Dr Tianhua Xu

Biography

Dr. Xu is a Reader at the University of Warwick. He received his PhD degree in Optical Communications and Intelligent Signal Processing from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. He subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at KTH and RISE Acreo Sweden, and as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Prior to joining Warwick, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at University College London (UCL), where he currently also holds an Honorary Lecturer position.

Dr. Xu’s research interests include optical communications, optical sensing, intelligent signal processing, and machine learning techniques. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and a Senior Member of the American Physical Society (APS). He serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Communications and the Journal of the European Optical Society-RP. He has previously served as Chair of the Optics in Digital Systems Technical Group of OPTICA and as a Technical Programme Committee (TPC) co-chair or member for over 20 IEEE conferences, including GLOBECOM and ICC.

Dr. Xu is the Coordinator of two EU Horizon Europe projects, the Project Manager of an EU Horizon 2020 project, and the Principal Investigator of a UK National Grid-funded project, with total funding exceeding £3.8 million as Coordinator or Principal Investigator. He has published over 105 journal papers and 80 conference papers, including more than 30 invited papers, as well as two 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 3759, H-index 34, I10-index 79) 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 Networks

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, L Tian
• 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