In recent research efforts related to 5G and beyond radio access technologies, there has been many contributions in the development of new innovative methods and schemes related to the following two research directions at the physical layer level. 1) Advanced waveform designs: The purpose here is to create new improved waveforms (other than the conventional OFDM waveform) to enhance the system performance metrics in terms of PAPR, OOBE, ACI, INI, synchronicity, complexity, spectral efficiency, reliability, and robusetness to ICI, Doppler, and phase noise, etc. Examples of waveforms in this domain include GFDM, FBMC, DFT-s-OFDM, ZT-DFT-s-OFDM, W-OFDM, F-OFDM, edge filtered OFDM, OTFS, OCDM, etc. 2) New modulation techniques: The goal here is to come up with novel modulation schemes (other than the conventional M-ary QAM/PSK modulation schemes) to improve the system performance metrics in terms...