Professional Experience

Research Experience in Reverse-Chronological Order

1. September 2021 – Present. Post-Doctoral Research Assistant. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

   a. Communications Research Lab: millimeter-wave propagation measurement, modeling, and simulation for next-generation wireless communications.

   b. Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN): coverage simulation for LoRaWAN performance predication and evaluation.

   c. Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP): high-risk road segment identification via sun shadow simulation for proactive snow removal; pavement condition assessment and visualization based on 3D LiDAR and falling weight deflectometer records; automated record keeping for maintenance operations via real-time telematics information.

   d. Open Ag Technology and Systems (OATS) Center: GPS data collection and signal processing for agriculture applications.

2. June 2017 – August 2021. Graduate Research Assistant. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

   a. Open Ag Technology and Systems (OATS) Center: GPS signal processing for agriculture applications.

   b. Communications Research Lab: millimeter-wave propagation modeling for 5G communications.

3. January 2015 – July 2016. Graduate Research Assistant. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

   a. Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP): developed algorithms for recognizing pothole patching activities via GPS records.

4. June 2012 – July 2012. Work Experience Program. Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Australia.

   a. Software-Defined Radio: collaborated with the lab manager to set up and test USRP E110 units.

   b. Fading Control, Coding for Hybrid Free Space Optical / RF Channels: simulated fading channel using Arduino.

Teaching Experience in Reverse-Chronological Order

1. August 2016 – May 2017. Graduate Teaching Assistant. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

   a. ECE 477 Digital Systems Senior Design: guided and assisted 10 student groups (4 in Fall 2016 and 6 in Spring 2017) with senior design projects.

2. January 2016 – May 2016. Teaching Assistant Trainee. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

   a. ENGL 620 Classroom Communication in ESL For Teaching Assistants: designed and delivered 4 talks on selected topics in electrical and computer engineering.

3. July 2011. Volunteer Teacher. Jiantang Village Elementary School, Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, China.

Peer Reviews

1. 2016. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM).

2. 2017. IEEE Access.

3. 2018. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM).

4. 2019. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM).

5. 2019. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC) special issue on Multiple Antenna Technologies for Beyond 5G.

6. 2019. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Journal: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Discoveries – Special issue – Radio wave propagation.

7. 2020. IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM).

8. 2020. European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP) Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking.

9. 2021. IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC).

10. 2021. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM).

11. 2022. Pre-submission peer review of a manuscript for American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Journal on Safety and Health.

12. 2022. IEEE Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers.

Services to the Community

1. August 2014 – December 2014. Note Taker. Disability Resource Center (DRC). Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

2. May 2018 – July 2018. Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM) 2018 Track 1 - Waveforms and Signal Processing. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

3. May 2019 – July 2019. Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM) 2019 Track 1 - Waveforms and Signal Processing. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

4. May 2021 – July 2021. Mentor. 2021 Research for Undergraduate Experience (REU) Program, Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag) Engineering Research Center, University of Pennsylvania.

5. May 2021 – July 2021. Mentor. 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program, Engineering Undergraduate Research Office (EURO), Purdue University.

6. July 29 – 31, 2021. Judge. 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) e-Symposium, Engineering Undergraduate Research Office (EURO), Purdue University.

7. July 2021 – September 2021. Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM) 2021 Track 1 – Waveforms and Signal Processing. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

8. September 2021 – October 2021. Mentor. Pathway to Ph.D. (PPP) Program, Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag) Engineering Research Center, University of Pennsylvania.

9. October 2021 – December 2021. Mentor. United States Naval Academy (USNA) Longmont Measurement Campaign and Student Seminar, Wireless Measurements Group at the USNA.

10. November 5, 2021. Volunteer. 2021 Open Ag Technology and Systems Center Advance Conference (OATSADVANCE21), Purdue University.

11. May 2022 – July 2022. Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member. Military Communications Conference (MILCOM) 2019 Track 1 - Waveforms and Signal Processing. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

12. June 14 – 17, 2022. Volunteer and Poster Competition Judge. Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag) Summer 2022 Annual Meeting. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

Career Development in Reverse-Chronological Order

1. June 14 – 17, 2022. Sponsored attendee. Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag) Summer 2022 Annual Meeting. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

2. April 2022 – August 2022. Mentee. Engineering Academic Career Club (EACC) Mentoring Circles (Future Faculty Development Program). Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

3. January 2022 – Present. Member. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

4. January 2022 – May 2022. Trainee. Effective Management (Professional Development Program). Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

5. November 9 – 10, 2021. Sponsored Attendee. Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform on Advanced Wireless (AERPAW) Fall 2021 Event. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. [Event Information]

   a. Attended hands-on trainings on how to access the aerial wireless experimentation platform AERPAW and run experiments.

   b. Attended the Sixth Generation Wireless Research at North Carolina State University (6GNC) Meeting.

6. November 1 – 3, 2021. Sponsored Attendee. Young Gladiators Colosseum Master Class. Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [Program Information]

   a. Attended hands-on trainings on how to access the wireless emulator Colosseum and run experiments.

   b. Visited the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things and the Colosseum Facility at Northeastern University.

7. September 23 – 26, 2021. Trainee. Mentoring Training for Pathway to Ph.D. (PPP) Mentors. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Attended remotely.

   a. Learnt the roles and responsibilities of PPP mentors.

8. March 27, 2021. Trainee. Mentoring Moments Workshop for Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Mentors. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

   a. Learnt various techniques to better build relationships with mentees.

9. March 24 – 26, 2021. Team Leader. OATSCON21 Pork Hackathon Part 1: Advance Shipping Notice (ASN). Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

   a. Pork ASN Web/Slack Chatbot: led a student team to develop and implement two intelligent chatbots for human operators/managers to easily take advantage of an ASN system. [Presentation]

10. October 2020 – December 2020. Team Leader. Team OATS, Producer-Led Innovation Challenge hosted by AgriNovus, Indiana, USA.

    a. OATS Data Automation Platform: led international students and developers from five different countries in developing an open-source project for agricultural data automation. [Executive summary] [Presentation]

11. January 2018 – December 2018. Member. Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES).

12. January 2017 – December 2020. Student Member. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).

13. January 2015 – December 2021. Student Member. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Open-Source Projects

1. [Android] Pavement Patching Tracker: a GPS logger for tracking pavement patching based on Combine Kart Truck.
   Zhang, Y. (2016). Pavement Patching Tracker. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/PavementPatchingTracker

2. [JavaScript, HTML, CSS] Purdue Room Information Viewer: an interactive web application to show room information at Purdue University. [Demonstration video]
   Zhang, Y. (2016). Purdue Room Info Viewer. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/purdueroominfoviewer/tree/stage_3

3. [WordPress, HTML, CSS] ZygLabs.com/Sing4U: an art blog encouraging people to take advantage of their habits to voluntarily help others and make the world a better place.
   Zhang, Y. (2017). Sing4U. [Online]. Available: https://www.zyglabs.com/sing4u/

4. [Android] Combine Kart Truck: A GPS Logger for Wheat Harvesting: an open-source GPS/Cell/Wi-Fi logger with user registration function for wheat harvesting.
   Zhang, Y., Balmos, A. (2019). Combine Kart Truck. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/OATS-Group/CombineKartTruck

5. [Matlab] Wheat Harvesting GPS Data Visualization and Analysis (Matlab Workspace): an open-source Matlab codebase for wheat harvesting GPS analysis, featuring fully automatic algorithms for high-precision field shape generation, vehicle activity recognition, and product tracking & tracing.
   Zhang, Y. (2019). GPS Data Visualization and Analysis Workspace. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/GpsDataVisualizationAndAnalysisWorkspace

6. [Matlab] EARS Measurement Campaign Code: code used in data collection and post-processing for a millimeter-wave measurement campaign on the campus of United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, USA, to investigate millimeter-wave propagation in suburban environments.
   Zhang, Y. (2019). EARS Measurement Campaign Code. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/EarsMeasurementCampaignCode

7. [Matlab, Python] NIST Measurement Campaign Code: code used in data collection and post-processing for a millimeter-wave measurement campaign in a coniferous forest near National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, Colorado, USA, to investigate millimeter-wave propagation through foliage.
   Zhang, Y. (2020). NIST Measurement Campaign Code. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/NistMeasurementCampaignCode

8. [Python] Simple Exercise Statistics: a simple open-source data visualization codebase for workout records via Python 3 and Matplotlib.
   Zhang, Y. (2020). Simple Exercise Statistics. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/SimpleExerciseStatistics

9. [Matlab, Python, C++] Cellular Coverage Mapper for Drone Data Relay: an open-source Matlab codebase for large-scale quantitative coverage analysis of cellular networks with drone data relay.
   Zhang, Y. (2020). Cell Coverage Mapper for Drones (Matlab Workspace). GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/CellCoverageMapperForDronesMatlabWorkspace

10. [Python] YAM3S: Yet Another Mobile Millimeter-wave Measurement System: an open-source sliding correlator channel sounder system for millimeter-wave channel measurements, featuring fully automatic antenna alignment.
    Zhang, Y. (2020). YAM3S: Yet Another Mobile Millimeter-wave Measurement System. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/YAM3S

11. [Jekyll, Markdown] YaguangZhang.GitHub.io: source code for my personal website hosted at https://smallpi.club/, https://smallpi.zyglabs.com/, and https://yaguangzhang.github.io/.
    Zhang, Y. (2020). YaguangZhang.GitHub.io. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/yaguangzhang.github.io

12. [Matlab] Sun Shadow Simulator: an open-source Matlab codebase to locate sun shadow (e.g., for a given location at a given time) based on LiDAR data.
    Zhang, Y. (2021). Sun Shadow Simulator (Matlab Workspace). GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/SunShadowSimulatorMatlabWorkspace

13. [Matlab] Utah Measurement Campaign Code: code used in post-processing for a millimeter-wave measurement campaign on the campus of University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, to test a costume-built mobile millimeter-wave measurement system.
    Zhang, Y. (2021). Utah Measurement Campaign Code. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/UtahMeasurementCampaignCode

14. [C, C++, Matlab] NTIA Extended Hata (eHata) Urban Propagation Model for Matlab: C shared library (loadable by Matlab) of the NTIA eHata model C++ implementation.
    Zhang, Y. (2022). NTIA Extended Hata (eHata) Urban Propagation Model for Matlab. GitHub repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/YaguangZhang/ntiaEHataForMatlab

Bug Reports and Fixes

1. 2015. Bug report on the interactive web map viewer mapview in Matlab 2014a and 2014b for Mac. Markers may be added at wrong locations. Confirmed by MathWorks. Fixed in 2015a and later version.

2. 2017. Bug report on X-Raym’s HTML5 Audio controller wavesurfer-wp. Plugin may break with .wav files. Confirmed by the author.

3. 2019. Bug report and patch suggestions with regard to spfrommer’s Matlab library terrain-elevation for working with USGS data. Unhandled tile size edge case. Confirmed and fixed by the author.

4. 2022. Bug report and patch suggestions with regard to spfrommer’s Matlab library terrain-elevation for working with USGS data. Inconsistent outputs from Windows and Linux. Confirmed by the author.

5. 2022. Bug report on the 2017–2019 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) Indiana Statewide LiDAR Database. Missing projection information in some DSM tiles. Confirmed by the author. We provided updated tile files to replace the anomalous ones.

6. 2022. Bug report on the Mapping Toolbox utility readgeoraster in Matlab 2022a for Windows and Linux. Output coordinates may be shifted from the correct locations. Confirmed by MathWorks. It will be fixed in future versions.