The IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC) is a top-ranked, flagship conference of the IEEE Communications Society, bringing together researchers from academia, industry, and government. IEEE WCNC 2026 will be hosted in the warm and wonderful city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and will be conducted in person, allowing attendees to fully benefit from the conference atmosphere and experience.
Prospective authors are invited to submit their works in the form of research papers describing significant and innovative contributions to the field of wireless communications and networking, in accordance with the four technical tracks listed below. Accepted and presented papers will be published in the IEEE WCNC 2026 Conference Proceedings and submitted to IEEE Xplore.
Proposals for half- or full-day tutorials and workshops are also invited in all communication and networking topics.
Important Dates
Technical Tracks
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Track 1: Physical Layer and Communication Theory
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Topics
- Antennas and RF
- Channel Modeling and Estimation
- Coding Theory and Techniques
- Energy Harvesting and Low Energy Communication
- Feedback and Two-Way Communication
- Free Space Optical Communication
- Holographic Surfaces and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces
- Information Theory Aspects of Wireless Communications
- Integrated Sensing and Communications
- Iterative Techniques, Detection, and Decoding
- Low Resolution Communication
- Millimeter-Wave and Terahertz
- Near-Field communication and sensing
- MIMO, d Massive MIMO, and cell-free massive MIMO
- Physical Layer Security
- Propagation and Interference Modeling
- Relaying and Self-Backhauling
- Semantic Communications
- Short Packet and Finite Block Length Communications
- Waveforms and Modulation
- Wireless Power and Information Transfer
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Track 2: Medium Access Control and Networking
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Topics
- Age and Value of Information for Networks
- Backscatter Communications
- Cognitive Radio and Networking
- Cooperative Communications and Networking
- Edge Computing, Edge Intelligence and Fog Networks
- Energy-Efficient and Green Networking
- Load Balancing and Cell/Band Association
- IoT networks and protocols
- Low Power Wireless Networks
- Multiple Access and Contention
- Multihop Networks
- Emerging Medium Access Schemes in the 5G and Beyond
- Network Economics
- Network Slicing
- ORAN programmability of MAC and network functions
- RAN Data Collection and Storage Enhancement
- Resource allocation for wireless communications and networks
- Resource Management
- Resource Orchestration for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Systems
- Routing and Congestion Control
- Scheduling and Opportunistic Communications
- SDN/NFV
- Spectrum Sensing, Access, and Sharing
- Unlicensed Spectrum and Licensed/Unlicensed Inter-Networking
- URLLC, Time Sensitive, and Deterministic Networking
- Wireless Network Security and Privacy
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Track 3: Machine Learning and Optimization for Wireless Systems
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Topics
- Bayesian Optimization for Wireless Communications
- Communication-inspired Machine Learning
- Convex and Non-Convex Optimization for Wireless Communications
- Data-driven Network Modelling and Optimization
- Datasets for Wireless Systems and Channels
- Deep Learning for Wireless Communications
- Deep Unfolding for Wireless Communications and Networks
- Distributed Learning and Federated Learning for Wireless Communications
- Distributed Optimization & Resource Allocation for Wireless Communications
- End-to-end Machine Learning over Wireless Channels
- Game-Theoretic Approaches to Wireless Communications
- Implementation of Machine Learning Algorithms in Wireless Networks
- Large language models and generative AI for wireless systems
- Machine Learning Methods for Wireless Localization
- Networking Architectures for Artificial Intelligence
- Online Learning for Wireless Networks
- Performance Analysis of Machine Learning Techniques for Wireless Communications
- Reinforcement Learning for Wireless Communications
- Scalability of ML for Wireless Communications
- Semantic and Goal-Oriented Communications
- Transfer Learning for Wireless Communications and Networks
- Unsupervised and Generative Models
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Track 4: Emerging Technologies, Network Architectures, and Applications
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Topics
- 5G NR and 6G Standardization
- 802.11 and Next-Generation Wi-Fi
- AI-RAN
- Blockchain and Cryptography
- Connected Vehicles
- Digital Twin networks
- E-health and Mobile Health
- Experiments, Prototypes, and Testbeds
- Fluid Antenna Communications
- Full-Duplex Communication Networks
- Innovative Implanted and Wearable Devices
- Intelligent Beamforming Relays
- IoT and Machine Type Communications
- Joint Radar and Communications
- Low-altitude communications and networks
- Molecular and Nano Communications
- Networking support for virtual and augmented reality
- O-RAN
- Quantum Communications
- Satellite and Deep Space Communications
- Sensing and Localization
- Software Defined Radio and Networks
- Surface Wave Communications
- UAVs and Non-Terrestrial Networks
- Visible Light and Optical Communication
Track Chairs:
George Alexandropoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Chuan Huang, CUHK at Shenzhen, China
Gunes Karabulut Kurt, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada
Track Chairs:
Dusit Tao Niyato, NTU, Singapore
Koichi Adachi, University of Electro-Communications, Japan
Aryan Kaushik, University of Sussex, UK
Track Chairs:
Jun Zhang, HKUST, Hong Kong, China
Guido Maier, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Yansha Deng, King’s College London, UK
Track Chairs:
Jihong Park, SUTD, Singapore
Liang Xiao, Xiamen University, China
Abdallah Shami, The University of Western Ontario, Canada