Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering Seminar - Talk I : Embracing Reconfigurable Antennas in the Tri-hybrid MIMO Architecture for 6G; Talk II : Truly Full-Duplex Integrated Sensing and Communications at Extreme Frequencies
Supporting the below United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:支持以下聯合國可持續發展目標：支持以下联合国可持续发展目标：
3:00 - 4:00pm
Prof. Robert Health
Talk I : Embracing Reconfigurable Antennas in the Tri-hybrid MIMO Architecture for 6G
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication has driven major advancements in data rates and spectrum efficiency. As MIMO systems scale to support more antennas and higher frequencies, though, power consumption and hardware complexity become bottlenecks. In this talk, I will unveil the tri-hybrid MIMO architecture that integrates low-power reconfigurable antennas with both digital and analog precoding. First, I will provide some background on the fundamentals of reconfigurable antennas. Second, I will introduce the tri-hybrid architecture, highlighting the benefits in terms of power, aperture and. Third, I will describe an initial version of the tri-hybrid MIMO architecture that makes use of dynamic metasurface antennas. This preliminary architecture serves as a case study to illustrate key performance. Finally, I will discuss future challenges in designing reconfigurable arrays and optimizing tunable antenna parameters. The tri-hybrid architecture introduces new research directions in physically-consistent wireless communications at the intersection of electromagnetics, circuits and signal processing.
4:00 - 5:00pm
Prof. Nuria González-Prelcic
Talk II : Truly Full-Duplex Integrated Sensing and Communications at Extreme Frequencies
Wireless networks are incorporating sensing capabilities by exploiting full duplex (FD) transceivers. Leveraging the FD capability, it becomes possible to process reflections on scatterers to sense the environment in a radar-like operation. FD communication also has the potential to double the capacity of the channel. Current joint communication and monostatic sensing solutions miss, however, the main benefit of FD communication, since simultaneous transmission and reception of data is not allowed. The FD feature is only exploited to enable reception of the echoes of the transmitted signal. In this talk, we present first the fundamentals of joint monostatic sensing and communication, and then we describe the first strategies that enable truly FD joint sensing and monostatic sensing at mmWave and sub-THz bands, enabling simultaneous sensing, downlink and uplink transmissions. This will allow radio spectrum in 6G to better serve application areas like automated driving and robotics, where spectrum may be used to support both communication and sensing.
Robert W. Heath Jr. is the Charles Lee Powell Chair in Wireless Communication in the Department of ECE at the University of California San Diego. He is the recipient or co-recipient of several awards including the 2019 IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award, the 2020 North Carolina State University Innovator of the Year Award, the 2021 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society James Evans Avant Garde Award, and the 2025 IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal. He authored "Introduction to Wireless Digital Communication” (Prentice Hall in 2017) and "Digital Wireless Communication: Physical Layer Exploration Lab Using the NI USRP” (National Technology and Science Press in 2012). He co-authored “Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications” (Prentice Hall in 2014) and "Foundations of MIMO Communications" (Cambridge 2019). He is a licensed Amateur Radio Operator, a registered Professional Engineer in Texas, a Private Pilot, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a Fellow of the IEEE, and a Fellow of the AAAS. He is an elected member of the United States National Academy of Engineering, 2025 class
Nuria González-Prelcic (Fellow, IEEE) received her Ph.D. with Honors in Telecommunication Engineering in 2000 from the University of Vigo, Spain. She is currently a Professor at the ECE Department of the University of California San Diego. She previously held faculty positions at the ECE Department of NC State University, USA (2020-2023) and at the Signal Theory and Communications Department at the University of Vigo, Spain (2000-2020). Her main research interests include signal processing and machine learning for wireless communications and sensing, with a focus on MIMO communication, joint localization and communication, full duplex integrated sensing and communication, sensor-aided communication, signal processing under hardware impairments, vehicular communication, and multiantenna technology for LEO satellite communication. She is currently a Distinguished Lecturer in the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. Her work has been recognized by several awards. Her team's work on attention networks for user position tracking received a best student paper award at the 2023 IEEE Signal Processing for Wireless Communications (SPAWC) conference. Her work on joint communication and radar was recognized with the 2022 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Best Vehicular Electronics Paper Award. Her overview paper on signal processing for millimeter wave MIMO communications was recognized with the 2020 IEEE Signal Processing Society Donald G. Fink Overview Paper Award. She is a Distinguished Lecturer in the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. She has led several academic centers or programs, many with significant industrial collaborations. She was the co-developer of 6GNC at NC State University, which involved eight companies. She was the Assistant Director of the UT SAVES (Situation-Aware Vehicular Engineering Systems) at UT Austin. She was the Founding Director of atlanTTic Research Center for Information and Communication Technologies, Vigo, Spain (2008-2017). She was an Editor for IEEE Transactions in Wireless Communications and IEEE Transactions and Communications.
She was a founding member of the IEEE Signal Processing Society TWG on Integrated Sensing and Communication. She was a member of the SAM and SPCOM Technical Committees, and is currently a member of the IEEE SPS Education Board.