Ufuk Muncuk

Research Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Institute for NanoSystems Innovation, Northeastern University. Co-founder and CTO, DeepCharge.

UfukMuncuk

I design ultra-low-power RF, analog, and mixed-signal circuits and the wireless systems built on them: RF energy harvesting, wireless power transfer, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and physical-layer security for IoT.

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ZCAR resonator in 65 nm CMOS, tunable from 0.4 to 8 GHz. Move across the plot to tune it. f₀ 4.40 GHz, Q 27.5, 3 dB bandwidth 160 MHz

Research interests

Ultra-low-power RF, analog, and mixed-signal integrated circuits; RF energy harvesting and wireless power transfer; reconfigurable intelligent surfaces and holographic beamforming; physical-layer security and machine-learning-based jamming detection for IoT; analog computing hardware for edge AI.

Academic appointments

  1. Sep 2026 to present

    Research Assistant Professor

    Department of ECE (primary) and Institute for NanoSystems Innovation (secondary), Northeastern University, Boston

    Research in Prof. Aatmesh Shrivastava’s Energy Efficient Circuits and Systems Group on ultra-low-power analog and RF circuits, wideband spectrum sensing, and IoT physical-layer security.

  2. Sep 2024 to Aug 2026

    Postdoctoral Research Associate

    Energy Efficient Circuits and Systems (EECS) Group, Department of ECE, Northeastern University, Boston

    Joined Prof. Aatmesh Shrivastava’s group to focus on ultra-low-power analog and RF circuits, IoT physical-layer security, and the integration of AI with RF hardware.

  3. Jul 2020 to Aug 2024

    Research Assistant Professor

    Department of ECE, Northeastern University, Boston

    Independently led research on RF energy harvesting, wireless power transfer, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. Mentored graduate students, contributed to grant proposals, and published in top-tier journals and conferences.

  4. Jul 2020 to Aug 2024

    Associate Faculty

    Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT), Northeastern University

    Affiliated appointment supporting cross-cutting wireless systems research.

  5. Sep 2019 to Jul 2020

    Postdoctoral Research Associate

    Genesys Lab, Northeastern University

    RF energy harvesting and wireless power transfer.

  6. 2010 to 2019

    Graduate Research Assistant

    Genesys Lab, Northeastern University

    Doctoral and master’s research on RF energy harvesting, multi-band rectifier design, and software-defined wireless charging.

  7. Fall 2017

    Teaching Assistant

    Northeastern University

    Lab instructor for the graduate course Mobile and Wireless Networking.

Industry experience

  1. Sep 2019 to present

    Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder

    DeepCharge Inc., Boston

    Co-founded DeepCharge to bring intelligent-surface wireless charging out of the lab: an AI-enabled, programmable platform that turns everyday surfaces into contactless charging for multiple devices.

  2. Sep 2026 to present

    Senior Research Scientist (part-time)

    Think Analog, Inc., Boston

    Designs the demonstration hardware and software for Think Analog’s ultra-low-power analog AI chips, works with the engineering team on integration and validation, and supports investor and customer demonstrations.

  3. Summer 2007

    Engineering Trainee

    Hes Hacilar Elektrik San. ve Tic. A.S., Turkey

    Technical support department.

  4. Summer 2006

    Engineering Trainee

    Türk Telekom, Turkey

    Set up phone and internet networks.

Education

  1. 2012 to 2019

    Ph.D. in Computer Engineering

    Northeastern University, Boston. Advisor: Prof. Kaushik R. Chowdhury

    Dissertation: Cognitive RF Energy Harvesting: From Design to Applications

  2. 2010 to 2012

    M.S. in Computer Engineering

    Northeastern University, Boston. Advisor: Prof. Kaushik R. Chowdhury

  3. 2008 to 2009

    M.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

    Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey. Advisor: Prof. Ibrahim Develi

    GPA 4.00/4.00, graduated first in class.

  4. 2004 to 2008

    B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

    Firat University, Elazig, Turkey

    Graduated third in class.

Honors and awards

  • 2022

    Mass Innovation Network Eddies Award

    Smart Living category, for wireless charging innovation

  • 2022

    Stevie Award

    International Business Awards

  • 2019

    Best Paper Award

    IEEE GLOBECOM, Hawaii

  • 2018

    Best Paper Runner-up

    ACM SenSys, Shenzhen

  • 2013

    Best Paper Award

    IEEE ICC, Budapest

  • 2015 to 2019

    Stipended Graduate Research Assistantship

    Northeastern University

  • 2008 to 2015

    Graduate Fellowship, Turkey Ministry of Education

    Full Ph.D. funding

  • 2008 to 2009

    TUBITAK–BIDEP Graduate Fellowship

    Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey

Funding and grant activity

2024 to present
NSF RINGS Award #2146754, ZCAR-based Wideband Spectrum Sensing for Next-Generation Wireless. Technical contributor to the Year 4 annual report and ongoing technical work.
2024 to present
DARPA Young Faculty Award D23AP00173 (PI: A. Shrivastava). Technical contributor to the ultra-low-power RF security and adversarial jamming research lines.
2024 to present
NSF CCSS-2125222 and CCSS-2144703 (PI: A. Shrivastava). Technical contributor to ultra-low-power analog and RF circuit research.

Publications 23 listed

  1. 2026

    Physical-Layer Correlation Asymmetry for Detecting Selective ACK Jamming in IEEE 802.15.4 NetworksSubmitted

    V. Verma, K. S. Swaroop, A. Shrivastava, and U. Muncuk

    Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2026

  2. 2026

    An Adversarial Jamming Attack Detection Method Using Energy-Detection-Based Hardware for IoT Systems

    K. S. Swaroop, V. Verma, U. Muncuk, A. Mittal, and A. Shrivastava

    IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 23010–23024, June 2026. DOI

  3. 2026

    Non-Iterative Square-Wave Modeling of Multistage CMOS Dickson Rectifiers for RF Energy Harvesting

    U. Kumar, A. Mittal, U. Muncuk, and A. Shrivastava

    IEEE Open Journal of Circuits and Systems, vol. 7, pp. 82–94, Feb. 2026

  4. 2023

    MetaResonance: A Reconfigurable Surface for Holographic Wireless Power Transfer

    K. Li, M. Y. Naderi, U. Muncuk, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 4682–4692, May 2023

  5. 2022

    AirNN: Over-the-Air Computation for Neural Networks via Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

    S. G. Sanchez, G. R. Muns, C. Bocanegra, Y. Li, U. Muncuk, Y. Naderi, Y. Wang, S. Ioannidis, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Dec. 2022

  6. 2021

    iSurface: Self-powered Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces with Wireless Power Transfer

    K. Li, M. Y. Naderi, U. Muncuk, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Communications Magazine, Aug. 2021

  7. 2021

    iSense: Intelligent Object Sensing and Robot Tracking through Networked Coupled Magnetic Resonant Coils

    K. Li, U. Muncuk, M. Y. Naderi, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 6637–6648, 2021

  8. 2020

    Persistent Crowd Tracking Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarms: A Novel Framework for Energy and Mobility Management

    A. Trotta, U. Muncuk, M. Di Felice, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 96–103, June 2020

  9. 2020

    SoftCharge: Software Defined Multi-device Wireless Charging over Large Surfaces

    K. Li, U. Muncuk, M. Y. Naderi, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 38–51, March 2020

  10. 2018

    Multi-band Ambient RF Energy Harvesting Circuit Design for Enabling Battery-less Sensors and IoTs

    U. Muncuk, K. Alemdar, J. D. Sarode, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 2700–2714, Aug. 2018

  11. 2016

    Multi-path Model and Sensitivity Analysis for Galvanic Coupled Intra-body Communication through Layered Tissue

    M. Swaminathan, F. S. Cabrera, J. S. Pujol, U. Muncuk, G. Schirner, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, vol. 10, no. 2, 2016

  12. 2015

    REACH2-Mote: A Range Extending Passive Wake-up Wireless Sensor Node

    L. Chen, J. Warner, P. L. Yung, D. Zhou, W. Heinzelman, I. Demirkol, U. Muncuk, K. R. Chowdhury, and S. Basagni

    ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks, vol. 11, no. 4, Dec. 2015

  13. 2012

    Design Optimization and Implementation for RF Energy Harvesting Circuits

    P. Nintanavongsa, U. Muncuk, D. R. Lewis, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems, vol. 2, no. 1, March 2012

  14. 2021

    RFClock: Timing, Phase and Frequency Synchronization for Distributed Wireless Networks

    K. Alemdar, D. Varshney, S. Mohanti, U. Muncuk, and K. R. Chowdhury

    ACM MobiCom, New Orleans, Oct. 2021

  15. 2019

    Next-Generation Software-Defined Wireless Charging SystemBook chapter

    Y. Naderi, U. Muncuk, and K. R. Chowdhury

    In H. Ammari (ed.), Mission-Oriented Sensor Networks and Systems: Art and Science, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 164, Springer, 2019

  16. 2019

    SoftSense: Collaborative Surface-based Object Sensing and Tracking Using Networked CoilsBest Paper Award

    K. Li, U. Muncuk, M. Y. Naderi, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE GLOBECOM, Hawaii, 2019

  17. 2018

    CapBand: Battery-free Successive Capacitance Sensing Wristband for Hand Gesture RecognitionBest Paper Runner-up

    H. Truong, S. Zhang, U. Muncuk, P. Nguyen, N. Bui, A. Nguyen, Q. Lv, K. Chowdhury, T. Dinh, and T. Vu

    ACM SenSys, Shenzhen, Nov. 2018

  18. 2018

    Talking When No One is Listening: Piggybacking City-scale IoT Control Signals Over LTE

    K. Sankhe, U. Muncuk, M. Y. Naderi, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE INFOCOM, Hawaii, April 2018

  19. 2016

    Battery-Free Identification Token for Touch Sensing Devices

    P. Nguyen, U. Muncuk, A. Ashok, K. R. Chowdhury, M. Gruteser, and T. Vu

    ACM SenSys, Stanford, Nov. 2016

  20. 2016

    Software-defined Wireless Charging of Internet of Things using Distributed BeamformingLive demo

    U. Muncuk, S. Mohanti, K. Alemdar, M. Y. Naderi, and K. R. Chowdhury

    ACM SenSys, Stanford, Nov. 2016

  21. 2016

    Tissue Safety Analysis and Duty Cycle Planning for Galvanic Coupled Intra-body Communication

    M. Swaminathan, U. Muncuk, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE ICC, Kuala Lumpur, 2016

  22. 2016

    Topology Optimization for Galvanic Coupled Wireless Intra-body Communication

    M. Swaminathan, U. Muncuk, and K. R. Chowdhury

    IEEE INFOCOM, San Francisco, 2016

  23. 2013

    Range Extension of Passive Wake-up Radio Systems through Energy HarvestingBest Paper Award

    L. Chen, S. Cool, H. Ba, W. Heinzelman, I. Demirkol, U. Muncuk, K. R. Chowdhury, and S. Basagni

    IEEE ICC, Budapest, June 2013

Patents

  • 2025

    Programmable Intelligent Surfaces with AI-enabled Autonomous Sensing, Charging, Computing, and Networking

    K. Chowdhury, U. Muncuk, Y. Naderi

    US20250055321A1
  • 2025

    Method and Apparatus for Over-the-Air Neural Networks via Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

    K. Chowdhury, Y. Naderi, U. Muncuk

    US12412992B2
  • 2025

    Self-powered Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces with Wireless Power Transfer

    K. Chowdhury, U. Muncuk, Y. Naderi

    US12374931B2
  • 2024

    Method and Apparatus for Software Defined Radio with Timing, Phase, and Frequency Synchronization

    K. Chowdhury, U. Muncuk, Y. Naderi

    US12028824B2

Selected research projects

2024 to present

ZCAR: LO-less wideband active RF resonator for spectrum sensing

Co-developed the Zero Controlled Active Resonator (ZCAR), a continuous-time, LO-less RF filter that uses a tunable right-half-plane zero for Q-enhancement, removing the multi-mW LO and PLL of switched-capacitor N-path filters. Contributions span the theory (Q-invariance under bias tuning, Volterra-series linearity analysis, absolute stability bounds), the 65 nm CMOS implementation, and silicon validation. Includes an integrated zero-static-power RF energy detector for closed-loop stability monitoring. Supported by NSF RINGS Award #2146754.

  • 0.4 to 8 GHz continuous tuning
  • Q 27.5 at 4.4 GHz
  • 22.7 dBV gain at 7.2 GHz
  • −40 dBm IP1dB
  • 3.6 to 4 mW
  • 0.00135 mm² core
2024 to present

Selective ACK jamming detection for IEEE 802.15.4 IoT
Data CRC errors 0 RSSI change +0.00 dB

Drag the slider to weaken the jammer. Data frames and received power stay normal at every level, yet the ACK correlation keeps shifting. The detection floor shown is the −35 dB measured over the air at 25 dB SNR; the correlation shift in the plot is exaggerated so it is visible.

Selective ACK jammers corrupt only acknowledgment frames, so energy, RSSI, and packet-delivery detectors see nothing. This work detects them from the asymmetry they create in the soft chip-correlation output of the ACK path relative to the data path. A single random forest classifier, trained across SNRs and using no power or signal-quality measurement, was validated in an O-QPSK simulation with Rician fading, AGC, and MMSE equalization, and over the air on a two-radio USRP B210 testbed at 915 MHz.

  • 94.85% accuracy
  • 99.00% specificity
  • Detects down to −39 dB JSR
  • −35 dB floor, matched on hardware
  • 22.2 µs per frame on a microcontroller
2024 to present

Ultra-low-power RSSI front-end and energy-detection-based security

Contributed to system modeling and over-the-air validation of a direct-RF-to-digital RSSI circuit in 65 nm CMOS, used as a learning baseline for detecting deceptive and periodic jamming.

  • 6 nW RSSI circuit
  • 96.4% measurement accuracy
  • 11.2 nW total inference power
2019 to 2024

MetaResonance and software-defined wireless charging
Drag the outlined phone across the surface. Active coils 0 of 32

Lead engineer for a multi-coil resonant wireless charging platform that turns existing surfaces into contactless multi-device charging pads.

  • Q > 120 tuned coil arrays
  • > 85% transfer efficiency
2019 to 2024

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces: iSurface and AirNN
Move across the plot to move the user. Beam steered to 0° +0 dB toward the user compared with a metal plate

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces steer wireless signals by tuning the phase of each element. This line of work developed iSurface, a self-powered surface that receives its operating energy through wireless power transfer, and AirNN, which uses a surface to compute neural network layers over the air. It is covered by three US patents.

  • iSurface IEEE Commun. Mag. 2021
  • AirNN IEEE/ACM ToN 2022
  • 3 US patents
2019 to 2024

Magnetic surface-based object sensing and tracking (iSense)

Designed and built a dual-coil inductive, low-power, contactless sensing system based on nested coils, enabling joint object tracking and multi-device wireless charging.

2019 to 2024

Qi-compliant wireless charging surface for UAVs

Initiated the concept of surface-based UAV charging; designed the multi-coil Tx/Rx components and the over-voltage protection mechanism.

2017 to 2019

Multi-band ambient RF energy harvesting for self-powered sensors
Sensor transmissions 0

Switch bands off to see why one adjustable multi-band circuit matters: with fewer sources the sensor waits longer between transmissions.

Designed a single adjustable multi-band RF energy harvesting circuit that powered a TI eZ430-RF2500 sensor at multiple urban locations.

  • LTE 700, GSM 850, ISM 900 MHz
  • Up to 45% efficiency
2016 to 2019

Software-defined distributed energy beamforming

Led the prototype of a wireless charging system using distributed energy beamforming across multiple uncoordinated SDR transmitters, delivering constructive net energy to a target receiver.

2013 to 2016

Wake-up receiver using RF energy harvesting

Studied cost-effective, long-range approaches for range-based and directed wake-up of passive sensor nodes.

2010 to 2012

Dual-stage CMOS rectifier for RF energy harvesting

Developed a dual-stage (7- and 10-stage) RF energy harvesting circuit prototype.

  • 100% improvement over prior designs
  • −20 to +7 dBm input range

Advising and mentorship

Ph.D. student
Vikram Verma, Northeastern. Co-mentor on selective ACK jamming detection and MMSE equalization, and the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications submission.
Ph.D. student
K. Shabd Swaroop, Northeastern. Co-mentor on energy-detection-based RSSI hardware and the IEEE IoT Journal 2026 paper.

Service and memberships

Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Networking, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Communications Magazine, and IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

Member of IEEE, including the Communications Society, Circuits and Systems Society, and Microwave Theory and Techniques Society, and of ACM.

Technical skills

Programming

  • MATLAB
  • Python
  • C/C++
  • GNU Radio
  • LaTeX
  • TensorFlow Lite Micro
  • ESP32 / ARM Cortex-M4

EDA and design

  • Cadence Virtuoso
  • Keysight ADS
  • Ansys HFSS
  • Ansys Maxwell
  • LTspice
  • Altium Designer
  • Mentor Graphics PADS

RF lab and hardware

  • VNA
  • Spectrum analyzer
  • Signal generator
  • Oscilloscope
  • USRP X310 / N210 / B210 / B200mini
  • Energy harvesting and wireless power prototyping

References are available on request.