The 2026 IEEE Neal Shepherd Memorial Best Propagation Paper Award was officially announced on September 8 at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (IEEE VTC 2026-Fall) held in Boston, USA. Prof. Wang Chengxiang, Prof. Gao Xiqi, and Academician You Xiaohu from the School of Information Science and Engineering of Southeast University received this honor. Established by the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) in 1993, the award recognizes outstanding papers published in the authoritative wireless communications journalIEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology within the past five years. Widely regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in international radio wave propagation research, it honours only one paper worldwide annually. The acceptance rate for eligible papers in this journal is less than 5 in 10,000.
The awarded paper, published in September 2022 and titled “Pervasive Wireless Channel Modeling Theory and Applications to 6G GBSMs for All Frequency Bands and All Scenarios,” is an ESI Highly Cited Paper. Addressing the key requirements for 6G mobile communications and the limitation that 5G channel models only work for limited frequency bands and scenarios, preventing unified characterization of 6G channel features across all bands and environments, the work put forward the world’s first pervasive channel modeling theory. Using this theory, the authors established a 6G pervasive geometry-based stochastic channel model (GBSM) covering the full spectrum from sub-6 GHz to optical wireless and supporting diverse application scenarios, such as those involving the world’s first 6G full-frequency intelligent reflecting surface. This is the world’s first channel model capable of characterizing full-band channel properties under 6G scenarios, laying a solid foundation for 6G key technology research, system performance evaluation and standardization. Prof. Wang Chengxiang serves as both the first and corresponding author. Other co-authors include Engineer Lyu Zhen from Purple Mountain Laboratories, Prof. Gao Xiqi and Academician You Xiaohu of Southeast University, Prof. Yang Hao of Queen Mary University of London, and Prof. Harald Haas of the University of Cambridge. The award recognizes that the pervasive channel modeling theory and methodology developed by Prof. Wang’s team has won high acclaim from the international research community.
Building on the pervasive channel modeling theory, the team has carried out further in-depth and expanded research. In August 2023, at the 7th Future Network Development Conference, the team unveiled the world’s landmark achievement: “6G Full-Frequency-Band Full-Scenario Pervasive Channel Modeling and Simulation Technology.” The team independently developed the world’s first 6G full-frequency, full-scenario pervasive channel simulation software. Four free trial builds have been rolled out worldwide since January 2024, drawing broad industry interest and accumulating over 2,800 access requests. Over 600 universities, companies and research institutions are now using the software, including more than 80 overseas entities. The team’s related work was awarded the First Prize in Natural Sciences from the Chinese Institute of Electronics in 2025.
Prof. Wang Chengxiang’s team also won the IEEE Neal Shepherd Memorial Best Propagation Paper Award in 2024. Winning this major international award again this year fully reflects the international influence of Chinese scholars in the field of radio wave propagation.
Awarded paper:
C.-X. Wang, Z. Lv, X. Gao, X.-H. You, Y. Hao, and H. Haas, “Pervasive wireless channel modeling theory and applications to 6G GBSMs for all frequency bands and all scenarios,”IEEE Trans Veh. Technol., vol. 71, no. 9, pp. 9159-9173, Sept. 2022.
Source: School of Information Science and Engineering, SEU
Translated by: Melody Zhang
Edited by: Leah Li
