Public thesis defense Jérome Eertmans - ICTEAM
sst |
Differentiable Ray Tracing for Radio Propagation Modeling
Monday July 6th, 2026 - 4:30pm - Auditorium SUD 11 - Place Croix du Sud,1 - 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
From smartphones to future 6G networks, modern wireless systems depend on accurate models of how radio waves propagate through complex environments. This thesis explores a modern approach to this problem: differentiable ray tracing.
Inspired by video game graphics and acoustics, this method simulates radio waves navigating virtual environments. However, a recent innovation is making these simulations differentiable. This innovation connects traditional physics-based models directly with optimization tools. Instead of simply simulating a radio channel, we can now automatically optimize network parameters, solve complex inverse problems such as device localization, and integrate ray tracing into machine learning tasks.
During the defense, I will explain the theory behind these algorithms and demonstrate their applications. I will also discuss the open-source software developed alongside this research to assist engineers and researchers in designing the next generation of wireless networks.
Jury members
Prof. Claude Oestges (UCLouvain), Supervisor
Prof. Laurent Jacques (UCLouvain), Supervisor
Prof. Christophe Craeye (UCLouvain), Chairperson
Prof. Christophe De Vleeschouwer (UCLouvain), Secretary
Prof. Philippe De Doncker (ULB)
Prof. Enrico Maria Vitucci (UniBo, Italie)
Dr. Jakob Hoydis (NVIDIA Research, France)