UTA professor earns NSF CAREER Award
Dianqi Han, an assistant professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, received a Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation to advance his research and education initiatives.
The award, known as CAREER, is the NSF’s highest honor for junior faculty. Recipients are recognized as outstanding researchers who will become leaders in educational excellence and in the integration of education and research at their home institutions.
The $584,797 grant will enable Dr. Han to use millimeter-wave (mmWave)-powered sensing as a unified, scalable and cost-effective foundation to detect, authenticate and assess drones, as well as to secure their communications with Internet of Things (IoT) systems.
“This technology can be applied to any application, whether with unmanned aerial vehicles or in industrial or warehouse applications,” said Han, who joined UTA in 2022. “All you need is a radar, a central controller and a backend server. It is low-cost and easy to implement. We are focusing on small drones because they are more difficult to detect. If you can capture a small drone, it will be no problem to capture a large one.”
mmWave technology uses radar that can be small enough to fit in the palm of a hand to identify, track and authenticate drones. For detection and tracking, the radar signal can be concentrated in a specific direction for higher-quality refraction and better tracking. For authentication, the radar can detect mechanical features that are registered to a system and compare it to a profile.
The technology can also be used to securely establish communications between a drone and an IoT device. Both the radar and the device share common characteristics, and they can be programmed to form a common key that is unique to their pairing and prevent attackers from guessing the security key.
“We are very proud of Dr. Han for receiving the NSF CAREER Award,” said Hong Jiang, chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department. “His research is a unique way of increasing security between drones and IoT devices that has potential for use in so many environments. It is encouraging to see a young faculty member taking technology in a new direction.”
— Written by Jeremy Agor, College of Engineering
About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)
The University of Texas at Arlington is a growing public research university in the heart of Dallas-Fort Worth. With a student body of over 42,700, UTA is the second-largest institution in the University of Texas System, offering more than 180 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Recognized as a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA stands among the nation’s top 5% of institutions for research activity. UTA and its 300,000 alumni generate an annual economic impact of $28.8 billion for the state. The University has received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and has earned recognition for its focus on student access and success, considered key drivers to economic growth and social progress for North Texas and beyond.