Secured and Intelligent Massive Machine-to-Machine Communications for 6G

Project Information

SCION

Grant agreement ID: 101072375

DOI

10.3030/101072375

EC signature date 18 July 2022

Start date 1 February 2023

End date 30 September 2027

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 1 828 303,20

Coordinated by

IZMIR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Türkiye

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SCION (Secured and Intelligent Massive Machine-to-Machine Communications for 6G)

Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2025-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The SCION project is designed to advance the next generation of wireless networks. With the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, and industrial automation, the need for ultra-fast, secure, and intelligent machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has become paramount. SCION aims to tackle these challenges by integrating cutting-edge technologies such as semantic communication, digital twins, blockchain security and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven network optimization.


The project's primary objective is to contribute to the development of Beyond 5G and 6G networks. SCION focuses on achieving significant breakthroughs in several key areas, including energy-efficient communication, autonomous network management, and real-time decision-making using AI. By addressing scalability, security, and efficiency challenges, SCION is poised to revolutionize the telecommunications landscape and contribute to Europe's leadership in 6G research and development.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Throughout the project, SCION has made substantial progress across multiple technical domains. Key research efforts have focused on:
- Semantic Communication: Development of a hybrid Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) framework integrating DeepSC-based semantic encoding and decoding, improving spectral efficiency over traditional methods.
- Energy-Efficient M2M Networks: Integration of Dynamic Metasurface Antennas (DMA) for resource allocation, reducing power consumption significantly compared to fully digital architectures.
- AI-Driven Network Optimization: Design of lightweight AI models capable of real-time decision-making with high prediction accuracy while minimizing computational overhead.
- Autonomous Network Management: Implementation of AI-based self-healing mechanisms within Open RAN architecture, reducing network failures and improving reliability.
- Digital Twin Technologies: Development of multi-orbit satellite selection frameworks, improving data transmission rates and optimizing satellite resource allocation.
- Blockchain for Secure Communication: Creation of a decentralized and transparent blockchain framework for managing M2M transactions securely and efficiently.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

SCION has delivered groundbreaking advancements that go beyond existing technologies:
- Optimized Age of Information (AoI) for Real-Time Monitoring: Novel AI-based scheduling techniques ensure fresh and relevant data transmission in M2M networks, particularly beneficial for industrial automation and smart city applications.
- Quantum Computing for Network Optimization: Implementation of the Quantum Optimized Resource Allocation (QOPRA) algorithm, achieving improvement in resource allocation efficiency over conventional methods.
- Blockchain-Enhanced Cybersecurity: Introduction of a blockchain-secured task execution framework, reducing latency and energy consumption in edge computing environments.
- AI-Enhanced Fault Prediction: Development of transfer learning-based fault forecasting frameworks, significantly improving the accuracy of network anomaly detection.
- Sustainable Communication Technologies: Adoption of Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) techniques to minimize power consumption while maintaining high-performance network operations.

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