The fifth generation (5G) and sixth generation (6G) wireless communications are expected to satisfy the diverse service requirements in various aspects of our daily life, from residence, work, leisure, to transportation. Due to the extreme range of 5G and 6G requirements for user experience, efficiency, performance and complex network environments, the design and optimization of 5G and 6G networks becomes very challenging.  The future 5G and 6G network will require robust intelligent algorithms to adapt network protocols and resource management for different services in different scenarios. Artificial intelligence (AI), which is defined as any process or device that perceives its environment and take actions that maximize the chances of success for some predefined goal, is a feasible solution for the emerging complex communication system design. The recent advances in deep learning, convolutional neural networks and reinforcement learning hold significant promise for solving very complex problems considered intractable until now. It is now appropriate to apply AI technology to 5G and 6G wireless communications to tackle optimized physical layer design, complicated decision making, network management and resource optimization tasks in such networks. Moreover, the emerging big data technology has brought us an excellent opportunity to study the essential characteristics of wireless networks, and to help us to obtain more clear and in-depth knowledge of the behavior of 5G and 6G wireless networks. In the study of 5G and 6G wireless technologies and communication systems, AI will be a powerful tool and hot research topic with many potential application areas, e.g., wireless signal processing, channel modeling, and resource management.

Our research lab aims to develop the technology and theory for “artificial intelligence in wireless communications," and to present a holistic view of research challenges and opportunities in the coming area of 5G and 6G wireless communications.