Tingjun Chen

Agastya Raj, Zehao Wang, Frank Slyne et al.

We present a novel ML framework for modeling the wavelength-dependent gain of multiple EDFAs, based on semi-supervised, self-normalizing neural networks, enabling one-shot transfer learning. Our experiments on 22 EDFAs in Open Ireland and COSMOS testbeds show high-accuracy transfer-learning even when operated across different amplifier types.

Yiming Li, Zeyu Li, Zhihui Gao et al.

Radio frequency (RF) signal mapping, which is the process of analyzing and predicting the RF signal strength and distribution across specific areas, is crucial for cellular network planning and deployment. Traditional approaches to RF signal mapping rely on statistical models constructed based on measurement data, which offer low complexity but often lack accuracy, or ray tracing tools, which provide enhanced precision for the target area but suffer from increased computational complexity. Recently, machine learning (ML) has emerged as a data-driven method for modeling RF signal propagation, which leverages models trained on synthetic datasets to perform RF signal mapping in "unseen" areas. In this paper, we present Geo2SigMap, an ML-based framework for efficient and high-fidelity RF signal mapping using geographic databases. First, we develop an automated framework that seamlessly integrates three open-source tools: OpenStreetMap (geographic databases), Blender (computer graphics), and Sionna (ray tracing), enabling the efficient generation of large-scale 3D building maps and ray tracing models. Second, we propose a cascaded U-Net model, which is pre-trained on synthetic datasets and employed to generate detailed RF signal maps, leveraging environmental information and sparse measurement data. Finally, we evaluate the performance of Geo2SigMap via a real-world measurement campaign, where three types of user equipment (UE) collect over 45,000 data points related to cellular information from six LTE cells operating in the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band. Our results show that Geo2SigMap achieves an average root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 6.04 dB for predicting the reference signal received power (RSRP) at the UE, representing an average RMSE improvement of 3.59 dB compared to existing methods.

Ningyuan Yang, Guanliang Lyu, Mingchen Ma et al.

The integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) with Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems faces significant challenges in hardware heterogeneity and control complexity. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) emerges as a critical enabler, providing standardized communication between LLMs and physical devices. We propose IoT-MCP, a novel framework that implements MCP through edge-deployed servers to bridge LLMs and IoT ecosystems. To support rigorous evaluation, we introduce IoT-MCP Bench, the first benchmark containing 114 Basic Tasks (e.g., ``What is the current temperature?'') and 1,140 Complex Tasks (e.g., ``I feel so hot, do you have any ideas?'') for IoT-enabled LLMs. Experimental validation across 22 sensor types and 6 microcontroller units demonstrates IoT-MCP's 100% task success rate to generate tool calls that fully meet expectations and obtain completely accurate results, 205ms average response time, and 74KB peak memory footprint. This work delivers both an open-source integration framework (https://github.com/Duke-CEI-Center/IoT-MCP-Servers) and a standardized evaluation methodology for LLM-IoT systems.

Jianxing Qin, Jingrong Chen, Xinhao Kong et al.

Modern machine learning (ML) training workloads place substantial demands on both computational and communication resources. Consequently, accurate performance estimation has become increasingly critical for guiding system design decisions, such as the selection of parallelization strategies, cluster configurations, and hardware provisioning. Existing simulation-based performance estimation requires reimplementing the ML framework in a simulator, which demands significant manual effort and is hard to maintain as ML frameworks evolve rapidly. This paper introduces Phantora, a hybrid GPU cluster simulator designed for performance estimation of ML training workloads. Phantora executes unmodified ML frameworks as is within a distributed, containerized environment. Each container emulates the behavior of a GPU server in a large-scale cluster, while Phantora intercepts and simulates GPU- and communication-related operations to provide high-fidelity performance estimation. We call this approach hybrid simulation of ML systems, in contrast to traditional methods that simulate static workloads. The primary advantage of hybrid simulation is that it allows direct reuse of ML framework source code in simulation, avoiding the need for reimplementation. Our evaluation shows that Phantora provides accuracy comparable to static workload simulation while supporting three state-of-the-art LLM training frameworks out-of-the-box. In addition, Phantora operates on a single GPU, eliminating the need for the resource-intensive trace collection and workload extraction steps required by traditional trace-based simulators. Phantora is open-sourced at https://github.com/QDelta/Phantora.

Merim Dzaferagic, Marco Ruffini, Nina Slamnik-Krijestorac et al.

Multiple visions of 6G networks elicit Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a central, native element. When 6G systems are deployed at a large scale, end-to-end AI-based solutions will necessarily have to encompass both the radio and the fiber-optical domain. This paper introduces the Decentralized Multi-Party, Multi-Network AI (DMMAI) framework for integrating AI into 6G networks deployed at scale. DMMAI harmonizes AI-driven controls across diverse network platforms and thus facilitates networks that autonomously configure, monitor, and repair themselves. This is particularly crucial at the network edge, where advanced applications meet heightened functionality and security demands. The radio/optical integration is vital due to the current compartmentalization of AI research within these domains, which lacks a comprehensive understanding of their interaction. Our approach explores multi-network orchestration and AI control integration, filling a critical gap in standardized frameworks for AI-driven coordination in 6G networks. The DMMAI framework is a step towards a global standard for AI in 6G, aiming to establish reference use cases, data and model management methods, and benchmarking platforms for future AI/ML solutions.

Zhihui Gao, Sri Krishna Vadlamani, Kfir Sulimany et al.

Modern edge devices, such as cameras, drones, and Internet-of-Things nodes, rely on deep learning to enable a wide range of intelligent applications, including object recognition, environment perception, and autonomous navigation. However, deploying deep learning models directly on the often resource-constrained edge devices demands significant memory footprints and computational power for real-time inference using traditional digital computing architectures. In this paper, we present WISE, a novel computing architecture for wireless edge networks designed to overcome energy constraints in deep learning inference. WISE achieves this goal through two key innovations: disaggregated model access via wireless broadcasting and in-physics computation of general complex-valued matrix-vector multiplications directly at radio frequency. Using a software-defined radio platform with wirelessly broadcast model weights over the air, we demonstrate that WISE achieves 95.7% image classification accuracy with ultra-low operation power of 6.0 fJ/MAC per client, corresponding to a computation efficiency of 165.8 TOPS/W. This approach enables energy-efficient deep learning inference on wirelessly connected edge devices, achieving more than two orders of magnitude improvement in efficiency compared to traditional digital computing.

Agastya Raj, Zehao Wang, Tingjun Chen et al.

Accurate modeling of the gain spectrum in Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs) is essential for optimizing optical network performance, particularly as networks evolve toward multi-vendor solutions. In this work, we propose a generalized few-shot transfer learning architecture based on a Semi-Supervised Self-Normalizing Neural Network (SS-NN) that leverages internal EDFA features - such as VOA input or output power and attenuation, to improve gain spectrum prediction. Our SS-NN model employs a two-phase training strategy comprising unsupervised pre-training with noise-augmented measurements and supervised fine-tuning with a custom weighted MSE loss. Furthermore, we extend the framework with transfer learning (TL) techniques that enable both homogeneous (same-feature space) and heterogeneous (different-feature sets) model adaptation across booster, preamplifier, and ILA EDFAs. To address feature mismatches in heterogeneous TL, we incorporate a covariance matching loss to align second-order feature statistics between source and target domains. Extensive experiments conducted across 26 EDFAs in the COSMOS and Open Ireland testbeds demonstrate that the proposed approach significantly reduces the number of measurements requirements on the system while achieving lower mean absolute errors and improved error distributions compared to benchmark methods.

David Hunt, Shaocheng Luo, Spencer Hallyburton et al.

Low-cost indoor mobile robots have gained popularity with the increasing adoption of automation in homes and commercial spaces. However, existing lidar and camera-based solutions have limitations such as poor performance in visually obscured environments, high computational overhead for data processing, and high costs for lidars. In contrast, mmWave radar sensors offer a cost-effective and lightweight alternative, providing accurate ranging regardless of visibility. However, existing radar-based localization suffers from sparse point cloud generation, noise, and false detections. Thus, in this work, we introduce RaGNNarok, a real-time, lightweight, and generalizable graph neural network (GNN)-based framework to enhance radar point clouds, even in complex and dynamic environments. With an inference time of just 7.3 ms on the low-cost Raspberry Pi 5, RaGNNarok runs efficiently even on such resource-constrained devices, requiring no additional computational resources. We evaluate its performance across key tasks, including localization, SLAM, and autonomous navigation, in three different environments. Our results demonstrate strong reliability and generalizability, making RaGNNarok a robust solution for low-cost indoor mobile robots.

Sri Krishna Vadlamani, Kfir Sulimany, Zhihui Gao et al.

Machine intelligence on edge devices enables low-latency processing and improved privacy, but is often limited by the energy and delay of moving and converting data. Current systems frequently avoid local model storage by sending queries to a server, incurring uplink cost, network latency, and privacy risk. We present the opposite approach: broadcasting model weights to clients that perform inference locally using in-physics computation inside the radio receive chain. A base station transmits weights as radio frequency (RF) waveforms; the client encodes activations onto the waveform and computes the result using existing mixer and filter stages, RF components already present in billions of edge devices such as cellphones, eliminating repeated signal conversions and extra hardware. Analysis shows that thermal noise and nonlinearity create an optimal energy window for accurate analog inner products. Hardware-tailored training through a differentiable RF chain preserves accuracy within this regime. Circuit-informed simulations, consistent with a companion experiment, demonstrate reduced memory and conversion overhead while maintaining high accuracy in realistic wireless edge scenarios.