Rafael Ruiz Ortiz
Visiting Graduate Research Assistant
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115
Biography
Rafael is a research engineer with deep expertise in signal processing techniques for the physical layers of wireless communication systems, as well as a strong background in building experimental testbeds for wireless networks. He holds a Bachelor’s in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering from the University of Technology of Cartagena, a Master’s from the University of Technology of Madrid, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Telecommunications Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Since 2019, he has been affiliated with IMDEA Networks Institute, where he contributes to next-generation mobile communication research, with particular emphasis on mmWave and sub-6 GHz technologies, FPGA-based platforms, and machine learning-enhanced PHY design.
Rafael has led and contributed to the development of several high-impact wireless platforms. Among them is MIMORPH, a flexible open-source MIMO testbed for experimentation in sub-6 GHz and mmWave bands. More recently, he co-developed HELIX, a scalable real-time 6G-ready experimentation platform. HELIX supports multi-numerology PHY layers and dynamic functional splits via hardware-software co-design, enabling real-time experimentation across FR1, FR2 and FR3 bands. It delivers data rates of up to 1200 Mbps and sub-millisecond end-to-end latencies, while showcasing advanced capabilities such as Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC).
Other Publications
- Rafael Ruiz, Jesus O. Lacruz (IMDEA Networks Institute); Bastian Bloessl, Matthias Hollick (TU Darmstadt, Germany); Joerg Widmer (IMDEA Networks Institute) “HELIX: High-speed Real-Time Experimentation Platform for 6G Wireless Networks” (Mobisys ’25) https://doi.org/10.1145/3711875.3729152. Jesus O. Lacruz, Rafael Ruiz, and Joerg Widmer. “A real-time experimentation platform for sub-6 GHz and millimeter-wave MIMO systems.” (MobiSys ’21). https://doi.org/10.1145/3458864.3466868
- Mohammad Mazaheri, Rafael Ruiz, Domenico Giustiniano, Joerg Widmer, and Omid Abari.“Bringing Millimeter Wave Technology to Any IoT Device” (ACM MobiCom ’23). https://doi.org/10.1145/3570361.3613255
- D. Garcia, J. O. Lacruz, P. J. Mateo, J. Palacios, R. Ruiz and J. Widmer, “Scalable Phase-Coherent Beam-Training for Dense Millimeter-Wave Networks,” in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 1 Aprill 2023. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMC.2021.3122584
- Dolores Garcia, Rafael Ruiz, Jesus O. Lacruz, and Joerg Widmer. “High-speed Machine Learning-enhanced Receiver for Millimeter-Wave Systems.” (INFOCOM ’23). https://doi.org/10.1109/INFOCOM53939.2023.10229087