IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communication in China (ICCC) is one of the flagship conferences in Asian-Pacific region held by IEEE Communication Society(ComSoc) and China Institute of Communication (CIC).IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 was held in Beijing,China,on August 16-18,2018.The key theme is “Ubiquitous Network,Intelligence and Society”,which broadly covers the theoretical and practical innovations in the area of communications.The technical program of IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 features 6 world-class keynote speeches which are presented by Weihua Zhuang (Fellow of IEEE,Royal Society of Canada,Canadian Academy of Engineering,and Engineering Institute of Canada),Abbas Jamalipour (Fellow of IEEE,IEICE,and Institution of Engineers Australia),Tao Zhang,Ying-Chang Liang (IEEE Fellow),James Kimery,and Sumei Sun (IEEE Fellow).The invited speakers of IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 included Yue Gao,Zhi Ding (IEEE Fellow),Tony Q.S.Quek(IEEE Fellow),Kwang-Cheng Chen (IEEE Fellow),Jianwei Huang (IEEE Fellow),Zhu Han (IEEE Fellow),Klaus Moessner,Tommy Svensson and Qinyu Zhang.

IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 had 10 technical symposiums,7 tutorials,2 industrial and academic panels,and 7 workshops.IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 added the exhibitions of enterprises and universities to enhance the interactions between academia and industry.IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 successfully brought the leading scientists and young scholars in the field of information and communication technologies together to exchange ideas and search for possible cooperation.Some outstanding students also made high-level presentations in the sessions of IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018.

IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 continued to be the conference of high quality.There were 355 paper submissions from 15 countries and regions.Among these papers,170 papers were accepted and included in the conference proceedings and IEEE Xplore,with an acceptance rate of 47.9%.The papers were carefully peer-reviewed by about 350 reviewers,with each paper reviewed by at least three reviewers.IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018 granted 4 best paper awards,which are listed as follows.

1.Jianwen Xu,Kaoru Ota,Mianxiong Dong,“Plug-and-Play for Fog: Dynamic Service Placement in Wireless Multimedia Networks,” 2018 IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC),Beijing,China,pp.490-494,Aug.2018.

2.Qin Tao,Caijun Zhong,Kaibin Huang,Junhui Zhao,Xiaoming Chen and Zhaoyang Zhang,“Ambient Backscatter Communications Systems Using MFSK Modulation,” 2018 IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC),Beijing,China,pp.358-363,Aug.2018.

3.Mi Yang,Bo Ai,Ruisi He,Liang Chen,Xue Li,Jianzhi Li,Qi Wang,Bei Zhang,Chen Huang,“A Cluster-Based 3D Channel Model for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications,”2018 IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC),Beijing,China,pp.741-746,Aug.2018.

4.Wenchi Cheng,Zan Li,Feifei Gao,Liping Liang,and Hailin Zhang,“Mode Hopping for Anti-Jamming in Cognitive Radio Networks,” 2018 IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC),Beijing,China,pp.530-535,Aug.2018.

Among all the papers in the conference proceedings of IEEE/CIC ICCC 2018,7 excellent papers were selected and invited to submit their extended versions to this feature topic.The extended version contained at least 30% technical differences compared with the conference paper.The extended versions of the conference papers were assigned with two-round reviews.According to the review results,we selected the following papers.

The 1st article“Angle-based Beamforming in mmWave Massive MIMO Systems with Low Feedback Overhead Using Multi-Pattern Codebooks”is authored by Yuyan Zhao,et al.In this paper,by exploiting the higher angular stability of such channels,the authors propose an angle-based beamforming scheme to reduce the feedback frequency and the number of feedback bits.To facilitate this approach,users are initially selected to reduce the intra-zone interference before beamforming.Besides,location related feedback,which is not affected by the number of antennas,is adopted to reduce overhead.

The 2nd article,“An Adaptive Grouping Scheme in Ultra-Dense IEEE 802.11ax Network Using Buffer State Report Based Two-Stage Mechanism”,is authored by Jiyang Bai,et al.In this paper,the authors propose an adaptive STA grouping scheme to overcome this dense network challenge in IEEE 802.11ax by using Buffer State Report (BSR)based Two-stage Mechanism (BTM).In order to achieve the optimal efficiency of BSR delivery,the authors analyze the functional relationship between STA number in group and Resource Unit (RU) efficiency.Based on this analysis results,an adaptive STA grouping algorithm with variable group size is proposed to achieve efficient grouping in BTM.

The 3rd article“Modeling and Parameter Optimization of Statistical Priority-based Multiple Access Protocol”,is authored by Siying Gao,et al.In this paper,the authors present a non-preemptive M/M/1/K queuing model to analyze the performance of different priorities in SPMA in terms of average packet loss rate and delay.And based on this queuing model,the authors designed a percentile scoring system combined with Q-learning algorithm to optimize the protocol parameters.

The 4th article,“Propagation Characteristics of Elevation Angles and Three Dimensional Fading Channel Model with Angle Offset”,is authored by Lei Tianet al.In this paper,extensive 3D multiple antenna field channel measurements with 100 MHz bandwidth are conducted in three typical scenarios,including outdoor to indoor(O2I),urban microcell(UMi) and urban macrocell (UMa).The statistical characteristics and parameters are extracted and analyzed based on the measurement data.It is found that the assumption holds in the LOS condition.However,for non-line-of-sight(NLOS) condition,a difference exists between the mean elevation angle and the direction connecting transmitter and receiver,which is defined as the elevation angle offset.Then,the eigenvalue distribution and capacity are compared between the reconstructed 3D channels with and without elevation angle offset.

The 5th article,“Multi-Frequency Channel Characterization for Massive MIMO Communications in Lobby Environment”,is authored by Jianzhi Li,et al.In this paper,a massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channel measurement campaign with two setups is conducted in an indoor lobby environment.The channel characterization is presented by investigating the typical channel parameters,including average power delay profile (APDP),K factor,root mean square (RMS) delay spread,and coherence bandwidth.Moreover,the channel characteristics in angular domain are investigated by applying the space-alternating generalized expectation-maximization (SAGE) algorithm.The extracted multipath components (MPCs) are preliminarily clustered by visual inspection,and related to the interacting objects (IOs)in physical environment.Multipath structures at multiple frequency bands are examined.Direction spread of departure is estimated to evaluate the directional dispersion at the base station (BS) side.The results in this paper can help to reveal the propagation mechanisms in massive MIMO channels,and provide a foundation for the design and application of the practical massive MIMO system.

The 6th article,“V2V Channel Characterization and Modeling for Underground Parking Garages” is authored by Mi Yanget al.In this paper,a novel channel measurement carried out in the underground garage is firstly introduced.Considering that there are a lot of obstacles in an underground garage,the non-line-of-sight (NLoS) condition is taken into account during the measurement.Then,channel characteristic parameters,including large-scale fading,delay spread,and K-factor,are analyzed based on the measured data.In addition,the authors carry out channel angle of arrival analysis,showing the distribution of azimuth of arrival(AOA) and elevation of arrival (EOA) of multipath components (MPC).Then they conduct a statistical analysis of the angular spread.In the process of analysis and modeling,the authors focus on the differences between line-of-sight(LoS) and NLoS conditions.The analysis and conclusions presented in this paper will enrich the understanding of V2V channel and benefit the design of V2V communications.

The last article,“Cross-Layer Framework for CapacityAnalysis in Multiuser Ultra-Dense Networks with Cell DTx”,is authored by Qing Li,et al.In this paper,the authors develop a cross-layer framework for capacity analysis in multiuser UDNs with Cell DTx.In particular,the authors firstly extend the traditional one-dimensional effective capacity model to a new multidimensional effective capacity model to derive the sum rate and the effective capacity.Moreover,the authors propose a new iterative bisection search algorithm that is capable of approximating QoS performance.The convergence of this new algorithm to a unique QoS exponent vector is proved.Finally,the authors apply this framework to the round-robin and the max-C/I scheduling policies.