JOURNAL of COMMUNICATIONS and NETWORKS (JCN)

JCN invites submission of high-quality papers in the areas of Communication Theory and Systems, Wireless Communications, and Networks and Services.

A prospective author should submit the manuscript for publication consideration in electronic file (pdf) via JCN ScholarOne Manuscripts website (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcommnet) to an appropriate Division Editor (for regular papers) or to any Guest Editor of an appropriate Special Issue. (Special Issues may include regular papers to avoid unnecessary publication delays.)

JCN is available in both paper and electronic formats, with the latter available in the JCN Digital Library in the JCN Web site, http://jcn.or.kr. For further details on paper submission and subscription, please visit the JCN Web site.

Low subscription rates are offered to members of KICS and its Sister Societies, including ComSoc, CIC, and IEICE. Application forms are available in the JCN web site.

Call for Special Issue Proposals

Journal of Communications and Networks (JCN) invites scholars to submit a special issue proposal. The purpose of the special issue is to provide collection of articles on a specific topic that the journal has not covered substantially and has the potential to be of high interest to the readers. We plan to consider proposals for special issue on Communications and Networks of highest quality throughout the year. JCN is a peer-reviewed, Open Access journal that publishes bimonthly, published by the Korean Institution of Communications and Information Sciences (KICS) and IEEE ComSoc. The JCN is committed to publishing high quality papers that advance the state-of-the-art and practical applications of communications and information networks. For any inquiry, please contact Prof. Anthony Ephremides and Prof. Inkyu Lee, Editor-in-Chief of JCN, at jcn@kics.or.kr.

Information to be provided in a proposal

The format of a proposal is not important but it should contain the following information:

1. 1. 500 word rational explaining the significance, novelty, technical advancement, and adherence to the scope of the journal of the proposed theme.
2. 2. A brief outline of the topics in the proposed theme.
3. 3. A plan for obtaining quality papers.
4. 4. A brief resume of the proposed Guest Editors. (JCN usually selects four or five Guest Editors based on balanced technical and geographical background.)
5. 5. List of potential reviewers.
6. 6. A proposed call-for-papers.
7. 7. A proposed time schedule including submission deadline and completion of the editorial process.
8. 8. JCN encourages guest editor-authored tutorial and overview papers.

Selection process of the proposals

1. 1. Overall quality of the proposal.
2. 2. Topic is within the scope of the journal.
3. 3. Provides significant novelty and complements previously published issues of the journal.
4. 4. Guest editor's experience in editorial work.
5. 5. Securing high quality reviewers..
6. 6. Delivering the final product within the proposed deadline.

Guest Editor’s Expected Role

1. 1. Once the proposal is accepted, GE will circulate the call for papers for the special issue and invite submissions.
2. 2. GE will manage submissions to the special issue in the ScholoarOne (the web-based journal management system) including assigning reviewers, collating reviews, communicating with authors, making editorial decisions of acceptance, decline and minor revisions.
3. 3. GE will secure at least three subject experts as reviewers per submission and can make a final decision based on two review results.
4. 4. GE will coordinate the editorial process in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.
5. 5. GE will meet deadlines and deliver the final project as scheduled.
6. 6. GE will conduct all business with reviewers, authors, and editorial staff in ethical and professional manners.

Upcoming Special Issues

JCN SPECIAL ISSUE ON

Aerial Access Networks for 6G PUBLICATION DATE: April 2022

The current development of 5G networks represents a breakthrough in the design of communication networks, for its ability to provide a single platform enabling a variety of data services. With these significant enhancements enabled by 5G, it is already possible to envision the needs towards 6G. Providing “connectivity from the sky” is one innovative trend for coming 6G communication systems. Satellites, high and low altitude platforms (HAP and LAP), drones, aircrafts, and airships are being considered as candidates for deploying wireless communications complementing the terrestrial communication. Combining these network elements, Aerial Access Networks (AANs) have attracted many attentions from both academia and industry, and recognized as a potential solution for the 6G systems. AANs are heterogeneous networks that are engineered to utilize satellites, HAPs, and LAPs to build network access platforms. Unlike terrestrial wireless networks, AANs are characterized by frequently changed network topologies and more vulnerable communication connections. However, AANs are not intended to replace the existing technologies, but instead to work with them in a complementary and integrated fashion. Therefore, AANs have the demand for the seamless integration of heterogeneous networks such that the network quality-of-service (QoS) can be improved. Therefore, it is essential to develop new communications, signal processing, and optimization techniques to accommodate diverse services and applications with different QoS requirements in various scenarios. This IEEE/KICS Journal of Communication Networks special issue aims to solicit high-quality unpublished research papers by experts from mobile communication industries (operators, telecom vendors, as well as consulting firms) and academia in the fields of AANs. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Channel measurement and modeling
• Integrations of AANs with terrestrial communications in future heterogeneous networks
• Network architecture and protocols including Information Centric Networking (ICN)
• Cross-layer MAC-PHY design
• AI-enabled techniques for AANs
• Transmission technologies, e.g., mmWave/THz, Massive MIMO, intelligent surfaces, etc.
• Interference cancellation, management, and coordination
• QoS-aware trajectory and topology optimization
• Safety and security issues
• Prototype results, testbeds, and new applications

Continuing JCN’s tradition of fast turnaround together with full peer reviews, a tentative schedule is set as follows:

September 30, 2021

Paper submission deadline

November 30, 2021

First round of review

December 30, 2021

Revised paper due

January 30, 2022

Final acceptance notification

February 28, 2022

Final paper due

April 30, 2022

Special issue published

Zhu Han, University of Houston, TX, USA, hanzhu22@gmail.com

Hongliang Zhang, Princeton University, NJ, USA,hz16@princeton.edu

George C. Alexandropoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, alexandg@di.uoa.gr

Nguyen Hoang Tran, The University of Sydney, Australia, nguyen.tran@sydney.edu.au

Electronic submissions should be made through http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com:/jcommnet. Information for authors is available on the JCN web site, http:/www.jcn.or.kr. The manuscript should be formatted in LaTeX or MS Word file and uploaded in PDF version. JCN accepts double column FULL papers without page limits that follow the standard of JCN (or similar IEEE) publication format. However, we strongly recommend keeping the page count under 20 pages in double columns for ease of readability. Please direct inquiries and intent to submit notifications to the Lead Guest Editor. JCN is a high-quality bimonthly archival journal, published by the Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences with the technical co-sponsorship of the IEEE Communications Society, covering the fields of Communication Theory and Systems, Wireless Communications, and Networks and Services. JCN began publication in March 1999 and is available in IEEE Xplore.

JCN SPECIAL ISSUE ON

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface for B5G & 6G PUBLICATION DATE: October 2022

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) or intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is recently recognized as one of the most promising technologies to effectively increase coverage and improve communication performance for future wireless communications beyond 5G and 6G (B5G & 6G). Specifically, the RIS is a planar surface consisting of an array of passive reflecting elements, each of which can independently induce a controllable reflection coefficient on the incident signal. By installing an RIS on the facade of buildings, an additional virtual line of sight (LoS) link can be established between the base station (BS) and the user. By judiciously adjusting the phase shifts of the reflecting elements, the reflected signal can be constructively superimposed with the signal from the direct path to enhance the desired signal power or destructively mitigate unfavourable signals such as multi-user interference or signal leakage to eavesdroppers. The RIS is less expensive to deploy than conventional active transmitters since its reflecting elements only passively reflect the incoming signal without any signal processing operations and does not require costly and power-hungry radio frequency (RF) chains. Moreover, it is lightweight and has limited layer thickness, so it can be easily integrated into the environment. Despite the above-mentioned appealing advantages of RIS, it also brings some new signal processing challenges such as channel estimation, robust transmission design, angle/position estimation, distributed algorithm design, etc. This IEEE/KICS Journal of Communication Networks special issue aims to solicit high-quality unpublished research papers by experts from mobile communication industries (operators, telecom vendors, as well as consulting firms) and academia in the fields of RIS-assisted wireless communications. Topics of interests include but are not limited to:

• Low pilot overhead channel estimation
• New use cases, application scenarios, and techno-economic analysis
• Robust transmission design based on imperfect cascaded channel state information (CSI)
• Feedback-aware RIS beamforming design and channel estimation
• Transceiver design based on long-term/two-timescale CSI
• Massive access for RIS‐based wireless networks
• AI‐inspired control and orchestration of RIS‐empowered wireless networks
• AI-based transmission design/channel estimation
• Indoor/outdoor localization solutions in RIS-empowered wireless networks
• Resource allocation or interference management in RIS-aided wireless communications
• Experimental results, testbed, prototypes
• Distributed configuration and deployment of Large-scale RIS-empowered wireless networks
• Integration of RISs in emerging wireless applications (mobile edge computing, energy harvesting, UAV, physical layer security, etc.)
• Integration of RISs with state‐of‐the‐art wireless technologies (e.g., small cells, Massive MIMO, millimeter‐wave communications, THz communication, free space optics, Internet of Things, etc.)
• New types of RISs

Continuing JCN’s tradition of fast turnaround together with full peer reviews, a tentative schedule is set as follows:

April 15, 2022

Paper submission deadline (Extended)

June 15, 2022

First round of review

July 15, 2022

Revised paper due

August 15, 2022

Final acceptance notification

September 15, 2022

Final paper due

October 30, 2022

Special issue published

Zhengyu Zhu, Zhengzhou University, Henan, China, iezyzhu@zzu.edu.cn

Cunhua Pan, Southeast University, China, cunhuapan21@gmail.com

Qingqing Wu, University of Macau, Macau, China, qingqingwu@um.edu.mo

Marco Di Renzo，Paris-Saclay University, France, marco.di.renzo.upsaclay@gmail.com

A. Lee Swindlehurst, University of California Irvine, USA, swindle@uci.edu

Yajun Zhao, ZTE Corporation, China, zhao.yajun1@zte.com.cn

Electronic submissions should be made through http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com:/jcommnet. Information for authors is available on the JCN web site, http:/www.jcn.or.kr. The manuscript should be formatted in LaTex file and uploaded in PDF version. Nominally papers should be greater than 8 pages in double column, but shorter papers that make a significant contribution will also be considered. Please direct inquiries and intent to submit notifications to the Lead Guest Editor. JCN is a high-quality bimonthly archival journal, published by the Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences with the technical co-sponsorship of the IEEE Communications Society, covering the fields of Communication Theory and Systems, Wireless Communications, and Networks and Services. JCN began publication in March 1999 and is available in IEEE Xplore.