ECE Seminar - Affine Frequency Division Multiplexing (AFDM) – A Promising Backwards-Compatible Waveform for 6G Wireless Systems
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This seminar will provide a comprehensive and in-depth introduction to Affine Frequency Division Multiplexing (AFDM), a promising chirp-based multicarrier modulation scheme that offers excellent backward compatibility and full channel diversity. Unlike many emerging waveforms, AFDM can be implemented with minimal modifications to current OFDM-based 4G/5G infrastructures, thereby enabling seamless integration into legacy systems. At the same time, AFDM delivers significantly enhanced reliability in high-mobility and doubly dispersive channels, positioning it as a strong candidate for efficient communications and joint sensing in complex wireless environments. The tutorial will be delivered by a team of five experienced researchers from the University of Essex, the University of Surrey, and Constructor University Bremen, and will systematically cover the context and evolution of waveform design in the beyond-5G/6G era, the fundamental principles and backward compatibility of AFDM, key physical-layer design challenges such as peak-to-average power ratio reduction, out-of-band emission suppression, and waveform shaping together with effective mitigation strategies, emerging AFDM variants including Chirp-Permuted AFDM, Affine Filter Bank Modulation, Generalized Spatial Modulation-aided AFDM, and non-orthogonal AFDM, as well as the role of AFDM in integrated sensing and communications design. By bridging theoretical foundations, implementation considerations, and advanced applications, this tutorial aims to reinforce the global research agenda on waveform design for 6G systems, with strong potential to influence both academic research and industrial development.
Zilong Liu is an Associate Professor, the 6G Laboratory Manager, and the 2024 Outstanding Mid-Career Researcher in the Faculty of Science and Health, University of Essex, UK. Before his current post, he was with the University of Surrey, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, the University of Melbourne, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His research lies in the interplay of coding, signal processing, and communications, with a focus on new 6G physical layer. He has widely published in top-rated IEEE journals such as IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, and IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He is/was the Hosting General Chair of IWSDA’2022 (iwsda2022.github.io) and SETA’2024 (seta-2024.github.io), Track Chair at major IEEE conferences (e.g., VTC-Fall’2025, IWSDA’2025, PIMRC’2023), and an Associate Editor for several leading IEEE journals including TWC, TVT, TNNLS, WCL, and OJCOMS.