Qian Liu
Email
qianliu@buffalo.edu
Phone number
716-645-4768 (office) ,716-830-9362 (cell phone)
Gender
Female
EDUCATION
June 2009 – Aug.2013
Ph.D., majoring in Computer Science and Engineering,
State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY at Buffalo)
 Advisor: Prof. Chang Wen Chen
Aug. 2006 - June 2009
M.S., majoring in Communication and Information Engineering, Dalian
University of Technology (DUT), Dalian, China
Thesis: Adaptive Beamforming Algorithms in Antenna Array
 Advisor: Prof. Minglu Jin
Sept. 2001 - June 2006
B.S., double majoring in Electronics and Information Engineering and English, Dalian University of Technology (DUT), Dalian, China
RESEARCH AREAS

Reliable multimedia streaming over MIMO wireless systems, 802.11 and LTE networks

Device-to-device communication as an underlay in LTE networks

Virtual contention free burst over multimedia network systems

Adaptive signal processing, signal detection and estimation, and antenna array processing
SKILLS

Solid knowledge and hand-on experience on image processing, pattern recognition, and related topics
(including segmentation, region building, human gesture recognition, face recognition, etc.).

Proficient in advanced mathematics for system modeling, analysis, and optimization (including stochastic
modeling, matrix analysis, and convex optimization).

Deep understanding on IEEE 802.11 and LTE wireless communication standards, and extensive research
experiences in video streaming over 802.11 and LTE networks.

Strong background and hand-on experience on H.264/SVC with reference software JM and JSVM.

Expert in communication and networking system simulation with NS-2, C/C++ and Matlab.
HONORS AND AWARDS

Best Paper Award in International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME’12)

Best Student Paper Award Finalist in International Symposium on Circuit and Systems (ISCAS’11)
National Science Academic Achievement (3rd prize) and Communication Academic Achievement
(2nd prize) in Liaoning Province (China), 2008

PROFESIONAL EXPERIENCE
Research Assistant, Ubiquitous Multimedia Lab @ SUNY at Buffalo
09/2009 – 08/2013
Guest Lecturer, CSE534 Multimedia Systems@ SUNY at Buffalo
Fall 2010
Research Assistant, Communication and Information Lab @ DUT
Teaching Assistant, Digital System Design Using VHDL @ DUT
09/2006 – 06/2009
Fall 2006
Research Projects:
 Device-to-device (D2D) communication as an underlay in LTE networks
(Related conference paper: ICME’13)
With the explosive development on mobile multimedia, there is an increasing need under LTE networks to exploit new technologies with higher data rate support. We present in this project a new
D2D communication scheme to create a quality of service (QoS) enhanced multimedia services for
LTE users who are physically close to each other. This new scheme has a potential to provide higher
bandwidth service with reduced delay and reduced power consumption. However, a significant challenge from such D2D opportunity is to establish the direct link between nearby devices without interference to other regular LTE users. In this research, we develop a novel user selective resource
allocation scheme for D2D communication in LTE networks. In this scheme, D2D links share the
same radio resources with regular LTE users while the interferences are proactively avoided with
intelligent sub-channel selection.
 Multimedia streaming over LTE networks
(Related conference paper: ICME’12)
LTE represents a promising technique for ubiquitous multimedia communication because of its significant enhancement to the data transmission rate. However, the hard hand-off (HO) procedure
standardized in LTE is a menace to multimedia QoS, due to the service interruption introduced by
the procedure. Thus, one major challenge of such a system is to design an effective scheduler that
can guarantee QoS to users under various mobility scenarios including the hard HO procedure. In
this project, we develop a QoS-driven downlink scheduling scheme for video streaming that considers both QoS metrics of video packet deadline and hard HO service degradation in order to guarantee
the QoS requirements of multimedia consumers. The proposed scheduler not only is able to achieve
satisfactory QoS for users during HO period, but also offers fairness for both multimedia traffic and
regular data traffic.
 Beamforming and power allocation design in multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) systems
(Related conference papers: ICC’12 and ICIP’11)
Modern wireless communications require a tremendously high transmission rate to meet with the
increasing growth of multimedia services. Since MU-MIMO systems promise significant capacity
improvements in rich scattering fading wireless communication links relative to single-input singleoutput (SISO) systems, it has become an extremely hot research topic in the past decades. Our researches in this project concentrate on two aspects: one is the fairness and QoS guaranteed user
scheduling design over MU-MIMO broadcasting channels; another is the low complexity joint transceiver beamforming design and power allocation for MU-MIMO systems.
 Video transmission over IEEE 802.11e Networks
(Related conference paper: ISCAS’11)
IEEE 802.11e standard provides enhancement for QoS video transmission through the modification
to the media access control (MAC) layer. Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA), one of
channel access types provided by the standard, offers prioritized channel access, that is, high priority
traffic has a higher chance of being sent than low priority traffic. The access category AC2 in EDCA
is assigned for video transmission with relatively high priority. Our research in this project mainly
focuses on cross-layer design for QoS guaranteed video transmission and virtual contention free
EDCA for video transmission.
 Scalable video transmission over MIMO wireless networks
o Prioritized spatial multiplexing scheme for SVC video transmission over MIMO systems
(Related conference paper: ICME’10)
A major challenge for spatial multiplexing MIMO system is that it usually requires appropriate
decomposition of both wireless channels and multimedia data bit-streams. To facilitate proper
match between decomposed channels with compressed video that exhibit variable priority for
different layer of bit-streams, it is necessary to proactively prioritize the decomposed MIMO
channels. Our research in this project focuses on the precoding scheme capable of integrating
both channel and source characteristics in order to achieve the desired prioritized spatial multiplexing.
o
High quality multimedia services over MIMO systems with fast moving terminals
(Related conference papers: CAMAD’10 and Globecom’10)
Researchers and practitioners have mainly focused their designs to cope with static or slowly
evolving traffic demands, resulting in fast moving traffic conditions have not yet been taken into
account in the design of broadband multimedia applications. Our research in this project mainly
concentrates on how to obtain accurate channel state information (CSI), a prerequisite for channel
equalization and symbol detection in order to providing high quality multimedia services over
MIMO systems with fast moving terminals.
 Robust DoA Estimation and Beamforming
(Related papers: IJICIC’11, IWAC’09, ICCC’08 , CNIT’08, and JCSC’08)
In this project, we develop novel DoA estimation and beamforming algorithms over satellite communications.
Selected Course Project:
 Human Gesture Recognition
Investigated human gesture recognition with hidden Markov models and dynamic time warping algorithm on KTH dataset (http://www.nada.kth.se/cvap/actions/) including foreground extraction,
spatial clustering, HMM learning, etc.
PUBLICATIONS
Book:
1. Minglu Jin and Qian Liu, Digital System Design Using VHDL, House of Electronics Industry, China,
2008.
Journal Papers:
1. Qian Liu and Chang Wen Chen, “Smart downlink scheduling for multimedia streaming over LTE
networks with hard hand-off,” IEEE Trans. Circuit and System on Video Technology, to appear.
2. Ming Li and Qian Liu, "Fast code design for overloaded code-division multiplexing systems," IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., to appear.
3. Ming Li and Qian Liu, "Steganalysis of SS steganography: Hidden data identification and extraction," Springer Circuit System & Singal Process. (CSSP), to appear.
4. Wenlong Liu, Qian Liu, Minglu Jin and Shuxue Ding, “An iterative algorithm for joint beamforming
and DoA estimation,” International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control
(IJICIC), vol.7, pp. 3019-3032, May 2011.
5. Qian Liu, Heather Yu and Chang Wen Chen, “Proactive interference avoidance for mobile-to-mobile
communication in LTE networks,” submitted to IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.
6. Rohan Gandhi, Qian Liu, Dimitrios Koutsonikolas, Y. Charlie Hu, Chang Wen Chen, Mary Comer,
Chih-Chun Wang, and Amr Mohamed, “Efficient Online WiFi Delivery of SVC/MDC Video using
Inter-layer Network Coding,” submitted to IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.
Conference Papers:
1. Qian Liu, Heather Yu and Chang Wen Chen, “Enhancing multimedia QoS with device-to-device communication,” in Proc. of IEEE ICME 2013.
2. Qian Liu and Chang Wen Chen, “QoS driven and fair downlink scheduling for video streaming over
LTE networks with deadline and hard hand-off,” in Proc. of IEEE ICME 2012. (Best Paper Award)
3. Qian Liu and Chang Wen Chen, “Joint transceiver beamforming design and power Allocation for
multiuser MIMO systems,” in Proc. of IEEE ICC 2012.
4. Qian Liu and Chang Wen Chen, “Fairness and QoS guaranteed user scheduling for multi-user MIMO
broadcasting channel,” in Proc. of IEEE ICIP, pp.945-948, Sept. 2011.
5. Qian Liu, Zixuan Zou and Chang Wen Chen, “A deadline-aware virtual contention free EDCA scheme
for H.264 video over IEEE 802.11e wireless networks,” in Proc. of IEEE ISCAS, pp. 625-628, May
2011. (Best Student Paper Award Finalist)
6. Qian Liu, Deepika Bella, and Chang Wen Chen, “A new channel simulation model for fast moving
terminals,” in Proc. of 15th IEEE International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling, Analysis and
Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD), pp.52-56, Dec. 2010.
7. Qian Liu and Chang Wen Chen, “Blind channel equalization for fast moving terminals in prioritized
spatial multiplexing MIMO systems,” in Proc. of GLOBECOM, pp.1-5, Dec. 2010.
8. Qian Liu, Shujie Liu, and Chang Wen Chen, “A novel prioritized spatial multiplexing for MIMO
wireless system with application to H.264 SVC video,” in Proc. of IEEE ICME, pp. 968-973, July
2010.
9. Wenlong Liu, Qian Liu, Jianfeng Li, Minglu Jin, and Shuxue Ding. “An iterative MUSIC algorithm
for robust DoA estimation joint with beamforming,” in Proc. of 1st International Workshop on Aware
Computing (IWAC), pp.674-678, 2009.
10. Qian Liu, Minglu Jin, and Aifei Liu. “A modified LMS algorithm with Turbo-like scheme”, in Proc.
of the Third International Conference on Innovative Computing, Information and Control (ICCC), Feb.
2008.
11. Qian Liu and Minglu Jin, “LMS algorithm with Turbo-like scheme and its application in beamforming”, Communication Network and Information Technology (CNIT), 2008. (Awarded by National
Science Academic Achievement (3rd prize) and Communicational Academic Achievement (2nd
prize) in Liaoning Province, China, 2008)
12. Qian Liu and Minglu Jin, “A modified efficient method to determine the diagonal loading factor using
direct search of Gaussian distribution,” in Proc. of Joint Conference on Satellite Communications
(JCSC), Korea, 2008 (Invited paper).