Zhicong Sun

profile pic 

Updated Sept, 2025.
E-mail: zhicong.sun@connect.polyu.hk
Google Scholar; ResearchGate;
CV; Research Statement;
Github; Linkedin;

remember1
remember2

Research Interests

  • Robotic Perception, Reasoning, and Planning

  • Cyber-Physical Systems and their Safety & Security

Recent Publications

  • Robotic Perception, Reasoning, and Planning

  1. [IEEE-IROS'25] Zhicong Sun, Jinxing Hu, and Jacqueline Lo, “Embracing Dynamics: Dynamics-aware 4D Gaussian Splatting SLAM”, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Accepted. (PDF)

  2. [MMM'26] Zhicong Sun, Jinxing Hu, and Jacqueline Lo, “WildfireX-SLAM: A Large-scale Low-altitude RGB-D Dataset for Wildfire SLAM and Beyond”, 32nd International Conference on Multimedia Modeling, Accepted.

  • Cyber-Physical Systems

  1. [IEEE-IoTJ'23] Zhicong Sun, Yulong Ding, Shuang-Hua Yang, “Contradictions Identification of Safety and Security Requirements for Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems”, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 13 November 2023, Doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2023.3332128. (PDF) (A 26-page long article)

  2. [IET-CPS'24] Zhicong Sun, Guang Cheng, Yulong Ding, Shuang-Hua Yang, “Joint safety and security risk analysis in industrial cyber-physical systems: A survey”, IET Cyber-Physical Systems: Theory & Applications, 14 June 2024, Doi: 10.1049/cps2.12095. (PDF)

  3. [INFOCOM'24] Xinchen Zhang and Running Zhao, Zhihan Jiang, Zhicong Sun, Yulong Ding, Edith C.-H. Ngai, Shuang-Hua Yang, “AOC-IDS: Autonomous Online Framework with Contrastive Learning for Intrusion Detection”, Doi: 10.1109/INFOCOM52122.2024.10621346. (PDF)

  4. [IEEE-TCYB'24] Guang Chen and Zhicong Sun(co-first authors), Yulong Ding, Shuang-Hua Yang, “Risk Assessment for Cyber-Physical Systems under Stealth Attacks”, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, Under Review. (PDF)

  5. [IEEE-TDSC'24] Xinchen Zhang and Running Zhao, Zhicong Sun, Zhihan Jiang, Yulong Ding, Edith C.-H. Ngai, Shuang-Hua Yang,, “Online Contrastive Learning for Autonomous Network Intrusion Detection”, IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, Under Review.

Education

  • Harbin Institute of Technology, China
    B.Eng. | Communication Engineering, Sept 2016 - Jun 2020
    Supervisor: Prof. Changjun Yu

Services

  • Reviewer of the Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering (JCR Q1, IF 9.9), Springer.

  • Reviewer of the IEEE Internet of Things Journal (JCR Q1, IF 9), IEEE.

  • Reviewer of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV, CCF A), IEEE.

  • Reviewer of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS, CCF C), IEEE.

  • Reviewer of the International Conference on Multimedia Modeling (MMM).

Awards

  • Second Prize in Preliminary Contest of Business Plan of the 15th China Graduate Electronic Design Contest, 2020 (First Author).

  • Second Prize in the South China Division of the 15th China Graduate Electronic Design Contest, 2020 (Second Author).

  • Second Prize in the Final Tournament of the 18th RoboMaster University Championship, China University Robot Competition, 2019 (First Author).

  • Grand Prize in the North China Division of the 18th Robomaster University Technical Challenge, 2019 (First Author).

  • First Prize in the Northern Division of the 18th RoboMaster University Championship, China University Robot Competition, 2019 (First Author).

  • Participation Award in ICRA RoboMaster AI Challenge, 2019 (Member).

  • Grand Prize in the 7th China Marine Vehicle Design and Construction Contest, 2018 (First Author).

  • Third Prize in the University Student Science and Technology Innovation Competition, Shandong, 2018 (Second Author).

  • Third Prize in the Northern Division of the 17th RoboMaster University Championship, China University Robot Competition, 2018 (First Author).

  • First Prize in the HITwh Internal Contest of the Shandong Science and Technology Innovation Competition, 2018 (Second Author).

  • Second Prize in the 1st HITwh Headmaster Cup Science and Technology Contest, 2018 (First Author).

  • First Prize of the HITwh Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Hardware Contest, 2018 (First Author).

Honors

  • Top 10 Influential Graduate, 2020. (Ranking 2nd, awarded with scholarship, with a selection ratio of 10/2368, at HITwh)

  • Outstanding Scientific and Technological Innovation Individual of the School of Information Science and Engineering, 2019.

  • Science and Technology Innovation Scholarship, 2019, 2018, 2017.

  • Outstanding Communist Party Member of the School of Information Science and Engineering, 2018.

  • Excellent Volunteer, 2018.

  • Social Work Scholarship, 2017.

  • Sports Excellence Scholarship, 2017.

Research Experiences

  • Simultaneous Localization and Mapping in Dynamic Large-scale Outdoor Environments
    Main Researcher | PolyU, Sept 2023 - Now

  • Identification and Resolution of Contradictions between Safety and Security (S&S) in Intelligent Connected Vehicle (ICV)
    Main Researcher | SUSTech, Sept 2022 - Jun 2023
    Supported by Huawei Trustworthy Intelligent Systems Laboratory.

  • Dealing with Security and Safety (S&S) Contradictions for Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems
    Main Researcher | SUSTech, Sept 2021 - Jun 2023
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number: 61873119 and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Safety and Security for Next Generation of Industrial Internet.

  • Joint Safety and Security Risk Analysis in Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (iCPSs)
    Main Researcher | SUSTech, Sept 2021 - Jun 2023
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number: 61873119 and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Safety and Security for Next Generation of Industrial Internet.

  • Direction Estimation of Ionospheric Echo based on High-Frequency Ground Wave Radar
    Main Researcher | HIT, Jan 2020 - May 2020
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number: 61971159 and Institute of Electronic Engineering Technology, HIT.

Project Experiences

  • Simple Covariance Matrix Self-Adaptation Evolution Strategy with Repelling Subpopulations [report]
    Main Researcher | SUSTech, May 2021, Advisor: Prof. Xin Yao

  • Optimization of the initialization of item grouping under the BIGO model [report]
    Main Researcher | SUSTech, Apr 2021, Advisor: Prof. Xin Yao

  • Optimization of the convergence speed and the local search ability of the IFEP algorithm [report]
    Main Researcher | SUSTech, Mar 2021, Advisor: Prof. Xin Yao

  • Electronic Control of Robots in Robomaster (China University Robot Competition)
    Head of the Electronic Control Group | HIT, Aug 2017 - Aug 2019

Teaching Experiences

  • CS324 Internet of Things
    Teaching Assistant | SUSTech, Spring 2022

  • CSE1BN01 Transport and Society
    Teaching Assistant | PolyU, Spring 2025

Work Experiences

  • Huawei Hong Kong Research Center
    Researcher Intern | 2012 Theory Lab, Apr 2024 - Jun 2024

  • Standard Robots, Shenzhen, Co., Ltd
    Project Intern | Electronic Control Group, Jul 2020 - Aug 2020

  • ZTE Corporation
    Project Intern | Wireless Communication Group, Asia Pacific Training Base, Yantai, Jan 2020 - Feb 2020

Leadership & Activities

  • HIT Robot Contest Team (HRCT)
    Head of the Electronic Control Group | HIT, Aug 2017 - May 2018
    Vice Captain & Head of the Electronic Control Group | HIT, Jun 2018 - Aug 2019

  • Maker Space
    Head of the Lab | HIT, Sept 2017 - Feb 2018

Languages & Skills

  • Languages: Chinese (native), English (fluent, TOFEL: 101).

  • Programming: Python, Matlab, C/C, Java.

  • Others: Machine Learning, Evolutionary Computation, Embedded System Development, ROS.

Talks & Reports on me

© 2025 Zhicong Sun. All rights reserved.