Research Projects since 2020

Core research area:       Antenna and Propagation (AP) [measurement and theory based approach], Electromagnetics (spherical waves, high frequency approximation solutions to Maxwell's equations, etc.), Signal Processing (for channel parameter estimation), MIMO

Core applications:          Joint Communication and Sensing (for human & mobility)

-------------------------------------- As PI or co-PI ---------------------------------------

      Horizon Europe MSCA DN 2023:           Initiator,  project PI, coordinator  [full score, top 1.56% !!]                                                                                                   2025 - 2028

      UT-UW Strategic Fund on Health,                          PI:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2024 - 2026

     ADA-BEAM, SNS 6G-Bricks Open Call,              PI,   2025

NWO-OTP, the Netherlands:                        3D-ComS,                                                                                                                          PI,              2023 - 2028

FNS, Participants and responsible for Joint Communication and Sensing, 2023 - 

       NICT visiting researcher fund, Japan:     mmWave and sub-THz dual-band JCAS,                                                         co-PI (with Prof. Minseok Kim),              2023.07 - 2023.09

Strategic funding, UTwente:                          Joint Communication and Sensing                                                                    co-PI,        2023

4TU.NIRICT, the Netherlands:                     Intelligent Long-Range Wi-Fi,                                                                              co-PI,         2021.01 - 2021.12

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H2020 MSCA-IF, EC:                                          V.I.P., mMIMO and AI based multi-human pose estimation,              PI,               2021.11 - 2024.12

V.I.P. --- MassiVe MIMO Radio Channel- and Learning-based Indoor Passive Localization and Posture Identification for Multiple Humans

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101026885 

In V.I.P., I focus on one of the challenges in 5G wireless radio-based assisted-living functionalities: to optimize the massive MIMO antenna system topology/configuration and devise algorithms for accurate passive localization and posture identification of multiple humans (≥2) indoors. I integrate various traditionally disjointed system aspects, i.e., 1) the controllable and reconfigurable physical environment, 2) the MIMO topology and array configurations, and 3) the localization and posture identification algorithm using interactions between the MIMO radio propagation and the human form-factors, into the compatibly designed simulation and measurement platforms at both physical and system levels. The frequency of interest is in the mid-band from 5 GHz to 7 GHz, an unlicensed spectrum for shared use of 5G in EU. In V.I.P., I develop both the simulation and the measurement platforms aiming at achieving three main objectives (O): O1. devise an automated process for optimizing massive MIMO topology and array configurations in specific indoor environments focusing on wireless coverage (Work package, WP1); O2. establish a uniform and parameterized deterministic model for describing the interactions between radio waves at operating frequency bands and human form-factors including body type/shape, motion, and posture (WP2); O3. develop a deep learning-based multiple-human passive localization and posture identification algorithm utilizing the impact of human form-factors on MIMO channel with dedicated topology/configuration in specific physical environment (WP3).

WP1: A reconfigurable indoor environment as well as the radio channel measurement system will be constructed

WP1: A radio channel simulation platform will be constructed

WP1, O1: Massive MIMO topologies including co-located9, distributed10, cell-free11 (or “radio stripe”), and array configuration including number and type of antennas will be optimized for wireless coverage

WP2, O2: Influence of human form-factors with different body type/shape, posture, and motion on dedicated MIMO channel will be measured and modelled, particularly the major propagation mechanism deterministically describing such interaction will be determined and parameterized

WP3, O3: Localization and posture identification algorithm targeting multiple humans will be designed, where a learning-based process will be adopted with training of human-environment-channel data

Relevant publications during this period are as below.

     Towards achieving O1 (WP1):

·       K. Shen, S. Safapourhajari, T. De Pessemier, L. Martens, W. Joseph and Y. Miao, "Optimizing the Focusing Performance of Non-Ideal Cell-Free mMIMO Using Genetic Algorithm for Indoor Scenario," in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 8832-8845, Oct. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TWC.2022.3170433. [optimizing indoor MIMO topology]

·       R. Hersyandika, Y. Miao and S. Pollin, "Guard Beam: Protecting mmWave Communication through In-Band Early Blockage Prediction," GLOBECOM 2022 - 2022 IEEE Global Communications Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2022, pp. 4093-4098, doi: 10.1109/GLOBECOM48099.2022.10001163. [optimizing MIMO beamforming]

·       R. Hersyandika, M. Rossanese, A. Lutu, Y. Miao, Q. Wang and S. Pollin, "Coverage and Capacity Analysis for Football Player's Bodycam with Cell-Free Massive MIMO," 2023 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), Rome, Italy, 2023, pp. 314-319, doi: 10.1109/ICCWorkshops57953.2023.10283510. [cell-free MIMO topology]

·       Y. Miao, B. Willetts, A. Kokkeler and S. Pollin, "Investigating the Bistatic Sensing Capability of a Broadcasting 5G-NR BS and a True-Time-Delay Array UE," 2024 IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Communications, Antennas, Biomedical Engineering and Electronic Systems (COMCAS), Tel Aviv, Israel, 2024, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/COMCAS58210.2024.10666249. [optimizing UE array configuration]

·       R. Hersyandika, A. Sakhnini, Y. Miao, Q. Wang and S. Pollin, "Guard Beams: Coverage Enhancement of UE-Centered ISAC via Analog Multi-Beamforming," in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 163507-163523, 2024, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3491939. [optimizing MIMO beamforming]

     Towards achieving O2 (WP2) 

·       R. Liu, Y. Gong, S. Pollin and Y. Miao, "Simulation and Measurement Validation of a Finite-Length Cylindrical 3D UTD Model," in IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, vol. 3, pp. 848-859, 2022, doi: 10.1109/OJAP.2022.3195670. [model]

·       B. van Berlo et al., "Intelligent Blockage Recognition using Cellular mmWave Beamforming Data: Feasibility Study," GLOBECOM 2022 - 2022 IEEE Global Communications Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2022, pp. 4576-4582, doi: 10.1109/GLOBECOM48099.2022.10000833. [novel measurement carried out for modelling and algorithm]

·       B. van Berlo et al., "26 GHz OFDM and 77 GHz FMCW Radar Dataset for Domain Shift Invariant Blockage Prediction," 2023 IEEE 3rd International Symposium on Joint Communications & Sensing (JC&S), Seefeld, Austria, 2023, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/JCS57290.2023.10107463. [measurement data for modelling and algorithm]

·       Y. Miao, M. Kim, C. Kang, N. Suzuki, S. Pollin and J. Takada, "Dual-Band MmWave Measurements of Human Body Scattering and Blockage Effects Using Distributed Beamforming for ISAC Applications," 2024 18th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2024, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.23919/EuCAP60739.2024.10501057. [novel measurement carried out for modelling]

·   M. Liu, Z. Cui, Y. Miao, M. Kim and S. Pollin, "A Millimeter-Wave Scattering Channel Model for Indoor Human Activity Sensing," in IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, doi: 10.1109/OJAP.2024.3516533. [human scattering model]

       Towards achieving O3 (WP3)

·   C. Li, S. De Bast, Y. Miao, E. Tanghe, S. Pollin and W. Joseph, "Contact-Free Pedestrian Tracking Using Massive MIMO-OFDM Communication System," 2022 19th European Radar Conference (EuRAD), Milan, Italy, 2022, pp. 181-184, doi: 10.23919/EuRAD54643.2022.9924658. [multi-person localization and tracking]

·   C. Li, S. De Bast, Y. Miao, E. Tanghe, S. Pollin and W. Joseph, "Contact-Free Multitarget Tracking Using Distributed Massive MIMO-OFDM Communication System: Prototype and Analysis," in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 10, no. 10, pp. 9220-9233, 15 May15, 2023, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2023.3234041. [multi-person localization and tracking]

·   H. Alidoustaghdam, M. Chen, B. Willetts, K. Mao, A. Kokkeler and Y. Miao, "Enhancing Vital Sign Estimation Performance of FMCW MIMO Radar by Prior Human Shape Recognition," 2023 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), Rome, Italy, 2023, pp. 1707-1711, doi: 10.1109/ICCWorkshops57953.2023.10283718. [multi-task sensing: first torso recognition then vital sign estimation]

·       Top of Form

·   Haoqiu Xiong, Zhuangzhuang Cui, Mingqing Liu, Yang Miao, and Sofie Pollin. 2023. Multi-person Localization and Respiration Sensing under IEEE 802.11ay Standard. In Proceedings of the 3rd ACM MobiCom Workshop on Integrated Sensing and Communications Systems (ISACom '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1145/3615984.3616506 [multi-task sensing: localization and vital sign estimation]

·       H. Xiong, Z. Cui, Y. Miao and S. Pollin, "WiGig-based Joint Multi-Person Positioning and Respiration Sensing," ICASSP 2024 - 2024 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 2024, pp. 13321-13325, doi: 10.1109/ICASSP48485.2024.10446149. [multi-task sensing: localization and vital sign estimation]

·   Bottom of Form

·   Master thesis: “Vital Signs Estimation Using a 26 GHz Multi-Beam Communication Testbed”, also available at arXiv:2311.11275 by Miquel Sellés Valls, Sofie Pollin, Ying Wang, Rizqi Hersyandika, Andre Kokkeler, Yang Miao. [vital sign estimation under various MIMO topology/configuration]

·   C. Huang, C. -X. Wang, Z. Li, Z. Qian, J. Li and Y. Miao, "A Frequency Domain Predictive Channel Model for 6G Wireless MIMO Communications Based on Deep Learning," in IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 72, no. 8, pp. 4887-4902, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TCOMM.2024.3376602. [learning based signal/channel inferring]

·       H. Mi et al., Y. Miao, "Measurement-Based Prediction of mmWave Channel Parameters Using Deep Learning and Point Cloud," in IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology, vol. 5, pp. 1059-1072, 2024, doi: 10.1109/OJVT.2024.3436857. [learning and multi-modal data based signal/channel inferring]

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-------------------------------------- Participation ---------------------------------------

Horizon Europe, MSCA DN 2022:    6Sense (KU Leuven);     Proposal writing/shaping        &            Participation van 2024.02 - 

Horizon 2020, FET-OPEN:       HERMES (KU Leuven);   WP1 co-leader, 2021.11 - 2023.02