California Irvine. From 2009 to 2011, he was the Head of the Emmy-Noether-Research Group on Wireless Networks at the Ulm University. In 2011, he was professor at TU Darmstadt, Germany. He is currently a professor of Information Systems and Sciences at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.

Aydin is interested in signal processing, communication and information theory with focus on wireless networks. He has published several book chapters, more than 40 journal and 140 conference papers on these topics. He has co-authored a book on multi-way communications. He served as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2009-2014. Aydin is the winner of the ITG-sponsorship award in 2006. He is the first recipient of the prestigious Emmy-Noether grant by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in communication engineering in 2009. He has coauthored papers that received the Best Poster Award from the IEEE Communication Theory Workshop, in 2011, the Best Paper Award from ICCSPA, in 2015, and the Best Paper Award from ICC, in 2019.

Hayssam Dahrouj

Prof. Hayssam Dahrouj received his Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto (UofT), Canada, in 2010. Since August 2022, he has been with the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Sharjah, UAE, where he is currently an associate professor. Prior to that, he was with the Center of Excellence for NEOM Research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as a senior research scientist. From June 2015 to June 2020, he was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Effat University as an assistant professor, and a visiting scholar at the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) division at KAUST, where he also was a research associate between April 2014 and May 2015. Prior to joining KAUST, Prof. Dahrouj was an industrial postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, in collaboration with BLiNQ Networks Inc., Kanata, Canada, where he worked on developing practical solutions for the design of non-line-of sight wireless backhaul networks. His contributions to the field of backhaul networks led to a handful of relevant patents. During his doctoral studies at UofT, he pioneered the idea of coordinated beamforming as a means of minimizing intercell interference in a distributed fashion across multiple base stations. The journal paper on this subject was ranked second in the 2013 IEEE Marconi paper awards in wireless communications. Prof. Dahrouj is the recipient of both the faculty award of excellence in research, and the faculty award of excellence in teaching (at the university level) in May 2017. He is a senior member of the IEEE, an editor of the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, an associate editor of the Frontiers in Communications and Networks, and a lead-guest editor of the Frontiers special issue on Resource Allocation in Cloud-Radio Access Networks and Fog-Radio Access Networks for B5G Systems. His main research interests include 6G wireless systems, smart cities, integrated space-air-ground networks, machine learning for wireless communications, underwater communications, convex optimization, machine-learning-based optimization, and distributed algorithms.

Robert-Jeron Reifert

Robert-Jeron Reifert was born in 1997 in Kassel, Germany. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, in 2019 and 2021, respectively. He is one of the recipients of the Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies (VDE) Rhein-Ruhr graduate student award 2021. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Institute of Digital Communication Systems, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. His research interests include wireless communication systems, mixed criticality, and resilience in 6G communication networks and beyond.