From Information Freshness to Semantics of Information and Goal-oriented Communications
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866912764238233600 |
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| author | Luo, Jiping Delfani, Erfan Salimnejad, Mehrdad Pappas, Nikolaos |
| author_facet | Luo, Jiping Delfani, Erfan Salimnejad, Mehrdad Pappas, Nikolaos |
| contents | Future wireless networks must support real-time, data-driven cyber-physical systems in which communication is tightly coupled with sensing, inference, control, and decision-making. Traditional communication paradigms centered on accuracy, throughput, and latency are increasingly inadequate for these systems, where the value of information depends on its semantic relevance to a specific task. This paper provides a unified exposition of the progression from classical distortion-based frameworks, through information freshness metrics such as the Age of Information (AoI) and its variants, to the emerging paradigm of goal-oriented semantics-aware communication. We organize and systematize existing semantics-aware metrics, including content- and version-aware measures, context-dependent distortion formulations, and history-dependent error persistence metrics that capture lasting impact and urgency. Within this framework, we highlight how these metrics address the limitations of purely accuracy- or freshness-centric designs, and how they collectively enable the selective generation and transmission of only task-relevant information. We further review analytical tools based on Markov decision process (MDP) and Lyapunov optimization methods that have been employed to characterize optimal or near-optimal timing and scheduling policies under semantic performance criteria and communication constraints. By synthesizing these developments into a coherent framework, the paper clarifies the design principles underlying goal-oriented, semantics-aware communication systems. It illustrates how they can significantly improve efficiency, reliability, and task performance. The presented perspective aims to serve as a bridge between information-theoretic, control-theoretic, and networking viewpoints, and to guide the design of semantic communication architectures for 6G and beyond. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_12758 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | From Information Freshness to Semantics of Information and Goal-oriented Communications Luo, Jiping Delfani, Erfan Salimnejad, Mehrdad Pappas, Nikolaos Information Theory Networking and Internet Architecture Systems and Control Future wireless networks must support real-time, data-driven cyber-physical systems in which communication is tightly coupled with sensing, inference, control, and decision-making. Traditional communication paradigms centered on accuracy, throughput, and latency are increasingly inadequate for these systems, where the value of information depends on its semantic relevance to a specific task. This paper provides a unified exposition of the progression from classical distortion-based frameworks, through information freshness metrics such as the Age of Information (AoI) and its variants, to the emerging paradigm of goal-oriented semantics-aware communication. We organize and systematize existing semantics-aware metrics, including content- and version-aware measures, context-dependent distortion formulations, and history-dependent error persistence metrics that capture lasting impact and urgency. Within this framework, we highlight how these metrics address the limitations of purely accuracy- or freshness-centric designs, and how they collectively enable the selective generation and transmission of only task-relevant information. We further review analytical tools based on Markov decision process (MDP) and Lyapunov optimization methods that have been employed to characterize optimal or near-optimal timing and scheduling policies under semantic performance criteria and communication constraints. By synthesizing these developments into a coherent framework, the paper clarifies the design principles underlying goal-oriented, semantics-aware communication systems. It illustrates how they can significantly improve efficiency, reliability, and task performance. The presented perspective aims to serve as a bridge between information-theoretic, control-theoretic, and networking viewpoints, and to guide the design of semantic communication architectures for 6G and beyond. |
| title | From Information Freshness to Semantics of Information and Goal-oriented Communications |
| topic | Information Theory Networking and Internet Architecture Systems and Control |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.12758 |