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The sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication networks are expected to provide orders of magnitude improvements (higher data rates, lower latency, increased reliability, etc.) over the previous generations, enabling a wide range of applications and use cases that were previously unrealizable. The integration of various distinct technological innovations, including ultra-massive multiple-input-multiple-output (UM-MIMO), cell-free massive MIMO, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), and terahertz communications, has facilitated this accomplishment. However, due to the adoption of large aperture arrays by these technological advancements, near-field (NF) communication with spherical wavefront becomes indispensable in such networks, as conventional far-field (FF) propagation with planar wavefront is no longer valid. The use of spherical waves in NF communications has several advantages over traditional far-field communications. One of the main advantages is that it allows for more efficient use of energy as they require less energy to transmit data over short distances compared to planar waves used in FF communications, which is due to the fact that the spherical waves decay rapidly with distance. Additionally, due to the spherical nature of the wavefront of the transmitted signal, the receiver can be localized more precisely based on the phase and amplitude of the received signal. This makes NF communications an attractive technology for applications that require precise localization, such as indoor navigation and tracking. In addition, the use of spherical waves allows for a more focused transmission of data over short distances. As a result, it can support high data rates, which is critical for applications such as virtual reality, augmented reality, high-definition video streaming, healthcare, automotive, and industrial automation. Thus, due to its ability to offer increased degrees of freedom and high resolution with range-dependent narrow beamwidths, the use of NF communication in advanced wireless networks offers significant potential for achieving spatial multiplexing and improving the overall performance of wireless networks.  Further, despite the remarkable attributes of the technical advancement (discussed earlier) towards the 6G networks, the efficient resource allocation for achieving green communication is extremely challenging and requires the use of some promising energy efficient transmission designs and green techniques such as energy harvesting and wireless power transfer (WPT).  Consequently, the transition to the radiating NF region necessitates a re-evaluation of existing wireless localization, beam focusing, communication and signal processing techniques towards developing greener wireless communications networks. In addition to this,  the study of NF for 6G  is still in its early stages, and there is a need for further research to fully understand its potential and challenges to support green communication. This Special Issue aims to bring together researchers from academia, industry, and government to present their latest research results and discuss the future research directions towards the green NF wireless communication networks. We invite original research contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Channel measurement and channel modelling in green NF wireless communication
• Electromagnetic information theory for green NF wireless communication
• Channel estimation and channel tracking in green NF wireless communication
• Low-complexity beamforming design for green NF wireless communication
• Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted green NF wireless communication
• Simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT)/wireless power transfer (WPT) for green NF wireless communication
• Next generation multiple access (NGMA) schemes for green NF wireless communication
• Positioning and sensing in green NF wireless communication
• mm-Wave and THz systems for green NF wireless communication
• NF-based green integrated sensing and communications (ISAC)
• Energy efficient resource allocation and network designs in green NF wireless communication
• Low-overhead beam training scheme for green NF wireless communication
• Low cost and energy efficient hardware architecture design towards green NF wireless communication
• Resource management towards green NF wireless communication
• Secure green NF wireless communication
• NF designs for green internet of things (IoT)
• Energy efficient internet of vehicles (IOV)/vehicle to vehicle (V2V)/ vehicle to infrastructure (V2I)/vehicle to everything (V2X) with NF wireless communication networks
• Green machine learning driven techniques/designs for green NF wireless communication
• Hybrid FF and NF for green communications
• Real testbed and validation of low power NF wireless communication

Submission Guidelines

Prospective authors should submit their manuscripts following the IEEE TGCN guidelines. Authors should submit a PDF version of their complete manuscript via the web submission system on Manuscript Central according to the following schedule:

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 March 2024 (Extended Deadline - FIRM)
First Decision Notification: 15 April 2024    
Revised Manuscript Due: 1 May 2024     
Acceptance Notification: 1 June 2024
Final Manuscript Due: 15 June 2024
Publication Date: September 2024

Guest Editors

Keshav Singh (Lead Guest Editor)
National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Cunhua Pan (Lead Guest Editor)
Southeast University, Nanjing, China

Linglong Dai
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Octavia A. Dobre
Memorial University, Canada

Yonina C. Eldar
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Robert Schober
Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

Wen Tong
Huawei, Canada