arXiv subjects

Ling Qiu

Publications and source records attributed to Ling Qiu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Channel Knowledge Map Construction: Recent Advances and Open Challenges

Channel knowledge map (CKM) has emerged as a pivotal technology for environment-aware wireless communications and sensing, which provides a priori location-specific channel knowledge to facilitate network optimization. Efficient CKM construction is an important technical problem for its effective implementation. This article provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in CKM construction. First, we examine classical interpolation-based CKM construction methods, highlighting their limitations in practical deployments. Next, we explore image processing and generative artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, which leverage feature extraction to construct CKMs based on environmental knowledge. Furthermore, we present emerging wireless radiance field (WRF) frameworks that exploit neural radiance fields or Gaussian splatting to construct high-fidelity CKMs from sparse measurement data. Finally, we outline various future research directions in real-time and cross-domain CKM construction, as well as cost-efficient deployment of CKMs.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Parallax QAMA: Novel Downlink Multiple Access for MISO Systems with Simple Receivers

In this paper, we propose a novel downlink multiple access system with a multi-antenna transmitter and two single-antenna receivers, inspired by the underlying principles of hierarchical quadrature amplitude modulation (H-QAM) based multiple access (QAMA) and space-division multiple access (SDMA). In the proposed scheme, coded bits from two users are split and assigned to one shared symbol and two private symbols carried by different beams. Based on joint symbol mapping of H-QAM constellations and phase-aligned precoding at the transmitter, each receiver observes a different H-QAM constellation with Gray mapping, a unique parallax feature not shared by existing schemes. In addition to avoiding successive interference cancellation (SIC), each user independently demodulates its own bits on separate I and Q branches with calculations based on closed-form expressions. Hence the receiver complexity is on par with that of orthogonal multiple access (OMA), which is much lower than that in other competing alternatives such as non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA). We carry out system optimization and determine the achievable rate region. Numerical results show that the proposed system has a larger rate region relative to other benchmark schemes with receivers not using SIC, and even achieves a comparable rate region to those benchmark schemes with SIC receivers.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2025

Robust Secure Communications in Near-Field ISCAP Systems with Extremely Large-Scale Antenna Array

This paper investigates robust secure communications in a near-field integrated sensing, communication, and powering (ISCAP) system, in which the base station (BS) is equipped with an extremely large-scale antenna array (ELAA). In this system, the BS transmits confidential messages to a single legitimate communication user (CU), simultaneously providing wireless power transfer to multiple energy receivers (ERs) and performing point target sensing. We consider a scenario in which both the ERs and the sensing target may act as potential eavesdroppers attempting to intercept the confidential messages. To safeguard secure communication, the BS employs a joint beamforming design by transmitting information beams combined with dedicated triple-purpose beams serving as energy and sensing signals, as well as artificial noise (AN) for effectively jamming potential eavesdroppers. It is assumed that only coarse location information of the ERs and sensing targets or eavesdroppers is available at the BS, leading to imperfect channel state information (CSI). Under this setup, we formulate a robust beamforming optimization problem with the objective of maximizing the secrecy rate for the CU, while ensuring worst-case performance requirements on both target sensing and wireless energy harvesting at the ERs. To address the non-convex robust joint beamforming problem and facilitate the deployment of a low-complexity algorithm, we employ the S-procedure alongside an eavesdropping CSI error-bound determination method to acquire a high-quality solution.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Sensing-assisted Near-field Energy Beam Focusing with ELAA Over Non-stationary Channels

This paper studies a novel training-free energy beam focusing approach for a near-field wireless power transfer (WPT) system with extremely large-scale antenna array (ELAA). In particular, we focus on the setup with one access point (AP) equipped with an extremely large-scale uniform planar array (UPA) serving multiple single-antenna energy receivers (ERs), in which the line-of-sight (LoS) dominated wireless channels are dependent on the relative positions of ERs and exhibit spatial non-stationarity. Different from conventional designs relying on training and feedback, we present a novel energy beam focusing design assisted by wireless radar sensing based on a two-stage transmission protocol. In the first stage, the AP performs wireless radar sensing to identify the ERs' visibility regions (VRs) and estimate their three-dimension (3D) positions for constructing the corresponding channel state information (CSI). In the second stage, the AP implements the transmit energy beam focusing based on the constructed CSI to efficiently charge these ERs. Under this setup, we first minimize the sensing duration in the first stage, while guaranteeing a specific accuracy threshold for position estimation. Next, we optimize the energy beamformers at the AP in the second stage to maximize the weighted harvested energy among all ERs subject to the maximum transmit power constraint. In this approach, the time resource allocation between the two stages is properly designed to optimize the ultimate energy transfer performance. Numerical results show that the proposed design performs close to the performance upper bound with perfect VR and CSI and significantly outperforms other benchmark schemes.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2024

Secure Communications in Near-Filed ISCAP Systems with Extremely Large-Scale Antenna Arrays

This paper investigates secure communications in a near-field multi-functional integrated sensing, communication, and powering (ISCAP) system with an extremely large-scale antenna arrays (ELAA) equipped at the base station (BS). In this system, the BS sends confidential messages to a single communication user (CU), and at the same time wirelessly senses a point target and charges multiple energy receivers (ERs). It is assumed that the ERs and the sensing target are potential eavesdroppers that may attempt to intercept the confidential messages intended for the CU. We consider the joint transmit beamforming design to support secure communications while ensuring the sensing and powering requirements. In particular, the BS transmits dedicated sensing/energy beams in addition to the information beam, which also play the role of artificial noise (AN) for effectively jamming potential eavesdroppers. Building upon this, we maximize the secrecy rate at the CU, subject to the maximum \ac{crb} constraints for target sensing and the minimum harvested energy constraints for the ERs. Although the formulated joint beamforming problem is non-convex and challenging to solve, we acquire the optimal solution via the semi-definite relaxation (SDR) and fractional programming techniques together with a one-dimensional (1D) search. Subsequently, we present two alternative designs based on zero-forcing (ZF) beamforming and maximum ratio transmission (MRT), respectively. Finally, our numerical results show that our proposed approaches exploit both the distance-domain resolution of near-field ELAA and the joint beamforming design for enhancing secure communication performance while ensuring the sensing and powering requirements in ISCAP, especially when the CU and the target and ER eavesdroppers are located at the same angle (but different distances) with respect to the BS.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Energy-Efficient Hybrid Beamforming with Dynamic On-off Control for Integrated Sensing, Communications, and Powering

This paper investigates the energy-efficient hybrid beamforming design for a multi-functional integrated sensing, communications, and powering (ISCAP) system. In this system, a base station (BS) with a hybrid analog-digital (HAD) architecture sends unified wireless signals to communicate with multiple information receivers (IRs), sense multiple point targets, and wirelessly charge multiple energy receivers (ERs) at the same time. To facilitate the energy-efficient design, we present a novel HAD architecture for the BS transmitter, which allows dynamic on-off control of its radio frequency (RF) chains and analog phase shifters (PSs) through a switch network. We also consider a practical and comprehensive power consumption model for the BS, by taking into account the power-dependent non-linear power amplifier (PA) efficiency, and the on-off non-transmission power consumption model of RF chains and PSs. We jointly design the hybrid beamforming and dynamic on-off control at the BS, aiming to minimize its total power consumption, while guaranteeing the performance requirements on communication rates, sensing Cram\'er-Rao bound (CRB), and harvested power levels. The formulation also takes into consideration the per-antenna transmit power constraint and the constant modulus constraints for the analog beamformer at the BS. The resulting optimization problem for ISCAP is highly non-convex. Please refer to the paper for a complete abstract.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

Secure Cell-Free Integrated Sensing and Communication in the Presence of Information and Sensing Eavesdroppers

This paper studies a secure cell-free integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, in which multiple ISAC transmitters collaboratively send confidential information to multiple communication users (CUs) and concurrently conduct target detection. Different from prior works investigating communication security against potential information eavesdropping, we consider the security of both communication and sensing in the presence of both information and sensing eavesdroppers that aim to intercept confidential communication information and extract target information, respectively. Towards this end, we optimize the joint information and sensing transmit beamforming at these ISAC transmitters for secure cell-free ISAC. Our objective is to maximize the detection probability over a designated sensing area while ensuring the minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) requirements at CUs. Our formulation also takes into account the maximum tolerable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at information eavesdroppers for ensuring the confidentiality of information transmission, and the maximum detection probability constraints at sensing eavesdroppers for preserving sensing privacy. The formulated secure joint transmit beamforming problem is highly non-convex due to the intricate interplay between the detection probabilities, beamforming vectors, and SINR constraints. Fortunately, through strategic manipulation and via applying the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) technique, we successfully obtain the globally optimal solution to the design problem by rigorously verifying the tightness of SDR. Furthermore, we present two alternative joint beamforming designs based on the sensing SNR maximization over the specific sensing area and the coordinated beamforming, respectively. Numerical results reveal the benefits of our proposed design over these alternative benchmarks.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

Sensing-Assisted Sparse Channel Recovery for Massive Antenna Systems

This correspondence presents a novel sensing-assisted sparse channel recovery approach for massive antenna wireless communication systems. We focus on a fundamental configuration with one massive-antenna base station (BS) and one single-antenna communication user (CU). The wireless channel exhibits sparsity and consists of multiple paths associated with scatterers detectable via radar sensing. Under this setup, the BS first sends downlink pilots to the CU and concurrently receives the echo pilot signals for sensing the surrounding scatterers. Subsequently, the CU sends feedback information on its received pilot signal to the BS. Accordingly, the BS determines the sparse basis based on the sensed scatterers and proceeds to recover the wireless channel, exploiting the feedback information based on advanced compressive sensing (CS) algorithms. Numerical results show that the proposed sensing-assisted approach significantly increases the overall achievable rate than the conventional design relying on a discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-based sparse basis without sensing, thanks to the reduced training overhead and enhanced recovery accuracy with limited feedback.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

Joint Angle and Delay Cram\'{e}r-Rao Bound Optimization for ISAC

In this paper, we study a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) beamforming design in an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, in which an ISAC base station (BS) is used to communicate with multiple downlink users and simultaneously the communication signals are reused for sensing multiple targets. Our interested sensing parameters are the angle and delay information of the targets, which can be used to locate these targets. Under this consideration, we first derive the Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound (CRB) for joint angle and delay estimation. Then, we optimize the transmit beamforming at the BS to minimize the CRB, subject to the communication rate requirement and the maximum transmit power constraint. In particular, we obtain the closed-form optimal solution in the case of single-target and single-user, and in the case of multi-target and multi-user scenario, the sparsity of the optimal solution is proven, leading to a reduction in computational complexity during optimization. The numerical results demonstrate that the optimized beamforming yields excellent positioning performance and effectively reduces the requirement for a large number of antennas at the BS.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

Training-Free Energy Beamforming Assisted by Wireless Sensing

This paper studies the transmit energy beamforming in a multi-antenna wireless power transfer (WPT) system, in which an access point (AP) equipped with a uniform linear array (ULA) sends radio signals to wirelessly charge multiple single-antenna energy receivers (ERs). Different from conventional energy beamforming designs that require the AP to acquire the channel state information (CSI) via training and feedback, we propose a new training-free energy beamforming approach assisted by wireless radar sensing, which is implemented based on the following two-stage protocol. In the first stage, the AP performs wireless radar sensing to estimate the path gain and angle parameters of the ERs for constructing the corresponding CSI. In the second stage, the AP implements the transmit energy beamforming based on the constructed CSI to efficiently charge these ERs in a fair manner. Under this setup, first, we jointly optimize the sensing beamformers and duration in the first stage to minimize the sensing duration, while ensuring a given accuracy threshold for parameters estimation subject to the maximum transmit power constraint at the AP. Next, we optimize the energy beamformers in the second stage to maximize the minimum harvested energy by all ERs. In this approach, the estimation accuracy threshold for the first stage is properly designed to balance the resource allocation between the two stages for optimizing the ultimate energy harvesting performance. Finally, numerical results show that the proposed training-free energy beamforming design performs close to the performance upper bound with perfect CSI, and outperforms the benchmark schemes without such joint optimization and that with isotropic transmission.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2023

Fundamental CRB-Rate Tradeoff in Multi-Antenna ISAC Systems with Information Multicasting and Multi-Target Sensing

This paper investigates the performance tradeoff for a multi-antenna integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system with simultaneous information multicasting and multi-target sensing, in which a multi-antenna base station (BS) sends the common information messages to a set of single-antenna communication users (CUs) and estimates the parameters of multiple sensing targets based on the echo signals concurrently. We consider two target sensing scenarios without and with prior target knowledge at the BS, in which the BS is interested in estimating the complete multi-target response matrix and the target reflection coefficients/angles, respectively. First, we consider the capacity-achieving transmission and characterize the fundamental tradeoff between the achievable rate and the multi-target estimation Cram\'er-Rao bound (CRB) accordingly.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2022

Fundamental CRB-Rate Tradeoff in Multi-antenna Multicast Channel with ISAC

This paper studies the multi-antenna multicast channel with integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), in which a multi-antenna base station (BS) sends common messages to a set of single-antenna communication users (CUs) and simultaneously estimates the parameters of an extended target via radar sensing. We investigate the fundamental performance limits of this ISAC system, in terms of the achievable rate for communication and the estimation Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) for sensing. First, we derive the optimal transmit covariance in semi-closed form to balance the CRB-rate (C-R) tradeoff, and accordingly characterize the outer bound of a so-called C-R region. It is shown that the optimal transmit covariance should be of full rank, consisting of both information-carrying and dedicated sensing signals in general. Next, we consider a practical joint information and sensing beamforming design, and propose an efficient approach to optimize the joint beamforming for balancing the C-R tradeoff. Numerical results are presented to show the C-R region achieved by the optimal transmit covariance and the joint beamforming, as compared to other benchmark schemes.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2022

Robust Transmit Beamforming for Secure Integrated Sensing and Communication

This paper studies a downlink secure integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, in which a multi-antenna base station (BS) transmits confidential messages to a single-antenna communication user (CU) while performing sensing on targets that may act as suspicious eavesdroppers. To ensure the quality of target sensing while preventing their potential eavesdropping, the BS combines the transmit confidential information signals with additional dedicated sensing signals, which play a dual role of artificial noise (AN) for degrading the qualities of eavesdropping channels. Under this setup, we jointly design the transmit information and sensing beamforming, with the objective of minimizing the weighted sum of beampattern matching errors and cross-correlation patterns for sensing subject to secure communication constraints. The robust design takes into account the channel state information (CSI) imperfectness of the eavesdroppers in two practical CSI error scenarios. First, we consider the scenario with bounded CSI errors of eavesdroppers, in which the worst-case secrecy rate constraint is adopted to ensure secure communication performance. In this scenario, we present the optimal solution to the worst-case secrecy rate constrained sensing beampattern optimization problem, by adopting the techniques of S-procedure, semi-definite relaxation (SDR), and a one-dimensional (1D) search, for which the tightness of the SDR is rigorously proved. Next, we consider the scenario with Gaussian CSI errors of eavesdroppers, in which the secrecy outage probability constraint is adopted. In this scenario, we present an efficient algorithm to solve the more challenging secrecy outage-constrained sensing beampattern optimization problem, by exploiting the convex restriction technique based on the Bernstein-type inequality, together with the SDR and 1D search.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2022

Coupled Metaball Discrete Element Lattice Boltzmann Method for Fluid-Particle Systems with non-spherical particle shapes: A sharp interface coupling scheme

Fluid-particle systems are very common in many natural processes and engineering applications. However, accurately and efficiently modelling fluid-particle systems with complex particle shapes is still a challenging task. Here, we present a numerical model that combines the advantages of Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) in solving complex flow problems and the capability of the recently introduced Metaball Discrete Element Method (MDEM) in handling non-spherical particle shapes. A sharp interface coupling scheme is developed and the numerical instability issues due to the discontinuity of interfaces are carefully addressed. A local refilling algorithm for new fluid nodes is proposed and special treatments are introduced to reduce numerical noises when two particles are close. The proposed model is validated by simulations of settling of a single sphere (with metaball representation) as well as a non-spherical particle in a viscous fluid. Good agreements are found comparing the simulations with experimental results which are also carried out in this study. The coupling scheme is also tested by multiple particle simulations which clearly illustrated the stability of the proposed model. Finally, numerical examples with complex particle shapes demonstrated that the proposed model can be a powerful tool for future applications such as shape-induced segregation in riverbeds, and phase transition of dense suspension.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Optimal Transmit Beamforming for Secrecy Integrated Sensing and Communication

This paper studies a secrecy integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, in which a multi-antenna base station (BS) aims to send confidential messages to a single-antenna communication user (CU), and at the same time sense several targets that may be suspicious eavesdroppers. To ensure the sensing quality while preventing the eavesdropping, we consider that the BS sends dedicated sensing signals (in addition to confidential information signals) that play a dual role of artificial noise (AN) for confusing the eavesdropping targets. Under this setup, we jointly optimize the transmit information and sensing beamforming at the BS, to minimize the matching error between the transmit beampattern and a desired beampattern for sensing, subject to the minimum secrecy rate requirement at the CU and the transmit power constraint at the BS. Although the formulated problem is non-convex, we propose an algorithm to obtain the globally optimal solution by using the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) together with a one-dimensional (1D) search. Next, to avoid the high complexity induced by the 1D search, we also present two sub-optimal solutions based on zero-forcing and separate beamforming designs, respectively. Numerical results show that the proposed designs properly adjust the information and sensing beams to balance the tradeoffs among communicating with CU, sensing targets, and confusing eavesdroppers, thus achieving desirable transmit beampattern for sensing while ensuring the CU's secrecy rate.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2021

Glue-Assisted Grinding Exfoliation of Large-Size 2D Materials for Insulating Thermal Conduction and Large-Current-Density Hydrogen Evolution

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have many promising applications, but their scalable production remains challenging. Herein, we develop a glue-assisted grinding exfoliation (GAGE) method in which the adhesive polymer acts as a glue to massively produce 2D materials with large lateral sizes, high quality, and high yield. Density functional theory simulation shows that the exfoliation mechanism involves the competition between the binding energy of selected polymers and the 2D materials which is larger than the exfoliation energy of the layered materials. Taking h-BN as an example, the GAGE produces 2D h-BN with an average lateral size of 2.18 μm and thickness of 3.91 nm. The method is also extended to produce various other 2D materials, including graphene, MoS2, Bi2O2Se, vermiculite, and montmorillonite. Two representative applications of thus-produced 2D materials have been demonstrated, including h-BN/polymer composites for insulating thermal conduction and MoS2 electrocatalysts for large-current-density hydrogen evolution, indicating the great potential of massively produced 2D materials.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Throughput Analysis of UAV-assisted CellularNetworks by Matérn Hardcore Point Process

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to coexist with conventional terrestrial cellular networks and become an important component to support high rate transmissions. This paper presents an analytical framework for evaluating the throughput performance of a downlink two-tier heterogeneous network. Considering the minimum distance constraint among UAVs, Matérn hardcore point process (MHP) is utilized to model the locations of UAVs. The locations of terrestrial base stations (BSs) are modeled by Poisson point process (PPP). Tools of stochastic geometry are invoked to derive tractable expressions for average data rates of users. With the analytical results, we discuss the optimal combinations of UAVs' height and power control factor. The result shows that an appropriate power control factor can effectively maximize UAV users' average data rate as well as guaranteeing the BS users' performance under our proposed model.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2020

Resiliency Analysis and Improvement of Variational Quantum Factoring in Superconducting Qubit

Variational algorithm using Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) can solve the prime factorization problem in near-term noisy quantum computers. Conventional Variational Quantum Factoring (VQF) requires a large number of 2-qubit gates (especially for factoring a large number) resulting in deep circuits. The output quality of the deep quantum circuit is degraded due to errors limiting the computational power of quantum computing. In this paper, we explore various transformations to optimize the QAOA circuit for integer factorization. We propose two criteria to select the optimal quantum circuit that can improve the noise resiliency of VQF.

cs.ET↗