Zhili Sun

4.8k total citations · 3 hit papers
190 papers, 3.0k citations indexed

About

Zhili Sun is a scholar working on Computer Networks and Communications, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Aerospace Engineering. According to data from OpenAlex, Zhili Sun has authored 190 papers receiving a total of 3.0k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 167 papers in Computer Networks and Communications, 81 papers in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and 47 papers in Aerospace Engineering. Recurrent topics in Zhili Sun's work include Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (59 papers), Opportunistic and Delay-Tolerant Networks (58 papers) and Satellite Communication Systems (46 papers). Zhili Sun is often cited by papers focused on Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (59 papers), Opportunistic and Delay-Tolerant Networks (58 papers) and Satellite Communication Systems (46 papers). Zhili Sun collaborates with scholars based in United Kingdom, China and United States. Zhili Sun's co-authors include Haitham Cruickshank, Yue Cao, Philip Asuquo, Ao Lei, Chibueze P. Anyigor Ogah, Victor Chang, Chakkaphong Suthaputchakun, Ning Wang, Gérard Maral and Michel Bousquet and has published in prestigious journals such as IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE Access and IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

In The Last Decade

Zhili Sun

177 papers receiving 2.9k citations

Hit Papers

align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

Blockchain-Based Dynamic Key Management for Heterogeneous Intelligent Transportation Systems

2017 421 citations Ao Lei, Haitham Cruickshank et al. IEEE Internet of Things Journal profile →
Routing in Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networks: A Taxonomy, Survey and Challenges

2013 251 citations Yue Cao, Zhili Sun profile →
Pima Indians diabetes mellitus classification based on machine learning (ML) algorithms

2022 176 citations Victor Chang, Qianwen Xu et al. Neural Computing and Applications profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
Zhili Sun United Kingdom	27	2.0k	1.2k	767	577	450	190	3.0k
Haris Pervaiz United Kingdom	25	1.1k 0.5×	1.2k 1.0×	343 0.4×	293 0.5×	448 1.0×	116	2.3k
Gianluca Aloi Italy	21	1.5k 0.8×	676 0.6×	437 0.6×	362 0.6×	226 0.5×	86	2.4k
Fazlullah Khan Pakistan	27	1.0k 0.5×	467 0.4×	611 0.8×	480 0.8×	76 0.2×	92	2.0k
Marjan Kuchaki Rafsanjani Iran	22	1.1k 0.6×	666 0.5×	425 0.6×	435 0.8×	119 0.3×	117	1.8k
Weiwei Lin China	31	1.5k 0.8×	548 0.4×	1.4k 1.9×	761 1.3×	56 0.1×	172	3.0k
Rajat Chaudhary India	20	995 0.5×	517 0.4×	798 1.0×	448 0.8×	105 0.2×	48	1.8k
Junwei Cao China	30	1.9k 1.0×	1.3k 1.0×	1.3k 1.7×	428 0.7×	70 0.2×	156	3.6k
Mainak Adhikari India	26	1.5k 0.7×	460 0.4×	954 1.2×	324 0.6×	74 0.2×	81	2.1k
Peng Yang China	29	2.7k 1.4×	1.6k 1.3×	569 0.7×	599 1.0×	770 1.7×	136	3.9k
Theodoros Salonidis United States	26	2.5k 1.3×	1.7k 1.4×	365 0.5×	1.5k 2.6×	113 0.3×	74	4.2k

Countries citing papers authored by Zhili Sun

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Zhili Sun's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Zhili Sun with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Zhili Sun more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Zhili Sun

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Zhili Sun. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Zhili Sun. The network helps show where Zhili Sun may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Zhili Sun

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Zhili Sun. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Zhili Sun based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Zhili Sun. Zhili Sun is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

Sort: Min cites: Since: Top N: Style:

20 of 20 papers shown

Du, Zhidian, et al.. (2025). Covert Communications in D2D Underlaying Cellular Networks With Dual Uncertainties at the Warden. IEEE Internet of Things Journal. 12(12). 21195–21209.

Song, Yujie, et al.. (2025). Network-Layer Perspectives on Satellite–Terrestrial Integrated Networks in 6G: A Comprehensive Review. Engineering. 54. 69–92.

Yang, Zhihua, et al.. (2025). Evolution of Satellite Communication Systems Toward 5G/6G for 2030 and Beyond. Engineering. 54. 35–41. 1 indexed citations

Wang, Di, Yue Cao, Kim‐Kwang Raymond Choo, et al.. (2023). Secure Battery Swapping: A Reservation Scheme with Conditional Privacy-Preserving Bidirectional Heterogeneous Aggregate Signcryption and Incentive Mechanism. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology. 1–15. 4 indexed citations

Chang, Victor, et al.. (2022). Pima Indians diabetes mellitus classification based on machine learning (ML) algorithms. Neural Computing and Applications. 35(22). 16157–16173. 176 indexed citations breakdown →

Cruickshank, Haitham, et al.. (2020). Certificateless and Lightweight Authentication Scheme for Vehicular Communication Networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology. 69(12). 16110–16125. 30 indexed citations

Gong, Shulei, Hong Shen, Kanglian Zhao, et al.. (2019). Toward Optimized Network Capacity in Emerging Integrated Terrestrial-Satellite Networks. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems. 56(1). 263–275. 16 indexed citations

Cao, Yue, Ao Lei, Philip Asuquo, et al.. (2019). Pseudonym Management Through Blockchain: Cost-Efficient Privacy Preservation on Intelligent Transportation Systems. IEEE Access. 7. 80390–80403. 37 indexed citations

Asuquo, Philip, Haitham Cruickshank, Chibueze P. Anyigor Ogah, Ao Lei, & Zhili Sun. (2018). A Distributed Trust Management Scheme for Data Forwarding in Satellite DTN Emergency Communications. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. 36(2). 246–256. 38 indexed citations

10.

Asuquo, Philip, Haitham Cruickshank, Jeremy Morley, et al.. (2018). Security and Privacy in Location-Based Services for Vehicular and Mobile Communications: An Overview, Challenges, and Countermeasures. IEEE Internet of Things Journal. 5(6). 4778–4802. 110 indexed citations

11.

Miao, Ye, Zhili Sun, Ning Wang, Yue Cao, & Haitham Cruickshank. (2016). Time Efficient Data Collection With Mobile Sink and vMIMO Technique in Wireless Sensor Networks. IEEE Systems Journal. 12(1). 639–647. 32 indexed citations

12.

Lei, Ao, Chibueze P. Anyigor Ogah, Philip Asuquo, Haitham Cruickshank, & Zhili Sun. (2016). A Secure Key Management Scheme for Heterogeneous Secure Vehicular Communication Systems. ZTE communications. 14. 21–31. 23 indexed citations

13.

Sun, Zhili. (2014). Satellite Networking: Principles and Protocols, 2nd Edition. View. 4 indexed citations

14.

Audah‏, Lukman, Zhili Sun, & Haitham Cruickshank. (2011). QoS evaluation of multiservice applications over integrated satellite-terrestrial networks. Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey). 1–8. 4 indexed citations

15.

Suthaputchakun, Chakkaphong & Zhili Sun. (2011). Priority based Routing Protocol in Vehicular Ad hoc Network. 723–728. 9 indexed citations

16.

Sun, Zhili, et al.. (2010). On optimizing hybrid ad-hoc and satellite networks — The MONET approach. View. 1–8. 4 indexed citations

17.

Sun, Zhili, et al.. (2008). Integration of linux TCP implementation and simulation: Verification and validation. International Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems. 413–420. 2 indexed citations

18.

Sun, Zhili, et al.. (2008). Performance Evaluation of On-Board QoS Support for Multiservice Applications on the Integrated Next Generation Satellite-Terrestrial Network. Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey). 311–316. 5 indexed citations

19.

Sun, Zhili, et al.. (1996). Interconnection Of Broadband Islands Via Satellite - Experiments On The Race II Catalyst Project. 2 indexed citations

20.

Sun, Zhili, et al.. (1994). Traffic management in satellite ATM bridge. Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey). 2 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

Explore authors with similar magnitude of impact