I am an assistant professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Network Intelligence and Computing Ecosystem (NICE) Lab. The NICE lab focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence and computer networks, aiming to advance next-generation intelligent networks and distributed AI systems. I worked as a PostDoc in the College of Computing and Data Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where I obtained my Ph.D. under the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, supervised by Prof. Dusit Niyato. Prior to this, I obtained BEng degree at Beijing Jiaotong University, China, under the guidance of Prof. Jiayi Zhang.

My research is primarily centered around the utilization of Generative AI in Intelligent Networks. Our key objective is to explore "how the intelligent networks can support various AI-Generated Content (AIGC) services", and "how generative AI can improve the intelligent network performance, security, and reliability". This involves exploring the integration of various networking methodologies:

1. AI for Network:
   • Generative artificial intelligence and network optimization
   • Reinforcement learning and its applications in computer networking systems
   • AI-enabled semantic communications
   • Human-centric AI for user-centric network design
2. Network for AI:
   • Distributed training and inference of large AI models
   • Next-generation wireless transmission technologies
   • Edge intelligence

I have multiple openings for PhD students (For 25 Fall admissions, regular PGS positions are now filled. There are opportunities available through the highly competitive HKPFS and HKUPS schemes.), postdoctoral researchers, visiting students, research assistants, and interns. Please find more details here.

News

1. [Sept/2024] I am honored to join as an Associate Editor for the Wireless Networks and Mobile Services track of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (TVT) and am excited to contribute to our community in this capacity.
2. [Aug/2024] I have accepted a Letter of Appointment from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE). I look forward to contributing to cutting-edge research and collaborating with distinguished colleagues and talented students!
3. [July/2024] I am honored to receive the NTU Graduate College’s Research Excellence Award.
4. [Jun/2024] Our paper, “Mixture of Experts for Intelligent Networks: A Large Language Model-enabled Approach”, was selected for the Best Paper Award in International Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), Ayia Napa, Cyprus, 27–31 May 2024.
5. [May/2024] One first-author paper submitted to IEEE TPAMI got major revision decision.
6. [May/2024] One first-author paper was accepted by IEEE COMST.
7. [Apr/2024] We will organize a workshop “Empowering Wireless Communications and Networking with Generative AI” in IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC 2024), welcome to submit papers!
8. [Mar/2024] We will give a tutorial “Generative Artificial Intelligence-empowered Networks: Optimization and Applications” in IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC 2024), welcome to participate!
9. [Dec/2023] I am honored to receive the Singapore Data Science Consortium (SDSC) Dissertation Research Fellowship. This programme provides ten cash awards of S$10,000 for doctoral students at Singapore universities.
10. [Dec/2023] My two projects got the FIRST PRIZE and SECOND PRIZE in the 2024 ComSoc Social Network Technical Committee (SNTC) Student Competition, respectively. We will give presentations in IEEE ICC 2024. See you in Denver, CO, USA!
11. [Nov/2023] Our project, “Artificial Intelligence-driven Eyewear: Keys to Metaverse,” received an Honorary Mention in the 2023 ComSoc Student Competition “Communications Technology Changing the World.” As the team leader, I am happy to witness our project to be recognized as one of the top 16 projects globally.
12. [Nov/2023] I am honored to receive the IEEE Signal Processing Society Scholarship, as one of the inaugural class of recipients!

Highlighted Ongoing Work

1. Hongyang Du, Ruichen Zhang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Shuguang Cui, Xuemin Shen, Dong In Kim. “User-Centric Interactive AI for Distributed Diffusion Model-based AI-Generated Content.”, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (IF: 23.6), Major Revision, 2024. With a distributed generative diffusion model-based AIGC framework, we propose an Interactive AI (IAI) approach, i.e., Reinforcement Learning With Large Language Models Interaction (RLLI), which utilizes Large Language Model (LLM)-empowered generative agents to replicate users interaction, providing real-time and subjective QoE feedback that reflects a spectrum of user personalities.

Selected First-author Papers

For all publications, please refer to this or my google scholar.

1. Hongyang Du, Jiacheng Wang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Dong In Kim, “AI-Generated Incentive Mechanism and Full-Duplex Semantic Communications for Information Sharing,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), Accepted, 2023. We analyze the performance of full-duplex D2D communications. To facilitate semantic information sharing among users, we design a contract theoretic AI-generated incentive mechanism that generates the optimal contract design, outperforming two DRL algorithms. Code.
   • Selected by IEEE JSAC Popular Documents - October 2023
2. Hongyang Du, Jiacheng Wang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Junshan Zhang, and Xuemin (Sherman) Shen, “Semantic Communications for Wireless Sensing: RIS-aided Encoding and Self-supervised Decoding,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), Accepted, 2023. We propose the inverse semantic communications as a new paradigm. Using the sensing data collected from real-world, we show that our framework can reduce the data volume by 95% compared to that before encoding, without affecting the accomplishment of sensing tasks. Code.
   • Selected by IEEE JSAC Popular Documents - August 2023
3. Hongyang Du, Jiazhen Liu, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Junshan Zhang, and Dong In Kim, “Attention-aware Resource Allocation and QoE Analysis for Metaverse xURLLC Services,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), Accepted, 2023. We propose a novel metric named Meta-Immersion that incorporates both the objective KPIs and subjective feelings of Metaverse users. We develop an attention-aware rendering capacity allocation scheme to improve QoE in xURLLC. Code.
   • Selected by IEEE JSAC Popular Documents - July 2023
4. Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Yuanai Xie, Yanyu Cheng, Jiawen Kang, and Dong In Kim, “Performance Analysis and Optimization for Jammer-Aided Multi-Antenna UAV Covert Communication,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), vol. 40, pp. 2962-2979, Oct, 2022. The first study that analyzes a jammer-aided UAV covert communication system over composite fading and shadowing with accurate and tractable generalized channel models.
5. Hongyang Du, Ruichen Zhang, Yinqiu Liu, Jiacheng Wang, Yijing Lin, Zonghang Li, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Shuguang Cui, Bo Ai, Haibo Zhou, and Dong In Kim. “Enhancing deep reinforcement learning: A tutorial on generative diffusion models in network optimization.”, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (IF: 34.4), accepted, 2024. This paper serves as a comprehensive tutorial on applying GDMs in network optimization tasks, with a series of case studies, showing the integration of GDMs with Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), incentive mechanism design, Semantic Communications (SemCom), Internet of Vehicles (IoV) networks, etc. Code.
6. Hongyang Du, Zonghang Li, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Huawei Huang, and Shiwen Mao. “Diffusion-based Reinforcement Learning for Edge-enabled AI-Generated Content Services.”, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (Q1, CCF A), accepted, 2024. We propose a diffusion model-based AI-generated optimal decision (AGOD) algorithm, which can generate the optimal ASP selection decisions. Code.
7. Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Ke Guan, Dusit Niyato, Huiying Jiao, Zhiqin Wang, and Thomas Kürner, “Performance and Optimization of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided THz Communications,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 70, pp. 3575-3593, May, 2022 We first prove that the small-scale amplitude fading of THz signals can be accurately modeled by the fluctuating two-ray distribution based on two THz signal measurement experiments conducted in a variety of different scenarios.
8. Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Julian Cheng, and Bo Ai, “Millimeter wave communications with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces: Performance analysis and optimization,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 2752–2768, Apr. 2021. We made a comprehensive comparison between the RIS-aided and AF relay systems over realistic mmWave channels.
9. Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Kostas P. Peppas, Hui Zhao, Bo Ai, and Xiaodan Zhang. “On the Distribution of the Ratio of Products of Fisher-Snedecor F Random Variables and Its Applications.” IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 69, no. 2 (2019): 1855-1866. We derive exact closed-form expressions for the main statistical characterizations of the ratio of products of F-distributed random variables.
10. Hongyang Du, Jiayi Zhang, Julian Cheng, and Bo Ai, ``Sum of Fisher-Snedecor F Random Variables and Its Applications,’’ IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 1, pp. 342–356, Mar. 2020.
11. Hongyang Du, Jiawen Kang, Dusit Niyato, Jiayi Zhang, and Dong In Kim. ``Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Aided Joint Radar and Covert Communications: Fundamentals, Optimization, and Challenges.” IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 17, pp. 54-64, May 2022.
12. Hongyang Du, Zonghang Li, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Dong In Kim. “Enabling AI-generated content (AIGC) services in wireless edge networks.” IEEE Wireless Communications, 2023. We present the AIGC-as-a-service (AaaS) concept and discuss the challenges in deploying AaaS at the edge networks.
13. Hongyang Du, Jiacheng Wang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Mohsen Guizani, and Dong In Kim. ``Rethinking Wireless Communication Security in Semantic Internet of Things,’’, IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 30, pp. 36-43, Jun. 2023.
14. Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Ping Zhang, Shuguang Cui, Xuemin Shen, Shiwen Mao, Zhu Han, Abbas Jamalipour, H Vincent Poor, Dong In Kim. ``The Age of Generative AI and AI-Generated Everything.’’, IEEE Network, accepted, 2024.
    • Invited Paper
15. Hongyang Du, Ruichen Zhang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Dong In Kim, and H. Vincent Poor. “Exploring Collaborative Distributed Diffusion-Based AI-Generated Content (AIGC) in Wireless Networks.”, IEEE Network, 2023. We proposes a novel collaborative distributed diffusion-based framework for AI-generated content (AIGC) to address energy and privacy challenges. Code.
16. Hongyang Du, Guangyuan Liu, Yijing Lin, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kanag, Zehui Xiong, and Dong In Kim, “Mixture of Experts for Intelligent Networks: A Large Language Model-enabled Approach” in Proceedings of International Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), Ayia Napa, Cyprus, 27–31 May 2024.
    • Best paper award
17. Hongyang Du, Ruichen Zhang, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Dong In Kim, ``Reinforcement Learning With Large Language Models (LLMs) Interaction For Network Services’’ in Proceedings of International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC), Big Island, Hawaii, USA, 19-22 February 2024.
    • Invited paper
18. Hongyang Du, Guangyuan Liu, Dusit Niyato, Jiayi Zhang, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Bo Ai, and Dong In Kim, ``Generative AI-aided Joint Training-free Secure Semantic Communications via Multi-modal Prompts’’ in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, & Signal Processing (ICASSP), Seoul, South Korea, 14-19 April 2024.

Selected Collaborative Papers

For all publications, please refer to this or my google scholar.

1. Jiawen Kang, Hongyang Du, Zonghang Li, Zehui Xiong, Shiyao Ma, Dusit Niyato, and Yuan Li. “Personalized Saliency-Based Task-Oriented Semantic Communications: Architecture Design and Performance Analysis.” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), 41, no. 1: 186-201, 2022. We have first presented an energy-efficient task-oriented semantic communication framework with an efficient image retrieval manner based on a triple-based scene graph.
   • First Price of Outstanding Papers of Computer Academy of Guangdong (China)
   • IEEE JSAC Popular Documents December 2023
2. Jiacheng Wang, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Zehui Xiong, Jiawen Kang, Bo Ai, Zhu Han, and Dong In Kim. “Generative Artificial Intelligence Assisted Wireless Sensing: Human Flow Detection in Practical Communication Environments.” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), accepted, 2024.
3. Jiacheng Wang, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Mu Zhou, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, and Abbas Jamalipour. “Through the Wall Detection and Localization of Autonomous Mobile Device in Indoor Scenario.” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), to appear, 2023. We propose a channel state information (CSI) based system for through-the-wall (TTW) passive AMD detection and localization.
4. Jiayi Zhang, Hongyang Du, Peng Zhang, Julian Cheng, and Liang Yang, “Performance Analysis of 5G Mobile Relay Systems for High-Speed Trains,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Q1, CCF A), vol. 638, no. 12, pp. 2760-2772, Dec. 2020. We proposed a framework to analyze the mobile relay system over mixed κ-μ and FTR fading channels for High-Speed Trains communications.
5. Jiayi Zhang, Hongyang Du, Qiang Sun, Bo Ai, and Derrick Wing Kwan Ng. “Physical layer security enhancement with reconfigurable intelligent surface-aided networks.” IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security (Q1, CCF A), 16:3480-3495, 2021. We study the physical layer security of the downlink RIS-aided transmission framework for randomly located users in the presence of a multi-antenna eavesdropper.
6. Wanting Yang, Hongyang Du, Ziqin Liew, Wei Yang Bryan Lim, Zehui Xiong, Dusit Niyato, Xuefen Chi, Xuemin Sherman Shen, and Chunyan Miao. “Semantic Communications for Future Internet: Fundamentals, Applications, and Challenges”, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (Q1), Nov. 2022. A comprehensive survey of semantic communications for 6G network.
7. Minrui Xu, Hongyang Du (Corresponding Author), Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Shiwen Mao, Zhu Han et al. ``Unleashing the power of edge-cloud generative ai in mobile networks: A survey of aigc services.’’ IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 25, pp. 213-250, 2023.
8. Zhe Wang, Jiayi Zhang, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Shuguang Cui, Bo Ai, Mérouane Debbah, Khaled B. Letaief, and H. Vincent Poor. ``A tutorial on extremely large-scale MIMO for 6G: Fundamentals, signal processing, and applications.” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (Q1), 2024 A comprehensive survey of research on XL-MIMO wireless systems.
9. Jiacheng Wang, Hongyang Du, Zengshan Tian, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, and Xuemin Shen. “Acceleration Estimation of Wireless Signal Propagation Path Length Changes for Indoor Integrated Sensing and Communications.” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2024. This paper proposes DP-AcE, a CSI-based DPLC acceleration estimation algorithm..
10. Jiacheng Wang, Hongyang Du, Zengshan Tian, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, and Xuemin Shen. “Semantic-aware Sensing Information Transmission For Metaverse: A Contest Theoretic Approach.” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2023. A semantic transmission framework for transmitting sensing information from the physical world to Metaverse.
11. Xiaoqi Wang, Hongyang Du, Yuehong Gao, Jiayi Zhang, Dusit Niyato, and Khaled B. Letaief, ``Secure Body-Centric Internet of Things Networks: Physical Layer Security vs Covert Communication,”, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications(IF: 10.4, Q1), 2024.
12. Jiacheng Wang, Hongyang Du, Zengshan Tian, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, and Xuemin Shen. “A Unified Framework for Guiding Generative AI with Wireless Perception in Resource Constrained Mobile Edge Networks.” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (Q1, CCF A), 2023. A novel framework that utilizes wireless perception to guide GAI (WiPe-GAI) for providing digital content generation service.
13. Ismail Lotfi, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Sumei Sun, and Dong In Kim. “On the Robustness of Channel Allocation in Joint Radar and Communication Systems: An Auction Approach.” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (Q1, CCF A), 2023. A covert JRC system that minimizes the detection probability by wardens.
14. Xiaoxu Ren, Hongyang Du, Chao Qiu, Tao Luo, Zejun Liu, Xiaofei Wang, and Dusit Niyato, “Dual-Level Resource Provisioning and Heterogeneous Auction for Mobile Metaverse,” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (Q1), 2024. This paper proposes a dual-level resources trading approach for mobile Metaverse based on blockchain.
15. Jie Zheng, Baoxia Du, Hongyang Du, Jiawen Kang, Dusit Niyato, and Haijun Zhang, “Energy-efficient Resource Allocation in Generative AI-aided Secure Semantic Mobile Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (Q1), 2024. We explore potential adversarial attacks that could disrupt image transmission in SIoT and propose a defense mechanism utilizing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), specifically the Generative Diffusion Models (GDMs).
16. Yijing Liu, Gang Feng, Hongyang Du, Z. Qin, Y. Sun, J. Kang, X. Li, and D. Niyato, “Adaptive Clustering based Straggler-aware Federated Learning in Wireless Edge Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, accepted, 2024
17. Yijing Lin, Zhipeng Gao, Hongyang Du, Jiawen Kang, Dusit Niyato, Qian Wang, Jingqing Ruan, and Shaohua Wan. “DRL-based Adaptive Sharding for Blockchain-based Federated Learning.” IEEE Transactions on Communications. An adaptive blockchain-enabled FL framework for ITS based on blockchain sharding.
18. Yijing Lin, Zhipeng Gao, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, and Xiaoyuan Liu, “Incentive and Dynamic Client Selection for Federated Unlearning” in Proceedings of The Web Conference (WWW) (A-level conf), Singapore, 13-17 May 2024. We integrate deep reinforcement learning into federated unlearning to dynamically select remaining clients to join the unlearning process to mitigate the bias introduced by the unbalanced data distribution among clients.
19. Zonghang Li, Wenjiao Feng, Weibo Cai, Hongfang Yu, Long Luo, Gang Sun, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, “Accelerating Geo-distributed Machine Learning with Network-Aware Adaptive Tree and Auxiliary Route,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, early access, 2024

Awards

1. IEEE Daniel E. Nobel Fellowship Award, 2022
   • IEEE society-level award from IEEE Vehicular Technology Society
   • Only one person is selected globally each year
   
2. IEEE Signal Processing Society Scholarship, 2023
   • IEEE society-level award from IEEE Signal Processing Society
   
3. Singapore Data Science Consortium (SDSC) Dissertation Research Fellowship, 2023
   • Only ten students are selected in Singapore each year
   
4. Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, 2022
   • National-level award from China
   • Prestigious Award presented to 650 Ph.D. students worldwide each year
5. NTU Graduate College’s Research Excellence Award, 2024
   • Only one student is selected each year.
   
6. Best Paper Award in the IWCMC 2024 Conference Ayia Napa, Cyprus, May 27th – 31st 2024
   
7. First Prize in the 2024 ComSoc Social Network Technical Committee (SNTC) Student Competition
   • Project leader of ``Enhancing Metaverse Social Networking via User-Centric AI-Driven Eyewear''
   
8. Second Prize in the 2024 ComSoc Social Network Technical Committee (SNTC) Student Competition
9. Honorary Mention in the 2023 ComSoc Student Competition ``Communications Technology Changing the World.’’, 2023
   • IEEE society-level award from IEEE Communications Society
   
10. Exemplary Reviewer of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, 2021
    
11. Exemplary Reviewer of the IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, 2021
    
12. Research Scholarship, NTU, 2021-2025
13. National Scholarship, Ministry of Education of China, 2020
    • National-level award from China
14. National Scholarship, Ministry of Education of China, 2018
    • National-level award from China

Academic Services

1. Assistant to the Editor-in Chief, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (2022-)
2. Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (2024-)
3. Guest Editor, IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, “Integrating Generative AI into Future Internet of Vehicles (IoV)”, 2024
4. Workshop Co-chair, “Empowering Wireless Communications and Networking with Generative AI” in IEEE ICCC 2024
5. TPC Chair, IEEE ICCC 2024, WS-17: Empowering Wireless Communications and Networking with Generative AI
6. TPC Member: IEEE Globecom 2024 Workshop - IMMLLM6G; IEEE VTC2024-Fall Washington DC: Machine Learning for Communications; IEEE VTC2024-Fall Washington DC: Electric Vehicles, Vehicular Electronics and Intelligent Transportation; IEEE Globecom 2024-SAC BD; IEEE Globecom 2024-SAC ISC; IEEE ICC 2024-CRAIN Symposium (Cognitive Radio and AI-Enabled Networks); IEEE WCNC 2024-Track 3-Machine Learning and Optimization for Wireless Systems; IEEE WCNC 2024-Track 4-Emerging Technologies, Standards, and Applications; IEEE WCNC 2024-Workshop on The Impact of Large Language Models on 6G Networks; IEEE VTC2023-Fall: Hong Kong, Machine Learning and AI for Communications; IEEE VTC2023-Fall: Hong Kong-Electric Vehicles, Vehicular Electronics and Intelligent Transportation; IEEE VTC2023-Fall: Hong Kong-Recent Results and Workshops; IEEE WCNC 2023-Track 3-Machine Learning and Optimization for Wireless Systems; IEEE WCNC 2022-Track 2-Networking and MAC
7. Reviewer: IEEE COMST, JSAC, TMC, TWC, TIFS, TCOM, TVT, WCM, IoTJ, Network, WCL, CL, ICLR, and more.

Teaching

1. SC1005 Digital Logic, Fall 2023
2. SC2103 Digital Systems Design, Spring 2023
3. CE3006 Digital Communications, Fall 2022

“生活中有很多的不如意，如果一不开心，就寄希望于当初，那你永远不会开心。
幻境再美终是梦，珍惜眼前始为真，莫使金樽空对月，举杯幸会有缘人。”

———《武林外传》