Dear APWCS 2021 Participants:

On behalf of the organizing committee, it is our pleasure to extend our warmest welcome to all of you to the 17th IEEE VTS Asia Pacific Wireless Communications Symposium (APWCS) virtual edition, 30-31 August, 2021.

Welcome Message from the General Chairs

On behalf of the organizing committee of the 17th IEEE VTS Asia Pacific Wireless Communications Symposium (IEEE VTS APWCS 2021), we welcome all of you to Osaka University in Osaka, Japan. IEEE VTS APWCS 2021 is technically sponsored by the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS), IEICE Communications Society, and jointly sponsored by the IEEE VTS Tokyo/Japan Chapter, Seoul Chapter, Taipei Chapter, and Singapore Chapter.

APWCS conference was started in 2004, and after that it has been held every year except for APWCS2020 due to COVID-19. APWCS2020 in Osaka was postponed to APWCS2021. In APWCS2021, because it is still impossible to operate face-to-face conference, we have decided to operate virtual APWCS2021. However, virtual conference is also one of very important use cases for fifth generation cellular system (5G) and next generation system (6G). Thus, we believe, it is very important to continuously stimulate to exchange our ideas for our future wireless world through virtual APWCS2021 symposium.

APWCS has been aimed to promote the exchange of technical information and improve collaboration among researchers, scholars, engineers, and leaders who are working in the mobile and wireless communication fields, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. Thus, APWCS2021 offers high level keynote and invited talks as well as general and invited papers of up-to-date wireless communication technologies including 5G and 6G technologies.

One more important issue is that APWCS2021 is financially supported by the Telecommunications Advancement Foundation and KDDI Foundation. We would like to give sincere thanks to these two foundations for success of APWCS2021.

Finally, we would like to show our appreciation to the Organizing Committee Members, the keynote and invited speakers, the paper reviewers, the APWCS Board of Governors, and, last but not least, the authors for their great contribution and support. We hope you will enjoy the technical programs in APWCS 2021, and hope all of you will enjoy this virtual conference.

We look forward to seeing you online at IEEE VTS APWCS2021 conference.

Seiichi Sampei (General Chair)
Osaka University, Japan
Jae-Hyun Kim (General Co-Chair)
Ajou University, Korea
Borching Su (General Co-Chair)
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Ernest Kurniawan (General Co-Chair)
Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), A*STAR, Singapore

Welcome Message from the Technical Program Committee Chairs

On behalf of the Technical Program Committee (TPC), it is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 17th IEEE VTS Asia Pacific Wireless Communications Symposium (IEEE VTS APWCS 2021), which is held online in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

This year, we have organized plenary sessions, a special session, and regular oral sessions for the symposium. In the plenary sessions, following the symposium traditions, we have invited Mr. Takehiro Nakamura, SVP and General Manager of the 6G-IOWN Promotion Department in NTT DOCOMO, INC. as a keynote speaker from VTS Tokyo/Japan Chapter, and three speakers for the invited talks: Prof. Seong-Lyun Kim of Yonsei University from Seoul Chapter, Prof. Yi-Bing Lin of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan from Taipei Chapter, and Prof. Chau Yuen of Singapore University of Technology and Design from Singapore Chapter. The plenary speakers will give us exciting and inspiring presentations on wide views of the technical front and the next wave of our technical society.

From the Technical Committee on Radio Communication Systems (RCS), IEICE as a technical co-sponsor Prof. Toshihiko Nishimura of Hokkaido University and Dr. Satoshi Suyama of NTT DOCOMO, INC. have also organized the special session entitled “Activities toward Beyond 5G/6G” comprising nine invited papers aiming at sharing the ideas of new technical trends among all the participants in this symposium. The regular oral sessions have also been successfully organized. This year, we have received 39 paper submissions (including withdrawn paper). After extensive and strict peer-reviews, we have accepted 31 high-quality papers that cover a broad range of important and timely issues related to state-of-art wireless communications technologies. These papers have been categorized into three sessions: “Wireless Communication”, “5G and Beyond”, and “Network, System, and Applications.”

This impressive technical program would not be finalized without voluntary supports from an outstanding team of colleagues that we would like to thank strongly. Special thanks go to the TPC members for their professional and timely reviews. Also, we would appreciate special session organizers devoting themselves to every necessary management for the session, including the invitation of speakers and the review process.

Of course, making a successful symposium under the serious COVID-19 pandemic.is not possible without the active participation of the paper authors. We would like to express our gratitude to the paper authors for presenting and sharing their valuable ideas and contributions to our community. Finally, we would like to thank the IEEE VTS APWCS 2021 Organizing Committee members for their full supports.

We look forward to seeing all of you online at IEEE VTS APWCS 2021!

Shinsuke Ibi (TPC Chair)
Doshisha University, Japan
Seung-Hoon Hwang (TPC Co-Chair)
Dongguk University, Korea
Chun-Lin Liu (TPC Co-Chair)
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Boon Hee Soong (TPC Co-Chair)
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore