Education and Work

Summary:

Academia:

  • Have published 66 peer-reviewed journal papers, 30 conference papers, 2 patents (both as the leading applicant), and 5 book chapters, with over 1900 citations (h index of 26);
  • Major in Electronic Engineering, and focus on microwave and high-frequency electronics for Bachelor (2004, BUAA China, first credit rating), Master (2007, Tsinghua University China, excellent postgraduate student), and Ph.D. degree (2014, Queen’s University of Belfast, UK);
  • Holder of 3 best conference paper awards (all first place) and an URSI 2014 Young Scientist Award (only 3 in the UK);
  • Have shown a strong ability of applying theoretical aspects of wireless technologies research through to practical system-level demonstrators, see evidence via https://youtu.be/FsmCcxo-TPE and https://youtu.be/sIBhAcomt2w;
  • Shortlisted for the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship 2016, and 2nd round shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Research Fellowship 2015 and 2017;
  • Recipient of 3-year fully-funded QUB Ph.D. studentship for international students, and 4-year Tsang hin chi Scholarship for excellent undergraduate students (only 3 out of 250) in BUAA China. Recipient of travel grant to attend ‘Newton Fund Researcher Links’ 2017.

Industry:

  • 2 years industrial experience in Motorola Mobile Inc. (RF design engineer) Familiar with the design and the test of the radio frequency (RF) circuits and antennas for mobile phones;
  • 2 years industrial experience in Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (RF design and application engineer) Familiar with the design of the high-power high-efficiency power amplifiers for cellular base-station application;
  • Co-founder and core member in the Technical Committee of the KaiRuiKuanQiao Inc. (China), which is a start-up dedicated to the 4G LTE Femto base-station for marine application.

Details of Research and Industrial Experience:

Oct. 2022 ~ Present

Associate Professor at the Institute of Sensors, Signals and Systems (ISSS) in Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

Jan. 2018 ~ Sep. 2022

Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sensors, Signals and Systems (ISSS) in Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

May 2016 ~ Jan. 2018

Hardware Constraint MIMO Beamforming for Future Wireless Systems

The above research topic, which is a part of a collaboration project with the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey. This project is a cross-disciplinary activity between antenna/microwave and signal processing communities.

Sep. 2014 ~ Apr. 2016

Retro-directive Antennas for K/Ka-band Satellite Terminals

I was dedicated to the above European Space Agency project. The challenge of high frequency, large frequency gap between receiver band (20 GHz) and transmitter band (around 30 GHz), and multi-satellite operation functionality, had been solved with the help of novel microcontroller-assisted delay-locked-loop modules, which eliminate additional sensors normally required by ground terminals for satellite tracking.

Sep. 2011 ~ Sept. 2014

Directional Modulation (DM) Secured Wireless Communication

As a Ph.D. student in High Frequency Electronics Cluster, I had led the world effort to lay down a rigorous theoretical and practical basis for the DM technology, which has the capability of transmitting artificially distorted signals along all spatial directions other than along a specified communication direction, in this way the possibility of unwanted interception by eavesdroppers is significantly reduced. During the three-year research, I had published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers, and received two first-place Best Student Paper Awards (IET and URSI) and a Young Scientist Award (URSI).

Apr. 2009 ~ Jul. 2011

High-power High-efficiency Power Amplifiers for Cellular Base-station Application

I worked in Freescale Semiconductor Inc., responsible for designing high-power high-efficiency power amplifiers using LDMOS transistors with different architectures for a variety of base station applications. Some of the designs are currently deployed in 2G, 3G, and 4G cellular base-stations in China.

Aug. 2007 ~ Mar. 2009

Antennas and RF Circuits for Mobile Phones

I worked in Motorola Mobile Inc., responsible for designing antennas and RF circuits for mobile phones. The work also involved collaboration with digital baseband, mechanical, and testing teams.

Sep. 2004 ~ Jul. 2007

Multi-antenna and MIMO systems for mobile communications

I was selected as an excellent MSc postgraduate in Tsinghua University (Top University in China) for 3-year research on multi-antenna systems for mobile terminals. Two IEEE journal papers and two patents arose from the work. I was also the recipient of a best national conference paper award.

Sep. 2000 ~ Jul. 2004

I got the first credit rating during the 4-year study in Department of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) in China. I was one of the only 3 recipients (out of approximate 250 students) of 4-year Tsang hin chi Scholarship.