Guest editorial: Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven spectrum management

Abstract

Recent advances in communication and networking technologies are leading to a plethora of novel wireless services that range from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication to smart cognitive networks and massive Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Enabling these emerging applications over the fifth generation (5G) of wireless cellular systems requires meeting numerous challenges pertaining to spectrum sharing and management. In fact, most 5G applications will be highly reliant on intelligent spectrum management techniques, which should adapt to dynamic network environments while also guaranteeing high reliability and high quality-of-experience (QoE). In this context, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques that include deep learning, convolutional neural networks, and reinforcement learning, among many others, is expected to play a very important role in paving the way towards truly AI-driven spectrum management, thus enabling tomorrow's smart city services. Therefore, it has become imperative to investigate and apply AI techniques to solve emerging spectrum management problems in various wireless networks. This includes leveraging AI to address a wide range of wireless networking challenges ranging from network management to dynamic spectrum sharing and resource management.