Hi! I am Di, a Ph.D. Candidate of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Merced, MESA (Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation) Lab, supervised by Professor YangQuan Chen. I earned M.Sc. of the program Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of California, Merced. Before coming to UC Merced in 2017, I obtained my B.E. degree in the Department of Artifical Intelligence & Technology from Beijing Information Science & Technology University (BISTU), Beijing, China in 2016. Furthermore, I attended exchange program in the Department of Electrical Engineering at San Jose State University, United States in 2015. Please find my CV here (last update: 05/08/2023).

I have been working on XAIoT (eXplainable AIoT) enabled smart sensing of agricultural methane emissions and smart biochar applications using proximal radar arrays for fighting climate change. I have an interdisciplinarity background: electrical engineering and computer science, mechanical engineering, and environmental science, which motivates me to explore new and interesting interdisciplinarity problems in precision agriculture and carbon neutral and negative technologies.

Besides academic work, I am big fan of FPV drone flight, cook tasty food, hiking, making dessert and reading.

News

May 2023: : Congratualtions to Di An for winning F3 (Farms Food Future) from DOC (US Dept. of Commerce), Economic Development Administration Build Back Better (BBB) Regional Challenge regarding GSR grants each with 2 semester’s GSRs valued at more than $150,000. Di An project title: “Intelligent Soil Carbon Assessment Network (iScan): An XAIoT Empowered Unmanned System Based Mobile Sensing Solution” (Climate Smart Food Systems; Climate Resilience and Regenerative Agriculture; Mechatronics; Internet-of-Things, Edge Computing). Here’s the press release of UC Merced.

Publications

Journal Publications

	Soil Methane Emission Suppression Control Using Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle Swarm Application of Biochar Mulch - A Simulation Study. Journal of Information and Intelligence, 2022. Di An, Derek Hollenbeck, Kai Cao, YangQuan Chen paper code
	Spatial Path Tracking Controllers for Autonomous Ground Vehicles: Conventional and Nonconventional Schemes. Guidance, Navigation and Control, 2021. Peng Wang, Di An, Ning Chen, YangQuan Chen paper code

Selected Conference Publications

	A Soil Carbon Content Quantification Method Using A Miniature Millimeter Wave Radar Sensor and Machine Learning. IEEE/MESA, 2022. Di An, YangQuan Chen paper
	Smart Bi-eBikes (SBB): a low cost UGV solution for precision agriculture applications. SPIE, 2022. Di An, Haoyu Niu, Levi Williams, YangQuan Chen paper
	A Non-intrusive Quantification Method for Biochar Water Retention Capacity Using A Portable Microwave Sensor and Machine Learning. ICCMA, 2021 Di An, Haoyu Niu, YangQuan Chen paper
	Digital Twin enabled methane emission abatement using networked mobile sensing and mobile actuation. DTPI, 2021 Di An, YangQuan Chen paper