I’m a Principal Scientist at Origin Wireless AI. I received my Ph.D. in 2022 from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) at University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). During my PhD. I worked under the supervision of K. J. Ray Liu, at Signals and Information Group (SIG).

My research interests include wireless sensing and signal processing, where our projects are usually end-to-end systems with classical signal processing front-end, combined with deep learning. Specifically, I work on projects that use 2.4/5/60/77 GHz Wi-Fi and Radar devices for different sensing applications, including human monitoring (e.g. breathing, gait) and environment monitoring (e.g. sound, vibration). My recent work focuses on sensing sound and related applications using mmWave radars. We have initially explored sensing sound from daily objects (ICASSP 2021, IEEE IoTJ) and speaker surfaces. More recently, we have proposed a multimodal system that combines audio and radio modalities for speech enhancement and separation (ICASSP 2022, IEEE/ACM TASLP 2023).

Currently, as a principal scientist, I develop signal processing and machine learning algorithms to solve practical problems in Wi-Fi sensing. My expertise spans from developing preprocessing and filtering algorithms to render CSI measurements suitable for sensing tasks, to building large scale machine learning models. I conduct cutting-edge research, develop proof-of-concept demos, design data collection experiments, craft measurement methods and get involved with real-time implementation of algoritms. I also contribute to UI/UX aspect of our systems, especially those involve user training, and product development efforts.

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

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

Publications

Journal Publications

[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”, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 6221-6234, 1 April1, 2023, 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,” *IEEE Internet of Things Journal , vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 4431-4448, 1 March1, 2023, 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, 1 Jan.1, 2022, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3083934.

Conference Papers

[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 Proceedings of the 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 Proceedings of 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 Proceedings of 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 Proceedings of 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 Proceedings of 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 Application 18/144,321, filed 31 Aug. 2023.

[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.

Teaching

I served as a Teaching Assistant for two courses, ENEE322: Signals and Systems, and ENEE408G: Multimedia Signal Processing during the academic year 2018-2019. In recognition of my commitment and excellence in teaching, I received the Outstanding TA award and the George Corcoran Memorial Award for teaching

Graduate Coursework

• Electrical Engineering: Advanced Digital Signal Processing, System Theory, Random Processes, Information Theory, Detection and Estimation Theory, Learning and Statistical Signal Processing, Convex Optimization
• Computer Science: Advanced Numerical Optimization, Statistical Pattern Recognition, Wireless and Mobile Systems for IoT
• Statistics: Time Series Analysis

Other

I am passionate about volunteering my time to support academic endeavors. Alongside a few colleagues, I co-founded an organization called ONGOR (content available in Turkish) with the primary goal of aiding students in navigating the process of applying to PhD programs. If you’re interested in learning more about our initiative, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!”