Xiao Zhang

Office: CIS 212 | Lab: CIS 108 & ELB 2387
4901 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where I lead the TAI (Trustworthy AI-driven IoT) Lab and serve as the advisor of the student club ICC (Immersive Computing Club). Before joining UM-Dearborn, I was a Postdoctoral Associate at Duke University. I obtained my Ph.D. degree in the Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University, my M.S. degree at Northwestern Polytechnical University and B.E. degree with honor at Taiyuan University of Technology. I am looking for highly self-motivated students (Ph.D., D.Eng., master, undergraduate, visiting, intern, and high school) to join my group. If you are passionate about related research topics, please email me with your CV, transcripts, and several sentences about your research interests.

My current research interests are mobile computing, AIoT, Cyber Physical Systems, AI-assisted sensing/localization, and HCI. My previous work focused on exploring spatial-temporal diversities in Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) for its improved communication performance and enabled sensing/localization. My vision is that light can provide the secure and location-aware communication for Internet-of-Things and human-centered mobile computing. With explored OWC's spatial-temporal diversities and machine learning, we can use light as promising medium for next-generation wireless networks with broad applications (e.g., LiFi, V2X networks, underwater navigation, digital health, smart city, smart classroom, smart manufacturing, HCI, AR/VR, and digital twins).

Umich Email / Google Scholar / Michigan Experts

News

08/2025, Jaskirat and Ashwin received EXP+ and STG grants to attend IEEE MASS 2025.
08/2025, one paper accepted at IEEE DSC 2025, congratulations.
08/2025, received NAIRR Pilot award to support our visible light positioning for smart manufacturing.
08/2025, one paper accepted at IEEE Trans. on Dependable and Secure Computing, congratulations.
08/2025, ViKey demo accepted at IEEE MASS 2025 as poster, congratulations.
08/2025, invited to serve as TPC of IEEE ICPADS 2025.
07/2025, three papers (ViKey, PlaCoB, and VIOSem) accepted at IEEE MASS 2025, congratulations all.
07/2025, received IHP Research and Engagement Fund, thanks UM.
06/2025, received OE Review grant, thanks OE committee.
05/2025, received OE Creation grant, thanks OE committee.
05/2025, partnered with Universal Academy Learning on K-12 STEM outreach.
04/2025, invited to serve as NSF panelist.
03/2025, received Creative Teaching fund, thanks UM-Dearborn.
01/2025, invited to serve as TPC of IEEE INFOCOM DeepWireless 2025.
10/2024, invited to serve as TPC of IEEE ICNC 2025.
09/2024, joined UM-Dearborn as a tenure-track Assistant Professor.
07/2024, invited to serve as TPC of IEEE ICPADS 2024.
05/2024, invited to serve as TPC of IEEE MSN 2024.
09/2023, joined Duke University as a Postdoctoral Associate.
05/2023, successfully defended my Ph.D. thesis.
09/2022, passed comprehensive exam.
01/2020, passed qualification exam.
01/2019, started PhD journey.

Research

^{^}

Conference Papers

Dissecting Privacy-Exposing Identifiers in 5G/4G Networks
Munshi Saifuzzaman, Ke Xie, Tian Xie, Xiao Zhang, and Xinyu Lei
DSC 2025 | paper
ViKey: Secure Door Access Control Using Passive Visible Light Tags
Jaskirat Sudan*^, Fatima Qasem*^, Hasky E Fynn*^, Fatima Mohammed*, Ashwin Sarvadey*, Tian Xie, Ang Li, and Xiao Zhang
MASS 2025 | paper
PlaCoB: Collaborative Beamforming for Long Range Platoon-to-Platoon Communication
Griffin Klevering, Kanishka P Wijewardena, Xiao Zhang, and Li Xiao
MASS 2025 | paper
VIOSem: Visual-Inertial Odometry via Semantic Communication-enhanced Modulation Design
Kanishka P Wijewardena, Griffin Klevering, Xiao Zhang, and Li Xiao
MASS 2025 | paper
HoloCube: 3D Opitcal IoT Connections via Software Defined Pepper's Ghost
Xiao Zhang, Li Xiao, and Matt W. Mutka
ICNP 2024 | paper
WavePurifier: Purifying Audio Adversarial Examples via Hierarchical Diffusion Models
Hanqing Guo, Guangjing Wang, Bocheng Chen, Yuanda Wang, Xiao Zhang, Xun Chen, Qiben Yan, Li Xiao
MobiCom 2024 | paper
RadCloud: Real-Time High-Resolution Point Cloud Generation Using Low-Cost Radars for Aerial and Ground Vehicles
David Hunt, Shaocheng Luo, Amir Khazraei, Xiao Zhang, Spencer Hallyburton, Tingjun Chen, Miroslav Pajic
ICRA 2024 | paper
RoFin: 3D Hand Pose Reconstructing via 2D Rolling Fingertips
Xiao Zhang, Griffin Klevering, Juexing Wang, Li Xiao, and Tianxing Li
MobiSys 2023 | paper
PATCH: A Plug-in Framework Of Non-blocking Inference For Distributed Multimodal System
Juexing Wang, Guangjing Wang, Xiao Zhang, Li Liu, Huacheng Zeng, Li Xiao, Zhichao Cao, Lin Gu, and Tianxing Li
Ubicomp 2023 | paper
Boosting Optical Camera Communication via 2D Rolling Blocks
Xiao Zhang, Griffin Klevering, James Mariani, Li Xiao, and Matt Mutka
IWQoS 2023 | paper
PoseFly: On-site Pose Parsing of Swarming Drones via 4-in-1 Optical Camera Communication
Xiao Zhang, Griffin Klevering, and Li Xiao
WoWMoM 2023 | paper
U-Star: An Underwater Navigation System based on Passive 3D Optical Identification Tags
Xiao Zhang, Hanqing Guo, James Mariani, and Li Xiao
MobiCom 2022 | paper
LiFOD: Lighting Extra Data via Fine-grained OWC Dimming
Xiao Zhang, James Mariani, Li Xiao, and Matt Mutka
SECON 2022 | paper
Effective Subcarrier Pairing for Hybrid Delivery in Relay Networks
Xiao Zhang, Li Xiao
MASS 2020 | paper
k-Labelsets for Multimedia Classification with Global and Local Label Correlation
Yan Yan, Shining Li, Xiao Zhang, et.al
MMM 2018 | paper
Directional Monitoring of Multiple Moving Targets by Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Yan Pan, Shining Li, Xiao Zhang, et.al
GLOBECOM 2017 | paper
Multi-label Learning with Label-Specific Feature Selection
Yan Yan, Shining Li, Zhe Yang, Xiao Zhang, et.al
ICONIP 2017 | paper

Journal Papers

Uncovering Risks of Data-Free Feature Vector Inversion Attacks Against Vector Databases
Shengyang Qin, Xinyu Lei, Nankun Mu, Hongyu Huang, Tian Xie, and Xiao Zhang
IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing 2025 | paper
Exploiting Fine-grained Dimming with Improved LiFi Throughput
Xiao Zhang, James Mariani, Li Xiao, and Matt W. Mutka
ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks 2024 | paper
The Security in Optical Wireless Communication: A Survey
Xiao Zhang, Griffin Klevering, Xinyu Lei, Yiwen Hu, Li Xiao, and Guan-Hua Tu
ACM Computing Surveys 2023 | paper
Handling Data Heterogeneity for IoT Devices in Federated Learning: A Knowledge Fusion Approach
Xu Zhou, Xinyu Lei, Cong Yang, Yichun Shi, Xiao Zhang, and Jingwen Shi
IEEE Internet of Things Journal 2023 | paper
Survey for Soil Sensing with IOT and Traditional System
Juexing Wang, Xiao Zhang, Li Xiao, and Tianxing Li
MDPI Network 2023 | paper

Workshop/Poster/Demo Papers

A Passive Optical Tagging Approach for Secure and Revocable Entry Systems
Hasky E Fynn*, Jaskirat Suda*, Fatima Qasem*, Fatima Mohammed*, and Xiao Zhang
MASS Demo 2025 | paper
Holographic Optical Tag enabled Omindirectional IoT Connection
Xiao Zhang, Li Xiao, and Matt W. Mutka
SIGCOMM Poster 2024 | paper
Integrated On-site Localization and Optical Camera Communication for Drones
Xiao Zhang, Griffin Klevering, Kanishka Wijewardena, and Li Xiao
WoWMoM Demo 2023 | paper
Exploring Rolling Shutter Effect for Motion Tracking with Objective Identification
Xiao Zhang, Griffin Klevering, Li Xiao
SenSys Poster 2022 | paper
Lighting Extra Data via OWC Dimming
Xiao Zhang, Li Xiao
CoNEXT Workshop 2020 | paper
RainbowRow: Fast Optical Camera Communication
Xiao Zhang, Li Xiao
ICNP Workshop 2020 | paper
Effective Subcarrier Pairing Scheme in mmWave-based Relay System
Xiao Zhang, Li Xiao
mmWaveRCN Poster 2019 | paper

Teaching

At UM-Dearborn
CIS 400 Programming Languages
CIS 437/537 Advanced Networking

At MSU
      CSE 331 Algorithms and Data Structures
      CSE 260 Discrete Structures
      CSE 232 Introduction to Programming II

Students

Ph.D.
Deniz Acikbas

master
Ashwin Sarvadey
Shamit Dholakiya

undergraduate
      Christian Nwobu （NSF STEM Scholar）
      Fatima Qasem （NSF STEM Scholar）
      Fatima Mohammed （NSF STEM Scholar）
      Syed Gilani （UM SURE Scholar）
      Zhalgas Tileumuratin

intern
Hasky Fynn

alumni
      Deniz Acikbas (now Ph.D. at UM-Dearborn)
      Jaskirat Sudan
      Nishaant Madhankumar
      Rohit Raval

Awards

2025, IHP Research and Engagement Grant, UM
2025, OE Review Grant, UM-Dearborn
2025, OE Creation Grant, UM-Dearborn
2025, Creative Teaching Fund, UM-Dearborn
2025, SURE Program, UM-Dearborn
2025, NeTS ECI Travel Grant, NSF
2024, Regional I-Corps Fund, NSF
2024, RAG Grant, UM-Dearborn
2023/2021/2019, Graduate Office Fellowship, MSU
2023, Dissertation Completion Fellowship, MSU
2022, Graduate Travel Fellowship, MSU
2019, mmWave-RCN Student Travel Grant, NSF
2016-2018, Postgraduate Scholarship, NPU
2016, Outstanding Graduate, TUT
2015, President Scholarship, Top 10, TUT
2013/2014, National Encouragement Scholarship, China

Services

Program Committee

INFOCOM DeepWireless 2025, ICNC 2025, MSN 2024, ICPADS 2024, ICPADS 2025

External Reviewer

ICSC 2025, INFOCOM 2020-2024, MobiCom 2024, MEDES 2024, ICC 2023, CVPR 2023, MASS 2019, GLOBECOM 2019, IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems (THMS), IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (TMC), IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC), IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (TDSC), ACM Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems, IEEE Communication Letters