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Lecturer

Department of Digital Innovation and Technology

Contact details

Email: nkrowraph@thei.edu.hk

Phone: +852 3890 8497

Dr Raphael Nkrow is a Computer Science/Engineering researcher with a Ph.D. from City University of Hong Kong, specializing in AI-driven wireless systems, secure wireless ranging systems, indoor localization, and Industrial IoT. His research primarily focuses on non-line-of-sight (NLOS) issues in wireless ranging systems, Ultra-wideband (UWB) security, transfer learning/domain adaptation, optimization, and signal processing, with publications in leading venues such as the IEEE Internet of Things Journal (IOTJ), IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (TII), IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (TCE), and ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (COMST), IEEE Computer Network Security (CNS), etc.

His academic work is strongly informed by prior industry experience in telecommunications, including several years as a Core Network Engineer at Huawei Technologies, where he worked on large-scale mobile network systems and mission-critical infrastructure. This background allows him to approach research problems with a systems-level, deployment-aware perspective, bridging theoretical rigor with practical feasibility. He has experience across the full academic lifecycle: grant writing, peer-reviewed publishing, teaching and curriculum support, lab and platform development, and student supervision. He is particularly interested in research that connects advanced AI techniques with real-world wireless and cyber-physical systems, and in collaborating across disciplines and sectors. His long-term goal is to contribute to high-impact research, teaching, and innovation at the intersection of academia and industry, translating fundamental advances into scalable and secure technologies.

  • Internet Security and E-commerce protocols

  • Information Security for E-commerce

  • Introduction to Computer Studies

  • Ph.D. Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong – 2025
  • MEng Information and Communication Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China – 2019
  • BSc. Computer Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana – 2014
  • Lecturer, THEi, 2026 – now
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2025-2026
  • Research Assistant, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2025
  • Teaching Assistant, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2021 – 2025
  • Teaching Assistant, City University of Hong Kong, Dongguan, 2024
  • Core Network Engineer, Huawei Technologies, Ghana., 2014 – 2017
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Wireless network security
  • Secure distance-bounding protocols
  • Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT)
  • Transfer learning
  • Domain adaptation
  • Optimization
  • Indoor-based localization
  • Signal processing

Collaborated/Assisted in writing the following Research Grants:

  • General Research Fund (GRF) Project – Hong Kong: Detecting Non-Line-of-Sight Channel Spoofing in Time-of-Flight Ranging. Project No. 9043853, 01/01/2026
  • GRF Project – Hong Kong: Indoor Time-of-Flight Ranging Under NLOS Conditions in Uncharacterized Environments. Project No. 9043702, 01/01/2025 – present
  • Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Project: Research of Theory and Methods on Fusion-Based High-Accurate Indoor Positioning in Hybrid Networks using Transfer Learning. No. 61771114, 01/2018 –  12/2021
  • IEEE IES Students & Young Professionals Paper Assistance Award, July 2025.
  • Best Paper Award, IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, ICIT 2024, UK: Dutliff Boshoff, Raphael Nkrow, Bruno Silva, Gerhard P. Hancke, “Physical Layer Key Sharing for an Off-The-Shelf UWB Module”, 2024 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT), March 2024.
  • Outstanding Academic Performance Awards, CityUHK, 2023
  • CityUHK Graduate Studentship Scholarship, 2021-2025
  • Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC) -University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, 2019
  • Academic Achievement Award, first prize – UESTC 2018
  • UESTC Graduate Scholarship, 2017
  •  

Reviewer:

      – Journals

  • IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (TII)
  • IEEE Internet of Things Journal (IoT)
  • IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine (IEM)
  • IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (TMC)
  • IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (TVT)
  • IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (TDSC)
  • IEEE Transactions on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (TICPS)
  • IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (TCE)
  • IEEE Access
  • Wireless Personal Communications
  • IET smart Cities

     – Conferences

  • ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks- WiSec 2026
  • IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology – ICIT 2024
  • Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society – IECON 2023.
  • IEEE International Conference on Omni-Layer Intelligent Systems – IEEE COINS 2022, 2023
  • IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics -IEEE INDIN 2022, 2023, 2025
  • IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Annual Online Conference – ONCON 2022

      –  Conference Session Chair:

  • The 23rd IEEE conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN 2025), Kunming

Selected Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications:

    1. D. Boshoff, R. E. Nkrow, B. Silva and G. P. Hancke,  “Secure and Reliable Indoor Ranging: An Analysis of Industry Protocols, Attacks, and Defenses”, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 2026. IF: 9.9, Rank: 9/177
    1. Liu Hao, Liu Yucheng, Silva Bruno, Nkrow Raphael, Boshoff Dutliff, Zhou Lu, Chen Liquan, Hancke Gerhard, “A Systematic Review of Semantic Firmware Bugs and Security Challenges in Distributed Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems”, Frontiers of Computer Science, 2026 (Accepted, yet to be published). IF: 4.6, Rank: 17/129
    1. R.E. Nkrow, D. Boshoff, B. Silva, and G. P. Hancke, “AdaLOS: A Domain Adaptive UWB NLOS Identification for Dynamic Settings”, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2025. IF: 8.9, Rank: 11/258
    2. Dutliff Boshoff, Morgana Mo Zhou, Raphael E. Nkrow*, Bruno Silva, Gerhard Hancke, “UWB Physical Layer Key Sharing Using the Frequency Domain CIR Magnitude (FD-CIRM)”, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 2025 IF: 9.9, Rank: 9/177
    1. D. Boshoff, R. Nkrow, B. Silva and G. P. Hancke, “Gait Device Pairing in Unconstrained Environments With Signal Morphing”, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 5040-5052, 2024. IF: 10.9, Rank: 4/120
    1. Nkrow, R. E., Silva, B., Boshoff, D., Hancke, G., Gidlund, M., & Abu-Mahfouz, A., “NLOS Identification and Mitigation for Time-based Indoor Localization Systems: Survey and Future Research Directions”,ACM Computing Surveys, vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 1-41, 2024. IF: 28.0, Rank: 1/147
    1. R.E. Nkrow, B. Silva, D. Boshoff, and G. P. Hancke, “Transfer Learning-Based NLOS Identification for UWB in Dynamic Obstructed Settings”, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 4839-4849, 2024. IF: 9.9, Rank: 9/177
    1. N.R. Elikplim, B. Silva, G. Hancke, A. M. Abu-Mahfouz, and L. Shu, “Wi-Fi Fine Time Measurement: Is it a Viable Alternative to Ultrawideband for Ranging in Industrial Environments?”, IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 33-41, 2023. IF:5.7, Rank: 57/368
    1. X.Guo, N. R. Elikplim, N. Ansari, L. Li, and L. Wang, “Robust WiFi Localization by Fusing Derivative Fingerprints of RSS and Multiple Classifiers”, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 3177-3186, 2020. IF: 9.9, Rank: 9/177
    1. X.Guo, F. Hu, N. R. Elikplim, and L. Li, “Indoor Localization Using Visible Light via Two-Layer Fusion Network”, IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 16421-16430, 2019. IF: 3.6, Rank: 93/258
    2. X. Guo, N. Ansari, F. Hu, Y. Shao, N. R. Elikplim and L. Li, “A Survey on Fusion-Based Indoor Positioning,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 566-594, 2019. IF: 46.7, Rank: 1/258

“*” Means corresponding author

Selected Conference Publications:

    1. Bruno Silva, Nkrow Raphael, Dutliff Boshoff, Gerhard Hancke, “An Approach for Effective Remote Assistance in Practical STEM Courses”, The joint conference of the 24th international conference in web-based Learning and the 10th international symposium on Emerging Technologies for Education (ICWL-SETE), 2025, Hong Kong.
    1. R.E. Nkrow, D. Boshoff, B. J. Silva, Z. Liu, and G. P. Hancke, “Building ToF Resiliency Into UWB-Based Secure Distance Bounding Protocols”,2024 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS), Taipei, Taiwan, 2024, pp. 1-9.  (AR: 35/119 = 29.4%) 
    2. R.E. Nkrow, D. Boshoff, B. J. Silva, Z. Liu, and G. P. Hancke, “Persistent Distance Bounding for Mobile Provers”,2024 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS), Taipei, Taiwan, 2024, pp. 1-6.
    3. D.Boshoff, R. Nkrow, B. Silva and G. P. Hancke, “Physical Layer Key Sharing for an Off-The-Shelf UWB Module”,2024 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT), Bristol, United Kingdom, 2024, pp. 1-6.
    4. R.E. Nkrow, B. J. Silva, D. Boshoff, and G. P. Hancke, “NLOS Identification and Mitigation with WiFi: A Performance Evaluation in Dynamic Environments”,2024 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT), Bristol, United Kingdom, 2024, pp. 1-6.
    5. R.E. Nkrow, B. J. Silva, D. Boshoff, and G. P. Hancke, “UWB-Based NLOS Identification and Mitigation: A Performance Evaluation in Dynamic Settings”,IECON 2023- 49th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Singapore, Singapore, 2023, pp. 1-6.
    6. D. Boshoff, R. Nkrow and G. P. Hancke, “Knock-to-Enter Authentication: A Rhythm-Based Smartphone Authentication Mechanism”, IECON 2023- 49th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Singapore, Singapore, 2023, pp. 1-6.
    7. D. Boshoff, A. Scriba, R. Nkrow and G. P. Hancke, “Phone Pick-up Authentication: A Gesture-Based Smartphone Authentication Mechanism”, 2023 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT), Orlando, FL, USA, 2023, pp. 1-6.
    1. R.E. Nkrow, D. Boshoff, B. J. Silva and G. P. Hancke, “A Residual Weighting Approach for NLOS Mitigation in Complex Environments”,2025 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), Kunming, China.
    2. Dutliff Boshoff, Morgana Mo Zhou, Raphael E. Nkrow, Bruno Silva, Gerhard Hancke, “UWB-based Physical Layer Key Sharing for BAN Devices”, 2025 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), Kunming, China
  • Challenges in Accurate Indoor Ranging: NLOS Mitigation and Spoofing Detection, The 23rd IEEE Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN 2025), Kunming – Tutorial