Vukan Ninkovic

About

Machine learning and wireless communications, with emphasis on distributed intelligence and efficient, task-aware information processing in edge systems.

Vukan Ninkovic received his BSc and MSc degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2018 and 2019, respectively, where he was awarded the Telenor Foundation "Professor Ilija Stojanović" Award for the best BSc graduate in communications and signal processing. He obtained his PhD in Power, Electronic, and Communication Engineering in November 2024 from the same institution.

He is currently a Research Associate at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia and a Postdoc/Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Technical Sciences. His research lies at the intersection of machine learning and wireless communications, with a focus on distributed intelligence, edge AI, and efficient information processing over wireless networks. His work explores how learning and communication can be jointly designed to enable intelligent systems under practical constraints on computation, energy, latency, and connectivity, with a growing focus on Physical AI and real-time intelligent systems.

Experience

Positions held

03/2025–
Present

Research Associate (Part-time)

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia

Working on distributed AI and communication-efficient learning systems for edge environments, including split learning and resource-aware system design. Contributing to research proposal development and international project preparation.

02/2024–
02/2025

Research Assistant (Part-time)

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia

Worked on split learning and communication-efficient AI methods for distributed inference in edge and IoT systems.

10/2021–
Present

Postdoc/Teaching Assistant (Part-time since 02/2024)

Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad

Teaching courses in communications, signal processing, and machine learning. Conducting research on machine learning-based physical layer design and autoencoder-based communication systems.

01/2020–
09/2021

Junior Research Assistant

Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad

Developed deep learning-based methods for synchronization tasks in wireless systems, including packet detection and carrier frequency offset estimation.

Education

Degrees

2019–
2024

Ph.D., Power, Electronic and Communication Engineering

Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

Defended 01/11/2024. Supervisor: Prof. Dejan Vukobratović.

"Machine learning-based improvement of the physical layer design in wireless communication systems"

Applied machine learning to the design and optimization of the physical layer in wireless communication systems, spanning block-level and end-to-end approaches. At the receiver level, deep learning methods were developed for synchronization tasks, including packet detection and carrier frequency offset estimation. At the system level, autoencoder-based architectures enabled end-to-end communication design, with emphasis on unequal error protection and robust coding for non-standard scenarios — contributing to reduced algorithmic complexity and data-driven design of next-generation wireless systems.

2018–
2019

M.Sc., Power, Electronic and Communication Engineering

Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

Defended 05/07/2019.

2014–
2018

B.Sc., Power, Electronic and Communication Engineering

Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

Defended 06/09/2018.

Awards & Honors

Prizes & scholarships

Matica srpska "Mihajlo Pupin" Award — best M.Sc. dissertation in Electrical Engineering in the Serbian language, 2016–2019
Telenor Foundation "Professor Ilija Stojanović" Award — best BSc graduate in communications and signal processing, academic year 2017/18
Scholarship, Foundation for Young Talents – Dositeja (Ministry of Youth and Sport) — 2017/18 and 2018/19
Outstanding Faculty and University Awards for academic achievement, school years 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19
Scholarship, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia (MPNTR) — school years 2015/16 and 2016/17

Publications

Selected

The list below may lag behind the latest record. Full & up-to-date list on Google Scholar ↗

Journal Publications

Adaptive Unequal Error Protection for Semantic Split Learning over Wireless Channels

V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, D. Miskovic, and C. Wang — IEEE Communications Letters, to appear, 2026
Autonomous CSI Prediction Framework for O-RAN-Enabled 5G mmWave Vehicular Networks

A. Orimogunje, V. Ninkovic, N. Petrovic, E. Twahirwa, G. Gashema, L. Fodor, et al. — IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2026
Sensing-Assisted Adaptive Beam Probing with Calibrated Multimodal Priors and Uncertainty-Aware Scheduling

A. Orimogunje, V. Ninkovic, O. Kundacina, H. Park, S. Kim, D. Vukobratovic, et al. — IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 15, pp. 2438–2442, 2026
Structured Superposition of Autoencoders for UEP Codes at Intermediate Blocklengths

V. Ninkovic and D. Vukobratovic — IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 2406–2410, Oct. 2025
COMSPLIT: A Communication–Aware Split Learning Design for Heterogeneous IoT Platforms

V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, D. Miskovic and M. Zennaro — IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 5305–5319, 2025
Conformal Anomaly Detection for Predictive Maintenance in Thermal Power Plants

O. Kundacina, V. Vincan, G. Gojic, V. Ninkovic, and D. Miskovic — IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 39738–39752, 2025
Autoencoder-Based Unequal Error Protection Codes

V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, C. Häger, H. Wymeersch and A. Graell i Amat — IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 25, no. 11, pp. 3575–3579, 2021
Deep Learning-Based Packet Detection and Carrier Frequency Offset Estimation in IEEE 802.11ah

V. Ninkovic, A. Valka, D. Dumic and D. Vukobratovic — IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 99853–99865, 2021

Conference Publications

A Semantic Communication Approach to Fiducial Marker Processing in 5G-Enabled Edge SLAM

B. Radovanovic, V. Ninkovic, K. Vidojevic, B. B. Papuga, and D. Vukobratovic — accepted at IEEE Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN), 2026
Task-Oriented Wireless Transmission of 3D Point Clouds: Geometric Versus Semantic Robustness

V. Ninkovic, T. Sobot, V. Vincan, G. Gojic, D. Miskovic, and D. Vukobratovic — 2026 Global 6G Conference (Global 6G), 2026, pp. 1–6
End-to-End O-RAN Testbed for Edge-AI-Enabled 5G/6G Connected Industrial Robotics

S. Talosi, V. Vincan, S. Sobot, G. Martic, V. Morosev, V. Ninkovic, D. Miskovic, et al. — 2026 Global 6G Conference (Global 6G), 2026, pp. 1–6
Learning Binary Autoencoder-Based Codes with Progressive Training

V. Ninkovic and D. Vukobratovic — 2025 33rd Telecommunications Forum (TELFOR), 2025, pp. 1–5
Efficient Split Learning LSTM Models for FPGA-Based Edge IoT Devices

R. S. Molina, V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, M. L. Crespo, and M. Zennaro — IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning for Communication and Networking (ICMLCN), 2025, pp. 1–5
AI-Driven Collaborative Welding: Innovations in System Setup and Intelligent Manufacturing

V. Ninkovic, V. Vincan, O. Kundacina, G. Gojic, and D. Miskovic — INFOTEH 2025
Decoding Quantum LDPC Codes Using Graph Neural Networks

V. Ninkovic, O. Kundacina, D. Vukobratovic, C. Häger and A. G. i. Amat — IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), 2024, pp. 3479–3484
UAV-Assisted Distributed Learning for Environmental Monitoring in Rural Environments

V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, and D. Miskovic — 7th International Balkan Conference on Communications and Networking (BalkanCom), 2024, pp. 1–5
Autonomous Self-Trained Channel State Prediction Method for mmWave Vehicular Communications

A. Orimogunje, V. Ninkovic, E. Twahirwa, G. Gashema, and D. Vukobratovic — 29th European Wireless Conference (EW), 2024, pp. 72–76
Rateless Autoencoder Codes: Trading off Decoding Delay and Reliability

V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, C. Häger, H. Wymeersch and A. G. i. Amat — IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 2023, pp. 6361–6366
A Weighted Autoencoder-Based Approach to Downlink NOMA Constellation Design

V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, A. Pastore, and C. Anton-Haro — IEEE 24th Int. Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), 2023, pp. 1–5
Machine Learning Methods for Device Identification Using Wireless Fingerprinting

S. Sobot, V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, M. Pavlovic, and M. Radovanovic — International Balkan Conference on Communications and Networking (BalkanCom), 2022, pp. 1–5
Preamble-Based Packet Detection in Wi-Fi: A Deep Learning Approach

V. Ninkovic, D. Vukobratovic, A. Valka, and D. Dumic — IEEE 92nd Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall), 2020, pp. 1–5
Simulating Massive IoT Environmental Monitoring Scenario Using OMNeT++

K. Josifović, S. Boljević, V. Ninkovic, and N. Turćinović — 2019 27th Telecommunications Forum (TELFOR), pp. 1–4

Projects

Funded research

2023–
2026

REMARKABLE

H2020 MSCA-RISE — Rural Environmental Monitoring via Ultra-Wide-Area Networks and Distributed Federated Learning (No. 101086387) · Scientist in Charge: Prof. Maja Turk-Sekulic

Developed split learning frameworks and communication strategies for distributed AI in rural IoT networks.

2023–
2025

REWARDING

Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia — Remote Water Quality Monitoring and Intelligence (No. 6707) · Scientist in Charge: Prof. Dejan Vukobratović

Worked on distributed AI and split learning for real-world water quality monitoring, integrating IoT sensing, UAV-assisted communication, and data-driven prediction models.

2020–
2023

INCOMING

H2020 Twinning — Innovation and Excellence in Massive-Scale Communications and Information Processing (No. 856967) · Scientist in Charge: Prof. Dejan Vukobratović

Developed AE-based rateless and UEP coding schemes in collaboration with partners from Chalmers University of Technology.

2020–
2023

COLLABS

H2020 Industrial Leadership — A Comprehensive Cyber-Intelligence Framework for Resilient Collaborative Manufacturing Systems (No. 871518) · Scientist in Charge: Prof. Dusan Jakovetic

Contributed to IoT security in industrial environments, focusing on device localization and data-driven system modeling.

2017–
2021

SENSIBLE

H2020 MSCA-RISE — Sensors and Intelligence in Built Environment (No. 734331) · Scientist in Charge: Prof. Dejan Vukobratović

Participated in international research collaboration on sensing and intelligent systems.

Talks & Service

Engagement

Invited Presentations

08/2026

"Task-Aware Semantic Split Learning: An Adaptive Unequal Error Protection Approach"

International Workshop on Intelligent Wireless Systems for Communications, Computing and Sensing, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany · 27 August 2026

03/2026

"When Learning Meets the Channel: Edge AI through Split and Semantic Design"

School on Applied AI for Sustainable Development, The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy · 23–27 March 2026

Research Visits & International Exposure (Selected)

07/2026

REMARKABLE, H2020 MSCA-RISE

Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain

04/2025

REMARKABLE, H2020 MSCA-RISE

Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal

12/2024

REMARKABLE, H2020 MSCA-RISE

Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

07/2024

COST INTERACT 5th Training School — AI/ML for 6G Communication Networks

Barcelona, Spain

01–02/2024

REMARKABLE, H2020 MSCA-RISE

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy

08/2023

INCOMING, H2020 Twinning — Workshop at AAU Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark

01–02/2023

COST INTERACT Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM)

CTTC, Barcelona, Spain

01/2023

INCOMING, H2020 Twinning — Zugspitze Workshop on Communications

Munich, Germany

09/2022

IEEE SPS-EURASIP Summer School — Data and Graph Driven Learning for Communications and Signal Processing

Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

04/2022, 07/2022

INCOMING, H2020 Twinning

Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

08–09/2021

SENSIBLE, H2020 MSCA-RISE

University of Zilina, Slovakia

04/2019

COST IRACON 6th Training School — ML/DL for (Beyond) 5G Wireless Systems

Barcelona, Spain

Professional Service

07/2026

TPC Member — IEEE MeditCom 2026 (Int'l Mediterranean Conf. on Communications and Networking)

Cagliari, Italy

06/2026

TPC Member — BalkanCom 2026 (Int'l Balkan Conf. on Communications and Networking)

Ulcinj, Montenegro

09/2025

TPC Member — ICAT 2025 (Information, Communication and Automation Technologies)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

2024

Industrial Innovation — AI Algorithms Application in Production Processes and Planning

Elektroprivreda Srbije (Electric Power Industry of Serbia)

—

IEEE Member (since 2020)

Peer Review

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