VLDB 2026 Research / reviewers in the wild / expert
Rafael Berkvens
dblp:153/7756
· DBLP profile ↗
22ranked-venue papers
4as first author
13since 2021 · last 2026
0000-0003-0064-5020ORCID · verified
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Applied, interdisciplinary, general and emerging computing · 7 · 3 first-author · 1 since 2021Computer networks · 5 · 4 since 2021Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 2 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021Graphics, computer vision, multimedia, augmented reality and games · 2 · 2 since 2021Systems, architecture and hardware · 1 · 1 first-authorHuman-computer interaction and ubiquitous computing · 1 · 1 since 2021
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Beyond Sub-6 GHz: Leveraging mmWave Wi-Fi for Gait-Based Person IdentificationabstractPerson identification plays a vital role in enabling intelligent, personalized, and secure human-computer interaction. Recent research has demonstrated the feasibility of leveraging Wi-Fi signals for passive person identification using a person’s unique gait pattern. Although most existing work focuses on sub-6 GHz frequencies, the emergence of mmWave offers new opportunities through its finer spatial resolution, though its comparative advantages for person identification remain unexplored. This work presents the first comparative study between sub-6 GHz and mmWave Wi-Fi signals for person identification with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Wi-Fi, using a novel dataset of synchronized measurements from the two frequency bands in an indoor environment. To ensure a fair comparison, we apply identical training pipelines and model configurations across both frequency bands. Leveraging end-to-end deep learning, we show that even at low sampling rates (10 Hz), mmWave Wi-Fi signals can achieve high identification accuracy (91.2% on 20 individuals) when combined with effective background subtraction. Nabeel Nisar Bhat, Maksim Karnaukh, Jakob Struye, Rafael Berkvens, Jeroen Famaey |
CCNC | 4 |
| 2026 | MultiSenseVR: An open multimodal dataset for human pose estimation and perception in interactive VRabstractCurrent Virtual Reality (VR) systems rely on inside-out visual-inertial tracking, which enables accurate localization but provides only a partial representation of the user's body. This limitation restricts embodiment and interaction fidelity in interactive VR scenarios requiring full-body awareness and expressive gestures. To capture both global body motion and fine-grained interaction cues within a single sensing framework, we introduce MultiSenseVR, the first open multimodal dataset that jointly captures synchronized millimeter-wave (mmWave) Wi-Fi, Surface Electromyography (sEMG), inertial signals, and high-precision 3D motion capture for ground truth in an immersive VR setting. The dataset includes recordings from 24 participants interacting with a custom fast-food simulation designed to elicit natural full-body movement. In addition to objective sensing data, MultiSenseVR provides subjective measures of presence and cybersickness. Baseline evaluations show that mmWave Wi-Fi sensing supports 3D pose estimation with accuracy comparable to camera-based approaches, while sEMG enables accurate subject-specific grasp classification. The dataset and supporting code are publicly available at https://osf.io/f6r7d. Javad Sameri, Nabeel Nisar Bhat, Filip De Turck, Rafael Berkvens, Jeroen Famaey, Maria Torres Vega |
MMSys | 4 |
| 2026 | Impact of Interaction-Induced Body Movement on Cybersickness in Interactive Virtual Reality EnvironmentsabstractThis paper investigates the impact of interactioninduced body movement on cybersickness in Virtual Reality (VR). Therefore we designed a controlled VR environment with three interaction conditions of increasing movement complexity. Data from 24 participants, combining subjective measures and motionderived features, show a consistent increase in cybersickness with higher movement demands, particularly in conditions involving vertical displacement and full-body interaction. Moreover, correlation analysis reveals a significant negative relationship between the coefficient of variation of head velocity and cybersickness. This suggests that more variable and adaptive motion may mitigate the discomfort. These findings highlight the importance of movement characteristics, beyond movement intensity alone, for designing full-body interactive VR experiences. Javad Sameri, Nabeel Nisar Bhat, Filip De Turck, Rafael Berkvens, Jeroen Famaey, Maria Torres Vega |
QoMEX | 4 |
| 2026 | Toward Generalizable Device Identification with Radio Frequency Fingerprint
Thayheng Nhem, Maarten Weyn, Michaël Peeters, Rafael Berkvens |
WCNC | 4 |
| 2025 | Explainable RFF: Radio Frequency Fingerprint via Spectrogram AnalysisabstractRadio Frequency Fingerprint (RFF) is a unique characteristic of radio signals impacted by hardware imperfections of the device’s radio front-end. This characteristic can be used as a security measure to identify individual devices. There are various methods to extract RFF features, ranging from statistical analysis to deep learning methods, which have seen increasing adoption among researchers, given their automatic feature extraction capabilities and performance. However, the black-box nature of deep learning models is a significant drawback, as it raises concerns about the model’s reliability, especially in critical applications such as security. In this paper, we use In-phase and Quadrature (I/Q) samples to create spectrograms and train an EfficientNet model for device classification. The model is trained on a Wi-Fi dataset of 20 devices, achieving 99% accuracy on the test set. More importantly, to understand the model’s decision-making process, we apply the Gradient-weighted Class Activation Map (Grad-CAM) to visualize its attention. Grad-CAM highlights specific spectrogram regions that are linked to the device’s fingerprint signature, including power leakage, Direct Current (DC) components, and energy patterns. Thayheng Nhem, Maarten Weyn, Michaël Peeters, Rafael Berkvens |
PIMRC | 4 |
| 2025 | Label-Efficient Learning for Radio Frequency Fingerprint IdentificationabstractRadio Frequency Fingerprint Identification (RF-FID) is a novel approach that aims to differentiate devices based on their unique signal transmissions, rather than their given identities. This approach has promising applications in wireless security, spectrum management, and sensing. Current RFFID research uses deep learning due to its success in various domains, which is largely attributed to the availability of massive labeled datasets for training. However, unlike other domains, labeled data in RFFID is limited, and the labeling process is expensive. In this paper, we propose a label-efficient learning approach for RFFID based on Contrastive Predictive Coding (CPC), a pre-training method that learns to predict future samples given the past without labels. Afterward, the model is fine-tuned to identify the device. We evaluate our approach on a fingerprint dataset of 20 devices. Our results show that CPC learns effective representations of RF signals and outperforms fully supervised learning in both classification performance and label efficiency, requiring up to 10 times fewer labels while maintaining competitive accuracy. Finally, we evaluate CPC's robustness against noise and observe competitive performance after fine-tuning. Thayheng Nhem, Fabian Denoodt, Maarten Weyn, Michaël Peeters, José Oramas M., Rafael Berkvens |
WCNC | 6 |
| 2025 | Seismocardiography for Emotion Recognition: A Study on EmoWear With Insights From DEAPabstractEmotions have a profound impact on our daily lives, influencing our thoughts, behaviors, and interactions, but also our physiological reactions. Recent advances in wearable technology have facilitated studying emotions through cardio-respiratory signals. Accelerometers offer a non-invasive, convenient, and costeffective method for capturing heart- and pulmonary-induced vibrations on the chest wall, specifically Seismocardiography (SCG) and Accelerometry-Derived Respiration (ADR). Their affordability, wide availability, and ability to provide rich contextual data make accelerometers ideal for everyday use. While accelerometers have been used as part of broader modality fusions for Emotion Recognition (ER), their stand-alone potential via SCG and ADR remains unexplored. Bridging this gap could significantly help the embedding of ER into real-world applications, minimizing the hardware, and increasing contextual integration potentials. To address this gap, we introduce SCG and ADR as novel modalities for ER and evaluate their performance using the EmoWear dataset. First, we replicate the single-trial emotion classification pipeline from the DEAP dataset study, achieving similar results. Then we use our validated pipeline to train models that predict affective valence-arousal states using SCG and compare them against established cardiac signals, Electrocardiography (ECG) and Blood Volume Pulse (BVP). Results show that SCG is a viable modality for ER, achieving similar performance to ECG and BVP. By combining ADR with SCG, we achieved a working ER framework that only requires a single chest-worn accelerometer. These findings pave the way for integrating ER into real-world, enabling seamless affective computing in everyday life. Mohammad Hasan Rahmani, Rafael Berkvens, Maarten Weyn |
IEEE Trans. Affect. Comput. | 2 |
| 2024 | A Technical Overview of Current "New Space" LEO-PNT Initiatives and Their Application PotentialabstractThe current satellite Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) landscape is evolving rapidly. This is characterized by a shift from governmental initiatives to private enterprises. These “New Space” initiatives aim to improve PNT performance beyond the current state-of-the-art by implementing new technical advancements. This technical innovation and the resulting application potential are the central focus of this paper. In this paper, we compare the current “New Space” PNT initiatives and their progress toward creating an operational system. Furthermore, we analyze the proposed satellite constellations and their communication system. Focussing on, Pulsar, Centispace, Future Mobility, and Satellite Time and Location (STL). This technical analysis encompasses constellation design and resulting Dilution of Precision (DOP), frequency allocation, space segment lifetime, accuracy, availability, authentication, indoor coverage, and encryption. Afterward, their specifications are evaluated and compared against specific application needs. More specifically, focusing on the requirements of autonomous driving, pedestrian tracking, first responders, and the maritime sector. By reviewing the progress of these “New Space” initiatives in leveraging technological advancements to address application requirements, this study uncovers the evolving PNT landscape for diverse application domains. Wout Van Uytsel, Thomas Janssen, Maarten Weyn, Rafael Berkvens |
PIMRC | 4 |
| 2023 | Impact of CIR processing for UWB radar distance estimation with the DW1000 transceiverabstractAutomatic distance detection is essential for industrial safety processes, allowing detection of persons in unsafe zones, detecting obstacles nearby autonomous vehicles, etc. ultr-awideband (UWB) radar is a recent upcoming technology that is suitable for low-cost, device-free distance estimations to persons and obstacles. The excellent time properties of UWB allow the detection of distinct propagation paths from sender to receiver and reflecting objects. Currently, existing work utilizes dedicated UWB radar hardware. This paper focuses on off-the-shelf DW1000 UWB transceivers which have lower cost but also lower time resolution of the received channel impulse response (CIR). We analyze three data processing methods (ICIR, UCIR, and ACIR). Next, we analyze two distance estimation approaches in a realistic industrial environment: a mean based and a variance based. We demonstrate that selecting the best combination of data processing and distance estimator is crucial, allowing the detection of metal objects up to 900 cm with a mean accuracy of 9 cm, or the detection of persons with a mean absolute error of only 44 cm. Ben Van Herbruggen, Stijn Luchie, Rafael Berkvens, Jaron Fontaine, Eli De Poorter |
IPIN | 3 |
| 2023 | Joint Offloading Policy and Resource Allocation in IRS-aided MEC for IoT Users with Short Packet TransmissionabstractThis paper focuses on leveraging a mobile edge computing (MEC) server at an access point (AP) to address the delay and reliability sensitivity requirement of multi-user machine-type communication (MTC). By offloading tasks to the MEC server, latency for low-power MTC devices can be minimized. Meanwhile, intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs) are supported to facilitate robust offloading, enhance spectrum efficiency, and improve coverage by influencing incident radio-frequency wave propagation via modifying the phase shifts with passive reflecting components. Therefore, we investigate joint radio resource allocation and edge offloading decision optimization in a multi-user IRS-assisted MEC network, wherein a multi-antenna AP receives information symbols from a set of Internet of Things (IoT) users with short packet transmission. In particular, we minimize the system’s power utilization subject to offloading MTC-enabled IoT users’ quality of service (QoS) requirements, transmit power feasibility, capacity limitation, and IRS phase shift. The non-convex nature of the formulated problem poses a challenge to solving it effectively. To address this, we propose an efficient iterative algorithm based on successive convex approximation (SCA) and a penalty-based approach for handling unit-modulus constraints in the presence of passive reflecting elements at the IRS. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of our algorithm compared to other baseline schemes. Jalal Jalali, Ata Khalili, Rafael Berkvens, Jeroen Famaey |
VTC Fall | 3 |
| 2023 | Gesture Recognition with mmWave Wi-Fi Access Points: Lessons Learned
Nabeel Nisar Bhat, Rafael Berkvens, Jeroen Famaey |
WoWMoM | 2 |
| 2023 | A Survey on IoT Positioning Leveraging LPWAN, GNSS, and LEO-PNTabstractLocation data is an important piece of information in many Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have been established as the standard for large-scale localization. However, the rapidly increasing need to locate IoT devices in recent years has exposed several shortcomings of traditional GNSS approaches. These limitations include the weak signal propagation in indoor and dense environments, the inability to calculate or obtain a location remotely, and a high energy consumption. Therefore, several industries have shown an increasing demand for alternative and innovative positioning solutions that are more suited in an IoT context. Hence, we conduct a survey on state-of-the-art, large-scale and energy-efficient positioning techniques for IoT applications. More specifically, we analyze the performance of terrestrial-based Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) techniques, novel GNSS solutions, and innovative positioning techniques leveraging Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. A comparison is made in terms of 16 dimensions including energy consumption, positioning accuracy, coverage, and scalability. The analysis shows that interoperability between technologies is key to enable energy-efficient communication and positioning applications in the emerging market of satellite IoT. Thomas Janssen, Axel Koppert, Rafael Berkvens, Maarten Weyn |
IEEE Internet Things J. | 3 |
| 2021 | Activity Monitoring at an Intersection Using a Sub-GHz Wireless Sensor NetworkabstractActivity monitoring is crucial towards enabling smart metropolitan cities. It provides the city officials with the essential information to manage resources, plan events, and help detect and stop insider threats. An automatic activity monitoring methodology that can render real-time and stable estimates of the objects while respecting all privacy concerns in a given environment is therefore of significant interest. This paper investigates the feasibility and presents the promising results of using a sub-GHz passive radio frequency (RF) wireless sensor network (WSN) to monitor activity and determine the number of pedestrians, cars, and cyclists. In particular, we describe our device-free sensing experiment and measure the received signal strength (RSS) between transceiver nodes at an intersection within the smart zone of the city of Antwerp, Belgium, where targets to be monitored do not require carrying a device or a tag. Our results reveal a correlation between the time-averaged RSS measurements and the count of target objects, which indicates the feasibility of employing a sub-GHz WSN for activity monitoring. Solving traffic monitoring using this system will still require investigating the optimal necessary number of radio links and accurate counting models. Jalal Jalali, Abdil Kaya, Maarten Weyn, Rafael Berkvens |
VTC Fall | 4 |
| 2020 | Leveraging MEC in a 5G System for Enhanced Back Situation Awarenessabstract5G has opened up possibilities of introducing new use cases and business models that could not be perceived before. In the context of public safety, 5G offers immense opportunities towards enhancing mission success and situation awareness during emergency management. This paper introduces Back-Situation Awareness (BSA) application enabling early warning/notification to vehicles of an approaching emergency vehicle indicating its presence and the time it will arrive. Such an application is expected to give drivers enough time to create a safety corridor for the emergency vehicle to pass through safely and unhindered. We provide details on the system and application design of the BSA application leveraging Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) systems that complement the 5G mobile communication system. An evaluation of the application is provided by using data measurements and indicating the accuracy of the computation and notification of the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) based on the ETSI C-ITS protocol messages. Rreze Halili, Faqir Zarrar Yousaf, Nina Slamnik, Girma M. Yilma, Marco Liebsch, Erik de Britto e Silva, Seilendria A. Hadiwardoyo, Rafael Berkvens, Maarten Weyn |
LCN | 8 |
| 2018 | Outdoor Fingerprinting Localization Using SigfoxabstractThe Internet of Things (IoT) has caused the modern society to connect everything in our environment to a network. In a myriad of IoT applications, smart devices need to be located. This can easily be done by satellite based receivers. However, there are more energy-efficient localization technologies, especially in Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN). In this research, we discuss the accuracy of an outdoor fingerprinting technique using a large outdoor Sigfox dataset which is openly available. A kNN (k Nearest Neighbors) algorithm is applied to our fingerprinting database. 31 different distance functions and four RSS data representations are evaluated. Our analysis shows that a Sigfox transmitter can be located with a mean estimation error of 340 meters. Thomas Janssen, Michiel Aernouts, Rafael Berkvens, Maarten Weyn |
IPIN | 3 |
| 2018 | Large Scale Crowd Density Estimation Using a sub-GHz Wireless Sensor NetworkabstractAutomatic crowd density estimation can be very useful for a multitude of applications such as traffic control or crowd control systems during large-scale events. Classic camera-based setups have several shortcomings, the most notorious of which is the privacy issue. The use of a crowd estimator which makes use of a wireless sensor network (WSN) can provide a potential solution to this problem. We deployed a sub-GHz (433 MHz & 868 MHz) wireless sensor network in an indoor stage at a music festival. Visual validation was established by a team of volunteers who manually analyzed a large set of low-quality camera images which were taken during the event. Next, RSS measurements obtained by the network were classified into different density-based categories by a simple probabilistic neural network. Results indicate that the system is capable of estimating the crowd density with a high accuracy, proving the feasibility of using a WSN for such a task. Stijn Denis, Rafael Berkvens, Ben Bellekens, Maarten Weyn |
PIMRC | 2 |
| 2017 | Signal strength indoor localization using a single DASH7 messageabstractIn the Internet of Things, location information is crucial for many applications. We want to obtain location information from a device by using its existing communication modality. DASH7 is designed for low power sensor and actuator communication on a medium range, using the license exempt radio frequency channels below one gigahertz. In this paper, we present a method to localize a DASH7 mobile node based on a single message and a deterministic propagation model. The propagation model is used to indicate the distance between sender and receiver so that single measurement localization approach is possible without maintaining a fingerprint database. We obtain a median location error of 3.9 m, where we still see room for improvement. Rafael Berkvens, Ben Bellekens, Maarten Weyn |
IPIN | 1 |
| 2017 | Multi-frequency sub-1 GHz radio tomographic imaging in a complex indoor environmentabstractUnlike most currently available localization systems, tagless localization technologies do not require a target to wear a passive or active hardware device. Radio Tomographic Imaging (RTI) is one such technique, which operates based on the use of a tomographic radio frequency (RF) sensor network. The majority of RTI-systems communicate using a single frequency band: 2.4 GHz. The use of sub-1 GHz frequencies within RTI could potentially provide important benefits regarding energy efficiency, accuracy in complex indoor environments and size of the environments in which a system can be installed. We deployed a combined 433 MHz and 868 MHz RF sensor network in a complex indoor environment and performed localization when a human individual was present in the environment. Two different RTI-algorithms were investigated: a Bayesian-based method we developed earlier and an adaptation of an existing 2.4 GHz technique based on fade level. Both methods turned out to be capable of accurately locating individuals with a median error lower than 1 meter. This proves the feasibility of using a combination of sub-1 GHz frequencies in RTI for indoor localization in complex environments. Stijn Denis, Rafael Berkvens, Glenn Ergeerts, Maarten Weyn |
IPIN | 2 |
| 2016 | Position error and entropy of probabilistic Wi-Fi fingerprinting in the UJIIndoorLoc datasetabstractThe accuracy of a positioning system is usually expressed as its average position error in an experiment. However, when the ground truth is no longer available, it would still be useful to know the reliability of a position estimate based on a single measurement. To obtain a reliability metric, we hypothesize that there is a relation between the uncertainty in a position's posterior probability distribution, expressed as its conditional entropy, and the position error of the position that is derived from this distribution. In this paper, we present the correlation between these two metrics as calculated for the UJIIndoorLoc Wi-Fi fingerprinting dataset, using a new probabilistic sensor model. We found that there is no significant correlation between the conditional entropy and the position error. However, we learned that our sensor model is usually very certain in the dataset, and saw that the suggestion of a correlation improves when we increase the uncertainty by selecting a fixed, larger variance. Interestingly, the position error results improve as well. Rafael Berkvens, Maarten Weyn, Herbert Peremans |
IPIN | 1 |
| 2016 | Combining multiple sub-1 GHz frequencies in Radio Tomographic ImagingabstractConventional localization systems require the target to carry a tag, which can be highly impractical for some individuals, such as the elderly, or in some situations, such as in emergencies. This requirement can be alleviated by an emerging set of tagless or device-free localization systems, of which Radio Tomographic Imaging (RTI) is a common example. Most variations of this technique assume the use of radio frequency (RF) signals in the 2.4 GHz band, or combinations of lower frequencies with that band; however, using only lower frequencies might decrease the power consumption and the influence of the environment, and increase the range of the system. We tested the combination of 433 MHz and 868 MHz in a single RTI system. We studied two approaches to combine the RTI images generated by one frequency with the other: an approach based on literature and a newly developed approach based on probability theory. This paper compares the result of both approaches. We found that the result based on literature has a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 1.09 m, while our approach has an RMSE of 0.54 m. While also improving the state-of-the-art fusion of two frequencies, we proved the feasibility of combining only frequencies under 1 GHz in an RTI system. Stijn Denis, Rafael Berkvens, Glenn Ergeerts, Ben Bellekens, Maarten Weyn |
IPIN | 2 |
| 2015 | Localization performance quantification by conditional entropyabstractThe performance of a localization algorithm is usually expressed as its mean error distance. We argue that this assumes a unimodal distribution of the localization posterior, which is not always appropriate. We propose to additionally quantify the localization posterior distribution by its conditional entropy. This informs us of the uncertainty over the position after a measurement, which must be processed by the localization algorithm. Our example measurement model was ranked in the Evaluating Ambient Assisted Living competition, for which we present the results. Furthermore, we discuss the conditional entropy of our measurement model and two additional measurement models, based on the absolute difference distance and the Pompeiu-Hausdorff distance. We compare these results by using the UJIIndoorLoc database that was also used for the competition. Rafael Berkvens, Maarten Weyn, Herbert Peremans |
IPIN | 1 |
| 2014 | Biologically inspired SLAM using Wi-FiabstractWi-Fi is a commonly available source of localization information in urban environments but is challenging to integrate into conventional mapping architectures. Current state of the art probabilistic Wi-Fi SLAM algorithms are limited by spatial resolution and an inability to remove the accumulation of rotational error, inherent limitations of the Wi-Fi architecture. In this paper we leverage the low quality sensory requirements and coarse metric properties of RatSLAM to localize using Wi-Fi fingerprints. To further improve performance, we present a novel sensor fusion technique that integrates camera and Wi-Fi to improve localization specificity, and use compass sensor data to remove orientation drift. We evaluate the algorithms in diverse real world indoor and outdoor environments, including an office floor, university campus and a visually aliased circular building loop. The algorithms produce topologically correct maps that are superior to those produced using only a single sensor modality. Rafael Berkvens, Adam Jacobson, Michael Milford, Herbert Peremans, Maarten Weyn |
IROS | 1 |