Call for Papers

The next generation of wireless networks (i.e., 6G) is envisioned to support communication in the three-dimensional space by integrating space, aerial, terrestrial, and undersea networks. The overall goal is to provide ubiquitous and unlimited connectivity to a massive number of Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-type devices/users having diverse quality of service requirements, supporting substantial and heterogeneous traffic demands, and reducing the energy consumption with the help of highly energy-efficient communication protocols, transceivers and computing technologies. Out of several innovations 6G is targeting, this special issue focuses on green communications and computing technologies, which are crucial to reduce the overall energy consumption and operational cost from both the environmental and business viewpoints. To this end, the ever-increasing demand for advanced and ubiquitous applications over the recent years has shifted the paradigm of self-organizing networks to self-sustainable networks (SSNs). One of the goals of SSNs is to eliminate the need for separate charging of heterogeneous devices by combining energy-efficient communication, energy harvesting/power transfer techniques, and offloading of energy-intensive processing from the edge-devices to the edge- and cloud-servers. However, the coexistence of wireless information and power transfer systems/links should be as seamless as possible for the end-users. Furthermore, providing network sustainability, and energy-efficient, energy-aware, and environment-aware connections to the massive number of devices and users having different levels of processing capabilities is one of the key challenges. Moreover, how to handle the massive unstructured/semi-structured data generated by the resource-constrained devices/sensors through the resource-limited communication infrastructure in an energy-efficient manner is another important issue to be addressed. Motivated by these issues, this special issue targets to disseminate the latest theoretical and experimental works in the domain of energy-efficient communication and computing technologies towards enabling massively connected, fully intelligent and sustainable green 6G networks.

The main topics of interest for this special issue include, but not limited to the following:

• PHY/MAC layer algorithms for supporting resource-constrained devices in 6G such as cell-free massive MIMO, ultra-small cells, full duplex and terahertz communication
• Adaptive waveforms, battery-less energy harvesting, and adaptive modulation and coding techniques for low-power 6G networks
• Novel techniques and receiver architectures for RF energy harvesting and simultaneous wireless and information transfer in 6G networks
• Energy and spectral efficient radio transcievers and access technologies for 6G networks
• Ambient backscatter communications, symbiotic radio and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for 6G green networks
• AI/ML techniques for green communications and computing in 6G networks
• Energy efficient edge/fog computing, task/data/computation offloading and cloud-assisted resource management for green IoT networks
• Architectures/topologies for energy-efficient hierarchical IoT-cloud networks
• Self-organization and self-healing techniques for sustainable green 6G networks
• Smart energy management techniques for balancing energy demand-supply in 6G networks
• Analytical, optimization and experimental approaches for green communications and computing in 6G networks

Submission Guidelines

Authors need to follow the manuscript format and an allowable number of pages described at the IEEE TGCN Information for Authors page. To submit a manuscript for consideration for the special issue, please visit the journal submission website at Manuscript Central.

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: 15 February 2021 (Extended Deadline)
First Round Review Due: 15 April 2021
Revision Due: 1 June 2021
Acceptance Notification: 30 June 2021
Final Manuscript Due: 15 July 2021
Publication Date: September 2021

Guest Editors