I’m currently a principal scientist at Origin Wireless AI, building real-world Wi-Fi sensing products. I received my Ph.D. in 2022 from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at University of Maryland, College Park. During my PhD, I worked under the supervision of K. J. Ray Liu, at Signals and Information Group (SIG).

I specialize in developing and applying AI tools to create practical, high-performance, and user-friendly products. My expertise lies in building wireless sensing systems that use deep learning and signal processing, enabling billions of Wi-Fi connected devices to function as powerful sensing tools. With this, smart home applications such as whole home security and advanced health monitoring are made possible. Check out the following video for our most recent product, TruShield:

Beyond Wi-Fi sensing, my research also explores multimodal sensing with millimeter-wave radar for applications in human and environment monitoring. I have developed systems using commercial-of-the-shelf devices and created proof-of-concept demos that enable next-generation sound sensing applications. You can find a demo in the following video:

Prior to my Ph.D., I received my B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Publications

[J5] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, M. Wu and K. J. R. Liu, “RadioVAD: mmWave-Based Noise and Interference-Resilient Voice Activity Detection,” in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 11, no. 15, pp. 26005-26019, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2024.3394353.

[J4] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, M. Wu and K. J. R. Liu, “RadioSES: mmWave-Based Audioradio Speech Enhancement and Separation System,” in IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing , vol. 31, pp. 1333-1347, 2023, doi: 10.1109/TASLP.2023.3250846.

[J3] Y. Hu, M. Z. Ozturk, B. Wang, C. Wu, F. Zhang, and K. J. R. Liu, “Robust Passive Proximity Detection using Wi-Fi”, in IEEE Internet of Things Journal vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 6221-6234, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2022.3224701.

[J2] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, and K. J. R. Liu, “RadioMic: Sound Sensing via mmWave Signals,” in IEEE Internet of Things Journal , vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 4431-4448, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2022.3217968

[J1] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, and K. J. R. Liu, “GaitCube: Deep Data Cube Learning for Human Recognition with Millimeter-Wave Radio,” in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 546-557, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3083934.

Conference Papers and Demos

[D1] M. Z. Ozturk, B. Wang, and K. J. R. Liu. Audioradio Target Speech Detection and Extraction with mmWave Sensing. In ACM MobiCom 2024. 1796–1798.

[C5] M. Z. Ozturk , C. Wu, B. Wang, M. Wu, and K. J. R. Liu, “Beyond Microphone: mmWave-Based Interference-Resilient Voice Activity Detection in ACM IASA ‘2022, doi:10.1145/3539490.3539599, Best Paper Award

[C4] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, and K. J. R. Liu, “Toward mmWave Based Sound Enhancement and Separation,” in IEEE ICASSP 2022, pp. 6852-6856, doi: 10.1109/ICASSP43922.2022.9747650.

[C3] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, and K. J. R. Liu, “Gait-Based People Identification Using Millimeter-Wave Radio” in IEEE 7th WF-IoT 2021, pp. 391-396, doi: 10.1109/WF-IoT51360.2021.9595283.

[C2] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, and K. J. R. Liu, “Sound Recovery from Radio Signals,” in IEEE ICASSP 2021, pp. 8022-8026, doi: 10.1109/ICASSP39728.2021.9413508.

[C1] Y. Hu, M. Z. Ozturk, F. Zhang, B. Wang, and K. J. R. Liu, “Robust Device-Free Proximity Detection Using Wifi,” in IEEE ICASSP 2021, pp. 7918-7922, doi: 10.1109/ICASSP39728.2021.9414707.

Patents

[P5] M.Z. Ozturk, S.D. Regani, B. Wang, K. J. R. Liu, H.-Q. D. Lai, Y. Han, and O. C.-L. Au, 2023. “Method, apparatus, and system for wireless monitoring with improved accuracy “. U.S. Patent No: 12,153,156, issued 26 Nov. 2024.

[P4] M. Z. Ozturk, C. Wu, B. Wang, K. J. R. Liu, O. C.-L. Au, and M. Wu, 2023. “Method, apparatus, and system for voice activity detection based on radio signals “. U.S. Patent Application 17/959,487, filed 23 March 2023

[P3] Y. Hu, B. Wang, M. Z. Ozturk , F. Zhang, K. J. R. Liu, O. C.-L. Au, X. Zheng, C. Wu, F. Wang,“Method, apparatus, and system for wireless proximity sensing”, U.S. Patent No. 11,500,058, issued 15 Nov. 2022

[P2] M. Z. Ozturk , C. Wu, B. Wang, K. J. R. Liu, and O. C.-L. Au. “Method, apparatus, and system for sound sensing based on wireless signals.”U.S. Patent 11,448,728 , issued 20 Sep. 2022.

[P1] M. Z. Ozturk , C. Wu, B. Wang, K. J. R. Liu, and O. C.-L. Au. “Method, apparatus, and system for human recognition based on gait features“U.S. Patent 11,448,727 , issued 20 Sep. 2022.

Education

• Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, 2022
• M.Sc. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, 2021
• B.S. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2018
• B.S. Exchange Student in Electrical & Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2016

Other

I like to help people academically on a volunteering basis. Recently, a couple of friends and I have started an organization called ONGOR (available in Turkish) to help other international students on getting into the PhD programs. We have also partnered with another program, Fatima Fellowship, to provide a means for international research collaboration in computer science and social sciences. If you’d like to learn more, feel free to reach out to me!