《TAIPEI TIMES》Professor honored for his heartbeat radar work

The Ministry of Education yesterday awarded an award to a researcher for developing self-locking (SIL) radar to monitor human vital signs in a non-contact manner, among other achievements.

National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) electronic engineering professor Hong Zisheng (Hong Zisheng) received the Ministry of Education’s Academic Award in the Engineering and Applied Science category, the school said in a news release.

The Ministry of Education commended Hong Zisheng for his "pioneering" work on SIL radar, also known as "4D sensing," a technology that integrates sensors with Wi-Fi, artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation telecommunications, the school said.

These contributions are being used in medical fields, livestock management and advanced mobile networks, the school said.

SIL technology detects movement without requiring the subject to wear a device or make skin contact, improving caregivers' ability to monitor the health of their care recipients, the school said.

SIL radar has been used to remotely monitor quarantined people during the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the risk of infection for medical staff, the school added.

The technology holds more than 80 patents around the world and is available to authorized users, including U.S. farms and ranches that received a $2 million license package, the school said.

Hung's team built Taiwan's first integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) system prototype, which combines telecommunications with radar-like sensing capabilities, the school said.

ISAC technology can simultaneously transmit data and sense the position, orientation and speed of objects in the network, and can be used in smart homes, medical care and environmental sensing, the school said.

Hong Zisheng was also involved in research on transmission characteristics of semiconductors, packaging and motherboards, contributing to the technology adopted by chip factories such as ASE Holdings (ASEs), the school said.

In 2016, he became a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and twice received the National Science and Technology Council's Outstanding Research Award, the school said.

The press release quoted Hong Zisheng as saying that he was grateful to the school for its long-term support of his work. The award has a long history and high prestige among researchers.

He called on the country to create more awards and career opportunities in research fields to retain talent, the school said.

News source: TAIPEI TIMES