6G-empowered Robotic Vehicles for Sustainable Development (VeSUS)

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as Agenda 2030, have specified initiatives to transform our planet in three main areas: the economy, society and the environment. With the ultimate goal of improving air, water, energy and human society, cross-disciplinary technologies have been designed to meet the needs of different SDGs.

Among all technology fields, the VeSUS workshop is the first event that explores the combined roles of 6G and robotic vehicles in achieving the SDGs. Challenges in designing and developing sustainable and ecological smart robotic vehicles will be identified. In addition, the feasibility and capability of integrating 6G and smart robotic vehicles will be addressed and demonstrated.

VeSUS relates to the Horizon Europe-Staff Exchange EVOLVE project, Electric Vehicles (EV) pOint Location optimization via VEhicular communications, (2022-2026). The vision of EVOLVE is to help make urban transport (e-mobility) smarter and more sustainable through innovative EV charging point recommendation systems. VeSUS is designed to host the first generation of experts to exploit advanced technologies in 6G and robotic vehicles that will revolutionize the connected EV technologies and the associated business sectors. VeSUS is also co-organised and supported by the IEEE UK and Ireland ComSoc. VeSUS brings together academics, engineers and stakeholders from multiple disciplines to hold a dialogue on the need for sustainable infrastructure and shape the ideas to design cutting edge robotic vehicles with the assistance of 6G.

The increasing interest in robotic vehicles has demonstrated they could be a game-changer to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as Agenda 2030. Robotic vehicles come in many shapes including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and Autonomous Electric Vehicles (EVs) across the space-air-ground-water medium. UAV delivery has the potential to halve carbon emissions compared with small cargo vans; robotic taxis (e-mobility) could alleviate traffic congestion and increase sustainability in urban areas, and UUV can help clean the ocean by discovering and picking up plastic waste. 

The emerging 6G technology can further boost the capabilities of robotic vehicles. For instance, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) can improve navigation and target tracking of UAVs in poor GPS environments; mobile holograms could reshape the interaction between humans, robotic vehicles, and the cyber world.

VeSUS workshop focuses on achieving sustainable development based on progress in at least one of the three areas: the economy, society, and the environment. The workshop is particularly interested in 6G-empowered robotic vehicle technologies that drive sustainable infrastructure design and deployment in the Internet of Things (IoT) for sustainability, energy efficiency, smart cities, intelligent transportation systems, agriculture, natural conservation, ocean waste cleanup and end-of-life care improvement.

In this context, VeSUS aims to assess the capabilities of 6G to support robotic vehicles in sustainable development. This includes designing more sustainable, ecological and efficient robotic vehicle sensing, computing and communication approaches. First, the workshop will discuss opportunities and challenges of deploying robotic vehicles in diverse scenarios and identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to reflect sustainable design requirements. Second, the workshop will investigate novel 6G approaches to address the challenges and hit the KPIs. This allows us to push the physical limit of robotic vehicles and enable them to adapt to complex environments reliably, agilely and energy efficiently.

Original contributions are solicited in designing, developing and evaluating 6G-empowered robotic vehicles. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

●      Use case studies of robotic vehicles for sustainable development

●      6G-empowered robotic vehicle sensor networks

●      Networking architectures and communication protocols for robotic vehicles

●      Machine learning and AI for robotic vehicles

●      Cloud/fog/edge computing intelligence for robotic vehicles

●      Data gathering and aggregation approaches for robotic vehicles

●      Self-organizing/self-healing coordination and communication for multi-robotic vehicles

●      Energy-efficient sensing, computing and communication for robotic vehicle networks

●      Distributed control and collaboration for robotic vehicles

●      Biologically inspired communication systems for robotic vehicles

●      Software-Defined robotic vehicle networks

●      Path planning, navigation and target tracking for robotic vehicles networks

●      Quality of service/quality of experience for robotic vehicles

●      Cybersecurity and privacy for robotic vehicles

●      Performance analysis and experimental demos of robotic vehicles for sustainable development

Workshop paper submissions due: 9 Mar 2023

Acceptance notification: 16 April 2023

Final paper submission due: 30 April 2023

Submission:

TrackChair submission link: https://vtc2023s-rr-wks.trackchair.com/track/2161

VTC2023-spring main page: https://events.vtsociety.org/vtc2023-spring/

 coming soon...

Co-chair: Zhenhui Yuan, Northumbria University, UK

Co-chair: Qing Li, Peng Cheng Lab, China

Co-chair: Fei Song, Beijing Jiaotong University, China

Co-chair: Shiwen Mao, Auburn University, USA

TPC Co-chair: Dr.Abid Yaqoob, Dublin City University, Ireland

Publicity chair: Xiaomin Chen, Northumbria University, UK

If you have a general enquiry about the submission, please feel free to contact Dr.Zhenhui Yuan at zhenhui.yuan@northumbria.ac.uk 

Dr.Abid Yaqoob, Dublin City University, Ireland

Dr. Jian Zhang, Kennesaw University, USA

Prof.Lianbo Ma, Northeastern University，China

Dr. Qasim Zeeshan Ahmed, University of Huddersfield, UK

Prof.Sun Hui, Anhui University, China

Dr. Adnan Shahid, University of Ghent, Belgium

Dr. Suleman Khan, University of Central Lancashire, UK

Prof.Kun Huang, Peng Cheng Laboratory, China

Dr.Xiaomin Chen, Northumbria University, UK

Dr. Omprakash Kaiwartya, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Dr. Mohammad Al Jaidi, University of Petra, Jordan

Prof.Gabriel-Miro Muntean, Dublin City University, Ireland

Prof.Nauman Aslam, Northumbria University, UK

Dr. Cristian Martin, University of Malaga, Spain