mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Beyond Transmitting Bits: Context, Semantics, and Task-Oriented Communications

arXiv 2207.09353 ↗First posted 19 Jul 2022cs.IT cs.AI cs.LGcited by 166

Not on the map. Why?

Abstract (arXiv)

Communication systems to date primarily aim at reliably communicating bit sequences. Such an approach provides efficient engineering designs that are agnostic to the meanings of the messages or to the goal that the message exchange aims to achieve. Next generation systems, however, can be potentially enriched by folding message semantics and goals of communication into their design. Further, these systems can be made cognizant of the context in which communication exchange takes place, providing avenues for novel design insights. This tutorial summarizes the efforts to date, starting from its early adaptations, semantic-aware and task-oriented communications, covering the foundations, algorithms and potential implementations. The focus is on approaches that utilize information theory to provide the foundations, as well as the significant role of learning in semantics and task-aware communications.

Key facts. Cited by 166 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 133 of its 330 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 19 Jul 2022.

Builds on

133 of 330 references.

References · 133

  1. 2015Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognitioncited by 51,809
  2. 2014Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimizationcited by 36,960
  3. 2018The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metriccited by 11,029
  4. 2015Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Networkcited by 10,076
  5. 2016Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Datacited by 7,592
  6. 2017Mask R-CNNcited by 7,259
  7. 2016Densely Connected Convolutional Networkscited by 6,691
  8. 2017MobileNets: Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks for Mobile Vision Applicationscited by 3,827
  9. 2016Categorical Reparameterization with Gumbel-Softmaxcited by 2,708
  10. 2016Pyramid Scene Parsing Networkcited by 2,472
  11. 2015Deep Compression: Compressing Deep Neural Networks with Pruning, Trained Quantization and Huffman Codingcited by 2,291
  12. 2018The Lottery Ticket Hypothesis: Finding Sparse, Trainable Neural Networkscited by 2,250
38 more
  1. 2014Conditional Generative Adversarial Netscited by 2,152
  2. 2017ShuffleNet: An Extremely Efficient Convolutional Neural Network for Mobile Devicescited by 1,194
  3. 2016The Concrete Distribution: A Continuous Relaxation of Discrete Random Variablescited by 1,135
  4. 2016Pruning Filters for Efficient ConvNetscited by 1,129
  5. 2016SqueezeNet: AlexNet-level accuracy with 50x fewer parameters and <0.5MB model sizecited by 1,054
  6. 2018Dual Attention Network for Scene Segmentationcited by 1,001
  7. 2016Deep Variational Information Bottleneckcited by 915
  8. 2021SoundStream: An End-to-End Neural Audio Codeccited by 756
  9. 2016End-to-end Optimized Image Compressioncited by 673
  10. 2018Joint Autoregressive and Hierarchical Priors for Learned Image Compressioncited by 642
  11. 2015BinaryConnect: Training Deep Neural Networks with binary weights during propagationscited by 571
  12. 2016Learning to Communicate with Deep Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 561
  13. 2016Learning Structured Sparsity in Deep Neural Networkscited by 538
  14. 2016f-GAN: Training Generative Neural Samplers using Variational Divergence Minimizationcited by 504
  15. 2015Deep Learning with Limited Numerical Precisioncited by 368
  16. 2018DVC: An End-to-end Deep Video Compression Frameworkcited by 324
  17. 2014Exploiting Linear Structure Within Convolutional Networks for Efficient Evaluationcited by 304
  18. 2019A Joint Learning and Communications Framework for Federated Learning over Wireless Networkscited by 262
  19. 2020Channel-wise Autoregressive Entropy Models for Learned Image Compressioncited by 255
  20. 2018Generative Adversarial Networks for Extreme Learned Image Compressioncited by 213
  21. 2019Rethinking Lossy Compression: The Rate-Distortion-Perception Tradeoffcited by 207
  22. 2018TarMAC: Targeted Multi-Agent Communicationcited by 201
  23. 2014Compressing Deep Convolutional Networks using Vector Quantizationcited by 189
  24. 2019Federated Learning over Wireless Fading Channelscited by 178
  25. 2018Learning Attentional Communication for Multi-Agent Cooperationcited by 170
  26. 2015Variable Rate Image Compression with Recurrent Neural Networkscited by 168
  27. 2015Compressing Neural Networks with the Hashing Trickcited by 150
  28. 2021FVC: A New Framework towards Deep Video Compression in Feature Spacecited by 149
  29. 2018Video Compression through Image Interpolationcited by 143
  30. 2017Real-Time Adaptive Image Compressioncited by 127
  31. 2021A Comprehensive Survey of Scene Graphs: Generation and Applicationcited by 125
  32. 2021Distributed Learning in Wireless Networks: Recent Progress and Future Challengescited by 125
  33. 2020Improving Conversational Recommender Systems via Knowledge Graph based Semantic Fusioncited by 122
  34. 2020One-Bit Over-the-Air Aggregation for Communication-Efficient Federated Edge Learning: Design and Convergence Analysiscited by 108
  35. 20206G Networks: Beyond Shannon Towards Semantic and Goal-Oriented Communicationscited by 108
  36. 2021Learning Task-Oriented Communication for Edge Inference: An Information Bottleneck Approachcited by 105
  37. 2019Video Compression With Rate-Distortion Autoencoderscited by 97
  38. 2019DeepJSCC-f: Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding of Images with Feedbackcited by 95

50 most cited of 133 All 133 (JSON)

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2022: 10; 2023: 21; 2024: 45; 2025: 42; 2026: 48.

166 papers.

Sort:

By area:

  1. 2022Less Data, More Knowledge: Building Next Generation Semantic Communication Networkscited by 61
  2. 2022Generative Joint Source-Channel Coding for Semantic Image Transmissioncited by 55
  3. 2024Joint Source-Channel Coding: Fundamentals and Recent Progress in Practical Designscited by 32
  4. 2025Token Communications: A Large Model-Driven Framework for Cross-modal Context-aware Semantic Communicationscited by 32
  5. 2024Latency-Aware Generative Semantic Communications with Pre-Trained Diffusion Modelscited by 25
  6. 2022Task-Oriented Communications for NextG: End-to-End Deep Learning and AI Security Aspectscited by 20
  7. 2022A Survey on Over-the-Air Computationcited by 19
  8. 2023Machine Learning for Large-Scale Optimization in 6G Wireless Networkscited by 18
  9. 2025Task-Oriented Feature Compression for Multimodal Understanding via Device-Edge Co-Inferencecited by 18
  10. 2023Language-Oriented Communication with Semantic Coding and Knowledge Distillation for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 17
  11. 2025Semantics-Guided Diffusion for Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding in Wireless Image Transmissioncited by 15
  12. 2024Will 6G be Semantic Communications? Opportunities and Challenges from Task Oriented and Secure Communications to Integrated Sensingcited by 11
38 more
  1. 2024Dynamic Relative Representations for Goal-Oriented Semantic Communicationscited by 11
  2. 2022Is Semantic Communications Secure? A Tale of Multi-Domain Adversarial Attackscited by 10
  3. 2022Vulnerabilities of Deep Learning-Driven Semantic Communications to Backdoor (Trojan) Attackscited by 10
  4. 2024A Multi-Task Oriented Semantic Communication Framework for Autonomous Vehiclescited by 10
  5. 2024Language-Oriented Semantic Latent Representation for Image Transmissioncited by 10
  6. 2023Age of Information in Deep Learning-Driven Task-Oriented Communicationscited by 9
  7. 2023Reasoning over the Air: A Reasoning-based Implicit Semantic-Aware Communication Frameworkcited by 9
  8. 2024Generative AI Meets Semantic Communication: Evolution and Revolution of Communication Taskscited by 9
  9. 2025Adaptive Resource Allocation Optimization Using Large Language Models in Dynamic Wireless Environmentscited by 9
  10. 2022Toward Adaptive Semantic Communications: Efficient Data Transmission via Online Learned Nonlinear Transform Source-Channel Codingcited by 8
  11. 2023Towards Semantic Communication Protocols for 6G: From Protocol Learning to Language-Oriented Approachescited by 7
  12. 2023Joint Sensing and Semantic Communications with Multi-Task Deep Learningcited by 7
  13. 2024Large Language Models (LLMs) for Semantic Communication in Edge-based IoT Networkscited by 7
  14. 2025ToDMA: Large Model-Driven Massive Token Communications for Semantic Multiple Accesscited by 7
  15. 2022Semantic Communications with Discrete-time Analog Transmission: A PAPR Perspectivecited by 6
  16. 2022Enabling the Wireless Metaverse via Semantic Multiverse Communicationcited by 6
  17. 2023How to Evaluate Semantic Communications for Images with ViTScore Metric?cited by 6
  18. 2024Deep Learning in Physical Layer: Review on Data Driven End-to-End Communication Systems and their Enabling Semantic Applicationscited by 6
  19. 2024Effective Communication with Dynamic Feature Compressioncited by 6
  20. 2024FOOL: Addressing the Downlink Bottleneck in Satellite Computing with Neural Feature Compressioncited by 6
  21. 2024Attention-aware Semantic Communications for Collaborative Inferencecited by 6
  22. 2024Generative Semantic Communication for Joint Image Transmission and Segmentationcited by 6
  23. 2025DeepSeek-Inspired Exploration of RL-based LLMs and Synergy with Wireless Networks: A Surveycited by 6
  24. 2025Over-the-Air Edge Inference via End-to-End Metasurfaces-Integrated Artificial Neural Networkscited by 6
  25. 2023Multi-Receiver Task-Oriented Communications via Multi-Task Deep Learningcited by 5
  26. 2024Semantic Communication for Cooperative Multi-Task Processing over Wireless Networkscited by 5
  27. 2024Cooperative and Collaborative Multi-Task Semantic Communication for Distributed Sourcescited by 5
  28. 2024Communicate Less, Synthesize the Rest: Latency-aware Intent-based Generative Semantic Multicasting with Diffusion Modelscited by 5
  29. 2024Vision Transformer-based Semantic Communications With Importance-Aware Quantizationcited by 5
  30. 2025Low-Complexity Semantic Packet Aggregation for Token Communication via Lookahead Searchcited by 5
  31. 2025Latent Space Alignment for AI-Native MIMO Semantic Communicationscited by 5
  32. 2026Video TokenCom: Textual Intent-Guided Multi-Rate Video Token Communications with UEP-Based Adaptive Source-Channel Codingcited by 5
  33. 2023Distortion Resilience for Goal-Oriented Semantic Communicationcited by 4
  34. 2024Deep Joint Semantic Coding and Beamforming for Near-Space Airship-Borne Massive MIMO Networkcited by 4
  35. 2024Task-Oriented Wireless Communications for Collaborative Perception in Intelligent Unmanned Systemscited by 4
  36. 2024Multi-level Reliability Interface for Semantic Communications over Wireless Networkscited by 4
  37. 2024Semantic Communication Enhanced by Knowledge Graph Representation Learningcited by 4
  38. 2024MambaJSCC: Adaptive Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding with Generalized State Space Modelcited by 4

50 most cited of 166 All 166 (JSON)