IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine deals with all technical and policy issues related to personalization, location-independent communications in all media. Papers highlight such topics as portable telephones, communicating palmtop computers, protocols, messaging, communications, and personalized traffic filtering. It also covers such policy issues as spectrum allocation, industry structure, and technology evolution.

Special Issue on AI for Open Programmable Virtualized Networks in 6G
Submission Date: 2022-02-01

Programmable virtualized networks decouple data and control planes and have the power of supporting the demands of diverse and varied use cases, allowing the services to scale and adapt dynamically. The diverse demands of Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable and Low-latency Communications (uRLLC), and massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) users inevitably increase the network complexity, making programmability alone not sufficient. To fulfill these demands, next generation mobile networks need to respond with the capacity of supporting a greater number of heterogeneous devices, the availability of more spectrum and the introduction of complex protocol stacks, making automated and intelligent tools for management, reconfiguration, adaptation, and coordination of network resources an impelling necessity.

Disaggregated RAN and core are supported by close control loops with intelligence, responding to the dynamic demands for such diverse and heterogenous quality of service (QoS), and to the changes in user needs, environmental conditions and business goals. As network complexity grows at all levels and new challenges arise, network intelligence and data-driven approaches become a necessity. AI/ML technologies are expected to play a key role in this evolution, and we expect that will shape how the next generation mobile networks will operate. Artificial intelligence (AI), or more specifically machine learning (ML) algorithms, stand as promising tools to intelligently manage the networks such that network efficiency reliability and robustness goals are achieved, quality of service demands is satisfied, network and computational resources are used most efficiently, and performance targets are achieved in a self-optimized manner. Indeed, AI will represent a key enabler for Open Programmable Virtualized Networks in 6G and will be fundamental to foster network automation and dynamic reconfiguration of the network based on the contingent operating context and QoS applications’ requirements.

This Special Issue will explore the role of AI in 6G and its impact on the design of open programmable networks in the next-generation wireless networks. List of potential topics to be covered by the special issue are:

- AI for mobile network automation beyond 5G
- Distributed AI for closed-loop network automation
- AI at the Edge
- Cognitive networking at the network edge
- Intelligent programmability of disaggregated RAN
- Network visibility in intelligent programmable virtualized networks
- AI-assisted network slicing
- AI for network slice assurance
- Explainable AI for networks
- Testbed infrastructures for testing AI solutions for 6G 

Special Issue on Quantum Technology for 5G/6G Wireless Communication Systems: Applications, Opportunities and Challenges
Submission Date: 2022-02-01

Fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication networks are being deployed worldwide from 2020. More capabilities are being standardized, such as mass connectivity, ultra-reliability, and guaranteed low latency. However, 5G will not meet all requirements of the future in 2030 and beyond and sixth generation (6G) wireless communication networks are expected to provide global coverage, enhanced spectral/energy/cost efficiency, better intelligence level and security, etc. 6G networks will rely on new enabling technologies such as quantum computing technologies to meet these requirements.

Quantum computation is a rapidly growing field and lots of breakthroughs have been achieved during the past decades. Quantum computation is transitioning from an emerging branch of science into a mature research field in science and engineering.

Quantum information processing (QIP) is primarily devoted to quantum computing and quantum information processing to create and work with quantum data. Due to some of the astounding properties inherent to quantum computation, notably entanglement and parallelism, it is anticipated that QIP technologies will offer capabilities and performances that are, as yet, unrivaled by their traditional equivalents. These improvements could be in terms of computing speed, guaranteed security, and minimal storage requirements, etc.

This Special Issue presents and theoretical and fundamental research on the potential and limitations of quantum technology, and explores how to achieve secure communication for wireless networks in the presence of quantum technologies. The usage ranges are oriented to the new merging technology such as cloud mobile/ubiquitous computing, Internet of Things, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, privacy-aware computing, hybrid human-machine computing, blockchain and distributed ledgers technology.

Original contributions are solicited in relevant areas including, but not limited to:
- Quantum-based secure communication schemes
- Quantum authentication protocols
- Quantum blockchain
- Quantum technology for big data analytics
- Quantum technology for secure IoT applications
- Quantum machine learning for secure communications
- Quantum image processing and enhancements (image encoding, edge detection, image segmentation, etc.)
- Development of classical software for simulating and testing quantum communication techniques.
- Novel AI and quantum-based architectures, frameworks, and testbeds for 6G,
- Intelligent spectrum management in 5G/6G using quantum technology,
- Breakthrough technologies and concepts,
- Reconfigurable antennas and devices for the next generation,
- Innovative AI, quantum technology and 6G-enabled user applications,
- AI and quantum applications for the physical layer of wireless communications
- Concise state-of-the-art reviews on the relevant topic could be accepted