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Jianhua Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Jianhua Zhang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

DeepRT-Cal: Learning to Calibrate Ray-Traced Twin Channel Statistics with Low-Fidelity Environmental Geometry

Sixth-generation (6G) wireless systems increasingly rely on digital twin channels (DTCs) to represent and interact with physical radio environments. Ray tracing (RT) is naturally suited to DTC construction because it provides deterministic and physically interpretable channel predictions. However, high-fidelity three-dimensional environment models are expensive to obtain, whereas geometric inaccuracies in low-fidelity models can alter the detected multipath components (MPCs) and consequently distort received-power and delay-domain twin channel statistics. Building on the DeepRT ray-tracing framework, this paper proposes DeepRT-Cal, a geometry-aware cross-fidelity calibration framework that predicts high-fidelity twin channel statistics from low-fidelity geometry and RT features.The network encodes global link descriptors, masked low-fidelity MPC tokens, propagation-corridor geometry, and link-centered environmental objects. During training, detailed geometry is introduced as privileged information with structured masking, while deployment requires only low-fidelity geometry and low-fidelity RT information. A link-conditioned cross-attention module retrieves the environmental context relevant to each Tx--Rx link. The prediction heads estimate high-fidelity twin channel statistics, including total received power, RMS delay spread, mean excess delay, and a normalized power-weighted power-delay profile (PDP). Outdoor evaluation shows that, in an non-line of sight (NLoS) region, the method reduces power MAE from 16.80 to 3.88 dB and RMS delay-spread MAE from 304.89 to 98.19 ns. In a LoS-dominated region, power prediction improves, while RMS delay-spread accuracy remains comparable to direct RT.

eess.SP↗

Fluid Antenna-Aided Robust Secure Uplink Transmission in LEO Satellite Constellations

Secure uplink transmission in low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations faces significant challenges due to the time-varying spatial distributions of serving and potential eavesdropping satellites, particularly when their angular separations are small and eavesdropper channel state information (CSI) is imperfect. To address these challenges, this paper investigates fluid antenna (FA)-aided robust secure uplink transmission in LEO satellite constellations. To avoid frequent antenna reconfiguration, the FA positions are optimized over an observation interval and remain fixed throughout the interval, while transmit beamforming dynamically adapts to the time-varying satellite channels. We formulate an average worst-case secrecy rate maximization problem by jointly optimizing FA positions and time-varying beamforming under norm-bounded eavesdropper CSI uncertainties and per-slot secrecy rate constraints. Two new alternating optimization (AO) algorithms are developed to solve the resulting non-convex problem. For robust beamforming optimization, the S-procedure, semidefinite relaxation (SDR), and first-order approximation are employed to construct a tractable convex problem, followed by Gaussian randomization for rank-one recovery. For FA position optimization, we derive concave surrogate functions for successive convex approximation (SCA) and develop a differential evolution (DE)-based search strategy to reduce computational complexity. Numerical results demonstrate that both FA-aided schemes consistently outperform conventional fixed-position antenna arrays across different constellation configurations and CSI uncertainty levels. Moreover, the two algorithms exhibit different performance-complexity tradeoffs as the number of FA elements increases, with DE offering a computational advantage for larger arrays while SCA can achieve higher secrecy rates.

cs.IT↗

Revisiting Shannon's Source Coding Theorem with Distributional Uncertainty under the Nonlinear Expectation Theory

In classical information theory, a source is modeled by a single, precisely known probability distribution. However, in the increasingly complex communication networks full of unanticipated, nonstationary, and heterogeneous random events, the assumption of precise and well-defined probability distributions to describe random variables appears somewhat idealized. Therefore, it is important to characterize the uncertainty of distributions of source messages, subject to relaxing the assumption of deterministic probability models for analyzing information sources in information theory. Based on the nonlinear expectation theory, a novel axiomatical system that extends classical probability theory, this paper investigates the information sources whose distributions themselves are uncertain, and refers to them as uncertain-distribution sources. We generalize the fundamental concept information entropy to nonlinear information entropy, which describes the measurement of the amount of information contained in a uncertain-distribution source. By using the strong law of large numbers under sublinear expectation, we establish a nonlinear source coding theorem, which not only shows that the nonlinear information entropy is the upper bound for the infimum of achievable coding rate of uncertain-distribution sources under the maximum error probability criterion, but also determines a cluster point of the coding rate of uncertain-distribution sources under the minimum error probability criterion. Our findings reveal that the introduction of nonlinear expectation theory allows for a more comprehensive understanding of information sources.

cs.IT↗

Uniqueness of SRB measures for stochastic differential equations

For a dissipation stochastic differential equation (abbreviated as SDE), exponential ergodicity has been investigated a lot in a wide range of settings. In this paper, we prove that the Markovian measure $μ$ determined by the unique stationary measure is also the unique invariant measure which satisfies the entropy formula. Consequently, the existence of an SRB measure is completely determined by the sign of the sample top Lyapunov exponent of $μ$: if $χ_μ^1>0$, then $μ$ is the unique SRB measure, whereas if $χ_μ^1\leq0$, then the SDE admits no SRB measure. As an application, we establish a dichotomy of SRB measures for the 2D additive-noise stochastic Hopf normal form within a shear parameter domain.

math.DS↗

The Brin-Katok local entropy formula for non-compact random dynamical systems and an application

In this paper, we establish the classical Brin-Katok local entropy formula for $C^1$ random dynamical systems on a complete Riemannian manifold (possibly non-compact) under a mild integrability condition. The proof depends on the constructions of measurable partitions adapted to asymptotically varying radii and finite measurable partitions with null-boundaries. As an application, under additional integrability assumptions, we obtain the Margulis-Ruelle inequality for $C^2$ random dynamical systems on complete non-compact Riemannian manifolds. Furthermore, we also construct a counterexample showing that the integrability condition above cannot in general be omitted.

math.DS↗

Nonlinear Information Theory: Characterizing Distributional Uncertainty in Communication Models with Sublinear Expectation

A mathematical framework for information-theoretic analysis is established, with a new viewpoint of describing transmitted messages and communication channels by the nonlinear expectation theory, beyond classical probability framework. Based on nonlinear expectation theory, in this paper we define several fundamental concepts, such as nonlinear information entropy, nonlinear joint entropy, and nonlinear mutual information, and establish their basic properties. By using strong law of large numbers under sublinear expectations, we propose a nonlinear source coding theorem, which shows that nonlinear entropy is a sufficient achievability threshold for the achievable coding rate of uncertain-distribution sources under the maximum error probability criterion, and determines a cluster point of the achievable coding rate under the minimum error probability criterion. We also propose a nonlinear channel coding theorem, providing explicit expressions of the upper bound and a cluster point under the maximum and minimum error probability criterion, respectively, for the achievable coding rate of uncertain-distribution channels. Additionally, we propose a nonlinear rate-distortion source coding theorem, proving that the rate-distortion function based on nonlinear mutual information is a cluster point of the lossy compression performance of uncertain-distribution sources under the minimum expected distortion criterion. Finally, we show some examples and simulations to consolidate our theoretic study.

cs.IT↗

Adaptive Dual-Teacher Distillation with Subnetwork Rectification for Bridging Semantic Gaps in Black-Box Domain Adaptation

Assuming that neither source data nor source model parameters are accessible, black-box domain adaptation (BBDA) represents a highly practical yet challenging setting, where transferable knowledge is limited to the predictions of a black-box source model. Existing approaches exploit such knowledge via pseudo-label refinement or by leveraging vision-language models (ViLs), but they often fail to reconcile the inherent discrepancy between task-specific knowledge from black-box models and language-aligned semantic priors of ViLs, resulting in suboptimal integration and degraded adaptation performance. To address this challenge, we propose adaptive Dual-Teacher Distillation with Subnetwork Rectification (DDSR), a framework that explicitly reconciles these complementary yet inconsistent knowledge sources. DDSR employs an adaptive prediction fusion strategy to integrate predictions from the black-box source model and a ViL, generating reliable pseudo-labels for the target domain. A subnetwork-based regularization mechanism mitigates overfitting to noisy supervision by enforcing output consistency and gradient divergency. Furthermore, progressively improved target predictions iteratively refine both pseudo-labels and ViL prompts, enhancing semantic alignment. Finally, class-wise prototypes are used to further optimize target predictions via self-training. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmark datasets demonstrate that DDSR consistently outperforms state-of-the-art methods, including those with access to source data or source model parameters.

cs.CV↗

A Homotopy Framework for Constrained Multiobjective Optimization

We develop a homotopy continuation framework for computing Karush--Kuhn--Tucker (KKT) points of constrained multiobjective optimization problems. The proposed homotopy map continuously deforms an easily solvable system into the KKT system associated with the original multiobjective problem, yielding a deterministic continuation path. Under the stated regularity and reference-point cone avoidance assumptions, we establish the existence of a smooth, bounded continuation path whose set of accumulation points as the homotopy parameter approaches zero is nonempty and consists of KKT points. The framework is implemented using two numerical continuation algorithms including an enhanced pseudo-arclength predictor--corrector strategy with adaptive step-size control and branch-restarting mechanisms to improve robustness for challenging nonconvex and degenerate problems. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed method remains effective even when initialized from nonfeasible points, indicating practical robustness beyond the theoretical guarantees. Comparative studies evaluate the proposed framework against classical scalarization approaches and the evolutionary algorithms. Experiments on benchmark problems, disconnected and nonconvex multiobjective problems, analytically solvable three-objective problems, and a multiobjective IEEE 5-bus optimal power flow problem demonstrate the ability of the framework to compute KKT points in a variety of constrained settings. The results also highlight the effects of initialization and the limitations of continuation-based methods in recovering complete Pareto-front coverage. Overall, the proposed framework provides a deterministic and interpretable approach to computing Pareto-critical (KKT) points in constrained multiobjective optimization.

math.OC↗

How Does Probabilistic Constellation Shaping Control Ranging Sidelobe Levels in ISAC?

Probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS), originally designed to fill the gap between finite uniform constellations and continuous capacity-achieving input distributions, has recently emerged as a central tool in adjusting the expected integrated sidelobe level (EISL) in integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). In this paper, we show that PCS goes beyond EISL: A large class of PCS methods, termed as type-based PCS, are capable of providing precise control over codeword-wise integrated sidelobe level ratio (ISLR) for systems employing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), thus yielding a stronger sensing performance guarantee than EISL control. We further show that OFDM is almost the only unitary modulation basis whose codeword-wise ISLR can be precisely controlled by type-based PCS. Based upon the analytical results, practical type-based PCS methods compatible with the probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) framework are conceived, which achieve higher communication rates than existing ISAC-oriented PCS methods under identical ISLR constraints.

cs.IT↗

Re-emergence of fingering in solidifying liquid-metal drops

Solidification is expected to suppress fingering by removing mobile liquid. Here we report an unexpected re-emergence of fingering in impacting molten-tin drops: cooling first weakens peripheral fingers, but stronger undercooling restores them. At weak undercooling, fingers originate from a decelerating liquid rim and solidification reduces the effective acceleration that drives Rayleigh--Taylor-like amplification. At strong undercooling, solidification structures develop while liquid is still spreading, creating lateral mobility contrasts that redirect the residual flow. Comparison between the kinematically estimated solidification time and the experimentally measured fingering-onset and growth-termination times reveals a reversal in temporal ordering across the temperature range. A physics-based reduced-order model combines solidification-modified rim deceleration with mobility-gradient growth, captures the characteristic onset dynamics and accounts for the final finger length within the same physical framework.These findings establish solidification as an active means of regulating interfacial flow and morphology, with broad implications spanning metal-based additive manufacturing and debris mitigation in semiconducting industry.

physics.flu-dyn↗

A Unified Dynamics Framework for Reinforcement Learning and Classical Control of a Six-DOF Pipeline-Tracking ROV in NVIDIA Isaac Sim

Reinforcement learning controllers for underwater vehicles are usually trained against one physics representation and deployed against another, so reported performance does not always describe behavior outside training. This paper presents a pipeline-tracking architecture for a six-degree-of-freedom remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in which one Universal Scene Description (USD) scene supplies the real BlueROV2-Heavy mass, added-mass, damping, buoyancy, and thruster parameters to both halves of the system: a vectorized NumPy implementation of Fossen's marine-craft equations, and an interactive NVIDIA Isaac Sim deployment applying the identical equations as PhysX forces at every step. The Coriolis-centripetal term is the primary dynamics model in both branches; a controlled ablation on PPO and TRPO shows that including it does not destabilize either algorithm and modestly improves tracking, about 19 percent lower standoff RMS error for TRPO. Five reinforcement learning algorithms, PPO, soft actor-critic, TD3, DDPG, and TRPO, are trained against one environment, reward, and randomized evaluation harness through a checkpoint-compatibility layer scoring any policy with the same code. The pipeline is extended with six classical baselines, PID, sliding-mode, fuzzy logic, feedback linearization, model predictive control, and an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system, driven by the same guidance geometry and thruster allocation as the learned policies. Under Coriolis-enabled dynamics, PPO, TRPO, and feedback linearization reach the strongest combination of 100 percent success and competitive accuracy; PID, fuzzy control, and the neuro-fuzzy baseline also reach 100 percent success with looser tracking; DDPG and TD3 each show a specific, explainable failure mode rather than a general weakness of off-policy learning; and classical control remains a strong baseline against the best learned policies.

cs.RO↗

On the Optimality of OFDM for Aperiodic Ranging

We study the expected aperiodic autocorrelation sidelobes of random communication symbols transmitted through a unitary modulation matrix. We consider proper sub-Gaussian constellations, namely those with fourth absolute moment $μ_4<2$ and zero pseudo-variance, including the commonly used uniform square quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and uniform phase-shift keying (PSK) constellations. For every prescribed lag, we determine the exact minimum expected sidelobe level (ESL) and a unitary modulation attaining it by applying a normalized inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) separately on each chain of sample indices spaced by that lag. The full orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) modulation attains this minimum if and only if the lag divides the block length $N$. Combining this criterion with the complete characterization of the minimizers at lag one, we show that a unitary modulation minimizes the ESL simultaneously over the first $r$ positive lags, called the prefix $\{1,\ldots,r\}$ with $1\le r<N$, if and only if every lag in that prefix divides $N$. In particular, simultaneous optimality over all positive lags is impossible for $N\ge 3$. We also prove that OFDM globally minimizes the partial expected integrated sidelobe level (EISL), defined as the sum of the ESLs over a selected subset of positive lags, for every such prefix. This also resolves the full EISL conjecture when $r=N-1$.

eess.SP↗

A Tutorial on Learning-Based Radio Map Construction: Data, Paradigms, and Physics-Awareness

Radio maps (RMs) provide the digital representation of the wireless propagation environment, mapping complex geographical and topological boundary conditions to critical spatial-spectral metrics that range from received signal strength to full channel state information matrices. The integration of artificial intelligence into next generation wireless networks further necessitates the accurate construction of RMs as a foundational prerequisite for electromagnetic digital twins. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of learning-based RM construction, systematically addressing three intertwined dimensions: data, paradigms, and physics-awareness. From the data perspective, we review physical measurement campaigns, ray tracing simulation engines, and publicly available benchmark datasets, identifying their respective strengths and fundamental limitations. From the paradigm perspective, we establish a core taxonomy that categorizes RM construction into source-aware forward prediction and \added{source-agnostic} inverse reconstruction, and examine five principal neural architecture families spanning convolutional neural networks, vision transformers, graph neural networks, generative adversarial networks, and diffusion models. We further survey optics-inspired methods adapted from neural radiance fields and 3D Gaussian splatting for continuous wireless radiation field modeling. From the physics-awareness perspective, we introduce a three-level integration framework encompassing data-level feature engineering, loss-level partial differential equation regularization, and \added{architecture-level} structural isomorphism. Open challenges including foundation model development, physical hallucination detection, and amortized inference for real-time deployment are discussed to outline future research directions.

eess.SY↗

Measurement-Based FR3 Urban Macrocell Channel Characterization and Coverage Analysis

The 6--18~GHz upper mid-band is a promising spectrum range for future sixth-generation (6G) networks due to its favorable balance between available bandwidth and propagation capability, while its same-site coverage performance remains a key deployment concern. This paper presents a wideband channel measurement campaign at 13 spatially aligned frequency points from 6 to 18~GHz in an urban macrocell (UMa) environment, and investigates the frequency evolution of channel characteristics and same-site coverage capability. The results show that path loss generally increases with frequency, while the higher-frequency channels tend to exhibit smaller root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread (DS) and larger PDP-based $K$-factors. Based on the measured path-loss characteristics, the additional link-budget requirement and service-aware same-site coverage are further evaluated. Under the baseline service configuration, the 80\% coverage distance $d_{80}$ decreases from approximately 129~m at 6~GHz to 58~m at 18~GHz. Further analysis quantifies the impacts of service rate, resource allocation, interference, and link-budget degradation on coverage, providing measurement-based insights for same-site deployment across the 6--18~GHz band.

eess.SP↗

Reassessing 3GPP NR CSI Codebook Structures in Near-Field Channels: Finite-Feedback Multilayer Precoding and Design Insights

3GPP TR 38.901 Rel-19 introduces antenna-element-level spherical-wave modeling, while NR Type-I and enhanced Type-II (eType-II) CSI codebooks continue to use plane-wave DFT beams. Whether this mismatch materially degrades finite-feedback multilayer precoding in standardized multipath channels remains unclear. To isolate its impact, we evaluate both codebooks over strictly paired far-field (FF) and near-field (NF) 3GPP channels that share user locations, multipath parameters, polarization, and link budgets and differ only in their wavefront models. Simulations cover Rank 1-4 transmission in 7-GHz UMi and 24-GHz InH-linear scenarios. We find no systematic FF/NF shift in singular-mode gains or equal-power SVD (SVD-EP) rates. Instead, spherical-wave phases reorder multipath projections onto plane-wave candidates and thereby alter codeword selection. For Rank-4 InH-linear users at 0.1 normalized Rayleigh distance, given FF-selected Type-I and eType-II codewords incur median direct mismatch losses of 2.28% and 5.34% on the NF channel, respectively; codebook reselection identifies better-matched codewords and reduces these losses to 0.770% and 3.28%. Nested candidate-set comparisons further show that relaxing Type-I interlayer constraints improves the SVD-EP-normalized rate by 20.7 percentage points, whereas finite-range sampling adds only 0.579 points. These results support prioritizing multilayer multibeam representation in large-aperture NR CSI codebooks, with range states providing complementary refinement.

eess.SP↗

Exact Degrees of Freedom of Spatially Sparse MIMO Channels Without Prior CSI

We characterize the degree of freedom (DoF) of a point-to-point blockwise memoryless channel without prior channel state information (CSI), with a fixed number $K$ of propagation paths, where the transmitter (Tx) and the receiver (Rx) are equipped with nonuniform linear arrays (NULAs) of $N_t$ and $N_r$ antennas, respectively. The positions of array elements are fixed, known, pairwise distinct, and need not be equally spaced. The uniform linear array (ULA) is a special case. In each block of length $T$, the continuous angles of arrival (AoAs), angles of departure (AoDs), and independent complex Gaussian path gains are redrawn. Both Tx and Rx know the state distributions but are not given the current realizations before transmission. The receiver may estimate the channel from reference signals or decode without explicit channel estimation, with reference symbols counted in $T$ and their energy counted against the power constraint. Under the aforementioned model, we show that the DoF is $1-\frac{1}{T}$ for $K=1$, and $K(1-\frac{3}{2T})$ for $K \geq 2$, when $N_r\ge K+1$, $N_t\ge\max\{K,2\}$, and $T\ge K$. The analytical results are further demonstrated by their applications to the DoF tradeoff analysis in integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). For more general array structures, an achievability result is established, while the converse remains open in general.

cs.IT↗

Computing at Sea: Floating and Offshore Data Centres as a Pathway to Sustainable AI Infrastructure

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is transforming data centres into one of the world's fastest-growing sources of electricity demand. As AI systems scale in size and capability, the physical infrastructure supporting computation is approaching critical limits in energy availability, cooling capacity, land use, freshwater consumption, and carbon management. Conventional land-based data centres are increasingly constrained by urban land competition, grid congestion, environmental pressures, and lengthy permitting processes, raising fundamental questions about where future computing infrastructure can sustainably exist. This article examines floating and offshore data centres as an emerging alternative model for digital infrastructure. By relocating computation to marine environments, offshore systems can exploit the ocean's natural cooling capacity, reduce freshwater dependence, and enable direct integration with offshore renewable energy resources such as wind, wave, and tidal power. Early deployments have demonstrated the potential for significantly improved energy efficiency and operational reliability compared with conventional facilities, while also opening new possibilities for distributed and resilient computing architectures. The article explores how offshore computing may reshape the future relationship between electrification, renewable energy, and large-scale AI infrastructure. It analyses the opportunities and trade-offs associated with marine deployment, including environmental impacts, engineering design challenges, economic feasibility, and regulatory governance. Rather than treating offshore data centres as experimental novelties, the article presents them as part of a broader systems-level transition in how society may power, cool, and sustain the next generation of computational growth.

eess.SY↗

PICANet: Physics-Informed Cascaded Asymmetric Network for Infrared Small Target Detection

Infrared small target detection (ISTD) is an important research direction in image processing. However, existing methods are limited by severe background noise propagation and target degradation in high-level semantic features. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a plug-and-play physics-informed cascaded asymmetric network, named PICANet. Specifically, we construct a hierarchical prior decoupling module to explicitly extract low-level and high-level physical information, thereby characterizing target features at different levels rather than relying solely on convolutional extraction. Furthermore, a dual-prior interactive fusion module is developed to dynamically refine target representations while suppressing complex background clutter. Unlike previous work, a multi-level cross-feature attention module with the cascaded asymmetric mechanism is introduced to achieve precise alignment between high-level semantics and low-level spatial details. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed PICANet outperforms state-of-the-art ISTD methods, showing satisfactory detection accuracy even against complex backgrounds. Our code is available at https://github.com/xianchaoxiu/PICANet.

cs.CV↗