Virtual Seminar by Honggang Zhang
Title: Rethinking Modern Communication from Semantic Coding to Semantic Communication
Time and Date: Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022 at 9:00AM US Eastern Standard Time
Presenter: Professor Honggang Zhang, Zhejiang University, China
Venue: https://zoom.us/j/9172542706 (Password: 4Zn7xZ)
Abstract: Modern communications are usually designed to pursue a higher bit-level precision and fewer bits while transmitting a message. We give a rethinking on these two fundamental features and introduce the concept and advantage of semantics that take advantage of a new kind of semantics-aware communication framework, incorporating both the semantic encoding and the semantic communication issues. After analyzing the underlying defects of existing semantics-aware techniques, we establish a confidence-based distillation mechanism for the semantic coding problem and put forward a reinforcement learning (RL)-powered semantic communication solution, which endow a communications system the ability to convey the semantics instead of pursuing the bit level accuracy. On top of these technical contributions, this talk provides a new insight to understand how the semantics are processed and represented in a semantics-aware coding and communication system, and verifies the significant benefits of doing so. Targeting at the next-generation (6G) semantics-aware communication, a number of critical concerns and open challenges such as the information overhead, semantic security and implementation cost are also discussed and envisioned.
Bio: Dr. Honggang Zhang is the Chief Managing Editor of Intelligent Computing Journal, a Science Partner Journal jointly established by AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) and Zhejiang Lab (https://spj.sciencemag.org/journals/icomputing/). He is a Full Professor of College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, China. He was an International Chair Professor, CominLabs Excellence Center, Université Européenne de Bretagne (UEB) & Supélec, France (2012-2014). He was an Honorary Visiting Professor of the University of York, UK (2010-2018).