Next-Generation Waveforms Design for Communications, Sensing, and Integrated Systems: Information-Theoretic & Application Perspectives

Workshop Overview

With the rapid expansion of high-mobility applications, ensuring reliable communication in rapidly time-varying environments has become a critical challenge. Conventional Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) suffers pronounced degradation in such dynamic scenarios, underscoring the urgent necessity for next-generation modulation waveforms. Consequently, emerging multicarrier schemes—including orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS), orthogonal delay division multiplexing (ODDM), orthogonal chirp division multiplexing (OCDM), affine frequency division multiplexing (AFDM), interleave frequency division multiplexing (IFDM), and random multiplexing (RM)—have provided new perspectives for robust system design.

This workshop highlights fundamental challenges in waveform design that arise at the intersection of information theory and wireless communication. By bridging theoretical limits with practical system considerations, it aims to motivate participants to address core problems in next-generation waveform research, and foster innovation across theory and practice.

Topics of Interest

We seek original completed and unpublished work. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Novel Waveform Design for Communications and Sensing
Information-Theoretic Foundations of Novel Waveform Design
Channel Coding and Decoding Design
Channel Estimation and Equalization
Signal Detection and Receiver Design for Novel Modulation Schemes
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) with Advanced Waveforms
Multiple Access and Resource Allocation Mechanisms for 6G Waveforms
Low-Latency and Ultra-Reliable Transmission under High Mobility
Joint Waveform and Coding Co-Design
Signal Processing for Waveform-Based Transceiver Designs
MIMO and Massive MIMO-Aided Systems
Hardware Implementation and Prototype Validation of Novel Waveform Systems

Paper Submission and Dates

Submission will be handled via EDAS. The paper format follows the main ISIT conference guidelines.

Important Dates

Paper Submission Deadline:	07 April, 2026 (firm)
Acceptance Notification:	21 April, 2026
Final Manuscript Submission:	28 April, 2026

Invited Speakers

Prof. Jinhong Yuan

University of New South Wales, Australia

Jinhong Yuan (M'02--SM'11--F'16) received the B.E. and Ph.D. degrees in electronics engineering in 1991 and 1997, respectively. From 1997 to 1999, he was a Research Fellow with the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. In 2000, he joined the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, where he is currently Head of School. He has published two books, five book chapters, over 300 papers in telecommunications journals and conference proceedings, and 50 industrial reports. He is a co-inventor of one patent on MIMO systems and four patents on low-density-parity-check codes. He has co-authored five Best Paper Awards and one Best Poster Award, including 2025 IEEE Asia-Pacific Best Paper Award, the Best Paper Award from the IEEE International Conference on Communications, Kansas City, USA, in 2018, the Best Paper Award from IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, Cancun, Mexico, in 2011, and the Best Paper Award from the IEEE International Symposium on Wireless Communications Systems, Trondheim, Norway, in 2007. He is an IEEE Fellow and listed as a 2025 Highly-Cited Researcher. He served as the IEEE NSW Chapter Chair of Joint Communications/Signal Processions/Ocean Engineering Chapter during 2011-2014 and served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications during 2012-2017 and 2020-2025 and IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications during 2019-2024. His current research interests include error control coding and information theory, communication theory, wireless communications, and delay-Doppler domain signal processing and communications.

Prof. Yong Zeng

Southeast University and Purple Mountain Laboratory, Nanjing, China

Yong Zeng, IEEE Fellow, Young Chief Professor of Southeast University and Purple Mountain Laboratory, Nanjing, China. He received the Bachelor of Engineering (First-Class Honours) and Ph.D. degrees from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. From 2013 to 2018, he was a Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS). From 2018 to 2019, he was a Lecturer at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Prof. Zeng was listed as Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher for 7 consecutive years (2019-2025), AI2000 Most Influential Scholars in the field of Internet of Things for 4 consecutive years (2021-2024), Stanford "Top 2% of Scientists in the World - Lifetime Influence". Prof. Zeng is the recipient of Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), IEEE Communications Society Asia-Pacific Outstanding Young Researcher Award, and won 10 international and domestic best paper awards including IEEE Marconi Award (2020 and 2024), Heinrich Hertz Award (2017 and 2020), etc. Prof. Zeng proposed the concept of channel knowledge map (CKM) and Delay-Doppler Alignment Modulation (DDAM) transmission method. His works have been cited by more than 38,000 times. He serves/served on the editorial board of SCI journals such as IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, and IEEE Communications Letters, and leading guest editor of journals including IEEE ComMag, Wireless ComMag, China Communications, and Science China Information Sciences. Prof. Zeng was elevated to IEEE Fellow “for contributions to unmanned aerial vehicle communications and wireless power transfer”.

Prof. Zhiqiang Wei

Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

Zhiqiang Wei received the B.E. degree in information engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), Xi'an, China, in 2012, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and telecommunications from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, in 2019. From 2019 to 2020, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with UNSW. From 2021 to 2022, he was a Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Institute for Digital Communications, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany. He is currently a Professor with the School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China. His research interests include delay-Doppler communications, resource allocation optimization, and statistical and array signal processing. He received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE ICC 2018 and IEEE WCNC 2023. He was the organizer/chair for several workshops and tutorials on related topics of orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) in IEEE flagship conferences, including IEEE ICC, IEEE WCNC, IEEE VTC, and IEEE ICCC. He has been listed in the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University and Highly Cited Chinese Researcher since 2021. He is currently an editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, and Electronics.

Workshop Program

09:50 – 11:10 | Technical Session 1 (Invited Talks)

09:50 - 10:30

Keynote 1: Enabling One-Tap Equalization over Doubly Selective Channels with AFDM

Speaker: Prof. Jinhong Yuan

Overview: Chirp-based modulation, such as affine frequency division multiplexing (AFDM), and delay-Doppler domain modulations (OTFS/ODDM) have recently emerged as promising contenders for achieving reliable communications in high-mobility scenarios characterized by doubly selective channels. Despite their promise, a key drawback they face is inter-symbol interference (ISI) in the domain of modulation, necessitating high complexity multi-tap equalization. To address this challenge, this talk proposes a novel AFDM-based transmission scheme that can enable a one-tap equalizer over doubly selective channels. The proposal first involves the suitable selection of AFDM parameters, introducing zero-padding in the affine domain at the transmitter, and cyclically superimposed signal reconstruction at the receiver. These operations simplify the effective affine domain channel matrix to be quasi-stationary with a slowly varying phase term. Finally, receiver symbols are processed in a new domain called the frequency of affine (FoA) domain, where one-tap equalization is performed over doubly selective channels. We highlight that while one-tap equalization was previously achievable only for OFDM over frequency-selective channels, the proposed design enables the one-tap equalization capability to AFDM over doubly selective channels for high mobility applications.

10:30 - 11:10

Keynote 2: Rethinking Waveform for 6G Communications and Sensing: Delay-Doppler Alignment Modulation (DDAM)

Speaker: Prof. Yong Zeng

Overview: Conventional multi-carrier waveforms based on time-frequency domain modulation face problems such as high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), serious out-of-band leakage, sensitivity to inter-carrier interference, and high cyclic prefix overhead. For future wireless systems, with the use of larger antenna arrays, higher frequency bands, and more powerful sensing capabilities, new opportunities arise for the design of wireless waveforms for 6G and beyond. To this end, this talk intends to explore the high spatial resolution of large antenna arrays and the multipath sparsity of high-frequency signals, and introduce the novel framework of Delay-Doppler alignment modulation (DDAM) based on joint processing in space-delay-Doppler domains. DDAM leverages path-based beamforming to distinguish multipath signals in the spatial domain, enabling per-path based delay and Doppler compensation and alignment. This will greatly reduce the delay Doppler spread of the channel and thus avoid the complicated channel equalization or large dimensional multi-carrier transmission. The talk will first introduce the background and motivation for proposing DDAM, and then introduce single-carrier and multi-carrier DDAM communications, followed by DDAM integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). Finally, preliminary experimental verification results are introduced.

☕ 11:10 – 11:30 | Tea Break

11:30 – 12:50 | Technical Session 2 (Oral Presentation)

11:30 - 11:50

Low-PAPR OFDM-Based DFRC Waveform Design with Constant-Modulus Modulation

Authors: Shide Wang (Yan Shan University, China); Xiuping Peng and Tao Zheng (Yanshan University, China)

11:50 - 12:10

Improved MRC Algorithm with Weighted Update Mechanism for Coded OTFS System

Authors: Hui Chen, Jinhua Sun and Ke Dang (Xidian University, China)

12:10 - 12:30

A Universal Random Precoding Framework for MIMO Systems

Authors: Jiazhen Dong and Lei Liu (Zhejiang University, China); Xiaojun Yuan (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China); Baoming Bai (Xidian University, China)

12:30 - 12:50

Non-Coherent Transmission Meets OFDM in Presence of CFO: TDS or FDS?

Authors: Yiding Wang, Sirui Miao and Neng Ye (Beijing Institute of Technology, China)

🍽️ 12:50 – 14:00 | Lunch Break

14:00 – 14:40 | Technical Session 3 (Invited Talks)

14:00 - 14:40

Keynote 3: On Modulation Waveforms for 6G High-Mobility Communications: OFDM, OTFS, or DD-a-OFDM?

Speaker: Prof. Zhiqiang Wei

Overview: This course focuses on modulation waveform design for 6G high-mobility communications, and systematically introduces the fundamental concepts and signal processing methods of representative waveform schemes, including orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation, and delay-Doppler domain-aided OFDM (DD-a-OFDM). The course begins by reviewing the basic concepts, core design criteria, and candidate waveform classifications for 6G high-mobility communications. It then proceeds from the challenges faced by OFDM in high-mobility scenarios to introduce the fundamental theory and signal processing methods of delay-Doppler (DD) domain communications, including DD-domain channel estimation and DD-domain multi-antenna transceiver signal processing. To further promote the compatibility and integration of DD-domain modulation waveforms with existing OFDM-based systems, the course presents DD-a-OFDM technology, analyzing how it introduces DD-domain signal processing to assist OFDM transmission while remaining compatible with the 5G NR OFDM framework, thereby striking a balance among Doppler resilience, system compatibility, and implementation complexity. This course is expected to provide waveform design references for the technological development of future applications such as low altitude communications, satellite communications, and integrated sensing and communications.

14:40 – 16:00 | Technical Session 4 (Oral Presentation)

14:40 - 15:00

Joint Iterative Detection and Decoding for LDPC-Coded Faster-than-Nyquist Systems

Authors: Hong Wang, Tongzhou Yu, Jian Fang and Baoming Bai (Xidian University, China); Dan Feng (Xi'an University of Posts and Telecommunications, China)

15:00 - 15:20

Storage-Efficient and High-Reliability Interleaved Transform for Enhanced Random Multiplexing

Authors: Ming Wang (Communication University of China, China); Lei Liu (Zhejiang University, China); Shufeng Li (Communication University of China, China); Yuhao Chi (Xidian University, China)

15:20 - 15:40

Neural Network-Based Hybrid Digital-Analog Beamformer Design for Wideband Massive MIMO Systems with Large-Scale Users

Authors: Haojie Cheng (Southeast University, China); Beiyuan Liu (Northwestern Polytechnical University, China); Liquan Chen (Southeast University, China); Julian Cheng (University of British Columbia, Canada & Great Bay University, China)

15:40 - 16:00

Unified Analytical Model for Atomic Receivers Under Typical Quantum Interference Paths

Authors: Yiyue Xiang and Neng Ye (Beijing Institute of Technology), Qihao Peng and Pei Xiao (University of Surrey, United Kingdom), Jianping An (Beijing Institute of Technology, China)