Goal-Oriented Semantic Communications for 6G Networks

TL;DR

The paper addresses the need for a unified framework that transcends traditional bit-centric communication by incorporating semantic content and task-driven effectiveness in 6G networks. It defines semantic information extraction methods across diverse data types and proposes a goal-oriented framework that ties semantic content to task-specific performance metrics. The framework covers one-hop and chain tasks, detailing concrete information extraction, recovery methods, and metrics for speech, vision, AR/VR, haptics, sensors, and ML models, including FL and SL variations. A UAV control case demonstrates significant data reduction (e.g., via VoI/AoI-guided signaling) without sacrificing task performance, highlighting practical value for latency-constrained, mission-critical applications.

Abstract

Upon the arrival of emerging devices, including Extended Reality (XR) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), the traditional communication framework is approaching Shannon's physical capacity limit and fails to guarantee the massive amount of transmission within latency requirements. By jointly exploiting the context of data and its importance to the task, an emerging communication paradigm shift to semantic level and effectiveness level is envisioned to be a key revolution in Sixth Generation (6G) networks. However, an explicit and systematic communication framework incorporating both semantic level and effectiveness level has not been proposed yet. In this article, we propose a generic goal-oriented semantic communication framework for various tasks with diverse data types, which incorporates both semantic level information and effectiveness-aware performance metrics. We first analyze the unique characteristics of all data types, and summarise the semantic information, along with corresponding extraction methods. We then propose a detailed goal-oriented semantic communication framework for different time-critical and non-critical tasks. In the goal-oriented semantic communication framework, we present the goal-oriented semantic information, extraction methods, recovery methods, and effectiveness-aware performance metrics. Last but not least, we present a goal-oriented semantic communication framework tailored for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) control task to validate the effectiveness of the proposed goal-oriented semantic communication framework.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Proposed goal-oriented semantic communication framework.
• Figure 2: Goal-oriented semantic communication framework for different tasks with diverse data types.
• Figure 3: Transmission times and effective transmission rate.