PhD position – Joint wireless communication and localization using UWB radio devices

The research for this PhD position will be conducted in the IDLab research cluster on Intelligent Wireless Networking (https://idlab.ugent.be/research-teams/iwine).

Many industrial and healthcare applications demand real-time knowledge of the location, status, and activities of both people and equipment. Traditionally, this has required separate, specialized wireless systems for communication, radar-based sensing, and localization—each relying on dedicated hardware. However, the emerging field of joint wireless communication, sensing, and localization offers a unified approach that combines data transmission with simultaneous environmental awareness and position estimation. Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology, in particular, stands out as a strong candidate for this integration due to its large bandwidth, which enables high-precision localization, robust communication, and fine-grained sensing. In this PhD project, you will develop advanced signal processing techniques that empower a single UWB multi-antenna radio platform to perform all these functions concurrently, significantly enhancing the situational awareness and versatility of deployed wireless systems.

• You study how to implement both localization and radar sensing capabilities using a single radio platform. Traditional localization systems typically rely on multiple anchor nodes—often three to four—strategically placed around the perimeter of the coverage area. In contrast, your approach leverages a single infrastructure node equipped with multiple antennas. By analyzing the phase, polarization, and timing characteristics of incoming signals across these antennas, you will be able to simultaneously estimate the distance, angle of arrival, orientation, and even classify the activity types of mobile tags and individuals. This method significantly reduces hardware complexity while enhancing spatial awareness and functionality. Your work will involve designing advanced algorithms that efficiently utilize UWB signal features (RSSI, channel impulse response, phase and amplitude data, Doppler maps,..) to support both high-precision localization and radar-based sensing.

• You will develop adaptive algorithms that dynamically select the optimal radio configuration based on the specific requirements of each application. The radio platform supports a range of physical layer settings, which must be intelligently adjusted in real time to account for factors such as obstacle types, energy efficiency, and desired detection range. These algorithms will enable the system to autonomously optimize performance for varying operational conditions, ensuring reliable communication, accurate localization, and efficient sensing across diverse environments.

• You implement the designed solutions on embedded hardware platforms and experimentally validate their performance using our large testbed facilities representing industry (https://idlab.ugent.be/resources/industrial-iot-lab) and residential environments (https://idlab.ugent.be/resources/homelab). Experimental validation can be backed by modelling or theoretical assessments.

• You collaborate with IDLab colleagues working on other radar technologies. You work together with industry partners on challenging healthcare and robotics use cases and present your results during meetings.

• You publish and present results both at international conferences and in scientific journals, using open science practices.

• This research will lead to a PhD degree. Throughout the complete PhD period, you receive a full-time, attractive salary.

• You assist in limited educational tasks of the research group.

We envision innovations in regards to signal processing for both localization and radar, mainly targeting embedded UWB devices.

The research for this PhD position will be conducted in the IDLab research cluster on Intelligent Wireless Networking (https://idlab.ugent.be/research-teams/iwine).