Dr Tianhua Xu

Biography

Dr. Xu received his Ph.D. degree in the area of Optical Communications and Intelligent Signal Processing in School of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. Following this, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at KTH and RISE Acreo Sweden and a visiting Research Fellow at Technical University of Denmark (DTU). After that, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow in Optical Networks Group (ONG) at University College London (UCL). Dr. Xu is a Reader in School of Engineering at University of Warwick, and he is also an Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London (UCL).

His current research interests include optical communication, optical sensing, intelligent signal processing, and machine learning techniques. He is a Senior Member of American Physical Society (APS) and a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (HEA). Dr. Xu is an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Communications and Journal of the European Optical Society-RP. He has served as the Chair of Optics in the Digital Systems Technical Group of the Optical Society of America (Optica) and as the TPC co-chair or member of over 20 IEEE conferences, including GLOBECOM and ICC. He is the coordinator of an EU Horizon Europe Grant, the project manager for an EU Horizon 2020 Grant and the PI for a UK National Grid Project. He has published over 180 journal and conference papers (including over 30 invited) and 2 invited book chapters.

Research Interests

• Intelligent Signal Processing, Machine Learning Techniques
• Optical Communication Networks, Optical Sensing Systems
• Optical Integrated Sensing and Communication
• Advanced Energy Systems, Batteries, Smart Grid
• Semantic Communication over Optical Channels

Teaching Interests

• ES4C4 Optical Communication Systems
• ES335 Communications Systems
• ES327/CS351 Undergraduate Student Projects
• ES97N MSc Student Projects

Selected Publications

Full Publication ListLink opens in a new window and my Google ScholarLink opens in a new window (Citations 3545, H-index 34, I10-index 77) pages can be found here.

Machine Learning in Optical Sensing Systems

1. “Dual-resonance optical fiber lossy mode resonance immunoprobe for serum PSA detectionLink opens in a new window,” [Elsevier] Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Vol.271, pp.117049, 2025. (IF: 10.5)
2. “Hollow-microsphere-integrated optofluidic immunochip for myocardial infarction biomarker microanalysisLink opens in a new window,” [Elsevier] Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Vol.248, pp.115970, 2024. (IF: 10.5)
3. “Lossy mode resonance optical fiber enhanced by electrochemical-molecularly imprinted polymers for glucose detectionLink opens in a new window,” ACS Sensors, Vol.9, pp.6185, 2024. (IF: 9.1)
4. “Optimally configured optical fiber near-field enhanced plasmonic resonance immunoprobe for the detection of Alpha-FetoproteinLink opens in a new window,” [Wiley] Advanced Science, Vol.10, pp.202207437, 2023. (IF: 14.1)
5. “Liquid crystal -amplified optofluidic biosensor for ultra-highly sensitive and stable protein assayLink opens in a new window,” [Springer Nature] PhotoniX, Vol.2, pp.18, 2021. (IF: 19.1)

Machine Learning in Optical Communication Systems

1. “A module to enhance the generalization ability of end-to-end deep learning systems in optical fiber communicationsLink opens in a new window,” [IEEE/OPTICA] Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol.43, pp.596, 2025.
2. “Adaptive autoencoder-based probabilistic shaping in nonlinear optical communication systems considering equalization-enhanced phase noiseLink opens in a new window,” [IEEE/OPTICA] Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol.43, pp.9568, 2025.
3. "A low-cost multi-band waveform security framework in resource-constrained communicationsLink opens in a new window," IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, Vol.23, pp.9190, 2024. (IF: 10.7)
4. “Autonomous microlasers for profiling extracellular vesicles from cancer spheroidsLink opens in a new window,” [ACS] Nano Letters, Vol.23, pp.2502, 2023. (IF: 9.1)

Machine Learning in Advanced Energy, Batteries, Smart Grid Systems

1. “Distributed model predictive control strategy for multi-energy virtual power plant based on digital twinLink opens in a new window,” IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, In Press, 2026. (IF: 9.8)
2. “A benchmarking study of instance segmentation methods for photovoltaic cell defect detection using electroluminescence imagesLink opens in a new window,” [Elsevier] Solar Energy, Vol.303, pp.114083, 2026. (IF: 6.6)
3. “A review of automated solar photovoltaic defect detection systems: Approaches, challenges, and future orientationsLink opens in a new window,” [Elsevier] Solar Energy, Vol.266, pp.112186, 2023. (IF: 6.6)

Academic Books

1. “Higher-order modulation formats, constellation design, and DSP for high-speed transmission systems,” Chapter 9 in [Elsevier] Optical Fiber Telecommunications VIILink opens in a new window, Academic Press, Oxford, 2020.

Funded Projects and Grants

Professional Activities and Memberships

Research Teams

• Postdoctoral Research Fellows: Dr H Yan
• Current PhD Students: Y Wu, U Hijjawi, Y Wang, F Tian, X Cai, X Zhou, Helen Sun
• Completed PhD Students: Dr W Hu (2023), Dr C Jin (2023), Dr D Alqahtani (2023), Dr C Liu (2024), Dr J Wang (2024), Dr J Uduagbomen (2025)

Vacancies

• PhD applications by excellent overseas candidates towards the Chancellor's International Scholarship (CIS)Link opens in a new window, the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC)Link opens in a new window, the Monash-Warwick Joint PhD scholarshipsLink opens in a new window and the EUTOPIA PhD studentshipsLink opens in a new window.
• Externally-/Industry-/Self-funded applicants to the PhD projects and the MSc by research projects
• Research Fellow applications via EU MSCA FellowshipsLink opens in a new window and EUTOPIA SIF FellowshipsLink opens in a new window
• Visiting PhD Students and Visiting Research Fellows

• Warwick holds a directory of scholarship informationLink opens in a new window for eligible international and national applicants

Topics for PhD Students and Research Fellows

• Machine Learning Techniques in Optical Communication Systems
• Intelligent Signal Processing for Optical Sensing Systems
• Integrated Sensing and Communication Systems
• Semantic Communications; Advanced Energy, Batteries, Smart Grid Systems

Topics for Research Visitors

• Optical Communication Systems and Networks
• Machine Learning and Intelligent Signal Processing
• Optical Sensing Systems, Optical Fibre Sensing and Opto-Electronics
• Semantic Communications over Optical Channels
• Advanced Energy, Batteries, Smart Grid Systems