Beyond Age of Information: Semantics and Goal-oriented Communication

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Age and Semantics of Information are of fundamental importance to next-generation communication systems. Age of Information (AoI) is an end-to-end metric that can capture one semantic property known as timeliness or freshness of information, which is important for information-update and data analytics applications such as crowdsourcing, financial trading, social networks, and online learning, as well as networked monitoring and control systems such as sensor networks, vehicular control, robotics networks, the Internet of Things, and cyber-physical systems.

Semantics of Information (SoI) captures properties of information such as relevance and importance that relate to the goal and purpose of information transmission. These properties are intended to improve the performance of systems that utilize the transmitted information.

Recent research advances on the Age of Information suggest that many well-known design principles, such as those targeting high throughput and low delay, may be inappropriate and need to be re-examined for enhancing information freshness in rapidly emerging real-time applications. At the same time, the paradigm shift toward semantic communication in 6G systems is expected to create systems that generate, process, and transmit only a small fraction of information, consuming less energy and fewer channel resources without sacrificing effectiveness.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Semantics of Information and task-/goal-oriented communications
• Information-theoretic limits and interpretations of Age of Information and Semantics of Information
• Source and channel coding for Age of Information and semantic communications
• Random access and gossiping protocols for Age of Information and semantic communications
• Freshness and semantics of information in real-time learning, estimation, computation, and control
• Networking aspects and protocols for Age of Information and semantic communications
• Resource allocation and management for Age of Information and semantic communications
• Modeling and performance analysis for Age of Information and semantic communications
• ML/AI techniques for semantic and task-/goal-oriented communications
• Generative AI, foundation models, and networked LLMs for semantic and goal-oriented communications
• Freshness, information accuracy, and misinformation dynamics in timeliness-aware gossip networks
• Age of Information, semantic accuracy, and strategic information disclosure in networked systems