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Semantic communication (SC) offers promising advancements in data transmission efficiency and reliability by focusing on delivering true meaning rather than solely binary bits of messages. However, privacy concerns in SC might become outstanding. Eavesdroppers equipped with advanced semantic coding models and extensive knowledge could be capable of correctly decoding and reasoning sensitive semantics from just a few stolen bits. To this end, this article explores utilizing knowledge to enhance data privacy in SC networks. Specifically, we first identify the potential attacks in SC based on the analysis of knowledge. Then, we propose a knowledge-assisted privacy preserving SC framework, which consists of a data transmission layer for precisely encoding and decoding source messages, and a knowledge management layer responsible for injecting appropriate knowledge into the transmission pair. Moreover, we elaborate on the transceiver design in the proposed SC framework to explain how knowledge should be utilized properly. Finally, some challenges of the proposed SC framework are discussed to expedite the practical implementation.

Hyperentangled states are highly efficient and resource economical. This is because they enhance the quantum information encoding capabilities due to the correlated engagement of more than one degree of freedom of the same quantum entity while keeping the physical resources at their minimum. Therefore, initially the photonic hyperentangled states have been explored extensively but the generation and respective manipulation of the atomic counterpart states are still limited to only few proposals. In this work, we propose a new and feasible scheme to engineer the atomic hyperentangled cluster and ring graph states invoking cavity QED technique for applicative relevance to quantum biology and quantum communications utilizing the complex quantum networks. These states are engineered using both external quantized momenta states and energy levels of neutral atoms under off-resonant and resonant Atomic Bragg Diffraction (ABD) technique. The study of dynamical capacity and potential efficiency have certainly enhanced the range of usefulness of these states. In order to assess the operational behavior of such states when subjected to a realistic noise environment has also been simulated, demonstrating long enough sustainability of the proposed states. Moreover, experimental feasibility of the proposed scheme has also been elucidated under the prevailing cavity-QED research scenario., Comment: Submitted to Physica Scripta

This paper jointly investigates user association (UA), mode selection (MS), and bandwidth allocation (BA) problems in a novel and practical next-generation cellular network where two modes of semantic communication (SemCom) and conventional bit communication (BitCom) coexist, namely hybrid semantic/bit communication network (HSB-Net). Concretely, we first identify a unified performance metric of message throughput for both SemCom and BitCom links. Next, we comprehensively develop a knowledge matching-aware two-stage tandem packet queuing model and theoretically derive the average packet loss ratio and queuing latency. Combined with several practical constraints, we then formulate a joint optimization problem for UA, MS, and BA to maximize the overall message throughput of HSB-Net. Afterward, we propose an optimal resource management strategy by employing a Lagrange primal-dual method and devising a preference list-based heuristic algorithm. Finally, numerical results validate the performance superiority of our proposed strategy compared with different benchmarks., Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication and will be presented in 2024 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GlobeCom 2024). arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2404.04162

The advent of Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) alongside the emergence of Open RAN (ORAN) architectures presents unprecedented challenges and opportunities in Radio Resource Management (RRM) for next-generation communication systems. This paper presents a comprehensive trade-off analysis of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) approaches designed to enhance URLLC performance within ORAN's flexible and dynamic framework. By investigating various DRL strategies for optimising RRM parameters, we explore the intricate balance between reliability, latency, and the newfound adaptability afforded by ORAN principles. Through extensive simulation results, our study compares the efficacy of different DRL models in achieving URLLC objectives in an ORAN context, highlighting the potential of DRL to navigate the complexities introduced by ORAN. The proposed study provides valuable insights into the practical implementation of DRL-based RRM solutions in ORAN-enabled wireless networks. It sheds light on the benefits and challenges of integrating DRL and ORAN for URLLC enhancements. Our findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on advancements in URLLC and ORAN, offering a roadmap for future research to pursue efficient, reliable, and flexible communication systems., Comment: The manuscript is currently being reviewed by IEEE Communications Magazine

This paper presents the design and comprehensive measurements of a compact high-gain 32 element planar antenna array covering the n257 (26.5-29.5 GHz) millimeter wave (mmWave) band. First an 8-element quasi-uniform linear array is designed using a series-fed topology with fan shaped beams for point-to-multipoint connectivity followed by a compact corporate series feed network to design high-gain directive array for point-to-point connectivity. The radiation patterns of both antenna arrays in the azimuth and elevation planes are measured across a 180 degrees span using an over-the-air (OTA) compact antenna test range (CATR) system with a single rotary positioner. Moreover the procedure for quantifying and measuring the gain of mmWave antenna arrays is demonstrated in detail. The peak measured gain of the planar array is 18.45 dBi at 28.5 GHz while the half-power beamwidth of the planar array in the elevation and azimuth planes varies between 11 to 13 degrees, and 23-27 degrees respectively within the 26.5-29.5 GHz range. The measurement results match well with the simulations. The designed antenna array is suitable for various emerging 5G and beyond mmWave applications such as fixed wireless access, mmWave near-field focusing, high-resolution radar systems, and the characterization of mmWave path loss and channel sounding in diverse indoor environments and smart factories., Comment: 11 Pages, 15 Figues, Orignalsubmission

Sentiment analysis is a key technology for companies and institutions to gauge public opinion on products, services or events. However, for large-scale sentiment analysis to be accessible to entities with modest computational resources, it needs to be performed in a resource-efficient way. While some efficient sentiment analysis systems exist, they tend to apply shallow heuristics, which do not take into account syntactic phenomena that can radically change sentiment. Conversely, alternatives that take syntax into account are computationally expensive. The SALSA project, funded by the European Research Council under a Proof-of-Concept Grant, aims to leverage recently-developed fast syntactic parsing techniques to build sentiment analysis systems that are lightweight and efficient, while still providing accuracy and explainability through the explicit use of syntax. We intend our approaches to be the backbone of a working product of interest for SMEs to use in production., Comment: Accepted for publication at SEPLN-CEDI2024: Seminar of the Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing at the 7th Spanish Conference on Informatics

Sentiment Analysis (SA) is a crucial aspect of Natural Language Processing (NLP), addressing subjective assessments in textual content. Syntactic parsing is useful in SA because explicit syntactic information can improve accuracy while providing explainability, but it tends to be a computational bottleneck in practice due to the slowness of parsing algorithms. This paper addresses said bottleneck by using a SEquence Labeling Syntactic Parser (SELSP) to inject syntax into SA. By treating dependency parsing as a sequence labeling problem, we greatly enhance the speed of syntax-based SA. SELSP is trained and evaluated on a ternary polarity classification task, demonstrating its faster performance and better accuracy in polarity prediction tasks compared to conventional parsers like Stanza and to heuristic approaches that use shallow syntactic rules for SA like VADER. This increased speed and improved accuracy make SELSP particularly appealing to SA practitioners in both research and industry. In addition, we test several sentiment dictionaries on our SELSP to see which one improves the performance in polarity prediction tasks. Moreover, we compare the SELSP with Transformer-based models trained on a 5-label classification task. The results show that dictionaries that capture polarity judgment variation provide better results than dictionaries that ignore polarity judgment variation. Moreover, we show that SELSP is considerably faster than Transformer-based models in polarity prediction tasks.

The CMSWEB cluster is pivotal to the activities of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, as it hosts critical services required for the operational needs of the CMS experiment. The security of these services and the corresponding data is crucial to CMS. Any malicious attack can compromise the availability of our services. Therefore, it is important to construct a robust security infrastructure. In this work, we discuss new security features introduced to the CMSWEB Kubernetes ("k8s") cluster. The new features include the implementation of network policies, deployment of Open Policy Agent (OPA), enforcement of OPA policies, and the integration of Vault. The network policies act as an inside-the-cluster firewall to limit the network communication between the pods to the minimum necessary, and its dynamic nature allows us to work with microservices. The OPA validates the objects against some custom-defined policies during create, update, and delete operations to further enhance security. Without recompiling or changing the configuration of the Kubernetes API server, it can apply customized policies on Kubernetes objects and their audit functionality enabling us to detect pre-existing conflicts and issues. Although Kubernetes incorporates the concepts of secrets, they are only base64 encoded and are not dynamically configured. This is where Vault comes into play: Vault dynamically secures, stores, and tightly controls access to sensitive data. This way, the secret information is encrypted, secured, and centralized, making it more scalable and easier to manage. Thus, the implementation of these three security features corroborate the enhanced security and reliability of the CMSWEB Kubernetes infrastructure., Comment: 26TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTING IN HIGH ENERGY & NUCLEAR PHYSICS - 2023

Denoising diffusion probabilistic models (DDPMs) have achieved unprecedented success in computer vision. However, they remain underutilized in medical imaging, a field crucial for disease diagnosis and treatment planning. This is primarily due to the high computational cost associated with (1) the use of large number of time steps (e.g., 1,000) in diffusion processes and (2) the increased dimensionality of medical images, which are often 3D or 4D. Training a diffusion model on medical images typically takes days to weeks, while sampling each image volume takes minutes to hours. To address this challenge, we introduce Fast-DDPM, a simple yet effective approach capable of improving training speed, sampling speed, and generation quality simultaneously. Unlike DDPM, which trains the image denoiser across 1,000 time steps, Fast-DDPM trains and samples using only 10 time steps. The key to our method lies in aligning the training and sampling procedures to optimize time-step utilization. Specifically, we introduced two efficient noise schedulers with 10 time steps: one with uniform time step sampling and another with non-uniform sampling. We evaluated Fast-DDPM across three medical image-to-image generation tasks: multi-image super-resolution, image denoising, and image-to-image translation. Fast-DDPM outperformed DDPM and current state-of-the-art methods based on convolutional networks and generative adversarial networks in all tasks. Additionally, Fast-DDPM reduced the training time to 0.2x and the sampling time to 0.01x compared to DDPM. Our code is publicly available at: https://github.com/mirthAI/Fast-DDPM.

During times of crisis, social media platforms play a crucial role in facilitating communication and coordinating resources. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, communities often rely on these platforms to share urgent pleas for help, extend support, and organize relief efforts. However, the overwhelming volume of conversations during such periods can escalate to unprecedented levels, necessitating the automated identification and matching of requests and offers to streamline relief operations. Additionally, there is a notable absence of studies conducted in multi-lingual settings, despite the fact that any geographical area can have a diverse linguistic population. Therefore, we propose CReMa (Crisis Response Matcher), a systematic approach that integrates textual, temporal, and spatial features to address the challenges of effectively identifying and matching requests and offers on social media platforms during emergencies. Our approach utilizes a crisis-specific pre-trained model and a multi-lingual embedding space. We emulate human decision-making to compute temporal and spatial features and non-linearly weigh the textual features. The results from our experiments are promising, outperforming strong baselines. Additionally, we introduce a novel multi-lingual dataset simulating help-seeking and offering assistance on social media in 16 languages and conduct comprehensive cross-lingual experiments. Furthermore, we analyze a million-scale geotagged global dataset to understand patterns in seeking help and offering assistance on social media. Overall, these contributions advance the field of crisis informatics and provide benchmarks for future research in the area., Comment: \copyright 2024 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works

With the impending arrival of the sixth generation (6G) of wireless communication technology, the telecommunications landscape is poised for another revolutionary transformation. At the forefront of this evolution are intelligent meta-surfaces (IS), emerging as a disruptive physical layer technology with the potential to redefine the capabilities and performance metrics of future wireless networks. As 6G evolves from concept to reality, industry stakeholders, standards organizations, and regulatory bodies are collaborating to define the specifications, protocols, and interoperability standards governing IS deployment. Against this background, this article delves into the ongoing standardization efforts, emerging trends, potential opportunities, and prevailing challenges surrounding the integration of IS into the framework of 6G and beyond networks. Specifically, it provides a tutorial-style overview of recent advancements in IS and explores their potential applications within future networks beyond 6G. Additionally, the article identifies key challenges in the design and implementation of various types of intelligent surfaces, along with considerations for their practical standardization. Finally, it highlights potential future prospects in this evolving field.

Deep learning has become the de facto method for medical image segmentation, with 3D segmentation models excelling in capturing complex 3D structures and 2D models offering high computational efficiency. However, segmenting 2.5D images, which have high in-plane but low through-plane resolution, is a relatively unexplored challenge. While applying 2D models to individual slices of a 2.5D image is feasible, it fails to capture the spatial relationships between slices. On the other hand, 3D models face challenges such as resolution inconsistencies in 2.5D images, along with computational complexity and susceptibility to overfitting when trained with limited data. In this context, 2.5D models, which capture inter-slice correlations using only 2D neural networks, emerge as a promising solution due to their reduced computational demand and simplicity in implementation. In this paper, we introduce CSA-Net, a flexible 2.5D segmentation model capable of processing 2.5D images with an arbitrary number of slices through an innovative Cross-Slice Attention (CSA) module. This module uses the cross-slice attention mechanism to effectively capture 3D spatial information by learning long-range dependencies between the center slice (for segmentation) and its neighboring slices. Moreover, CSA-Net utilizes the self-attention mechanism to understand correlations among pixels within the center slice. We evaluated CSA-Net on three 2.5D segmentation tasks: (1) multi-class brain MRI segmentation, (2) binary prostate MRI segmentation, and (3) multi-class prostate MRI segmentation. CSA-Net outperformed leading 2D and 2.5D segmentation methods across all three tasks, demonstrating its efficacy and superiority. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/mirthAI/CSA-Net.

We introduce RetinaRegNet, a zero-shot image registration model designed to register retinal images with minimal overlap, large deformations, and varying image quality. RetinaRegNet addresses these challenges and achieves robust and accurate registration through the following steps. First, we extract features from the moving and fixed images using latent diffusion models. We then sample feature points from the fixed image using a combination of the SIFT algorithm and random point sampling. For each sampled point, we identify its corresponding point in the moving image using a 2D correlation map, which computes the cosine similarity between the diffusion feature vectors of the point in the fixed image and all pixels in the moving image. Second, we eliminate most incorrectly detected point correspondences (outliers) by enforcing an inverse consistency constraint, ensuring that correspondences are consistent in both forward and backward directions. We further remove outliers with large distances between corresponding points using a global transformation based outlier detector. Finally, we implement a two-stage registration framework to handle large deformations. The first stage estimates a homography transformation to achieve global alignment between the images, while the second stage uses a third-order polynomial transformation to estimate local deformations. We evaluated RetinaRegNet on three retinal image registration datasets: color fundus images, fluorescein angiography images, and laser speckle flowgraphy images. Our model consistently outperformed state-of-the-art methods across all datasets. The accurate registration achieved by RetinaRegNet enables the tracking of eye disease progression, enhances surgical planning, and facilitates the evaluation of treatment efficacy. Our code is publicly available at: https://github.com/mirthAI/RetinaRegNet.

Critical Infrastructure Facilities (CIFs), such as healthcare and transportation facilities, are vital for the functioning of a community, especially during large-scale emergencies. In this paper, we explore a potential application of Large Language Models (LLMs) to monitor the status of CIFs affected by natural disasters through information disseminated in social media networks. To this end, we analyze social media data from two disaster events in two different countries to identify reported impacts to CIFs as well as their impact severity and operational status. We employ state-of-the-art open-source LLMs to perform computational tasks including retrieval, classification, and inference, all in a zero-shot setting. Through extensive experimentation, we report the results of these tasks using standard evaluation metrics and reveal insights into the strengths and weaknesses of LLMs. We note that although LLMs perform well in classification tasks, they encounter challenges with inference tasks, especially when the context/prompt is complex and lengthy. Additionally, we outline various potential directions for future exploration that can be beneficial during the initial adoption phase of LLMs for disaster response tasks., Comment: Accepted to appear at the 2024 ISCRAM conference

In a previous paper, we have shown that a recurrent neural network (RNN) can be used to detect cellular network radio signal degradations accurately. We unexpectedly found, though, that accuracy gains diminished as we added layers to the RNN. To investigate this, in this paper, we build a parallel model to illuminate and understand the internal operation of neural networks, such as the RNN, which store their internal state in order to process sequential inputs. This model is widely applicable in that it can be used with any input domain where the inputs can be represented by a Gaussian mixture. By looking at the RNN processing from a probability density function perspective, we are able to show how each layer of the RNN transforms the input distributions to increase detection accuracy. At the same time we also discover a side effect acting to limit the improvement in accuracy. To demonstrate the fidelity of the model we validate it against each stage of RNN processing as well as the output predictions. As a result, we have been able to explain the reasons for the RNN performance limits with useful insights for future designs for RNNs and similar types of neural network.

Recently, semantic communication (SemCom) has shown great potential in significant resource savings and efficient information exchanges, thus naturally introducing a novel and practical cellular network paradigm where two modes of SemCom and conventional bit communication (BitCom) coexist. Nevertheless, the involved wireless resource management becomes rather complicated and challenging, given the unique background knowledge matching and time-consuming semantic coding requirements in SemCom. To this end, this paper jointly investigates user association (UA), mode selection (MS), and bandwidth allocation (BA) problems in a hybrid semantic/bit communication network (HSB-Net). Concretely, we first identify a unified performance metric of message throughput for both SemCom and BitCom links. Next, we specially develop a knowledge matching-aware two-stage tandem packet queuing model and theoretically derive the average packet loss ratio and queuing latency. Combined with practical constraints, we then formulate a joint optimization problem for UA, MS, and BA to maximize the overall message throughput of HSB-Net. Afterward, we propose an optimal resource management strategy by utilizing a Lagrange primal-dual transformation method and a preference list-based heuristic algorithm with polynomial-time complexity. Numerical results not only demonstrate the accuracy of our analytical queuing model, but also validate the performance superiority of our proposed strategy compared with different benchmarks., Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication by the IEEE Transactions on Communications

Hyperentangled swapping is a quantum communication technique that involves the exchange of hyperentangled states, which are quantum states entangled in multiple degrees of freedom, to enable secure and efficient quantum information transfer. In this paper, we demonstrate schematics for the hyperentanglement swapping between separate pairs of neutral atoms through the mathematical framework of atomic Bragg diffraction, which is efficient and resistant to decoherence, yielding deterministic results with superior overall fidelity. The utilized cavities are in superposition state and interact with the incoming atoms off-resonantly. Quantum information carried by the cavities is swapped through resonant interactions with two-level auxiliary atoms. We also discuss entanglement swapping under a delayed-choice scenario and provide a schematic generalization covering multiple-qubit scenarios. Finally, we introduce specific experimental parameters to demonstrate the experimental feasibility of the scheme., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have significant potential for agile communication and relief coordination in post-disaster scenarios, particularly when ground infrastructure is compromised. However, efficiently coordinating and securing flocks of heterogeneous UAVs from different service providers poses significant challenges related to privacy, scalability, lightweight consensus protocols, and comprehensive cybersecurity mechanisms. This study introduces a robust blockchain-enabled framework designed to tackle these technical challenges through a combination of consensus protocols, smart contracts, and cryptographic techniques. First, we propose a consortium blockchain architecture that ensures secure and private multi-agency coordination by controlling access and safeguarding the privacy of sensitive data. Second, we develop an optimized hybrid consensus protocol that merges Delegated Proof of Stake and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (DPOS-PBFT), aiming to achieve an effective balance between efficiency, security, and resilience against node failures. Finally, we introduce decentralized flocking algorithms that facilitate adaptable and autonomous operations among specialized UAV clusters, ensuring critical disaster relief functions under conditions of uncertain connectivity. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate the system achieved linear scaling of throughput up to 500 UAV nodes, with only a 50ms increase in latency from 10 to 500 nodes. The framework maintained high throughput and low latency despite spoofing, denial-of-service (DoS), and tampering attacks, showing strong cyber resilience. Communication latencies were kept under 10ms for diverse UAV operations through self-optimizing network intelligence, with median values around 2-3ms., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, Digital Communications and Networks Open access

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), an emerging architecture that embodies flying ad-hoc networks, face critical privacy and security challenges, mainly when engaged in data-sensitive missions. Therefore, message authentication is a crucial security feature in drone communications. This paper presents a Blockchain-based Efficient, and Trusted Authentication scheme for UAV communication, BETA-UAV, which exploits the inherent properties of blockchain technology concerning memorability and is immutable to record communication sessions via transactions using a smart contract. The smart contract in BETA-UAV allows participants to publish and call transactions from the blockchain network. Furthermore, transaction addresses are proof of freshness and trustworthiness for subsequent transmissions. Furthermore, we investigated their ability to resist active attacks, such as impersonation, replaying, and modification. In addition, we evaluate the gas costs associated with the functions of the smart contract by implementing a BETA-UAV on the Ethereum public blockchain. A comparison of the computation and communication overheads shows that the proposed approach can save significant costs over traditional techniques., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 22nd IEEE ICCT | 2022 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Communication Technology

Emergency communication is critical but challenging after natural disasters when ground infrastructure is devastated. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer enormous potential for agile relief coordination in these scenarios. However, effectively leveraging UAV fleets poses additional challenges around security, privacy, and efficient collaboration across response agencies. This paper presents a robust blockchain-enabled framework to address these challenges by integrating a consortium blockchain model, smart contracts, and cryptographic techniques to securely coordinate UAV fleets for disaster response. Specifically, we make two key contributions: a consortium blockchain architecture for secure and private multi-agency coordination; and an optimized consensus protocol balancing efficiency and fault tolerance using a delegated proof of stake practical byzantine fault tolerance (DPoS-PBFT). Comprehensive simulations showcase the framework's ability to enhance transparency, automation, scalability, and cyber-attack resilience for UAV coordination in post-disaster networks., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures,IEEE 99th Vehicular Technology Conference: VTC2024-Spring, Singapore

Teleoperation can be very difficult due to limited perception, high communication latency, and limited degrees of freedom (DoFs) at the operator side. Autonomous teleoperation is proposed to overcome this difficulty by predicting user intentions and performing some parts of the task autonomously to decrease the demand on the operator and increase the task completion rate. However, decision-making for mode-switching is generally assumed to be done by the operator, which brings an extra DoF to be controlled by the operator and introduces extra mental demand. On the other hand, the communication perspective is not investigated in the current literature, although communication imperfections and resource limitations are the main bottlenecks for teleoperation. In this study, we propose an intelligent mode-switching framework by jointly considering mode-switching and communication systems. User intention recognition is done at the operator side. Based on user intention recognition, a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) agent is trained and deployed at the operator side to seamlessly switch between autonomous and teleoperation modes. A real-world data set is collected from our teleoperation testbed to train both user intention recognition and DRL algorithms. Our results show that the proposed framework can achieve up to 50% communication load reduction with improved task completion probability., Comment: Accepted by the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Exploiting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for delivery services is expected to reduce delivery time and human resource costs. However, the proximity of these UAVs to the ground can make them an ideal target for opportunistic criminals. Consequently, UAVs may be hacked, diverted from their destinations, or used for malicious purposes. Furthermore, as a decentralized (peer-to-peer) technology, the blockchain has immense potential to enable secure, decentralized, and cooperative communication among UAVs. With this goal in mind, we propose the Blockchain-Empowered, Immutable, and Reliable Delivery Service (BIRDS) framework to address data security challenges. BIRDS deploys communication hubs across a scalable network. Following the registration phase of BIRDS, UAV node selection is carried out based on a specific consensus proof-of-competence (PoC), where UAVs are evaluated solely on their credibility. The chosen finalist is awarded a certificate for the BIRDS global order fulfillment system. The simulation results demonstrate that BIRDS requires fewer UAVs compared to conventional solutions, resulting in reduced costs and emissions. The proposed BIRDS framework caters to the requirements of numerous users while necessitating less network traffic and consuming low energy., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures,2023 IEEE International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling and Design of Communication Links and Networks (IEEE CAMAD), Edinburgh, UK