Understand Human Behaviours with IoT Sensors: From Physical to Physiological Sensing

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering


PhD Thesis Defence


Title: "Understand Human Behaviours with IoT Sensors: From Physical to 
Physiological Sensing"

By

Mr. Wentao XIE


Abstract:

This thesis explores the design of Internet of Things (IoT) sensing systems to 
understand human behaviours, in the physical and physiological aspects. The 
objectives of this thesis are three-fold: (i) to study and showcase new sensing 
principles to capture physical and physiological human behaviours, (ii) to 
design innovative algorithms and techniques to analyse the physical and 
physiological indicators, and (iii) to demonstrate various applications where 
behavioural sensing can be enabled with IoT sensors. These objectives are 
fulfilled with five research attempts, where each attempt presents the complete 
problem formulation, technical design, system implementation, application 
showcase and empirical study development cycle. The first two attempts focus on 
physical sensing and propose two novel eyewear interaction methods enabled by 
facial and rim gestures, which are achieved with miniature ultrasonic and 
vibrational sensors. The last three attempts focus on physiological sensing and 
present a series of new home-based pulmonary health management systems using 
ubiquitous speakers, earphones, and depth cameras.


Date:                   Friday, 2 August 2024

Time:                   10:00am - 12:00noon

Venue:                  Room 5508
                        Lifts 25/26

Chairman:               Prof. Kim-Pong TAM (SOSC)

Committee Members:      Prof. Qian ZHANG (Supervisor)
                        Dr. Jin ZHANG (Co-supervisor, SUSTech)
                        Prof. Gary CHAN
                        Prof. Song GUO
                        Dr. Jun ZHANG (ECE)
                        Dr. Yuanqing ZHENG (PolyU)