The IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communication in China (ICCC) has been globally recognized as one of the important annual international conference held by the IEEE Communication Society(ComSoc) and China Institute of Communication (CIC)in China. The sixth IEEE/CIC ICCC 2017 was held in the magnificent city of Qingdao, China, 22-24 October,2017. In particular, IEEE/CIC ICCC 2017 aims at addressing a key theme on “Communications for Everything”, which broadly covers all disciplines of communications from fundamental research to emerging applications. The technical program of ICCC 2017 features 4 world-class keynote speeches, 9 technical symposiums,8 tutorials, 2 industrial and academic panels, and 2 workshops. In addition, there are 17 invited talks delivered by 17 famous experts from both academia and industry.ICCC 2017 successfully brought together distinguished scholars and leading researchers to discuss the latest advances in information and communication technologies,where the participants had a very fruitful and productive conference, and also an unforgettable stay in Qingdao.

In this sixth edition of IEEE ComSoc’s fl agship conference in China, we have maintained the high quality of the conference. We received 471 paper submissions from 24 countries and regions. Out of these, 222 papers were accepted and 213 papers were included in the fi nal program, corresponding to an acceptance rate of 47%.All the papers were carefully peer reviewed by about 450 TPC members and reviewers, with each paper evaluated by at least three reviewers.

Among all there paper presented in the conference, we selected a limited number of excellent ones and invited the authors to submit their extended versions to this Feature Topics of China Communications. The extended papers contain at least 30% material variation and the guest editors assigned another around of reviews for each one.Based on the review results, we eventually selected the following nine papers for this Feature Topic.

The 1st article, “User Association and Backhaul Bandwidth Allocation for 5G Heterogeneous Networks in the Millimeter-Wave Band” is authored by Zhenxiang Su, et al. and its original conference version received the Best Paper Award in ICCC 2017. In this paper, the authors focused on the user association and the wireless backhaul bandwidth allocation for a two-tier heterogeneous network (HetNet) in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band,with the purpose of maximizing the sum rate of the system. To achieve that, the closed-form expression of sum logarithmic user rate is established according to the result of multi-user MIMO downlink employing zero forcing beam forming. Based on that, a distributed algorithm was proposed, with which the optimal backhaul bandwidth allocation factor and user association variables can be obtained to maximize the sum rate.

The 2nd article, “Privacy-Preserving Prepayment Based Power Request and Trading in Smart Grid”, is authored by Shaohua Li, et al. This paper aims at dealing with utility loss due to the mismatch between the users’power request and demands in smart grid. To do so, a novel power request and trading scheme was proposed by adopting the prepayment mechanism, where the dynamic demands of the users can be satisfied and the grid efficiency can also be improved. In addition, two security protocols, which can protect individual privacy from the malicious adversary or semi-trust grid utilities, are also developed for control center and the gateway.

The 3rd article, “Outage Performance of Cognitive DF Relaying Networks Employing SWIPT”, is authored by Jing Yang, et al. This work provides a comprehensive study on the outage performance of cognitive relay networks with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) over Nakagami-m channels. With the help of bivariate Meijer’s G-function, the close-form expressions on the outage probabilities of the system with decode and forward (DF) as well as incremental decode and forward (IDF) protocols are derived. Numerical results are also provided to verify the theoretical analysis.

The 4th article, “Semi-Supervised Learning Based Big Data-Driven Anomaly Detection in Mobile Wireless Networks”, is authored by Bilal Hussain, et al. In this paper, a novel semi-supervised statistical-based anomaly detection scheme was proposed under the concept of machine learning and big data. The purpose is to improve the overall network performance by fully exploring the knowledge hidden in the ever-increasing data generated in LTE networks. The proposed algorithm is capable to track and analyze the spatiotemporal information on hourly basis and marks the anomaly occurred in a particular region of the networks. Hence it can help cellular network operator to reducing the OPEX and utilize the resources in a dynamic and more efficient way.

The 5th article, “5.9 GHz Vehicular Channels Comparisons Between Two Traffic Status for Dense Urban Area”, is authored by Fang Li, et al. This paper focuses on the characteristics of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) radio channel at 5.9 GHz. The comparative investigation is performed in the same region but different traffic density and speeds, which can be classified into the congestion and non-congestion cases. To do so the continuous measurement campaign is conducted on a city expressway through the complex dense urban area in Wuhan, China.With the measured parameters, this work concludes that the cumulative distribution function of root mean square delay spreads and root mean square Doppler spreads in the non-congested scenario and congested scenario were all fit well with Lognormal distribution. Different intensities of traffic and speed of vehicles has major impact on the root mean square Doppler spreads and level crossing rate. It also reported that the V2V channel characteristics for urban areas in China big city are different from the previous measured results under similar scenarios in Europe.

The 6th article, “Context-Oriented Multi-RAT User Association and Resource Allocation with Triple Decision in 5G Heterogeneous Networks”, is authored by Jing Li, et al. This paper proposes a joint multiple Radio Access Technologies (RAT) user association and resource allocation strategy with triple decision and integrated context awareness of users and networks. A dynamic game based ant colony algorithm (GACA) is designed to simultaneously maximize the system utility and the fairness of resource allocation. Simulation results show that it is more reasonable to make multi-RAT association decision from a system-wide viewpoint than from an individual one. Compared to max-SNR based and ABC based strategies, the proposed method alleviates network congestion and optimizes resource allocation.The proposed algorithm obtains 39%～ 70% performance improvements.

The 7th article, “Channel Estimation and Throughput Evaluation for 5G Wireless Communication Systems in Various Scenarios on High Speed Railways”, is authored by Yanrong Zhao, et al. This paper evaluates the downlink throughput of 5G High Speed Railway (HSR) communication systems on three typical scenarios including urban, cutting and viaduct with three different channel estimators. The channel parameters of each scenario are generated with tapped delay line (TDL) models through ray-tracing simulations. In addition, a novel channel estimator, namely historical information based basis expansion model (HiBEM) is proposed in this paper. The performance of the HiBEM estimator is analyzed in terms of mean square error (MSE). The system throughput with different channel estimates is evaluated and compared over each scenario. The comparison study shows that the proposed HiBEM outperforms other estimators and that the system throughput can reach the highest point in the viaduct scenario.

The 8th article, “Fake Reviews Tell No Tales? Dissecting Click Farming in Content-Generated Social Networks”, is authored by Neng Li et al. This paper focuses on the detection of click farming in the content-generated social networks (CGSNs). To achieve that, a three phase detection method is proposed. In such a method, the communities are first clustered based on newly-defined collusion networks. Then the Louvain community detection method is applied to detecting communities. The binary classification on detected-communities is finally performed to verify the click farming. This work shows its importance by revealing some interesting results.For example, the prevalence of click farming is different across CGSNs, most click farmers are lowly-rated,click-farming communities have relatively tight relations between users, and more highly-ranked stores have a greater portion of fake reviews.

The 9th article, “Cluster-Based Content Download and Forwarding Scheme for Highway VANETs”, is authored by Mingsi Zhang, et al. This work aims at increasing the data download volume in the dark area of Highway VANETs. To achieve that, a novel cluster-based scheme is proposed by combining both clustering strategy and the carry-and-forward algorithm. The basic idea is to coordinate the cooperation of multiple infrastructures,cluster formation in the same direction and data forwarding of reverse vehicles to facilitate the target vehicle to download large-size content. Through combining microscopic and macroscopic mobility models, simulations is performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme in terms of data download volume and throughput. The results have shown that the proposed scheme outperforms other content download schemes for highway VANETs in terms of total data download volume.The research in this paper shed insight into the design of cooperative communication scheme to maximize the utilization of bene fi ts in dark area to extend the limited RSU’s coverage and short contact time between RSU and the tagged vehicle.

Biographies

Cheng-Xiang Wang,is currently a professor in wireless communications with Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. He received the BSc and MEng degrees in Communication and Information Systems from Shandong University, China, in 1997 and 2000, respectively, and the PhD degree in Wireless Communications from Aalborg University, Denmark, in 2004. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh, UK, a Chair Professor of Shandong University, and a Guest Professor of Southeast University, China. His current research interests focus on wireless channel measurements/modelling and (B)5G wireless communication networks, including green communications, cognitive radio networks, high mobility communication networks, massive MIMO,millimeter wave communications, and visible light communications. He has co-authored 2 books, 1 book chapter, and over 320 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. Prof.Wang has served as an Editor/Guest Editor for 11 international journals, including IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology(since 2011), IEEE Transactions on Communications (since 2015),IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (2007--2009), and IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. He has served as a Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member, TPC Chair, and General Chair for over 80 international conferences. He received 9 Best Paper Awards from IEEE Globecom 2010, IEEE ICCT 2011,ITST 2012, IEEE VTC 2013-Spring, IWCMC 2015, IWCMC 2016,IEEE/CIC ICCC 2016, and WPMC 2016. He is a Fellow of the IEEE,IET, and HEA. He is recognized as a Web of Science 2017 Highly Cited Researcher.

Guoqiang Mao,is currently a professor of wireless networking in the University of Technology Sydney. He received the Ph.D.degree in telecommunications engineering from Edith Cowan University in 2002. He was with the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Sydney, between 2002 and 2014. He joined the University of Technology Sydney in 2014 as a Professor of wireless networking and the Director of the Center for Realtime Information Networks. The Center is among the largest university research centers in Australia in the field of wireless communications and networking. He has published about 200 papers in international conferences and journals, which have been cited more than 4000 times. His research interest includes intelligent transport systems, applied graph theory, and its applications in telecommunications, Internet of Things, wireless sensor networks, wireless localization techniques, and network performance analysis. He has served as a Chair, a Co-Chair, and a TPC Member in a large number of international conferences.He is a Co-Chair of the IEEE Intelligent Transport Systems Society Technical Committee on Communication Networks. He received the Top Editor Award for outstanding contributions to the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology in 2011, 2014, and 2015.He has been an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications since 2014 and the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology since 2010. Prof. Mao is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of IET.

Ekram Hossain,is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Manitoba,Winnipeg, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Victoria, Canada, in 2001. He was a University of Victoria Fellow and also a recipient of the British Columbia Advanced Systems Institute (ASI) graduate student award. Professor Hossain is an author/editor of 10 books. Currently Dr. Hossain serves as an Editor for the IEEE Wireless Communications. Also,he serves on the IEEE Press Editorial Board (2013-2018). Previously, Dr. Hossain served as the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials from 2012-2016, the Area Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications from 2009-2011 and an Editor for the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications - Cognitive Radio Series (from 2011-2014),and IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (from 2007-2012).He was a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communications Society (for two terms during 2012-2015). Dr. Hossain is a registered Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in the province of Manitoba,Canada. He was an IEEE Fellow (class of 2015) “for contributions to spectrum management and resource allocation in cognitive and cellular radio networks”. In 2016, he was elected as a Member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. He is an elected Member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Communications Society (2018-2020).He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Press (2018-2019). Prof.Hossain received the “2017 IEEE TCGCC (Technical Committee on Green Communications and Networking) Distinguished Technical Achievement Recognition Award” with the following citation:“for outstanding technical leadership and achievement in green wireless communications and networking”. Also, he is listed as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher in Computer Science in 2017.

Xiaotian Zhou,is currently a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) with the school of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong University, China. He received the B.Eng degree in electrical information engineering and the Ph.D degree in communication and information systems both from Shandong University, China, in 2007 and 2013, respectively. From 2011 to 2013, he was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, USA, as a visiting student. He also held a visiting researcher position with Heriot-Watt University, UK during May to June, 2012. His research interests include 5G wireless communication networks, multiple access schemes, MIMO and visible light communications. He has co-authored over 30 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. He also has served as a TPC member, Symposium TP Co-chair for over 20 international conferences.