Future communication systems are evolving to cater to cyber-physical and mission-critical interactive systems, such as swarm robotics, self-driving cars, and smart Internet of Things (IoT). The interconnection of myriad sensing- and learning-empowered devices will underpin the global functioning of our societies, enabling formidable progress in various sectors. The realization of this euphoric dream however hinges upon networks’ ability to deliver on an unprecedented number of highly demanding requirements. As we are entering the era of networked intelligence, fundamental advances are necessary to satisfy the pressing requirements for real-time communication, timely autonomous decision-making, and effective distributed processing.
In this talk, we introduce goal-oriented semantic communication; a paradigm shift that aims at redefining data importance, timing, and effectiveness, looking through the prism of the semantics of information. We highlight fundamental concepts, essential principles, and key functionalities required for effectively conveying only information representations and features, which are timely, relevant, and valuable for achieving end users’ goals. We discuss several recent theoretical results in the realm of rate-distortion-perception, timely source coding, pull-based communication, and real-time tracking. We conclude this talk by discussing the potential and the technical challenges associated with this promising avenue of research.
