PhD Candidate | Graduating June 2026

Jad Al Aaraj

Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of California, Irvine · EECS Department

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About Me

Jad Al Aaraj

I am a PhD candidate in the EECS department at the University of California, Irvine, advised by Prof. Athina Markopoulou. I received my B.E. in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University of Beirut in 2020 and my M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from UC Irvine in 2023.

My research focuses on developing innovative solutions at the intersection of privacy, security, and emerging technologies. I am particularly passionate about empowering users with transparency and control over their data in IoT ecosystems and camera-enabled devices.

Graduation: June 2026

Research Interests

Internet-of-Things (IoT) Privacy & Security Network Measurements Bystander Privacy AR/MR Systems Computer Networks

Publications & Patents

Published & Under Review
Under Review

BlindSpot: Enabling Bystander-Controlled Privacy Signaling for Camera Enabled Devices

Jad Al Aaraj and Athina Markopoulou

Under Review

A system that enables bystanders to signal their privacy preferences to camera-enabled devices in their vicinity.

arXiv Project Page
Under Review

VBIT: Towards Enhancing Privacy Control Over IoT Devices

Jad Al Aaraj, Olivia Figueira, Tu Le, Isabela Figueira, Rahmadi Trimananda, Athina Markopoulou

Under Review

An interactive system combining Mixed Reality and web applications to help users identify and manage data collection by IoT devices in shared spaces.

arXiv Project Page

BystandARIA: Enabling AR Bystander Privacy using LEDs

Jad Al Aaraj and Athina Markopoulou

ACM MobiHoc '25 — Houston, TX, October 2025

A novel approach to protect bystander privacy in augmented reality environments using LED-based signaling.

DOI PDF

FingerprinTV: Fingerprinting Smart TV Apps

J. Varmarken, Jad Al Aaraj, R. Trimananda, A. Markopoulou

PETS 2022 — Sydney, Australia, July 2022

A system for fingerprinting and identifying smart TV applications through network traffic analysis.

DOI PDF
Patents
U.S. Patent

Decoding light-based messages to support device maintenance

Samer Salam (Beirut), Jad Al Aaraj (Irvine, CA)

U.S. Patent 11935299 — March 19, 2024

A method for decoding messages transmitted through blinking LED light sources using real-time video processing.

View Patent

Experience

Industry internships and teaching

Work Experience

Software Engineer PhD Intern

Cisco Systems · San Jose, CA · June 2023 – September 2023

Developed ML models for detecting access points in real-world deployments.

Software Engineer PhD Intern

Cisco Systems · San Jose, CA · June 2022 – September 2022

Continued work on light-based communication systems for device maintenance.

Software Engineer PhD Intern

Cisco Systems · San Jose, CA · June 2021 – September 2021

Developed system for decoding light-based messages, leading to U.S. Patent 11935299.

View Patent

Software Engineer Intern

Cisco Systems · Beirut, Lebanon · July 2019 – September 2020

1. Built a 3D Wireless Analyzer using Three.js, GLSL shaders, and GPGPU to visualize RF heatmaps and network coverage in real-time, significantly enhancing observability tools.

2. Extended Ontop OBDA system to support multiple database types including Gremlin graph databases.

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant — Organization of Digital Computers Laboratory (EECS 112L)

UC Irvine · Jan–Mar 2022, Oct–Dec 2022

Assisted students with digital logic design, computer organization concepts, and laboratory assignments.

Projects

Research prototypes, engineering tools, and side projects

BlindSpot: Bystander Privacy System

Under Review

A system that allows bystanders to signal their privacy preferences to camera-enabled devices, enabling privacy-aware recording and data collection.

Stack: Kotlin, Android, OpenGL, Python

arXiv Project

LLM-Powered Network Privacy Auditor

Starting Soon

A tool that translates raw network traffic logs into human-readable privacy reports using LLMs, backed by a knowledge base of tracking domains and protocols.

Stack: Python, LlamaIndex, LangChain, LangGraph

BystandARIA: AR Bystander Privacy

Published

A novel LED-based signaling system that enables bystander privacy protection in augmented reality environments.

Stack: Kotlin, Android, OpenGL, Computer Vision

Venue: ACM MobiHoc '25

VBIT: Visualizing IoT Trackers

Under Review

An interactive MR and web-based system that enables users to identify and manage data collection by IoT devices through network traffic analysis.

Stack: Python (Flask), JS/CSS, SQLite, MR

arXiv Project

Amazon Alexa Privacy Analysis

In Progress

Analyzing the advertising ecosystem of Amazon Alexa devices to understand data collection practices and privacy implications.

Stack: Python, Network Analysis

ML Access Point Detection

Completed

Trained a machine learning model to detect Cisco Access Points in real-world environments using computer vision techniques.

Stack: YOLO/CNNs, Python

Context: Cisco Internship (2023)

Decoding Light-Based Messages

Patent Granted

Developed a system using real-time video to detect and decode messages transmitted by blinking LED light sources for device maintenance.

Stack: OpenCV.js, JavaScript, CV

Patent

Cisco Wireless 3D Analyzer

Completed

Created 3D wireless heat-maps for network visualization using advanced graphics programming and GPU computation.

Stack: Three.js, GLSL Shaders, GPGPU

Demo

VKG to Database (Ontop Extension)

Completed

Extended the open-source OBDA system Ontop to support multiple database types simultaneously, including Gremlin graph databases.

Stack: Java, Gremlin, SQL, SPARQL

Context: Cisco Internship (2019-2020)

Get In Touch

Open to research collaborations and industry opportunities

Location
Irvine, CA
Institution
University of California, Irvine