Envisioning the convergence of intelligent technologies to shape the future landscape of secure and scalable communications

The advent of intelligent technologies is transforming various aspects of modern communications. Innovations in connectivity, as well as artificial intelligence, are redefining the scope and scale of communications in terms of massive devices, density, and mobility. Both static and dynamic spectra are being added to the system to cater to future needs, mitigating spectrum contention and reducing interference, thus enhancing throughput significantly. The Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, such as the Internet of Things and cyber-physical and heterogeneous systems, hold a significant place in revolutionizing nearly every sector in the coming years. It is anticipated that a massive and heterogeneous network of billions of IoT-based devices and sensors deployed through untrusted environments will gather, process, and exchange data, enabling a new era of real-time and remote systems across various verticals.

The advanced communication systems, which ensure high spectral and energy efficiencies, resilient operations, fast response times, and scalability to meet the growing power requirements, require system-level security by design. While there have been rapid technological advancements in the domains of wireless connectivity and AI, there has been no scientific investigation into the potential benefits of converging smart communication techniques with intelligence, security, resilience, and trust. There have been various research-related works addressing security and privacy challenges in the context of different communication technologies that may not provide end-to-end secure and scalable solutions. Through this, we invite researchers to explore the potential.