About
Yanlong Yang
PhD candidate · James Cook University · Cairns, Australia
I am a PhD candidate in Engineering at James Cook University, Cairns, advised by Dr Tao Huang in the Intelligent Computing & Communications Lab (expected completion Oct 2027).
I work across the whole stack of AI for perception. At Vanjee Technology in Beijing I spent four years as an algorithm engineer on autonomous and vehicle–road cooperative driving: 3D object detection and radar–LiDAR fusion, the MIMO radar signal chain underneath them, and a data closed-loop system I led to keep models improving after deployment — with nine granted patents along the way.
In my PhD I develop generative models for inverse problems — diffusion priors that super-resolve sparse radar without paired data, and self-diffusion methods that recover images through unknown blur with no pre-training (first author, CVPR 2026) — and I am extending them toward world models for driving. I also build applied systems end to end: computer vision deployed for crocodile monitoring with the Queensland Government, and a public data platform for Australian skilled migration.
My background in opto-electronics and hardware — optics, THz spectroscopy, PCB design and multi-sensor rigs — means I am comfortable from the sensor and the signal all the way up to the model and the product.
If your group works on generative modelling, computational imaging, radar or sensor fusion, I would be glad to connect — email me.
Experience
- Apr 2024 – Present
Doctoral Researcher
James Cook University, Cairns
Generative priors for radar super-resolution and blind imaging; world models for perception; computer vision for the JCU × Queensland Government crocodile-detection system.
- 2020 – 2024
Algorithm Engineer
Vanjee Technology, Beijing
Radar signal processing and radar–LiDAR perception for autonomous and vehicle–road cooperative driving. Led a three-person data closed-loop team; nine granted invention patents.
- 2018 – 2020
Graduate Researcher
Beijing Institute of Technology
Hardware, software and mechanical design for 3D human thermal-surface reconstruction.
Education
- Apr 2024 – Oct 2027 (expected)
PhD, Engineering — Computer Vision & Machine Learning
James Cook University, Cairns
Advisor: Dr Tao Huang. Generative priors for sensing and inverse problems.
- 2017 – 2020
MEng by Research, Optical Engineering
Beijing Institute of Technology
Thesis: 3D human thermal-surface reconstruction (86.8 / 100).
- 2013 – 2017
BEng, Opto-Electronics Engineering
Tianjin University
Honours thesis: THz spectroscopy of BST–silicon metamaterials (86 / 100).
Honours & awards
- 2024 – Present
Postgraduate Research Stipend Scholarship (HDR)
James Cook University
- 2017 – 2020
Second-Class Academic Scholarship, awarded each year
Beijing Institute of Technology
- 2017
National Second Prize, NXP Cup — ranked 24th of 200+ teams
China National University Smart-Car Competition
- 2020 – 2024
Golden Boot & team champion
Vanjee Technology football tournament
Leadership & service
- 2025 – 2026
Cairns Campus Officer
JCU Student Association
- 2024 – 2025
Postgraduate Officer
JCU Student Association
- 2025 – 2026
Reviewer
AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (2025, 2026)
- 2025 – 2026
Reviewer
International Conference on Learning Representations (2025, 2026)
At the JCU Student Association I helped deliver campus services and student-engagement initiatives, and represented JCU at the Australian University Student Voice Conference on the Gold Coast (2025).
Skills
- Programming
- Python (primary), C/C++, MATLAB, JavaScript · Linux, Git, Jupyter
- Deep learning
- PyTorch · 3D object detection & tracking · BEV / multi-sensor fusion · diffusion & generative models · self-supervised learning · GPU training
- Perception & 3D
- point clouds (PCL), radar heatmaps, camera vision, 3D reconstruction, OpenGL
- Systems
- data closed-loop pipelines, model deployment on field hardware, ROS, Qt, GitHub Actions CI, Cloudflare Workers, web front-end
- Signals & hardware
- MIMO radar signal processing (FFT, CFAR, angle of arrival), multi-sensor time sync, PCB design (Altium), embedded MCUs
- Languages
- Chinese (native), English