Yang Liu

I am currently a Senior Research Associate working with Prof. Cecilia Mascolo and an Affliated Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge. Prior to that I was a postdoctoral researcher working with Prof. Zhenjiang Li at City University of Hong Kong (from Oct 2020 to Dec 2021). I received the B.E. degree in Software Engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, China in 2016 and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science advised by Prof. Zhenjiang Li from City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China in 2020.


My research focuses on developing intelligent mobile and wearable technologies for human-centered sensing and computing. I am currently exploring earable sensing technologies for tracking human wellness, including vital signs monitoring, fitness tracking, and promoting healthy lifestyles through ear-worn sensors. Additionally, I am investigating mobile and wearable technologies for sensing and understanding human behaviors, as well as addressing privacy leakage issues in Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Overall, my research advances cutting-edge areas such as IoT, Human-Computer and Human-Ambient Interactions, mobile health, and cybersecurity.

Recent News:

  • Our recent work Towards Open Respiratory Acoustic Foundation Models: Pretraining and Benchmarking got accepted to NeurIPS 2024.
  • I am awarded N2Women: Rising Stars in Computer Networking and Communications 2024!
  • Our recent work Practical Gaze Tracking on Any Surface with Your Phone got accepted to TMC 2024.
  • Our recent work Finger Tracking Using Wrist-Worn EMG Sensors got accepted to TMC 2024.
  • Our recent work BreathPro: Monitoring Breathing Mode during Running with Earables got accepted to IMWUT 2024.
  • Our recent work An Evaluation of Heart Rate Monitoring with In-ear Microphones under Motion got accepted to the Pervasive and Mobile Computing Journal 2024.
  • I have started the position of Affilated Lecturer at University of Cambridge, effective October 2023.

Publications:

BreathPro: Monitoring Breathing Mode during Running with Earables

Changshou Hu, Thivya Kandappu, Yang Liu, Cecilia Mascolo, Dong Ma

ACM IMWUT journal (UbiComp), 2024
[pdf] [slides]

Gaze Tracking on Any Surface with Your Phone

Jiani Cao, Chengdong Lin, Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li

ACM SenSys, 2022
[pdf] [slides] [website]

GASLA: Enhancing the Applicability of Sign Language Translation

Jiao Li, Yang Liu, Weitao Xu, Zhenjiang Li

IEEE INFOCOM, 2022
[pdf] [slides]

WR-Hand: Wearable Armband Can Track User's Hand

Yang Liu, Chengdong Lin, Zhenjiang Li

ACM IMWUT journal (UbiComp), 2021
[pdf] [slides] [website]

Mobile Phones Know Your Keystrokes through the Sounds from Finger's Tapping on the Screen

Zhen Xiao, Tao Chen, Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li

IEEE ICDCS, 2020
[pdf] [slides]

Real-time Arm Skeleton Tracking and Gesture Inference Tolerant to Missing Wearable Sensors

Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li, Zhidan Liu, Kaishun Wu

ACM MobiSys, 2019
[pdf] [slides] [website] [source code]

Rulers on Our Arms: Waving to Measure Object Size through Contactless Sensing

Yang Liu, Yonghang Jiang, Zhenjiang Li, Jianping Wang

ACM TOSN, 2019
[pdf]

cDeepArch: A Compact Deep Neural Network Architecture for Mobile Sensing

Kang Yang, Xiaoqing Gong, Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li, Tianzhang Xing, Xiaojiang Chen, Dingyi Fang

IEEE SECON, 2018
[pdf] [slides]

aLeak: Privacy Leakage through Context-Free Wearable Side-Channel

Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li

IEEE INFOCOM, 2018
[pdf] [slides]

More Publications:

  • [NeurIPS'24] Yuwei Zhang, Tong Xia, Jing Han, Yu Wu, Georgios Rizos, Yang Liu, Mohammed Mosuily, Jagmohan Chauhan, Cecilia Mascolo. Towards Open Respiratory Acoustic Foundation Models: Pretraining and Benchmarking. [pdf]
  • [EarComp'24] Qiang Yang, Yang Liu, Jake Stuchbury-Wass, Kayla-Jade Butkow, Dong Ma, Cecilia Mascolo. BrushBuds: Toothbrushing Tracking Using Earphone IMUs. [pdf]
  • [IEEE TMC'24] Jiani Cao, Jiesong Chen, Chengdong Lin, Yang Liu, Kun Wang, Zhenjiang Li. Practical Gaze Tracking on Any Surface with Your Phone. [pdf]
  • [BodySys'24] Changshuo Hu, Thivya Kandappu, Jake Stuchbury-Wass, Yang Liu, Anthony Tang, Cecilia Mascolo, Dong Ma. Detecting Foot Strikes during Running with Earbuds. [pdf]
  • [BodySys'24] Tamisa Ketmalasiri, Yu Wu, Kayla-Jade Butkow, Cecilia Mascolo, Yang Liu. IMChew: Chewing Analysis using Earphone Inertial Measurement Units. [pdf]
  • [Pervasive and Mobile Computing Journal'24] Kayla-Jade Butkow, Ting Dang, Andrea Ferlini, Dong Ma, Yang Liu, Cecilia Mascolo. An Evaluation of Heart Rate Monitoring with In-ear Microphones under Motion. [pdf]
  • [IEEE TMC'24] Jiao Li, Jiakai Xu, Yang Liu, Weitao Xu, Zhenjiang Li. Enhancing the Applicability of Sign Language Translation. [pdf]
  • [ACM SmartWear'23] Jacob Brown, Yang Liu, Cecilia Mascolo. Yawning Detection using Earphone Inertial Measurement Units. [pdf]
  • [EarComp'23 Best Paper Award] Jiao Li, Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li, Jin Zhang. EarPass: Continuous User Authentication with In-ear PPG. [pdf]
  • [ACM TURC'23] Jiani Cao, Chengdong Lin, Yang Liu, Kun Wang, Zhenjiang Li. Poster: Gaze Tracking on Any Surface with Your Phone. [pdf]
  • [IEEE TMC'21] Zhen Xiao, Tao Chen, Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li. Keystroke Recognition with the Tapping Sound Recorded by Mobile Phone Microphones. [pdf]
  • [IEEE IoT-J'20] Jiao Li, Yang Liu, Tao Chen, Zhen Xiao, Zhenjiang Li, Jianping Wang. Adversarial Attacks and Defenses on Cyber-Physical Systems: A Survey. [pdf]
  • [IEEE TMC'19] Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li. aLeak: Context-Free Side-Channel from Your Smart Watch Leaks Your Typing Privacy. [pdf]
  • [IEEE/ACM TON'19] Kang Yang, Tianzhang Xing, Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li, Xiaoqing Gong, Xiaojiang Chen, Dingyi Fang. cDeepArch: A Compact Deep Neural Network Architecture for Mobile Sensing. [pdf]
  • [IEEE DySPAN'19] Yonghang Jiang, Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li. Data Fusion and Alignment for Location-Aware Crowdsourcing Applications. [pdf]
  • [ACM MobiSys'19 Poster] Yang Liu, Chengdong Lin, Zhenjiang Li, Zhidan Liu, Kaishun Wu. Poster: When Wearable Sensing Meets Arm Tracking. [pdf]
  • [IEEE INFOCOM'18 Poster] Yang Liu, Zhenjiang Li. Poster Abstract: Context-Free Wearable Side-Channel Leaks Your Typing Privacy. [pdf]

Honors & Awards:

  • N2Women: Rising Stars in Computer Networking and Communications -- 2024
  • Best Paper Award -- EarComp, 2023
  • Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award -- ACM SIGBED China, 2021
  • Institutional Research Tuition Scholarship -- CityU, 2019
  • Outstanding Academic Performance Award -- CityU, 2019
  • Student Travel Grant Award -- ACM MobiSys, 2019
  • Best-in-Session Presentation Award -- IEEE INFOCOM, 2018
  • Student Travel Grant Award -- IEEE INFOCOM, 2018
  • Outstanding Academic Performance Award -- CityU, 2018
  • Outstanding Poster Award -- CityU, 2017
  • SiYuan Scholarship -- XJTU, 2015
  • Excellent Student -- XJTU, 2015
  • Fuji Xerox Scholarship (China) -- XJTU, 2014
  • Excellent Student -- XJTU, 2014
  • SiYuan Scholarship -- XJTU, 2013

Professional Service:

Organizing Committee:
  • Computer Science Ethics Committee, University of Cambridge
  • Chairs, IEEE SWC -- 2024
  • Publicity & Social Media Chairs, ACM UbiComp/ISWC -- 2024
  • Publicity Chairs, ACM MobiCom -- 2022
  • Web Chairs, IEEE ICPADS -- 2021
TPC Member:
  • ACM SenSys -- 2025
  • ACM MobiSys -- 2025
  • IEEE ICDCS -- 2024, 2023
  • ACM MobiSys (Artifact Evaluation) -- 2024, 2023
  • ACM MobiCom (Artifact Evaluation) -- 2024, 2023
  • ACM EarComp -- 2024, 2023, 2022
  • IEEE ICPADS -- 2024, 2022
  • ACM ISWC -- 2024
  • ACM IPSN (Poster) -- 2024
  • IEEE TrustCom -- 2024
  • IEEE UIC -- 2024
  • ACM MobiCom4AgeTech -- 2024
  • ACM EIFCom -- 2024
  • ACM HumanSys -- 2024
  • ACM BodySys -- 2024
  • ACM SmartWear -- 2023
  • ACM SenSys (Shadow Program) -- 2022
  • IEEE ICDCS (Ph.D. Symposium) -- 2022
  • EAI Qshine -- 2020
Paper Reviewer:
  • Nature Communications
  • ACM CHI
  • ACM IMWUT journal (UbiComp)
  • ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks
  • ACM Transactions on Internet of Things (TIOT)
  • IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing
  • IEEE Internet of Things Journal (IoT-J)
  • IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems
  • IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering
  • IEEE ICPADS 2021
  • Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing
  • Sensors Journal
  • Applied Science Journal
Funding Reviewer:
  • pro² network+ funding

Teaching:

  • Mobile, Wearable Systems and Machine Learning, University of Cambridge
    Lecturer -- Michaelmas term 2024/2025, Michaelmas term 2023/2024
  • Computer Networking, University of Cambridge
    Group Supervisor -- Lent term 2024/2025, Lent term 2023/2024, Lent term 2022/2023
  • Computer Programming, City University of Hong Kong
    Lab Tutor -- Sem B 2019/2020, Sem B 2018/2019
    Teaching Assistant -- Sem A 2017/2018, Sem A 2016/2017
  • Introduction to Computer Studies, City University of Hong Kong
    Teaching Assistant -- Sem A, 2019/2020
  • Computer Networks, City University of Hong Kong
    Tutorial Tutor -- Sem A, 2018/2019
  • Cloud Computing, City University of Hong Kong
    Teaching Assistant -- Sem B, 2017/2018
  • The Art and Science of Data, City University of Hong Kong
    Teaching Assistant -- Sem B, 2016/2017

Mentorship:

  • Jordan Waters (University of Cambridge) -- Oct. 2023 - July 2024
    Heart Sound Segmentation using In-Ear Microphones
  • Jiani Cao (City University of Hong Kong) -- Feb. 2023 - May 2024
    Finger Tracking Using Wrist-Worn EMG Sensors
    IEEE TMC'24
  • Tamisa Ketmalasiri (University of Cambridge) -- Oct. 2023 - May 2024
    IMChew: Chewing Analysis using Earphone Inertial Measurement Units
    ACM BodySys'24
  • Jiani Cao (City University of Hong Kong) -- April. 2022 - May 2024
    Gaze Tracking on Any Surface with Your Phone
    ACM SenSys'22, ACM TURC'23, IEEE TMC'24
  • Jacob Brown (University of Cambridge) -- Oct. 2022 - July 2023
    Yawning Detection using Earphone Inertial Measurement Units
    ACM SmartWear'23
  • Jiao Li (City University of Hong Kong) -- Oct. 2022 - July 2023
    EarPass: Continuous User Authentication with In-ear PPG
    ACM EarComp'23 Best Paper Award
  • Jiao Li (City University of Hong Kong) -- Oct. 2021 - July 2023
    GASLA: Enhancing the Applicability of Sign Language Translation
    IEEE INFOCOM'22, IEEE TMC'24

Presentations & Talks:

  • Less is More: Innovative Wearable Sensing for Understanding Human Behavior and Monitoring Wellbeing
    North Carolina State University, October 2024, Virtual Event.
  • Respiratory Rate Monitoring from Earables
    MobiUK, July 2024, Southampton, UK.
  • IMChew: Chewing Analysis using Earphone Inertial Measurement Units
    MobiUK, July 2024, Southampton, UK.
  • Yawning Detection using Earphone Inertial Measurement Units
    ACM SmartWear, October 2023, Madrid, Spain.
  • EaRR: Audio-Based Robust Respiratory Rate Monitoring from Earables
    Mobile Systems Lab, July 2023, Cambridge, UK.
  • Human Behavior Sensing and Understanding with Sparse Wearable Sensors
    City University of Hong Kong, August 2020, Hong Kong, China.
  • WR-Hand: Wearable Armband can Track User's Hand
    ACM UbiComp, September 2021, Virtual Event.
  • Real-time Arm Skeleton Tracking and Gesture Inference Tolerant to Missing Wearable Sensors
    ACM MobiSys, June 2019, Seoul, South Korea.
  • cDeepArch: A Compact Deep Neural Network Architecture for Mobile Sensing
    IEEE SECON, June 2018, Hong Kong, China.
  • aLeak: Privacy Leakage through Context-Free Wearable Side-Channel
    IEEE INFOCOM, April 2018, Honolulu, HI, USA.

Contact:

  • yl868@cam.ac.uk / yliu562-c@my.cityu.edu.hk / yliu94913@gmail.com
  • Department of Computer Science and Technology, William Gates Building, CB3 0FD