Prof. Qi Cao
Xidian University, China
Date: 18 July 2025 (Friday)
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm
Venue: Rm 801, Ho Sin-hang Engineering Building, CUHK
Abstract:
Semantic communication is an emerging research area that has attracted significant attention recently.Despite this interest, there is a lack of a unified framework for characterizing semantic communication.This talk introduces a new conceptualization of semantic communication and formulates twofundamental problems: language exploitation and language design. We argue that language design canbe framed within joint source-channel coding theory, supported by a comprehensive end-to-enddistortion metric. To tackle the language exploitation problem, we put forth three approaches: semanticencoding, semantic decoding, and a synergistic combination of both in the form of combined semanticencoding and decoding. Furthermore, we establish the semantic distortion-cost region as a criticalframework for assessing the language exploitation problem, characterizing the achievable region for each proposed method. For each of the three proposed approaches, the achievable distortion-cost region is characterized. Overall, this talk aims to shed light on the intricate dynamics of semantic communication, paving the way for a deeper understanding of this evolving field.
Biography:
Qi Cao received the B.E. and M.E. degrees from Xidian University in 2013 and 2016, respectively, andthe Ph.D. degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2021. He was a research assistant withthe Institute of Network Coding in 2016 and was a visiting scholar at the University of California, SanDiego, in 2019. He is currently an assistant professor with Xidian University. His research interestsinclude information theory, combinatorics, and semantic communications.
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