Zhihao Xu

Zhihao Xu

Southeast University & Monash University

📖 Zhihao Xu is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Southeast University (SEU) and Monash University (Monash). His supervisors are Prof. Bixin Li and Dr. Xiaoning Du. Before joining SEU and Monash, he received his master’s degree in Computer Science from Dalian Maritime University (DLMU), co-supervised by Prof. Shikai Guo and Prof. He Jiang.

🔍 My research interests include Software Engineering (SE), Electronic Design Automation (EDA), and the RISC-V instruction set architecture. I aim to explore how AI can improve the efficiency and accuracy of software testing, especially for embedded systems with limited hardware resources.

📈 Google Scholar Citations: —

🔥 News

  • 2026.09:  🎉🎉 Our paper has been accepted by NeurIPS’26!
  • 2026.08:  🎉🎉 Our paper has been accepted by TRETS!
  • 2026.05:  🎉🎉 I was selected as a gold reviewer for ICML 2026. See you in Seoul!
  • 2026.05:  🎉🎉 Our paper has been accepted by ICSME’26! Congratulations to Yuxiao!
  • 2026.04:  🎉🎉 Our paper has been accepted by TCAD!
  • 2026.02:  🎉🎉 Two papers have been accepted by DAC’26! Congratulations to Jiaxin!
  • 2025.11:  🎉🎉 Our paper has been accepted by TCAD! Many thanks to my supervisors, Prof. Li and Dr. Du!
  • 2025.05:  🎉🎉 I received CSC funding to support my Ph.D. studies in Australia!
  • 2025.04:  🎉🎉 Our paper has been accepted by TCAD!
  • 2024.11:  🎉🎉 Our paper has been accepted by TODAES!

📝 Publications

Conference

  • FSE’22  Detecting Simulink compiler bugs via controllable zombie blocks mutation

    Shikai Guo, He Jiang (*), Zhihao Xu, Xiaochen Li, Zhilei Ren, Zide Zhou, Rong Chen.

    The 30th ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, Singapore, November 2022. (CCF-A)

    📄[paper] 💻[code]

  • DAC’26  RL4HDL: Code Diversity Guided FPGA Logic Synthesis Compiler Testing Via Reinforcement Learning

    Zhihao Xu, Hui Zeng, Qian Ma, Hui Li, Furui Zhan, Shikai Guo (*).

    The 63rd ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference, Long Beach, July 2026. (CCF-A)

    📄[paper]

  • DAC’26  Are They All Safe? Practical Fault Injection Attacks on FPGA Logic Synthesis Tools

    Jiaxin Li, Shikai Guo*, Zhihao Xu*, Qian Ma, Xiaochen Li, He Jiang.

    The 63rd ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference, Long Beach, July 2026. (CCF-A)

    📄[paper]

  • ICSME’26  Detecting Error Diagnostic Defects in C Compiler via Invalid Program Mutations

    Yuxiao Peng, Bixin Li*, Zhihao Xu*, Lulu Wang, Li Liao, Ying Zhou.

    The 42nd IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, Benevento, September 2026. (CCF-B)

    📄[paper]

  • ISSTA’26  Generating Syntax Valid Verilog Programs with Large Language Model to Find Bugs in Logic Synthesis Tools

    Shikai Guo, Wen Zhao, Zhihao Xu, Xiaochen Li, He Jiang.

    The 35th ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis, Oakland, October 2026. (CCF-A)

  • NeurIPS’26  VALOR: Vector-Aware Low-Rank Restructuring of Neural Networks for RISC-V Inference

    Zhihao Xu, Xiaoning Du, Bixin Li, Lulu Wang, Li Liao, Ying Zhou.

    The 40th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, Sydney, December 2026. (CCF-A)

    📄[paper]

Journal

  • SPE’23  Feature transfer learning by reinforcement learning for detecting software defect

    Shikai Guo, Jiahui Wang, Zhihao Xu, Lin Huang, Hui Li, Rong Chen.

    In Software: Practice and Experience, 2023. (CCF-B, JCR Q2)

  • TODAES’25  SIMTAM: Generation Diversity Test Programs for FPGA Simulation Tools Testing Via Timing Area Mutation

    Zhihao Xu, Shikai Guo, Xiaochen Li, Zun Wang, He Jiang.

    In ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems, 2025. (CCF-B, JCR Q1)

    📄[paper] 💻[code]

  • TCAD’25  A Novel HDL Code Generator for Effectively Testing FPGA Logic Synthesis Compilers

    Zhihao Xu, Shikai Guo, Guilin Zhao, Xiaochen Li, Peiyu Zou, He Jiang.

    In IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, 2025. (CCF-A, JCR Q1)

    📄[paper] 💻[code]

  • TCAD’25  TRAGIC: Test Oracle Generation for ISA Compliance Testing via Large Language Model

    Zhihao Xu, Bixin Li, Xiaoning Du, Lulu Wang, Li Liao, Ying Zhou.

    In IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, 2025. (CCF-A, JCR Q1)

    📄[paper]

  • TCAD’26  Structural Mutation Based Differential Testing for FPGA Logic Synthesis Compilers

    Zhihao Xu, Shikai Guo, Guilin Zhao, Siwen Wang, Qian Ma, Hui Li, Furui Zhan.

    In IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, 2026. (CCF-A, JCR Q1)

  • TRETS’26  Rethinking LLM-Aided RTL Code Optimization Via Timing Logic Metamorphosis

    Zhihao Xu, Bixin Li, Ran Yan, Lulu Wang, Yongqiang Tian.

    In ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems, 2026. (CCF-B, JCR Q2)

    📄[paper]

Under Review

  • TACO’26  Differential Fuzz to Test Instruction Set Simulator Tools

    Xinlong Zhang, Shikai Guo*, Zihan Liang, Zhihao Xu*, Xiaochen Li, He Jiang.

    Manuscript submitted to ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization, 2026. (CCF-A)

🎖 Honors and Awards

  • 2022.10 COSCO SHIPPING Second Prize Scholarship in DLMU.
  • 2024.09 First-class academic scholarship in SEU.
  • 2025.05 China Scholarship Council scholarship for study at Monash University.

📖 Education

  • 2024.09 - Present, Ph.D. candidate, Southeast University, Nanjing.
  • 2021.09 - 2024.06, Master’s student, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian.

🧱 Utility Model Patents

  • S. Guo, Z. Xu, X. Li, and H. Jiang, “Simulation software testing method based on sleep zone mutation,” Utility Model Patent CN202310123179.9, Authorized, Feb. 20, 2025.
  • H. Li, X. Qi, Z. Xu, S. Guo, X. Li, and H. Jiang, “A method to improve JIT defect prediction performance,” Utility Model Patent CN202310112490.3, Authorized, Jan. 10, 2025.
  • S. Guo and Z. Xu, “Simulation software testing method based on code generation,” Utility Model Patent CN202210946320.0, Substantive review completed, Nov. 3, 2022.
  • S. Guo, Z. Xu, X. Shang, H. Li, and R. Chen, “A Simulink detection method based on controllable base mutations,” Utility Model Patent CN202210348499.X, Substantive review completed, Sep. 15, 2022.
  • S. Guo, Z. Xu, X. Shang, H. Li, and R. Chen, “Simulation software testing method based on hibernation zone mutation,” Utility Model Patent CN202210983410.7, Granted on Oct. 15, 2024.

🔬 Research Projects

  • 2019 Yantai Science and Technology Project, Host
  • 2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62472062), Participant
  • 2023 Dalian Excellent Young Project (No. 2022RY35), Participant
  • 2024 Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 3132024257), Participant