Peer Revenue Fully funded

Papers

Fresh from arXiv, typeset properly. Highlighted words trade on the market.

Electrical Engineering and Systems Science Signal Processing

eess.SP Watch Signal Processing (sign in to use)

Thursday 13 August

Signal Processing

Foundation models for movement data: Are they ready for prime-time?

Foundation models (FMs) trained on large-scale accelerometer data have been proposed as general-purpose feature extractors for health monitoring, but systematic evidence of their advantages is lacking. We present the first comprehensive evaluation of four open-source accelerometer FMs against supervised baselines covering 19 tasks across the domains of activity recognition including activities of daily living, clinical monitoring, and physiological inference. We find task-dependent performance results: supervised models remain competitive with FMs on human action recognition (HAR), with no consistent advantage for either, while selected FMs lead on fall and stress detection and are the most robust to sensor-placement variation. As frozen feature extractors, FMs are strongest for demographic inference, whereas sleep staging performance remains near chance level for all models. The internal FM representations show strong similarity across layers, highlighting potential for future FM improvements. Linear and frozen probing reveals that UniMTS provides the strongest representations and is the only FM that surpasses the supervised baselines without finetuning. Concept discovery analysis shows all models capture high-intensity activities clearly but struggle with sedentary, complex or ambiguous activities. We provide scenario-based deployment recommendations. Furthermore, we identify FM-derived activity profile inference-moving beyond fixed category classification-as a promising research direction.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing

Deterministic Maximum Likelihood Direction Finding in the Mixture Noise of Gaussian and Spherically Invariant Components

Spherically invariant (SI) random processes can model impulsive noise and unreliable measurements. Recently, the mixture noise of Gaussian and SI components has been used in deterministic maximum likelihood direction finding. In this context, the Expectation-Conditional Maximization (ECM) algorithm, an extension of the expectation-maximization algorithm, has been applied and designed. However, simulation results show that the ECM algorithm always improperly converges. In this article, the ECM Either (ECME) algorithm, an extension of the ECM algorithm, is applied and designed, which additionally utilizes the actual log-likelihood function to first update partial parameter estimates at every iteration and does not need to initialize all parameter estimates. Moreover, the deterministic Cramer-Rao low bounds (CRLBs) of DOA estimators are derived and compared. Simulation results indicate that the ECME algorithm exhibits proper convergence and its root mean square errors of DOA estimates asymptotically approach the CRLBs as the signal powers increase, i.e., the derived CRLBs are correct.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing

Exploiting Phase Noise for Sensing Privacy in ISAC Systems

We investigate sensing privacy in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) systems under the impact of phase noise (PN) arising from local oscillator (LO) imperfections. Specifically, we consider an ISAC scenario comprising a legitimate monostatic ISAC transceiver (Alice), an eavesdropper performing unauthorized bistatic sensing (Eve) and a communication user (UE), each equipped with a non-ideal LO. To characterize sensing performance in the presence of PN, we carry out a misspecified Cramér-Rao bound (MCRB) analysis of monostatic and bistatic range estimation at Alice and Eve, whose differential PN processes are self-correlated (delay-dependent) and cross-correlated (delay-independent) due to the use of a shared and an independent LO, respectively. Simulation results reveal three-way trade-offs among legitimate monostatic sensing at Alice, unauthorized bistatic sensing at Eve and communication to the UE under PN, governed by the LO quality at Alice. Through the LO asymmetry between Alice and Eve, worsening LO quality at Alice can significantly enlarge sensing privacy gap in her favor, especially for nearby targets, with only a moderate reduction in data rate in noise-limited regimes.
Read the full abstract

All authors Musa Furkan Keskin, Kawon Han, Henk Wymeersch, Christos Masouros

Signal Processing

Analysis and Approximation of a Spatially Wideband Antenna Array Factor

This work investigates the spatially wideband (SWB) antenna array factor (AF) of uniform linear arrays. First, the SWB AF approximation is derived for narrowband (NB) signals and a large aperture with element spacing satisfying the Nyquist criterion. The derivation accounts for different spatial and spectral windows. Next, an approximation of the SWB AF for a wideband (WB) signal is developed under uniform spatial and spectral weighting. The analysis shows that for fully populated arrays, increasing the bandwidth effectively suppresses the AF sidelobes. Finally, a universal SWB AF approximation is introduced, which is based on recognizing the SWB AF as a spatially variant convolution. In this formulation, the SWB AF is expressed as a convolution of the spatially narrowband (SNB) AF and the SWB kernel, providing insight into how the bandwidth and the spectral weighting affect the resulting SWB AF. The proposed approximation is shown to be accurate for a wide range of bandwidths and element spacings, including sparse arrays. In particular, for sparse arrays, the bandwidth enables suppression of grating-lobe amplitudes by spreading their energy over a wider angular range. An approximation of the grating lobe envelope as a function of the bandwidth-aperture product is provided.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.IT

Deterministic Johnson–Lindenstrauss Projections from Pisot $\beta$-Transformations for Zero-Knowledge Private Routing

Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs certify that a message belongs to an allowed semantic class without revealing the message, but the certificate compares a high-dimensional embedding against class centroids, so its cost grows with the embedding dimension $d$. A Johnson–Lindenstrauss (JL) projection lowers $d$ to $m\ll d$ while preserving pairwise distances, yet a random JL matrix must be committed and its sampling proved inside the circuit, which is costly and a leakage risk. We construct a public deterministic projection from the standardized orbit of a Pisot $\beta$-transformation, analyzed through the spectral gap of the $\beta$-map, the geometric decay of its correlations, rather than equidistribution. We prove that the induced squared-norm estimator is unbiased up to a term decaying geometrically with a sampling gap, and that its variance is $V_0/m$ with a constant $V_0$ that is dimension-free in experiment and, under one stated concentration hypothesis, in theory. A single public seed preserving all pairwise centroid distances therefore exists and is found by search. Against six standard projections, including the chaotic-sequence matrix of Yu et al., the construction matches statistical quality to within measurement noise, and it is the only one simultaneously free of in-circuit randomness and exactly reproducible in a fixed finite field at a per-step cost $\log_2\beta$ rather than $2^{k}$.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing

Wideband Large-Array Processing and Sparse Design for Angle Imaging

This paper shows that wideband large-array processing can recover a large number of angle pixels with far fewer antenna elements. The key advantage of wideband signaling is that different frequencies induce different virtual arrays, whose union forms a virtual array with a substantially increased number of effective virtual elements. Thus, a sparse physical array can support far more spatial samples than physical antennas. Motivated by this capability, we study the recovery of angular responses across the full field of view $[-90^\circ, 90^\circ)$, discretized according to the improved angular resolution, and refer to this sensing regime as angle imaging. However, the resulting virtual array is inherently irregular, clustered, and does not automatically guarantee stable recovery. To address this challenge, we introduce a coverage criterion that estimates the number of stably recoverable angle pixels, without computationally intensive singular-value-based conditioning tests over candidate image dimensions. For systems satisfying this criterion, we theoretically establish deterministic condition-number bounds that characterize stable angle imaging. Building on this criterion, we derive non-uniform sparse array designs that minimize the number of physical antennas while maintaining recovery over the full field of view. Simulation results show that the proposed criterion provides practical guidance for stable system design, and that the resulting sparse arrays can recover substantially more angle pixels than the number of physical antennas, with representative designs supporting over ten times as many angle pixels as physical antennas.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.AR

Dryas: A Reprogrammable Engine for High-Speed Interconnect Tracing and Analysis

The proliferation of heterogeneous components in modern computing systems has been accompanied by new higher bandwidth and lower latency interconnects. These interfaces and protocols are enormously complex and the process of developing, debugging, and analyzing FPGA-based implementations requires significant engineering work. Moreover, once a functional implementation is completed, optimization of the controller and associated software requires processing potentially hundreds of gigabytes of trace data. In this paper, we present Dryas, an open source tool for analyzing such an interconnect. We developed our tool, using minimal hardware resources, alongside an FPGA implementation of a very high speed, low latency (30~GiB/s, 200~ns) interconnect. With our run-time reprogrammable overlay engine we can inspect this interconnect to find rare, complex, or transient events even at full operation. This filtering engine is based on non-deterministic finite automata (NFAs), efficiently implemented using state transition elements (STEs), allowing us to trace events at a cache-line granularity. Moreover we can change the filters in less than a second, without reprogramming the FPGA or interfering with the running application. This data enables not only debugging the implementation of the interconnect itself, but analyzing the behavior of accelerated applications. We examine the mathematical basis for using NFAs and describe their implementation on a real coherent CPU-FPGA research platform. We then evaluate the scalability of Dryas for various size NFAs, followed by two different use cases: debugging FPGA implementation of the interconnect and analyzing cache behavior.
Read the full abstract

All authors Manuel Bröchin, Tom Kuchler, Michael Giardino, David Cock, Timothy Roscoe

Signal Processing

Input-Correlated Supervision Noise Limits the Benefits of OTA Training for Learned Receivers

While learned wireless receivers are typically studied using synthetic data, the impact of over-the-air (OTA) measurements for training remains unclear. We conducted a 5.88 GHz measurement campaign with a 5G/6G-like orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system across diverse environments and mobility conditions, and trained a neural channel estimator and a capacity-matched end-to-end neural receiver using mixtures of measured and synthetic data. Increasing the OTA fraction revealed a fundamental asymmetry: measured data consistently improved the end-to-end receiver, whereas the channel estimator peaked at an intermediate fraction and degraded with fully measured training. We identified supervision quality as a key contributor: OTA channel labels are derived from noisy received signals and therefore contain supervision errors correlated with the receiver input, whereas decoded bits validated by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) provide effectively error-free supervision. Denoising the channel labels mitigated the degradation, and a controlled simulation showed that label noise of equal power degrades the estimator far more when it is correlated with the input. For OTA training, end-to-end receivers thus benefit from fully measured data, whereas channel estimators benefit from moderate OTA fractions but require improved label quality.
Read the full abstract

All authors Riku Luostari, Dani Korpi, Olav Tirkkonen, Harri Holma

Signal Processing

GML-Based Optimization for Movable Antenna Wireless Networks: Challenges and Opportunities

Movable antenna (MA) is proposed as an emerging technology for future wireless networks. By leveraging the additional spatial degrees of freedom, MA can proactively reshape the wireless propagation environment, thereby enhancing network performance.However, fully unlocking the potential of MA networks necessitates the joint optimization of MA antenna positioning and beamforming. For this non-convex and highly coupled problem, existing solutions exhibit significant limitations. Therefore, this paper proposes a gradient-based meta learning (GML) optimization framework. Specifically, we first elaborate on the hardware architecture and channel characteristics of MA, based on which we analyze the primary challenges in optimizing MA wireless networks. Subsequently, we introduce the fundamental logic of the GML framework and compare it with existing methods. Furthermore, we discuss the constraint handling strategies for applying the proposed optimization framework to MA networks. A specific case is studied to show the performance of proposed framework based on numerical simulation. Finally, this paper outlines future research directions for both the GML framework and MA wireless networks.
Read the full abstract

All authors Zhendong Li, Yujie Zhao, Zhou Su, Tom H. Luan, Zhiqing Wei, Ying Wang, Wen Chen

Signal Processing

Efficient and Accurate Surrogate-Assisted Electromagnetic Parameter Calibration for 6G Digital Twin Channels

High-fidelity ray-tracing (RT) channel reconstruction is a fundamental step toward building digital twins for the era of 6G wireless communications. However, precise calibration of complex electromagnetic material parameters remains a dual challenge characterized by massive computational overhead and strict accuracy requirements. To overcome this bottleneck, we propose a Surrogate-assisted Grey Wolf Optimizer with Individual Memory (SGWO-IM) algorithm that simultaneously improves computational efficiency and calibration accuracy. In terms of computational efficiency, an online surrogate model is seamlessly embedded into the evaluation workflow for candidate pre-screening, substantially reducing the reliance on highly time-consuming real RT simulations. Regarding calibration accuracy, adaptive convergence and individual memory strategies are incorporated to optimize the global parameter search path, effectively enhancing the consistency between the reconstructed channel and measured data. Validated against measured channel data from a high-density urban scenario, the proposed algorithm requires only 225 real RT simulation calls compared to the 600 calls needed by the standard Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), cutting computational overhead by 62.5%. Concurrently, the final Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is substantially reduced from the 3.65 dB of GWO to 2.97 dB. The results demonstrate that the SGWO-IM algorithm achieves significant advancements in both efficiency and precision, providing a solution that effectively balances efficiency and accuracy for electromagnetic environment reconstruction.
Read the full abstract

All authors Xiaofan Zou, Pan Tang, Peijie Liu, Changyou Tai

Signal Processing

Antenna Positioning and Beamforming Optimization in MA Enabled Secure ISAC Systems: A Gradient-Based Meta Learning Approach

Integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) significantly improves spectral efficiency but introduces security risks regarding the interception of embedded communication signals. This paper proposes an movable antenna (MA)-enabled secure ISAC system that utilizes the spatial degrees of freedom of MA to mitigate these risks. Then, a problem is formulated to maximize the system secrecy rate by jointly optimizing antenna positioning, transmit beamforming, and artificial noise. However, the principal challenge arises from the non-convexity of the optimization problem and the strong coupling of the optimization variables. Generally, traditional optimization methods for this problem suffer from complex mathematical derivations, while existing deep learning approaches rely heavily on the training data distribution. To address these issues, we introduce a gradient-based meta learning (GML) algorithm, which works without pre-training and demonstrates favorable performance. Specifically, the algorithm establishes a neural network for each optimization variable, where the gradient of the objective function with respect to the variable serves as the input, and the output of the network determines the variable's update step. By handling the constraints and constructing penalty terms, the global loss function is used to guide the optimization process. Extensive numerical simulations confirm that the proposed algorithm achieves satisfactory performance in terms of both communication security and sensing capabilities.
Read the full abstract

All authors Zhendong Li, Yujie Zhao, Zhou Su, Xiao Tang, Zhiqing Wei, Ying Wang, Wen Chen

Signal Processing

Energy Efficiency Maximization for FAS-Assisted Downlink Communication in Mobile Embodied AI Networks (MEAN) over Interference Channels

In this paper, we investigate a fluid antenna system (FAS)-assisted downlink mobile embodied AI network (MEAN) over interference channels, where multiple base station (BS)-agent pairs reuse the same spectrum. The BSs employ FASs to improve the communication quality, while the mobile embodied artificial intelligence (AI) agents can adjust their positions according to environment-aware channel information, such as a channel-to-interference-plus-noise map (CINM). Considering both co-channel interference and the energy consumption caused by communication and agent movement, we formulate an energy efficiency (EE) maximization problem by jointly optimizing the agent positions, FAS port selections, and transmit powers. To solve this mixed-integer non-convex problem, we first derive the optimal transmit power in closed form for given agent positions and FAS ports. We then develop an iterative algorithm with adaptive FAS-port optimization and sequential agent-position optimization, together with a low-complexity power-update method. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed design outperforms the considered benchmark schemes and provides improved feasibility under severe noise conditions.
Read the full abstract

All authors Ruopeng Xu, Zhaohui Yang, Jiaxiang Wang, Chenliang Wu, Zhaoyang Zhang

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.LG

The Impact of Temporal Context Length and Encoding Strategies on Self-Supervised ECG Representation Learning

Self-supervised electrocardiogram (ECG) models are often trained on a few seconds of ECG signal and, increasingly, on discretized token sequences. It remains unclear whether these choices sacrifice information needed for rhythm inference and longitudinal consistency in real-world ambulatory recordings. We present a controlled study on the Icentia11k single-lead dataset that varies (i) the input horizon (16 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes) and (ii) the front-end representation (continuous convolutional patch embeddings vs. fixed vector-quantized tokens), while holding the Transformer backbone and training protocol constant. Representations are assessed by downstream abnormal rhythm detection and by patient-level retrieval that probes cross-session stability. Our results show that increasing temporal context beyond 16-second snapshots yields stronger transfer and higher retrieval accuracy, with the strongest performance achieved by the 5- and 10-minute models, indicating improved capture of slow-varying rhythm dynamics and individual-specific structure. Across all evaluated horizons, continuous patch embeddings outperform discretized tokens, suggesting that quantization can discard clinically relevant waveform detail. These findings motivate ECG foundation models that emphasize extended context and continuous encoders for clinical prediction and similarity-based applications. Our code and pretrained models are publicly available at https://github.com/muha-0/ecg-ssl-representation-learning.
Read the full abstract

Wednesday 12 August

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.HC

Speech-muscle coupling at jaw and ear electrodes: a volume-conductor model with orientation and electrode-count controls

Objective. We compared how strongly speech-muscle sources couple to electrodes on the jaw and around the ear, and tested sensitivity to source orientation, electrode count, and anatomical detail. Approach. Using reciprocity in MIDA (116 labelled compartments, 500 micrometres), we evaluated 22 electrode positions against ten segmented articulators. Muscle was modelled as both source and conducting tissue. Comparisons used equal electrode counts and a hemisphere orientation sweep, with anatomy-derived fibre models for temporalis and lateral pterygoid. Results. Orbicularis oris, buccinator, mentalis, depressor anguli oris, and platysma favoured the jaw at every sampled orientation and tested electrode subset. Temporalis showed a 2.57 dB ear advantage under the uniform sweep, reduced to 1.15 dB with the derived fibre field. Its jaw-minus-ear interval [-1.45, +5.46] dB crossed zero; 50.5% of four-site ear subsets favoured the ear. The derived lateral-pterygoid interval [-5.33, -1.12] dB favoured the ear at the fixed jaw basis. Both derived constructions have unresolved anatomical limitations. Simplifying non-muscle soft-tissue conductivities preserved montage assignments while changing gaps by up to 3.27 dB. Significance. In this head model, jaw placement better captures lip and chin activity. Ear-side preferences depend on source assumptions and electrode selection. Targeted four-site placement improved lateral-pterygoid coupling by 1.07 dB over the median random ear montage. These coupling predictions require experimental testing.
Read the full abstract

2610.03723 · 12 Aug · Revised title, abstract and text. Reported both derived fibre models; clarified protocol history and current-normalization limits. Added a graphical abstract, 116 conductivity rows and a volume-only Supplementary Figure S1. Existing numerical results and numbered figure assets are unchanged. Code: https://github.com/Somach-Systems-Inc/ear-emg-forward-model

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.IT

Fronthaul-Efficient Cell-Free Massive MIMO via Stream-Adaptive Resolution Control

We consider the uplink of a fronthaul-constrained cell-free massive MIMO system with a single multi-antenna user equipment (UE) transmitting multiple spatial streams to distributed access points (APs). Due to heterogeneous channel conditions and limited fronthaul capacity, uniform-resolution quantization across APs and streams is highly inefficient. To address this, we propose a stream- and AP-adaptive resolution control framework that jointly optimizes the transmit power and per-AP per-stream quantization resolutions. By leveraging a distributed implementation of singular-value decomposition (SVD)-based processing, the data streams are decoupled at the APs, enabling flexible fronthaul compression across both spatial streams and APs. The resulting non-convex optimization problem is tackled using a weighted minimum mean-squared error (WMMSE)-based block coordinate descent algorithm with semi-closed-form updates.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.IT

Joint Quantized Precoding and Bit Allocation for Fronthaul-Constrained Cell-Free Massive MIMO

We study quantization-aware precoding for the downlink of cell-free massive MIMO systems with limited-resolution fronthaul. In such systems, the centrally designed precoder must be quantized before being conveyed to distributed access points (APs), creating a strong coupling between precoder design and fronthaul compression. To capture this effect, we develop an end-to-end signal model based on Bussgang decomposition, where the quantization distortion depends explicitly on the precoder coefficients. Building on this model, we formulate a joint precoding and bit allocation problem under per-AP power constraints and a total fronthaul bit budget. We propose an efficient block coordinate descent algorithm that iteratively updates the precoder, receive scaling, and distortion levels. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms uniform bit allocation and quantization-unaware precoding schemes, particularly in fronthaul-limited regimes.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from math.ST

Universality of e-detectors for ARL control

An e-detector for a pre-change class $\mathcal P$ is a nonnegative process $M$ such that $\mathbb E_P[M_\tau] \leq \mathbb E_P[\tau]$ for all stopping times $\tau$ and all $P \in \mathcal P$. Thresholding e-detectors controls the average run length (ARL): declaring a change at the first time $T_b$ when $M$ crosses $b$ ensures that $\inf_{P \in \mathcal P}\mathbb E_P[T] \geq b$. But e-detectors do substantially more than control the ARL; they also satisfy a optional-horizon inequality: \[ P(T_b\leq\sigma)\leq \mathbb E_P[\sigma]/b \] for every data-dependent stopping time (monitoring horizon) \(\sigma\) and $P\in \mathcal P$. In particular, every e-detector-based procedure obeys $P(T\leq t)\leq t/b$ at each fixed $t$, thus avoiding early false alarms. Remarkably, the converse also holds: every stopping time $T$ that satisfies the optional-horizon inequality must in fact arise from thresholding an e-detector. We also derive a universal representation of stopping times that satisfy (only) ARL control. These are represented by weak e-detectors, that only require $\mathbb E_P[M_\tau] \leq \mathbb E_P[\tau]$ to hold at all threshold stopping times $T_b$. Appendices present universal representations for other (less common) change detection metrics.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing

Feasibility and Convex Design of Probe-Position Matching in a Scanning X-Band Radar Array

The probe position of a microstrip element is normally chosen from the isolated-element input resistance. This paper replaces that procedure with a decision available before any array optimisation. A single Floquet unit-cell solution at one arbitrary probe position is decomposed into a feed inductance, a transformer ratio carrying the probe position, and an array-loaded resonator. Three closed-form results follow. The set of input impedances reachable by probe position and resonant length is a disk in the impedance plane. An exact match to a real reference Z0 exists if and only if Rp >= Z0 + Xp^2/Z0. When this fails, the best attainable reflection follows from the image of that disk under the bilinear map. Admitting one series reactance as a second variable, the worst-case reflection over a scan sector is shown to be quasiconvex and globally solvable by bisection. The results are applied to a sixteen-element X-band array and the corresponding 16x24 lattice. For the array considered, the isolated interior element is matched to -16.94 dB while the broadside active reflection is -6.6 dB. For the two-dimensional lattice the criterion is violated at every scan angle, and the minimax design improves the worst-case sector reflection from -2.6 to -11.1 dB. Both matching designs are predictions of the extracted circuit model and have not been re-solved in the full-wave model.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.HC

Analysis of Motor Signatures of Social Adaptation in Autism for Efficient Human-Centric Systems

Dance imitation integrates motor planning, sensorimotor integration, and social cognition, offering a sensitive framework to characterize motor behavior in autism. In this work, we explore a computational analysis framework to identify potential biomarkers that allow the design and development of improved medical and human-machine systems. We analyzed 3D motion capture data from autistic and neurotypical adults performing dance imitation under solo and socially-framed duo conditions. Methodologically, using Dynamic Time Warping, we quantified movement consistency and propose the Social Context Sensitivity Index (SCSI) to measure modulation of variability by social framing. These features were then used on a classifier to discriminate subjects into autistic or neurotypical groups. Results show that neurotypical adults exhibited increased movement variability in socially-framed imitation, especially in upper and lower limbs, whereas autistic adults maintained consistent movement across contexts. Classification achieved 79.2% balanced accuracy in distinguishing groups. These findings suggest that social context sensitivity in motor imitation constitutes a robust biomarker of autism-related motor behavior, highlighting the importance of social modulation in motor assessments and informing the development of inclusive human-centric technologies.
Read the full abstract

All authors Lara Pereira, Teresa Sousa, Miguel Castelo-Branco, João Ruivo Paulo

Signal Processing

RSMA-Enabled ISAC Networks with Fluid Antenna Systems: Stochastic Geometry Analysis and Low-Complexity Resource Allocation

In this paper, we investigate the downlink performance of multi-cell RSMA-enabled ISAC networks in which base stations (BSs), communication users, and sensing targets are spatially distributed according to independent Poisson point processes (PPPs). Each BS simultaneously serves multiple users using RSMA while exploiting the common stream as a dual-functional communication and sensing waveform. The users are equipped with FAS that selects the best antenna port to maximize the received signal quality. Closed-form analytical expressions are derived for the ergodic sum-rates by combining stochastic geometry, order statistics, and Laplace-transform-based interference analysis. Furthermore, a tractable approximation for the average radar SINR is developed by characterizing the statistical properties of the common precoder. Leveraging the derived analytical expressions, a low-complexity analytical resource allocation framework is proposed to jointly optimize the RSMA power allocation, the communication-sensing beam tradeoff, and the number of scheduled users while sat- isfying the sensing quality-of-service constraint. Compared with conventional iterative optimization approaches, the proposed analytical design significantly reduces computational complexity while achieving nearly identical communication performance. Simulation results verify the accuracy of the developed analytical expressions and demonstrate substantial improvements in both RSMA sum-rate and sensing performance over conventional transmission schemes.
Read the full abstract

All authors Abdelhamid Salem, Hana Shamata, Salma Elkawafi, Khaled M. Rabie, Xingwang Li, Turki Essa Alharbi, Mohammed S. Alzaidi

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.IT

Satellite Infrastructure Sharing: Orbit-Structured Stochastic Geometry Modeling and Connectivity Analysis in Heterogeneous Satellite Networks

This paper develops an analytical framework to evaluate the feasibility and performance of satellite infrastructure sharing among multiple low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators. Motivated by the growing demand for universal connectivity under limited satellite resources, the proposed model captures uncoordinated deployments where independently operated constellations coexist without predefined orbital agreements. To describe such heterogeneous configurations, the spherical Cox point process is employed to jointly generate orbital structures and satellites. Then, each satellite is further assigned a random communication range, reflecting variations in coverage capability across operators. The overall coverage region is modeled through a spherical Cox-Boolean model that captures the spatial overlap of individual satellite spherical footprints on Earth. Using the proposed framework, the feasibility and benefits of satellite infrastructure sharing are mathematically analyzed, and closed-form expressions are derived for key performance metrics such as the connection probability, connection number, and downlink signal characteristics including the nearest serving distance, total received signal power, and the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) distribution in the interference-limited regime. The analytical results, validated through system-level simulations, provide a tractable characterization of how orbital geometry governs coverage, connectivity, and interference, and reveal the inherent trade-offs induced by coverage overlap in heterogeneous satellite constellations.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from cs.CV

Few-Shot Ordinal Learning for Day-Wise Freshness Estimation with Hyperspectral Fish Images

Non-destructive food quality assessment has increasingly benefited from hyperspectral imaging (HSI), which captures spectral signatures linked to biochemical changes during storage. Estimating day-wise freshness, however, remains challenging owing to strong inter-fillet variability and scarce labelled data per product. All existing deep learning approaches for HSI-based freshness prediction operate under full supervision, requiring densely annotated training sets that are costly to obtain at the individual-product level. We introduce, to the best of our knowledge, the first few-shot learning framework for HSI-based food quality estimation. Each fillet defines a distinct episodic task, and a CORAL-style ordinal prediction head captures the ranked nature of freshness progression through cumulative threshold modelling. Biologically grounded monotonicity and embedding smoothness constraints further guide predictions toward plausible trajectories. On a 16-day salmon HSI dataset under a strict unseen-fillet protocol, our method achieves a mean absolute error of 1.58 days and 2-day accuracy of 72.3% with only three labelled days per fillet, substantially outperforming scalar regression and label-distribution baselines under an identical unseen-fillet protocol.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing

Apnea Burden-Guided Framework: Enhancing Out-of-Distribution Generalization in PPG-Based Sleep Apnea Characterization

Sleep apnea is a common sleep-related breathing disorder associated with substantial cardiovascular and metabolic risk. Although overnight polysomnography remains the reference standard for diagnosis, its complexity and cost limit its suitability for long-term preventive monitoring at home. In wearable systems, arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) is commonly used as the main predictor, whereas additional morphological features of the photoplethysmographic (PPG) pulse wave are usually underexplored. This study proposes a novel apnea burden prediction-based framework for sleep apnea severity assessment and investigates the influence of PPG features on model performance and out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization. The proposed framework first predicts apnea burden as a continuous measure, which is subsequently converted into the clinically relevant apnea-hypopnea index for subject-level classification into four severity groups in both in-distribution (ID) and OOD data. Three artificial neural network architectures were evaluated, and the performance metrics were averaged over five independent runs with different fixed random seeds. During OOD testing, the combination of PPG features and SpO2 led to increases of approximately 15.72% in macro-sensitivity, 9.22% in macro-accuracy, 16.01% in macro-F1-score, 11.08% in Cohen's kappa, and 13.22% in Matthews correlation coefficient, compared with using SpO2 alone. The low-complexity convolutional-recurrent models achieved the highest overall performance. The results indicated that the proposed apnea burden-guided framework, combined with PPG features and SpO2, improves sleep apnea characterization while showing encouraging OOD performance on an independent external dataset. Moreover, simpler hybrid architectures demonstrated strong potential for robust home-based preventive monitoring.
Read the full abstract

All authors Mantas Rinkevičius, Oskar Pfeffer, Amal Alissa, Nando Hegemann, Vaidotas Marozas

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from eess.IV

Domain-Aware Lightweight Spectral-Grouped Convolutions for Hyperspectral Fish Freshness Classification

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) offers nondestructive assessment of fish freshness by detecting biochemical alterations across spectral bands. However, conventional deep learning approaches do not fully address the particular characteristics of HSI data, such as spectral dominance over spatial textures, ordinal label structure, and a small number of training samples. We propose SGNet (Spectral-Grouped Network), a lightweight architecture that separates spectral and spatial feature extraction using grouped convolutions and a depthwise spatial pathway. A dual attention mechanism that couples channel-wise squeeze-and-excitation with spatial gating adaptively highlights informative features. SGNet achieves 97.8% classification accuracy and 0.64 days mean absolute error (MAE) with just 4.75M parameters when tested on our newly developed 16-day refrigerator-stored salmon fillet dataset. Ablation studies validate the contribution of each component, while comparisons demonstrate a five- to eighteen-fold parameter reduction relative to ResNet-50 and Vision Transformers. Our findings indicate that domain-aware design supports precise, real-time freshness prediction for industrial implementation.
Read the full abstract

Signal Processing

Effects of Tool Wear on the Surface Texture in Turning: A Feature Characterization Approach Based on ISO 21920-2

The surface texture of a turned component acts as a fingerprint of both the process parameters and the tool wear condition, imaging the cutting edge. Classical surface parameters such as $R_\mathrm{a}$ or $R_\mathrm{q}$ describe the topography only globally and allow no spatially resolved evaluation of the process-induced deterministic structures. This work investigates how far the feature characterization standardized in ISO 21920-2 makes this wear information accessible and physically interpretable. The database comprises roughness profiles of twelve AlTiN-coated carbide inserts (CNMG120408) machining normalized AISI 1045 steel, measured at nine wear states over the entire tool life, with three replicate profiles per state. The correlation of standardized field and feature parameters with crater wear, flank wear, and cutting time is first examined. Watershed segmentation is then adapted to extract the rotational tool grooves and evaluate their geometry statistically. A newly developed mean-feature approach decomposes the profile into a deterministic and a stochastic component. Wear-induced changes are almost entirely carried by the deterministic component, and within it by the trailing flank of the cutting groove. A comparison with confocal measurements confirms that the mean feature reconstructs the engaged cutting edge geometry, with the trailing-flank steepening attributable to notch wear on the secondary cutting edge. An exhaustive evaluation of more than 920,000 feature characterization combinations and multivariate models reveals that the groove-level mean maximum absolute gradient $\overline{R_\mathrm{dt}}_\mathrm{groove}$ alone explains 83-90% of the variance of the wear indicators, so that a single, physically motivated parameter suffices for robust wear estimation. A follow-up study will investigate inline monitoring using scattered light sensors.
Read the full abstract

All authors Alexander Müller, Maximilian Berndt, Hagen Schmidt, Lars Müller, Matthias Eifler, Eberhard Kerscher, Benjamin Kirsch, Jörg Seewig

Signal Processing

Hybrid STAR-RIS Architecture for Joint Localization, Communication, and Power Transfer

We propose a hybrid simultaneously transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (STAR-RIS) architecture with dynamically switched active and passive elements to support joint localization, communication, and wireless power transfer (WPT). We first pursue a parallel factor analysis with the alternating least squares (PARAFAC-ALS)-based tensor decomposition approach that decouples the base station (BS)-reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) and RIS-user channels, thereby enabling low-overhead channel acquisition. Based on this, we formulate a system energy efficiency (EE) maximization problem, subject to the spectral efficiency (SE) requirements of communication users, sensing signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio constraints, and the nonlinear energy harvesting requirements of energy-harvesting users. The optimization problem is nonconvex since the transmit power allocation, STAR-RIS coefficients, and active/passive mode assignments are tightly coupled in both the objective and constraints. We address this issue by alternating between two subproblems, and solving them via fractional programming, successive convex approximation and a multi-seed greedy strategy employed as an initialization step. Numerical results demonstrate that selectively activating a small, well-chosen subset of STAR-RIS elements achieves 1.5 to 3 times EE improvements compared with fully passive/active architectures, while satisfying communication, sensing, and power-transfer requirements.
Read the full abstract

All authors Haoran Ni, Mohammadali Mohammadi, Xidong Mu, Hien Quoc Ngo, Michail Matthaiou

Signal Processing

Lightweight Single-Antenna Direction-of-Arrival Estimation for Curvilinear Trajectories in Mobile Embedded Systems

Accurate direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation is valuable for spatially selective communication in noisy industrial environments. This work investigates a lightweight single-antenna framework in which receiver motion forms a virtual aperture. The receiver uses onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) headings and two-way-ranging (TWR) measurements to a known fixed beacon, avoiding GPS, optical tracking, and high-precision external tracking of the mobile receiver. The curvilinear virtual-array MUSIC formulation is evaluated numerically using phase-coherent narrowband snapshots over arbitrary trajectories. Hardware experiments validate a range- domain TWR-IMU bearing estimator using corrected and averaged ranging observations. In a campaign of 100 consecutive four-revolution sweeps, all trials are retained. Phase-aligned accumulation recovers a 123 mm range-modulation amplitude, in close agreement with the measured 120 mm antenna lever arm. The single-sweep bearing precision is 8.2{\deg} absolute world-frame accuracy is limited by systematic BNO055 magnetometer drift in the motorized setup. The embedded bearing-estimation computation consumes 144.9 mJ per estimate, approximately 3 % of the measured cycle energy in the tested configuration. These results establish the feasibility of onboard range-domain bearing estimation and motivate future experimental validation of phase-coherent MUSIC during free-form mobile trajectories.
Read the full abstract

All authors Nour Zidi, Jérémie Voix, Pascal Giard, Lokman Sboui

Signal Processing · Cross-listed from q-bio.NC

Beyond Local Power: Functional Connectivity Analysis for Subject-Independent Learning Style Recognition

Identifying individual learning styles optimizes pedagogical efficacy. While traditional questionnaires are structured, behavioral tracking methods require prolonged interaction log accumulation. To overcome these temporal constraints, this paper proposes an objective Electroencephalography (EEG) approach evaluating Phase Locking Value (PLV) connectivity against localized features across the Active-Reflective (AR) and Verbal-Visual (VV) Felder-Silverman dimensions. EEG signals were recorded from 28 participants during Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices tasks. Support Vector Machine classification used Leave-One-Subject-Out Cross-Validation (LOSO-CV) alongside a 70:30 intra-subject split. The VV dimension achieved 70.00% subject-level accuracy driven by distinct fronto-occipital polarization. Conversely, the AR dimension yielded lower cross-subject generalizability (55.56%) due to overlapping executive networks and a "Systematic Neural Inversion" phenomenon, where stable individual connectivity signatures operated diametrically opposed to global boundaries (up to 20-0 voting margins). Ultimately, these outcomes demonstrate that rigid "one-size-fits-all" classifiers are bounded by biological diversity, emphasizing the need for future adaptive feature transformation techniques to bridge the cross-subject generalization gap.
Read the full abstract

All authors Wiga Maulana Baihaqi, Indriana Hidayah, Sri Kusrohmaniah, Noor Akhmad Setiawan

Signal Processing

Latent variable models for simultaneous EOV identification and removal in population-based SHM

The robust treatment of environmental and operational variability (EOV) is an open challenge in population-based structural health monitoring (PBSHM). The difficulty is compounded in the case that the EOV signals are unmeasured. A common approach in conventional SHM is to apply projection-based methods that discard subspaces of healthy feature data, reasoning that the EOV signal dominates the variance of the measured features. However, a common pitfall of projection-based approaches is that when damage acts close to the same variance-dominant direction, damage sensitivity is removed along with the EOV. An alternative identifying assumption for the removal of particular unmeasured EOVs is slowness; the latent EOV process is characterised by its long temporal correlation. In this paper, the latent EOV is cast as a state-space Gaussian process, enabling tractable $\mathcal{O}(T)$ inference via a Kalman filter. A robust hierarchical Bayesian identification framework is developed that enables population-level identification of latent EOVs and EOV-free residual features, using a Laplace approximation. The approach is first validated on a single laboratory-scale benchmark structure from the literature, subject to thermal EOVs, demonstrating robust damage detection and EOV recovery. The method is then applied to a simulated nine-turbine offshore wind farm with staggered deployment and damage, where it delivers a substantial true-positive uplift over projection and cointegration-based baselines at matched false-positive rates.
Read the full abstract

All authors M. D. Champneys, M. R. Jones, A. J. Hughes, T. J. Rogers, E.J. Cross, K. Worden

Signal Processing

Disaster Information Reachability of Medium-Wave AM Broadcasting as a Wide-Area Disaster Information Infrastructure: Lessons from the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake

The 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake caused widespread power outages, communication failures, and road disruptions, and a tsunami warning was issued immediately after the earthquake, highlighting the importance of reliable disaster information transmission. The Noto Peninsula is surrounded by the sea on three sides and has limited transportation networks, making community isolation and securing reliable information transmission critical challenges. This study defines "Disaster Information Reachability" as the capacity to deliver necessary information to those who need it when they need it, and examines the role of medium-wave AM broadcasting from this perspective. In September 2024, the author conducted a mobile reception survey from Kanazawa to Suzu City and a fixed-point reception survey in Suzu City using commercially available radio receivers and passive radio receivers, including HOOPRA. Medium-wave stations in Niigata, Toyama, Akita, and Tokyo were clearly received, although the local NHK Kanazawa stations were affected by noise. The nationwide high-power NHK Radio 2 network, which was still operational at the time, was confirmed to provide a wide-area, multidirectional reception pathway through maritime propagation, demonstrating its critical significance as a redundant disaster information infrastructure. The fact that FM relay station damage was documented in subsequent policy materials, while medium-wave AM broadcasting received no explicit attention, suggests that its disaster information reachability remains insufficiently recognized. Medium-wave AM broadcasting, with its wide-area simultaneous broadcast capability, high-power coverage, and maritime propagation characteristics, functions effectively as a disaster information infrastructure in peninsular regions and warrants reassessment in preparation for large-scale disasters such as a Nankai Trough megaquake.
Read the full abstract