Yuanjian Li

Assistant Professor

  • 214
    Citations
  • 8
    h-index
Calculated based on number of publications stored in Pure and citations from Scopus
20172025

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Personal profile

Personal profile

Dr. Yuanjian Li (李元健) has been serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications and Networking, School of Advanced Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Suzhou, China, since March 2025. He received his PhD degree from King's College London (KCL), UK. Prior to joining XJTLU, Dr. Li held research positions at several institutions worldwide, including Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Research Associate at Heriot-Watt University (UK), and Research Assistant at the University of Warwick (UK).

As a core research team member, Dr. Li actively contributed to securing and executing four large-scale research projects with a total funding exceeding CNY 50 million. These projects, supported by notable funding bodies such as the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK, focus on next-generation wireless communication technologies, specifically deep reinforcement learning-enabled wireless resource management, drone-assisted Internet of Things (IoT), and space-air-ground integrated networks.

Dr. Li has published over 20 papers in prestigious journals and leading international conferences at the intersection of wireless communications, signal processing, machine learning, and quantum computing. As the first author, he has contributed 12 papers to top-tier venues, including IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (3 papers), IEEE Transactions on Communications (2 papers), IEEE Wireless Communications Letters (1 paper), IEEE Global Communications Conference (3 papers), IEEE International Conference on Communications (2 papers), and IEEE Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (1 paper). Among these, he is the corresponding author for 5 journal publications. Additionally, Dr. Li is actively involved in peer-reviewing activities for leading journals and conferences within his research scope.

Dr. Li has authored 9 patents in the fields of wireless communications and signal processing. He has also taken active roles in professional activities, serving as a session chair for IEEE ICC 2022 (Seoul, South Korea) in the Selected Areas in Communications: Machine Learning for Communications Track - Networks, and IEEE GLOBECOM 2024 (Cape Town, South Africa) in Machine Learning for UAVs. Furthermore, he has contributed as a Technical Program Committee (TPC) member for the International Conference on Internet of Things (ICIoT) 2024.

Research interests

My interdisciplinary research focuses on AI for Next-Generation Wireless Systems.

My long-term goal is to build an Ecosystem of Wireless, AI, and Quantum Computing.

Two zoomed-in examples are

  • Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL)-enabled joint computation and communication resource coordination for many-UAV many-user multi-access edge computing (MEC) in the Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios.
  • Model-driven machine learning (ML)-aided sparsity-aware channel estimation and efficient receiver design for Terahertz (THz) ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (UM-MIMO) transmissions, where near-field communication characteristics are highlighted.

Broadly speaking, my research expertise and interests include

  1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Native Sixth-Generation (6G) Wireless Systems
  2. Internet of Intelligent Things (IoT)
  3. Non-Terrestrial Communications (e.g., Drone-Aided Networks)
  4. (Scalable/Multi-Agent) DRL-Driven Joint Communication and Computation Resource Management for Multi-Access Edge Computing
  5. Compressive Sensing (CS)- and Machine Learning (ML)-Aided Channel Estimation for THz UM-MIMO Systems
  6. Quantum Machine Learning (QML) for Next-Generation Wireless Systems
  7. Secure and Covert Communications

Experience

Senior Reviewer for IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, since 2025

Session Chair for IEEE GLOBECOM’2024-SAC-AC-S01 : Machine learning for UAVs

Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member for International Conference on Internet of Things 2024 (ICIoT 2024)

Session Chair for IEEE ICC’2022-SAC-05 Machine Learning for Communications Track-Networks

 

Prospective PhD applicants are welcomed to contact me for informal discussion!

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 15 - Life on Land

Related documents

Education/Academic qualification

PhD, On UAVs for Wireless Networks: Resource Management, Performance Analysis and Trajectory Optimization, King's College London

Oct 2019Dec 2022

Award Date: 1 Dec 2022

Master, On Enhancing Secrecy Performance for Wireless Communications via Artificial Noise, Huaqiao University

Sept 2016Jun 2019

Award Date: 19 Jun 2019

Bachelor, Nanjing Tech University

Sept 2011Jun 2015

Award Date: 24 Jun 2015

External positions

Research Fellow, Nanyang Technological University Singapore

Jul 2023Mar 2025

Research Associate, Heriot-Watt University

Mar 2023Jun 2023

Research Assistant, University of Warwick

Jan 2023Feb 2023

Research areas

  • Wireless Communications
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Signal Processing
  • Quantum Computing

Person Types

  • Staff

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