Professor

Contact Information

• Address: 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896 Republic of Korea

• Office: 516, 7th Engineering Building (7공학관 516호)

• Ph: +82-63-270-2357

• E-mail: seokhwan@jbnu.ac.kr, seokhwan81@gmail.com

Work Experience

• 2024.3 - Present
  Professor, Division of Electronic Engineering, Jeonbuk National University (JBNU), Jeonju, Korea

• 2024.8 - 2025.7
  Visiting Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
  (Host: Prof. Wei Yu)

• 2015.4 - 2024.2
  Assistant/Associate Professor, Division of Electronic Engineering, JBNU, Jeonju, Korea

• 2014.3 - 2015.3
  Senior Engineer, Samsung Electronics, Suwon, Korea 

• 2012.2 - 2014.2
  Postdoctoral Research Associate, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, NJ, USA
  (Advisor: Prof. Osvaldo Simeone, co-advisor: Prof. Shlomo Shamai)

• 2011.1 - 2012.1
  Research Engineer, Agency for Defense Development (ADD), Daejeon, Korea
   

Education

• 2011.2, Ph.D. in EE, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
  (Advisor: Prof. Inkyu Lee)

• 2005.2, B.Sc. in EE, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
  
  

Academic Activity and Professional Service

• Senior Member, IEEE

• Founding Member, IEEE ComSoc WTC SIG on RSMA

• Editor
  - Associate Editor, Springer Wireless Personal Communications, Nov. 2024-present
  - Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (TWC), Dec. 2022-present
  - Publication Board Member, Journal of Communications and Networks (JCN), 2021-2022

• Organizer
  -  Co-Organizer,  IEEE ICC 2022 workshop on  "Rate-Splitting Multiple Access for 6G"

• TPC
  - TPC Member, IEEE ICC 2026, Glasgow, UK
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2026, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  - TPC Member, IEEE Globecom 2025, Taipei, Taiwan
  - TPC Member, IEEE PIMRC 2025, Istanbul, Türkiye
  - TPC Member, IEEE VTC 2025 Spring, Oslo, Norway
  - TPC Member, IEEE ICC 2025, Montreal, Canada
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2025, Milan, Italy
  - TPC Member, IEEE APCC 2025, Osaka, Japan
  - TPC Member, IEEE Globecom 2024, Cape Town, South Africa
  - TPC Member, IEEE VTC 2024 Fall, Washington DC, USA
  - TPC Member, IEEE PIMRC 2024, Valencia, Spain
  - TPC Member, IEEE VTC 2024 Spring, Singapore
  - TPC Member, IEEE APCC 2024, Surabaya, Indonesia
  - TPC Member, IEEE ICC 2024, Denver, CO, USA
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2024, Dubai, UAE
  - TPC Member, IEEE Globecom 2023, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  - TPC Member, IEEE VTC 2023 Fall, Hong Kong
  - TPC Member, IEEE APCC 2023, Sydney, Australia
  - TPC Member, IEEE ICC 2023, Rome, Italy
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2023, Glasgow, Scotland
  - TPC Track Co-Chair, IEEE VTC 2022 Fall, London/Beijing, UK/China
  - TPC Member, IEEE VTC 2022 Spring, Helsinki, Finland
  - TPC Member, IEEE Globecom 2022, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  - TPC Member, IEEE ICC 2022, Seoul, Korea
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2022, Austin, TX, USA
  - TPC Member, IEEE APCC 2022, Jeju, Korea
  - TPC Member, AI Frontiers Summit 2022, Seoul, Korea
  - TPC Member, IEEE Globecom 2021, Madrid, Spain
  - TPC Member, IEEE ICC 2021, Montreal, Canada
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2021, Nanjing, China
  - TPC Member, AI Frontiers Summit 2021, Seoul, Korea
  - TPC Member, IEEE PIMRC 2020, London, UK
  - TPC Member, IEEE ICC 2020, Dublin, Ireland
  - TPC Vice Co-Chair, ICCE-Asia 2020, Seoul, Korea
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2020, Seoul, Korea
  - TPC Member, IEEE APCC 2019, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2019, Marrakech, Morocco
  - TPC Member, IEEE APCC 2018, Ningbo, China
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2018, Barcelona, Spain
  - TPC Member, IEEE APCC 2017, Perth, Australia
  - TPC Member, IEEE WCNC 2017, San Francisco, CA, USA

• Reviewer
  - IEEE Transactions on Communications
  - IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications
  - IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing
  - IEEE Transactions on Information Theory
  - IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology
  - IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing
  - IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking
  - IEEE Transactions on Green Communicationsand Networking
  - IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
  - IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing
  - IEEE Communications Letters
  - IEEE Wireless Communications Letters
  - IEEE Signal Processing Letters
  - IEEE Communications Magazine
  - IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine
  - IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine
  - IEEE Internet of Things Journal
  - IEEE Systems Journal

• Invited talks
  - "Hybrid TDMA-NOMA-Cooperative Transmission for Collaborative Multi-UAV Sensing and Data Collection," Workshop on Sensing, Coding, and Communications, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, Jun. 2025 (Host: Prof. Wei Yu).
  - "Recent research highlights from CommSigLab," Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Jul. 2024 (Host: Prof. Wan Choi).
  - "Generalized reduced-WMMSE algorithm for cooperative beamforming in cell-free massive MIMO systems," Hanbat National University, Daejeon, Korea, Mar. 2024 (Host: Prof. Kyoung-Jae Lee).
  - "Efficient beamforming optimization: Deep learning and reduced-WMMSE," Myongji University, Yongin, Korea, Jan. 2024 (Host: Prof. Jinkyu Kang).
  - "Deep learning techniques for multi-access interference control: SIC detection and beamforming," Korea National University of Transportation, online, Nov. 2023 (Host: Prof. Changick Song).
  - "Convergence of wireless communication and deep learning: Exploring beamforming optimization," Digital ESG of KICS, online, Nov. 2023 (link).
  - "Deep learning applied to bemforming optimization in multi-user downlink," Korea University, Seoul, Korea, Jan. 2023 (Host: Prof. Inkyu Lee).
  - "Deep learning applications for beamforming optimization," Seminar on State-of-The-Art Technology for 5G, ETRI-HRC & Chonnam National University, online, Nov. 2022 (Host: Prof. Hosung Park).
  - "Learning beamforming optimization with deep learning," 2021 Data, Network, and AI (DNA) Workshop, OSIA, online, Mar. 2021.
  - "Deep learning methods for universal MISO beamforming," 2020 POSTECH Wireless Summit, POSTECH, Pohang, Korea, Jul. 2020 (Host: Prof. Namyoon Lee).
  - "Optimization of cloud and edge signal processing strategies for C-RAN/F-RAN," Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea, Oct. 2018 (Host: Prof. Bang Chul Jung).
  - "Introduction to 5G - Backgrounds, mmWave, massive MIMO and cloud-RAN," Kyungil University, Daegu, Korea, Jun. 2018 (Prof. Kyu-Sung Hwang).
  - "Joint design of digital and analog processing for cloud radio access networks," King's College London, London, UK, Apr. 2018 (Host: Prof. Osvaldo Simeone).
  - "Uplink sum-rate analysis of C-RAN with interconnected radio units," Technion, Haifa, Israel, Dec. 2017 (Host: Prof. Shlomo Shamai).
  - "Introduction to 5G: Requirements and key technological components," Korea National University of Transportation, Chungju, Korea, Aug. 2017 (Host: Prof. Changick Song).
  - "Optimization of cloud and edge signal processing strategies for C-RAN/F-RAN," Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea, Feb. 2017 (Host: Prof. Joongheon Kim).
  - "Fronthaul compression techniques for cloud radio access networks," POSTECH, Pohang, Korea, Nov. 2016 (Host: Prof. Namyoon Lee).
  - "Joint optimization of cloud and edge processing for fog radio access networks," National Chiao-Tung University (NCTU), Hsinchu, Taiwan, Apr. 2016 (Host: Prof. Stefano Rini).
  - "Fronthaul compression for cloud radio access networks," Korea University, Seoul, Korea, May 2015 (Host: Prof. Inkyu Lee).
  - "Fronthaul compression for cloud radio access networks," Hanbat National University, Daejeon, Korea, May 2015 (Host: Prof. Kyoung-Jae Lee).
  - "Interference management via distributed beamforming and joint processing in multi-cell MIMO networks," Alcatel-Lucent, Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 2014.
   

Honors and Awards

• Best TPC Member, International Conference on ICT Convergence (ICTC) 2024, Jeju, Korea.

• Best Reviewer Award, ICT Express, 2024.

• Exemplary Reviewer, IEEE Transactions on Communications, 2022.

• Excellent teaching award, JBNU, 2019 (link).

• 2018 IEEE Signal Processing Best Paper Award (for paper).

• Best paper award, IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC) 2006, Busan, Korea (for this paper).
  
  

Project Experience

• Research staff, AI-Powered Drone Detection System Based on Spectrum Sensing for Multi-ISM Band Operation with Direction and Range Estimation to Overcome Limitations of Conventional Radars
  Sponsor: Jeonbuk State (JB Rise Research Cluster)
  Period: 2025.06-2029.12

• Principal investigator, AI-Powered Cell-Free Ultra-Massive MIMO System on Open-RAN Architecture
  Sponsor: NRF Korea (한국연구재단)
  Period: 2023.06-2026.02

• Principal investigator, Application of Graph Neural Networks to Scalable Beamforming Design With Respect to Network Size
  Sponsor: ETRI (한국전자통신연구원)
  Period: 2022.04-2022.11

• Principal investigator, Deep Learning Based Cooperative Beamforming Design for Wireless Interference Management
  Sponsor: ETRI (한국전자통신연구원)
  Period: 2021.03-2021.11

• Principal investigator, Deep Learning Based Optimization of  Wireless Communication Strategy for Federated Machine Learning Over Large-Scale Cloud/Fog Networks
  Sponsor: NRF Korea (한국연구재단)
  Period: 2021.03-2024.02

• Principal investigator, Machine Learning Applied to Beamforming Optimization in Wireless Interference Networks
  Sponsor: ETRI (한국전자통신연구원)
  Period: 2020.03-2020.11

• Research staff, Development of Artificial Intelligence and Robot Technologies for Unmanned Farming
  Sponsor: NRF Korea (한국연구재단)
  Period: 2019.06-2028.02

• Principal investigator, Inter-layer and inter-tenant joint optimization of hierarchical Fog-RAN systems with spectrum pooling
  Sponsor: NRF Korea (한국연구재단)
  Period: 2018.06-2021.05

• Principal investigator, Wireless caching for ultra-dense networks
  Sponsor: ETRI (한국전자통신연구원)
  Period: 2018.08-2018.11

• Principal investigator, Joint design of massive millimeter-wave beamforming and fronthaul compression for cloud radio access networks
  Sponsor: NRF Korea (한국연구재단)
  Period: 2015.11-2018.10

• Principal investigator, Simultaneous information and power transfer for cloud radio access networks
  Sponsor: Korea University (고려대)
  Period: 2017.03-2018.02 

• Principal investigator, High-throughput MIMO transmission for the uplink of cloud radio access networks
  Sponsor: ETRI (한국전자통신연구원)
  Period: 2017.05-2017.11 

• Principal investigator, Research on multiple-antenna techniques for multi-hop communication networks in disaster relief communication systems
  Sponsor: Korea University (고려대)
  Period: 2015.11-2016.10 

• Research staff, Full-duplex communications based on massive MIMO for next generation wireless backhaul systems
  Sponsor: Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion (IITP)
  Period: 2015.11 - 2016.04 

• Principal investigator, Signal processing optimization for enhanced physical-layer security in cloud radio access networks
  Sponsor: Jeonbuk National University (전북대)
  Period: 2015.05 - 2016.02 

• Research staff, Delay-tolerant robust coding for green networking with backhaul constraint
  Sponsor: InterDigital Inc.
  Period: 2012.02 - 2014.02 

• Research staff, Efficient transceiver design with limited feedback for network MIMO downlink
  Sponsor: Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT)
  Period: 2009.12 - 2010.08 

• Research staff, Interference alignment techniques for wireless interference channels
  Sponsor: Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT)
  Period: 2008.11 - 2009.10 

• Research staff, Closed-loop MIMO systems with minimal feedback for WiBro
  Sponsor: Samsung Electronics
  Period: 2006.06 - 2008.11 

• Research staff, 4th generation wireless system design for nomadic system
  Sponsor: Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT)
  Period: 2005.03 - 2005.12