Jingyi Liao 廖景伊

Email: jingyi.liao [at] aalto.fi
Communications Engineering Group,
Department of Information and Communications Engineering,
Aalto University, Finland
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Biography

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student (2022-now) supervised by Prof. Riku Jäntti and Dr. Kalle Ruttik, working on Ambient Backscatter Communication at Aalto University, Finland. My research interests include signal processing in wireless communications.

Now I am working in European Union Horizon Europe Project Ambient-6G. In 2025, I was a visiting scholar to Prof. Zhu Han group and Prof. Miao Pan group in University of Houston. I also work closely with Orange Fellow Dr. Dinh-Thuy PHAN HUY in the European-level 6G Flagship project Hexa-X-II and Hexa-X.

Education

Aalto
Aalto University
Espoo, Finland (2022–Estimate 2026)
Ph.D. in Information and Communication Engineering
Houston
University of Houston
Houston, USA (2025)
Visiting Scholar
UESTC
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, China (2018–2021)
M.Eng. in Information and Communication Engineering
UESTC
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, China (2014–2018)
B.Eng. in Electronic Engineering

Employment

Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Chengdu, China (2021–2022)
RF Algorithm Engineer

Awards

Publications

Only publications directly related to my doctoral research are listed below; other works are excluded.

    Featured Articles

  1. J. Liao, X. Wang, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "In-Band Ambient FSK Backscatter Communications Leveraging LTE Cell-Specific Reference Signals," in IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification (JRFID), vol. 7, pp. 267-277, May, 2023, doi: 10.1109/JRFID.2023.3280108. (Awarded in IEEE RFID-TA 2024)
  2. Journal Papers

  3. A. Al-nahari, J. Liao, R. Jäntti, D. Mishra, D.-T. Phan-Huy, Y. Zhou, "Ambient IoT Connectivity Topologies: Technology Enablers, Applications, and Challenges" in IEEE Internet of Things Magazine, to be published, doi: ?. [Accepted]
  4. R. Jäntti, J. Liao (co-first author), T. Zhang, B. Xie, M. U. Sheikh, K. Ruttik, G. Phan, D.-T. Phan-Huy and A. Hassan, "Integration of Backscatter-based Ambient Internet of Things to Cellular Communication Systems," in IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, to be published, doi: 10.1109/MCOMSTD.2025.3573817.
  5. Conference Papers

  6. J. Liao, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti and Z. Han, "Data Assisted Backscatter Communications using DECT-2020 NR+ as Ambient Signal," 2025 IEEE 26th International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Surrey, UK, Jul. 7-10, 2025, pp. 1-5, doi: ?. [Accepted]
  7. J. Liao, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti and Z. Han, "Starlink Ku-band Downlink Based Ambient Backscatter Communication," 2025 IEEE 26th International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Surrey, UK, Jul. 7-10, 2025, pp. 1-5, doi: ?. [Accepted]
  8. J. Liao, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti, M. U. Sheikh and D.-T. Phan-Huy "Measurement of Coded Backscatter Communication Utilizing Commercial LTE Ambient Signal," 2024 3rd International Conference on 6G Networking (6GNet), Paris, France, Oct. 21-24, 2024, pp. 13-18, doi: 10.1109/6GNet63182.2024.10765673.
  9. J. Liao, K. Ruttik and R. Jäntti, "Data Assistance Cellular Signal Based Ambient Backscatter Receiver," 2024 IEEE 25th International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Lucca, Italy, Sept. 10-13, 2024, pp. 521-525, doi: 10.1109/SPAWC60668.2024.10694415.
  10. J. Liao, X. Wang, K. Koskinen, T. Zhang, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "Indoor Backscattering Communication by Using Commercial LTE Pilots," 2024 IEEE 99th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2024-Spring), Singapore, Jun. 24-27, 2024, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/VTC2024-Spring62846.2024.10683260.
  11. P. Ndiaye, D.-T. Phan-Huy, A. Hassan, J. Liao, X. Wang, K. Ruttik and R. Jantti, "Zero-Energy-Device for 6G: First Real-Time Backscatter Communication Thanks to the Detection of Pilots from an Ambient Commercial Cellular Network," 2023 2nd International Conference on 6G Networking (6GNet), Paris, France, Oct. 18-20, 2023, pp. 1-3, doi: 10.1109/6GNet58894.2023.10317672.
  12. X. Wang, H. Yiğitler, B.-Q. Zhao, J. Liao, N. Saba, N. Malm and R. Jäntti, "Implementation of Low-Cost Multi-Antenna AmBC Receivers," 2023 IEEE 97th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2023-Spring), Florence, Italy, Jun. 20-23, 2023, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/VTC2023-Spring57618.2023.102004850.
  13. K. Ruttik, X. Wang, J. Liao, R. Jäntti and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "Ambient backscatter communications using LTE cell specific reference signals," 2022 IEEE 12th International Conference on RFID Technology and Applications (RFID-TA), Cagliari, Italy, Sept. 12-14, 2022, pp. 67-70, doi: 10.1109/RFID-TA54958.2022.9923964.
  14. Chapters

  15. J. Liao, B. Xie and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "Cellular-backscattered ZEDs," in Final Design of Enabling Technologies for 6G Devices and Infrastructure, Deliverable D5.5, ver. 1st, O. L. A. López, Ed. European Union: Hexa-X-II, Mar. 31, 2025, ch. 7.1, pp. 106-112. Available: [PDF] [Website]
  16. J. Liao and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "ZE PoC," in Initial Design and Validation of Technologies and Architecture of 6G Devices and Infrastructure, Deliverable D5.3, ver. 1st, C. Desset, Ed. European Union: Hexa-X-II, Feb. 29, 2024, ch. 5.3, pp. 112-117. Available: [PDF] [Website]
  17. Demonstrations

  18. J. Liao, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "Demo: Ambient Backscatter Communication with Convolutional Code based on LTE Pilots," 2024 Joint European Conference on Networks and Communications & 6G Summit (EuCNC/6G Summit), Antwerp, Belgium, Jun. 3-6, 2024, pp. 1-2, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.15642846.
  19. J. Liao, K. Koskinen, X. Wang, B. Xie, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "Demo: UE Assisted Ambient Internet of Things in LTE Downlink, Energy Autonomous," 2023 6G Summit Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 16-17, 2023, pp. 1-2, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.10171662.
  20. Jingyi Liao, Kalle Ruttik, Riku Jäntti and Dinh-Thuy Phan-Huy. Jun. 18-22, 2023. Demo: UE Assisted Ambient IoT in LTE Downlink, in Real-time and Open Source. In Proceedings of the 21st Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services (MobiSys '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 588-589, doi: 10.1145/3581791.3597285.
  21. Software

    Software Defined Radio (SDR) related to my research is open-sourced:
  22. 4G Downlink Receiver based on C++ Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) [GitHub]
  23. 5G Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) DECT-2020 MATLAB Toolbox [GitHub]

Projects

Ambient 6G Logo
Ambient 6G
2025 - now
Towards standardized 6G connectivity for ambiently-powered energy neutral IoT devices.
Funded by the European Union, Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Grant No. 101192113.
Hexa-X-II Logo Orange Logo
Hexa-X-II
2023 - 2025
A holistic flagship towards the 6G network platform and system, to inspire digital transformation, for the world to act together in meeting needs in society and ecosystems with novel 6G services.
Funded by the European Union, Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Grant No. 101095759.
6G-eMTC
2023 - 2024
Extreme Machine Type Communications for 6G.
Funded by Business Finland, Grant No. 8028/31/2022.
BESIMAL
2022 - 2024
Backscatter enabled sustainable monitoring Infrastructure for assisted living.
Funded by Academy of Finland, Decision No. 334197.
Hexa-X Logo Orange Logo
Hexa-X
2022 - 2023
A flagship for B5G/6G vision and intelligent fabric of technology enablers connecting human, physical, and digital worlds.
Funded by the European Union, Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Grant No. 101015956.
Huawei Logo
5G Micro Base Station
2021 - 2022
A 5G micro base station chip design from the perspectives of digital signal processing algorithms, integrated analog and RF circuits, and digital microelectronics.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Services

Teaching Assistant

Thesis Advisor

Research Project Mentor

Committee Member

Peer Reviewer

Student Volunteer

Talks