Ahmad Alhilal, PhD

Postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University · pioneering adaptive real‑time streaming, cloud‑rendered XR, and scalable visual computing.

Research frontier Latest publications Latest highlights Teaching & mentorship Presentations Projects

Core research areas

Real-time Streaming

networked XR systems, congestion control for XR streaming, and QoE optimization for cloud gaming

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Cloud‑rendered XR Gaming

foveated video encoding for immersive experiences, foveated rendering for scalable low-latency encoding

VR cloud gamingUnityFoveated Video Encoding

Scalable Visual Computing

Generative AI for 3D spaces, gaze‑adaptive compression, real-time rendering of photorealistic views

3D Gaussian SplatNeRFComplexity‑aware FVESaliency‑Guided FVE
Collaborate with me — adaptive video streaming, cloud rendering, networked XR systems: ahmad.alhilal[AT]aalto[DOT]fi

Latest highlights

Recent awards & recognition

  • 🏅 Honorable Mentions for Best Papers @ IEEE VR '26 (Korea)
  • 🏅 Honourable Mention Award @ CHI Play 2024
View all honors & awards →

Breaking news

  • Jan 2026: Three papers accepted at IEEE VR'26
  • Sep 2025: A Paper accepted at CoNEXT'25
  • July 2025: A paper accepted at ACM Multimedia'25
  • Dec 2024: Started as postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University, Finland
More news →

Selected publications

FovRL: Joint Foveation and Quality Control for Immersive VR Streaming
Tsui, Wu, Alhilal, Siekkinen, Hui — The Web Conference (WWW) 2026

Frame Complexity-Aware FVE for Real-time High-Quality Streaming
Wu, Alhilal, Tsui, Siekkinen, Hui — IEEE VR 2026

EyeNexus: Adaptive Gaze-Driven Streaming for VR Cloud Gaming
Wu, Alhilal, Tsui, Siekkinen, Hui — ACM CoNEXT 2025

Congestion Control for VR Cloud Gaming
Alhilal, Wu, Kämäräinen, Braud, Siekkinen — ACM Multimedia 2025

FovOptix: Human Vision-Compatible Encoding in VR Cloud Gaming
Alhilal, Wu, Tsui, Hui — ACM MMSys ’24

Nebula: Reliable Low-latency Video Transmission for Mobile Cloud Gaming
Alhilal, Braud, Han, Hui — The Web Conference (WWW) 2022

📖 Full publication list →

Teaching & mentorship

đź“š Lecturer roles

Aalto University (2025): CS-E4265 Multimedia Systems
HKUST (2024): Guest Lecturer – Extended Reality: Systems, Principles and Design
Arab International University (2016-2017): Introduction to Computer Systems

🎓 TA experience

Java Programming, Database Systems, Mobile App Development (HKUST) · Network Security, Computer Networks (Damascus/AIU).

Full teaching portfolio →

Mentorship (PhD, MPhil & UROP)

LAM Kit Yung (XR interaction) CHEUNG Clarence (Deception in VR) YANG Liang (Metaverse Interop) WANG Xuetong (VR Sketching) WU Ze (VR Gaming streaming) TSUI Yuk Hang (ML+CV) Simin YANG (GenAI spaces) PARK Chun Ho (Localization)

Advisor of 9+ FYPs at Damascus University

Ongoing research projects

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming for XR Cloud Gaming

Develop networked XR system, adaptive XR streaming to network dynamics — Aalto University/HKUST (2023–present).

Learn more →

Real-time Rendering and Streaming of Photorealistic 3D Views

Leverage 3D Gaussian Splatting for generating novel view synthesis, immersive rendering and adaptive streaming to end devices — Aalto University (2026–present).

More projects →

Invited presentations & talks

Oct 2025 (Dublin, Ireland): Presented the paper "Congestion Control for VR Cloud Gaming: Integration and Comparison in Real VR Gaming Environment"
at the conference of ACM Multimedia 2025. Also chaired the Transport and Delivery session.

Oct 2025 (Hong Kong): Presented the paper "EyeNexus: Adaptive Gaze-Driven Quality and Bitrate Streaming for Seamless VR Cloud Gaming Experiences"
at The 21st International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (CoNEXT).

Jul 2023 (Hong Kong): Presented the paper "Network Traffic in the Metaverse: The Case of Social VR" at SocialMeta Workshop.

Apr 2022 (Lyon): Presented the paper "Nebula: Reliable Video Transmission" at The Web Conference 2022.

View all talks →

Get in touch

ahmad.alhilal[AT]aalto[DOT]fi
Tietotekniikantalo, Konemiehentie 2, 02150 Espoo, Finland

Let's push the boundaries of real-time visual computing, edge intelligence & XR streaming.