thedixitjain MobiCom Topic Selection
MobiCom is the ACM SIGMOBILE flagship for mobile computing and wireless networking — the radio, protocol, and mobility side of mobile. The fastest way to waste a rolling deadline is to submit a paper whose real contribution belongs one venue over. This skill is a fit and routing tool, not a substitute for the current CFP scope list.
The fit test
A MobiCom-shaped paper answers all four:
- Is the contribution a wireless or mobile-networking mechanism? A protocol, a link/PHY-MAC technique, a routing or scheduling method, an RF-sensing capability, a measurement finding about mobile networks — something in the networking stack, not an application that merely runs on a phone.
- Does the wireless/mobility condition matter to the result? If the channel, spectrum, interference, or mobility could be abstracted away with no loss, the contribution is probably not MobiCom's.
- Is there over-the-air evidence, or a credible plan for it? MobiCom expects real
radios and testbeds; a simulation-only story is a fit risk (
mobicom-experiments). - Would MobiCom's reviewers be the right audience? Say why in one sentence using the venue's own vocabulary, not "it is a top conference."
Routing map
Route by contribution type, not prestige. The nearest siblings and what pulls a paper to each:
| Signal in the contribution | Better-fit venue |
|---|---|
| End-to-end mobile/embedded platform, wearable, or mobile app system | ACM MobiSys |
| Sensing pipeline, ubiquitous/embedded sensing infrastructure | ACM SenSys |
| Broad Internet/measurement/data-center networking, congestion control | ACM SIGCOMM |
| Networked/distributed systems design and implementation at large | USENIX NSDI |
| Security or privacy of wireless/mobile as the central claim | ACM WiSec |
| Ubiquitous-computing / on-body inference as the finding | ACM IMWUT (UbiComp) |
| Early idea without full evaluation | HotMobile or a workshop |
The MobiCom↔MobiSys line is the one authors get wrong most: a wireless/networking mechanism is MobiCom; an end-to-end platform whose artifact behavior is the point is MobiSys. When both are present, decide which is the contribution and which is the vehicle.
Contribution-type honesty
Name the contribution before choosing the venue:
[Contribution type] protocol / PHY-MAC technique / routing / RF sensing /
measurement study / mobile-networking system / other
[Wireless dependence] does the result change if the channel/mobility is idealized? y/n
[Evidence form] testbed / SDR prototype / deployment / trace / simulation-only
[Primary audience] the MobiCom sub-community that should review it
If the type is "measurement study," MobiCom rewards a study that changes how the community
models a mobile network — not a dashboard of numbers. If it is "RF sensing," the wireless
mechanism must be the contribution, not just the medium (see WiSee in
../../resources/exemplars/library.md).
Common misfit patterns
- The phone-app paper. Runs on mobile hardware but the novelty is an application or an ML model; the wireless stack is incidental → MobiSys, IMWUT, or a domain venue.
- The pure-PHY paper. A modulation or coding result with no networking or systems payoff → an information-theory or communications venue unless it changes a networked mechanism.
- The simulation-only protocol. A routing or scheduling idea evaluated only in a simulator; strong ones still need over-the-air or testbed evidence to clear the bar.
- The broad-systems paper wearing a wireless hat. A distributed-systems contribution with a mobile motivating example → NSDI/OSDI.
Re-routing decision
If the paper misses MobiCom's bar, do not force it — re-route by type and record why. A theory result goes to a theory venue, a platform to MobiSys, a measurement-heavy networking study to SIGCOMM, an early idea to HotMobile. Re-routing early is cheaper than a rolling deadline spent on a mismatch, and MobiCom's two-round review means a misfit often surfaces as an early reject after round 1 rather than a rescue.
Output format
[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason in MobiCom's vocabulary)
[Contribution type] <named>
[Wireless dependence] result depends on channel/mobility? y/n
[Evidence form] testbed / SDR / deployment / trace / simulation-only
[Main gap] the single most important missing mechanism or measurement
[Re-route] <sibling venue if not a fit, with the signal that sends it there>
Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills → MobiCom-Skills/skills/mobicom-topic-selection/SKILL.md