Events

Jun 26 - Jul 2, 2022

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  IoT via 5G and Beyond 5G Satellite Systems

  Prof. Giovanni Giambene, Information Engineering and Mathematics, University of Siena, Italy

  Jun 28, 12:50 - 14:00

  KAUST

  5G IoT Satellite Systems

  One of the key drivers for next-generation mobile communications is the support of the Internet of Things (IoT), with billions of objects connected to the Internet and very low latency. The 5G technology will support the realization of smart cities, smart environments, and big data applications.
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  Tutorial: Pathway to Wide and Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductor Power Electronics - Session 2

  Prof. Biplab Sarkar, ECE, Indian Institute of Technology

  Jun 26, 14:00 - 16:00

  B3 L5 R5220

  power electronics Electronic devices renewable energy integration

  In this talk, Dr. Sarkar will introduce the history and concepts of power semiconductor devices. A special emphasis will be laid on understanding the power semiconductor device-design keeping the applications in perspective. Apart from covering traditional power electronic devices, Dr. Sarkar will also introduce emerging (ultra)wide power semiconductor devices that are expected to occupy a large market share, and their challenges. The core concepts will be thoroughly discussed with the help of examples and interactive discussions.
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  Tutorial: Pathway to Wide and Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductor Power Electronics - Session 1

  Prof. Biplab Sarkar, ECE, Indian Institute of Technology

  Jun 26, 09:30 - 11:30

  B3 L5 R5220

  power electronics Electronic devices renewable energy integration

  In this talk, Dr. Sarkar will introduce the history and concepts of power semiconductor devices. A special emphasis will be laid on understanding the power semiconductor device-design keeping the applications in perspective. Apart from covering traditional power electronic devices, Dr. Sarkar will also introduce emerging (ultra)wide power semiconductor devices that are expected to occupy a large market share, and their challenges. The core concepts will be thoroughly discussed with the help of examples and interactive discussions.

Jun 19 - Jun 25, 2022

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  Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface for Next-Generation Networks

  Jia Ye, Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Jun 23, 16:00 - 18:00

  B1 L3 R3123

  Next-Generation Networks Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces 5G and beyond

  Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are now considered among the key enabling technologies for 6G systems. Empowered by the recent advances in meta-material, RISs are equipped with a large number of low-cost passive elements that allow for the modification of the radio waves in that they reflect, refract, and scatter radio signals in a controllable fashion to counteract the destructive effect of multipath fading. These features can be leveraged to transform the propagation environment into a smart space that can be programmable for the benefit of the communication application. Throughout this proposal, we study RIS-assisted systems from different perspectives, including performance analysis, system optimization, and channel estimation, to analyze and enhance the operation of such systems in different setups. Some possible future research directions to be considered are also highlighted.
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  How to make practical RIS techniques (and evaluate them)?

  Prof. Junil Choi, Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

  Jun 21, 10:50 - 12:35

  KAUST

  RIS techniques reflecting intelligent surface

  In this talk, I will first explain low-complexity, non-iterative, and near-optimal RIS (eflecting intelligent surface) joint active and passive beamformer designs for both narrowband and wideband assuming full channel information. Then, I will explain several practical channel estimation techniques for RIS systems. Lastly, I will introduce WiThRay, a versatile 3D wireless communication simulator based on ray-tracing developed by our lab, that can be used to evaluate different RIS techniques for various environments.
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  Localization for Internet of Underwater Things

  Prof. Nasir Saeed, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, Northern Border University, KSA

  Jun 19, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  Self-Powered Internet of Underwater Things Devices

  The Internet of Underwater Things technology can be established using various underwater wireless communications technologies, including acoustic, radio frequency (RF), magnetic induction, and optical. Each of these technologies has its pros and cons; for example, acoustic technology reaches longer distances but is bandwidth limited, while underwater optical wireless communications (UOWCs) can support higher data rates at the cost of short ranges. Besides establishing communication links using these technologies, geographic data tagging of the underwater IoT nodes is also crucial and challenging for several applications. Hence, this talk will provide an overview of the rapidly evolving positioning systems and algorithms for different underwater technologies for location estimation of the underwater IoT nodes and their applications.

Jun 12 - Jun 18, 2022

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  Semantic Communication Meets Edge Intelligence

  Prof. Dusit Niyato, Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

  Jun 14, 11:00 - 12:00

  KAUST

  Semantic Communication

  In this seminar, we first give background and present the framework of the modern SemCom. Then, we discuss the general semantic extraction methods and semantic metrics used in the existing studies.
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  How Can Data Science Change Everyday Life?

  Prof. Wadii Boulila, Computer Science, Prince Sultan University

  Jun 12, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  This talk will present our recent research works related to the application of data science in the environment, healthcare, and social media.

Jun 5 - Jun 11, 2022

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  UAV for Wireless Communications

  Prof. Yunfei Chen, Engineering, University of Warwick

  Jun 9, 11:00 - 12:00

  B1 L2 R2202

  UAV for Wireless Communications

  Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have gained great popularity in recent years due to their decreasing cost and increasing functionality. In wireless communications, they are mainly used as aerial platforms to enable information delivery or power transfer. In this talk, applications of UAV in wireless communications are discussed.

May 29 - Jun 4, 2022

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  Impact of Digital Technology on Agriculture and Environment

  Full Professor Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal

  Jun 2, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  Digital mobile technology

  We aim to depict a couple of digital technologies-based applications that tackle population health as well efficient mobility for fishermen and breeders. For sustainable livestock farming in Senegal, transhumance is still performed and plays a very important role in the regulation of macroeconomic balances and social cohesion. According to climate change and fishing opportunities between Senegal, other countries fishes are far away from Senegalese coastal.
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  Distributed beam tracking for vehicular communications via UAV-assisted cellular network

  Prof. Young-Chai Ko, School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University

  Jun 1, 16:00 - 17:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  communication systems

  In this talk, a distributed beam tracking scheme for millimeter-wave unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)- assisted communication systems is presented. In the considered systems, aerial node base (aNB) connects the ground vehicles (GV) through directive beams to mitigate the path loss. However, line-of-sight (LoS) blockage may result in the link disconnection, which leads to the corruption of observations. To solve this issue, we extend the one-to-one beam tracking into the multi-node cooperative beam tracking scheme.
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  Distributed Multi-Antenna Communications with Radio Stripes

  Prof. Emil Björnson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

  May 31, 16:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  5G networks Future

  In this talk, we will consider an alternative approach for future networks: serve the users by antennas that are distributed over the coverage area. By shifting from a world where base stations are surrounded by users, to a world where each user is surrounded by antennas, we can deliver almost uniformly good data rates wherever the user is. This concept has recently been called Cell-Free Massive MIMO. A core practical challenge is to deploy such a distributed MIMO array affordably. One potential approach is to use radio stripes, which are cables with integrated antennas. We will take a close look at how these can be implemented and recent results on how communications algorithms can be designed to exploit their special characteristics.

May 22 - May 28, 2022

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  Challenges and opportunities for Satellite Spectrum/Orbit Access (ITU and the International Regulatory Environment)

  Prof. Yvon Henri, International Telecom Union, Geneva, Switzerland

  May 24, 16:00 - 18:00

  KAUST

  satellite communication orbit access environment

  Noting that the trend of development and utilization of small satellite technologies is a global phenomenon, and it is expected to bring benefits to the entire world, including both developed and developing economies, this talk goes over different spectrum & orbit access issues related to the development and deployment of these small satellite networks.

May 15 - May 21, 2022

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  Computational Nanophotonics: Basics, Challenges and Future Perspectives

  Professor Salah S. A. Obayya

  May 19, 16:00 - 16:45

  B3 L5 R5209

  Abstract Nanophotonics modelling for 21st century applications is becoming vital. The computational modeling provides a fundamental understanding of the relying physics behind the operation of photonic devices. However, computational modeling is still a challenge as some of the existing modeling techniques fail to capture the correct behavior of nano-photonic devices. In this regard, this talk will introduce an overview of the existing computational modeling tools for analyzing photonic devices, in general, and highlighting their salient features and shortcomings. It is well known that
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  Why Today’s Neural Networks Still Use the 1943 McCullosh and Pitt’s Neuron Model?

  Prof. Moncef Gabbouj, Department of Computing Sciences, Tampere University

  May 15, 14:00 - 15:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  Linear neural network

  Operational Neural Networks (ONNs) are new generation network models targeting to address two major drawbacks of conventional Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs): the homogenous network configuration and the “linear” neuron model that can only perform linear transformations over previous layer outputs. ONNs can perform any linear or non-linear transformation with a proper combination of “nodal” and “pool” operators.

May 8 - May 14, 2022

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  Advanced memory architectures for traditional storage, in-memory computing, and in-memory sensing applications

  MD Hasan Raza Ansari, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  May 8, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  In-memory computing

  Since Moore's law is facing several bottlenecks, electron devices are currently developing toward the trend of “More than Moore” which is based on functional diversification in terms of sensing, storage, and processing of information.

Apr 24 - Apr 30, 2022

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  Contributions to Data-driven and Fractional-order Model-based Approaches for Arterial Haemodynamics Characterization and Aortic Stiffness Estimation

  Mohamed Abdelwaheb Bahloul, Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 26, 14:00 - 16:00

  B1 L4 R4318

  Arterial Haemodynamics Characterization Aortic Stiffness Estimation

  Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of death worldwide. Patients at risk of evolving CVDs are assessed by evaluating a risk factor-based score that incorporates different bio-markers ranging from age and sex to arterial stiffness (AS).
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  Feedback system design for tuning cooperative behavior in multi-agent games

  Shinkyu Park, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 24, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  Feedback system design

  In social dilemmas, a class of multi-agent games, agents' rationality-based strategic interactions to learn a payoff-maximizing strategy would result in diminishing returns. Such games include the prisoner's dilemma and public goods game where individually rational decision making reults in all decision-making agents receiving smallest rewards. In this presentation, I will explain a new decision-making model that elicits cooperative behavior in social dilemmas. The model enables the social interaction (reciprocity) between agents in their decision making, which allows cooperative behavior to emerge. We discuss how methods for feedback system design and analysis can be applied to explain the emergence of cooperative behavior and how we can tune such behavior.

Apr 17 - Apr 23, 2022

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  Energy-Efficient Devices and Circuits for Ultra-Low Power VLSI Applications

  Ren Li, PhD Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 20, 15:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  In this thesis, energy-efficient Micro-/Nano-electromechanical (M/NEM) relays are introduced, their nonleaking property and abrupt switch ON/OFF characteristics are studied, designs and applications in the implementation of ultra-low-power integrated circuits and systems are explored. The proposed designs compose of core building blocks for any functional microprocessor, for instance, fundamental logic gates; arithmetic adder circuits; sequential latch, and flip-flop circuits; input/output (I/O) interface data converters, including an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC); system-level power management DC-DC converters and energy management power-gating scheme. Another contribution of this thesis is the study of device non-ideality and variations on the functionality of circuits. We have thoroughly investigated energy-efficient approximate computing with non-ideal transistors and relays for the next generation of ultra-low-power VLSI systems.
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  Advanced ultrawide bandgap semiconductors for ultraviolet photonics

  Yi Lu, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 17, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  advanced semiconductors

  The advancement of silicon semiconductor technology since the 1940s has been changing the world by redefining human living style and addressing global challenge of energy shortage. Since the 1960s, GaAs, InP research started to bring human beings into modern life with mobile communications and high-speed networks. When it goes to the 1980s, wide band gap semiconductors including GaN and SiC which have high breakdown field and high mobility, were demonstrated into high-power electronics as well as solid-state lighting.

Apr 10 - Apr 16, 2022

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  Six years of ActivityNet: Progress and Remaining Challenges for Temporal Activity Localization

  Bernard Ghanem, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 10, 14:00 - 16:00

  B9 L2 H2

  Recognizing and localizing human activities in long-form untrimmed video is one of the most important applications of computer vision. This remains a difficult problem given the many challenges inherent to untrimmed video ranging from its large-scale nature to the need for rich video representation and context modeling. In an effort to better understand this problem, ActivityNet was proposed in 2015 to provide a large-scale benchmark to train and evaluate activity localization methods. Since then, it has become a standard in the community, and its annual workshop at CVPR has become a popular venue for research groups to compete and present their newest approaches. Despite the advances in the past several years, the performance of activity localization methods in video remains limited, especially in comparison with human performance. In this colloquium, I will give a compact view of the progress made in the task of temporal activity localization, identify some key remaining challenges, and present some future directions.
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  Semiconductor Epitaxy and Micro-Device Fabrication Toward AR and VR World

  Kazuhiro Ohkawa, Professor (former), Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 10, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  Wearable, fast-response, and efficient displays are suitable to enjoy the AR and VR world.

Apr 3 - Apr 9, 2022

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  Towards Miniaturized, Flexible and Wearable Wireless Communication and Sensing Systems for IoT Applications

  Atif Shamim, Program Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 3, 14:00 - 16:00

  B9 L2 H2

  With the advent of wearable sensors and internet of things (IoT) applications, there is a new focus on electronics which can be compact, light-weight and flexible so that these can be worn or mounted on non-planar objects. Due to large volume (billions of devices), it is required that the cost is extremely low, to the extent that they become disposable. In the context of miniaturization and lower cost, concepts such as System-on-chip (SoC) where a complete system is realized on a single chip (integrated circuit (IC)) or System-on-package (SoP) where the package of the chip is made functional are beneficial. The flexible and low-cost aspects can be addressed through additive manufacturing technologies such as inkjet and screen printing. Two important aspects of any IoT system, “Sensing” and “Wireless Communication”, will be the focus of this talk. The SoC part of the talk will focus on integration of the antenna on the chip and ways of enhancing its efficiency despite the lossy Silicon substrate in conventional semiconductor manufacturing processes. Through a SoP design example, it will be shown how smart packaging of a chip can boost the performance without adding any additional components or cost. In the later part of the talk, additive manufacturing will be introduced as an emerging technique to realize low cost and flexible wireless communication and sensing systems. Various novel functional inks, such as conductive, dielectric, phase change and sensing materials will be shown. A multilayer process will be presented where dielectrics are also printed in addition to the metallic parts, thus demonstrating fully printed components. Finally, some printed sensor examples will be shown for remote health and environmental monitoring. The promising results of these designs indicate that the day when electronics can be printed like newspapers and magazines through roll-to-roll printing is not far away.
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  Organic Electronics for Diagnostics in Physiological Media

  Prof. Sahika Inal, Biological, Environmental Science and Engineering, KAUST

  Apr 3, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 H1

  organic electronics

  Organic mixed (ionic and electronic) charge conductors and devices offer a new toolbox for interfacing with biological systems.

Mar 27 - Apr 2, 2022

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  High-dimensional Regression and Dictionary Learning: Some Recent Advances for Tensor Data

  Prof. Waheed Bajwa, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

  Mar 30, 14:15 - 15:15

  B1 L3 R3119

  machine learning

  Data in many modern signal processing, machine learning, and statistics problems tend to have tensor (aka, multidimensional / multiway array) structure. While traditional approaches to processing of such data involve 'flattening' of data samples into vectors, it has long been realized that explicit exploitation of tensor structure of data can lead to improved performance. Recent years, in particular, have witnessed a flurry of research activity centered around development of computational algorithms for improved processing of tensor data.
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  Multifunctional Flexible Laser-Scribed Graphene Sensors for Resilient and Sustainable Electronics

  Altynay Kaidarova, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Mar 28, 13:00 - 15:00

  KAUST

  Laser-scribed graphene

  This dissertation introduces flexible, lightweight, and robust Laser-Scribed Graphene (LSG) sensor solutions for detecting various physical parameters, such as strain, flow, deflection, force, pressure, temperature, conductivity, and magnetic field. Multifunctionality was obtained by exploiting the direct laser scribing process combined with the flexible nature of polyimide and the piezoresistivity of porous graphene. The outstanding properties of LSG, such as low cytotoxicity, biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, and ability to function under extreme pressure and temperature conditions, allowed targeting diverse emerging applications.
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  The Best of Both Worlds: Distributed PCA That is Both Exact and Communication Efficient

  Prof. Waheed Bajwa, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

  Mar 27, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a fundamental data preprocessing tool in the world of machine learning.

Mar 20 - Mar 26, 2022

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  Research conference: Extreme Bandwidth Communication: From mmWave, THz to Optical Bands

  Atif Shamim, Mohamed-Slim Alouini, Hakan Bagci

  Mar 21, 08:30 - Mar 23, 17:30

  KAUST Library and KAUST please click registration link at the bottom

  The technological evolution has led to the current high-performing wireless communication systems that we use on a daily basis. However, coping with the increasing demand is becoming more and more challenging, especially since we are approaching the limits of what can be done with the available resources. One of these resources is bandwidth. This spectrum scarcity problem has motivated researchers to explore new frequencies for wireless communications. Due to this reason, the upper radio-frequency (RF) spectrum, from mmWave and THz to optical bands, is being pursued, which is termed as “Extreme Bandwidth Communication.” This conference brings world experts and the brightest minds from academia and industry to present the latest trends, challenges, results, and opportunities in the field of extreme bandwidth communication.
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  Underwater optical communication and sensing technology in silent ocean

  Yujian Guo, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Mar 20, 13:00 - 15:00

  KAUST

  underwater optical communications Underwater wireless optical communication

  This dissertation aims to investigate and address noisy ocean issues and build large-scale underwater sensor networks by optical communication and sensing technology. The dissertation proposes using UWOC and FC&S technology to replace the conventional acoustic communication technology and reduce the noise in the ocean. UWOC helps achieve high-speed wireless communications between sensors, vehicles, and even humans for UIoT. The significant challenges of developing UWOC systems are the complex underwater environment's attenuation, scattering, and turbulence effects. This dissertation studied the turbulence effects on the UWOC system’s performance and addressed the pointing-acquisition-and-tracking issues.
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  Cognition-on-Chip

  Mar 20, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  As we grow, expand and experience digital world, we feel the need to interface better with the natural world which is analog.

Mar 13 - Mar 19, 2022

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  Resilient operation of future low-carbon cyber-physical power grids

  Fei Teng, Lecturer, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

  Mar 13, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  resilient cyber-physical

  Intelligent monitoring, communication and control have been widely used in power systems to facilitate the cost-effective integration of renewable energy to achieve decarbonization.

Feb 27 - Mar 5, 2022

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  An Overview of 6G Requirements and Potential Enabling Technologies – A Mobile Network Operator's Perspective

  Dr. Youssouf Ould Cheikh Mouhamedou, Technology Alliances and Partnership Supervisor, Saudi Telecom Company (STC)

  Mar 2, 13:30 - 15:30

  B1 L3 R3119

  telecommunication 6G Cellular Networks

  The success of 5G from business perspective (creation of revenue and growth) will have a big say on the future shape of 6G. In fact, 5G standard is still evolving with new 3GPP releases issued periodically, leading to 5G-Advanced and possibly 5G-Advanced Pro in coming years. Also, 5G ecosystem is still at a relatively early stage of development. However, all major players (researchers, vendors, mobile network operators, regulators) have already started their 6G activities in line with the tradition of having G+ every 10 years. This talk is about 6G, taking into consideration mobile network operator's point of view in terms of practical and economic issues. It will provide an overview of mobile networks evolution, from 1G to 6G. It will also discuss the gap between 5G vision and 5G reality and the reasons behind it. Further, 6G key requirements as well as a tentative roadmap and timeline will be presented. Finally, some potential enabling technologies will be discussed.
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  Towards Robotic Spatial Awareness with Unsupervised Lifelong Learning

  Chen Wang, Project Scientist, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

  Feb 28, 14:30 - 15:30

  KAUST

  People have used robots for more than six decades to empower people to do things that are typically dirty, dull, or dangerous. The industry has also progressed significantly over the period from basic mechanical assist systems to autonomous cars, environmental monitoring, and exploration of outer space. Despite those achievements, the robots still cannot work like human being because of lacking real spatial awareness. For instance, humans can easily tidy up a messy room, while robots even have difficulty to re-identify a novel toy misplaced. To solve this problem, we need the robot to have human-like knowledge and spatial awareness, which refers to being aware of our surroundings and our state relative to them. Spatial perception consists of two processes, the exteroceptive process, which creates representations about space through feelings and learning and interoceptive process, which creates a mechanism to memorize the experience as well as cognizing information about our body, such as position and orientation. In this talk, I will preset our recent work towards robotic spatial awareness, including robust space representation, visual memorability, lifelong learning ability, and self-motion cognition. We expect that the ability of spatial awareness will be able to promote the robots to automatically adjust to stochastic, dynamic, and non-stationary environments.
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  The KAUST Research Conference on Robotics and Autonomy 2022

  Eric Feron, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Feb 28, 08:00 - Mar 2, 20:00

  B19 H1

  robotics

  KAUST Robotics, Intelligent Systems and Control Lab (RISC Lab) will host the KAUST Research Conference on Robotics and Autonomy 2022 (#RobotoKAUST) from February 28 until March 2, 2022. The conference will address the most recent trends of robotics application in a range of disciplines. To attend RobotoKAUST Gala, please, read more about the event and follow the event registration instructions.
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  Drilling Mechanics: Bit Sensing and Physics-Based Modelling for Drilling Optimization

  Alexis Koulidis, Ph.D. Student, Physical Science and Engineering

  Feb 27, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  Drilling Mechanics

  Challenging drilling applications and fluctuating oil prices have created a new emphasis on developing innovative technology to enhance safety and reduce cost. Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) drill bits were introduced in the late 1970s and revolutionized the drilling industry, with currently 60% of the drill bits utilized in oil and gas wells being PDC.

Feb 20 - Feb 26, 2022

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  Multi-physics Simulation of Plasmonic Photoconductive Devices and Antennas

  Hakan Bagci, Associate Dean for Students, Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering

  Feb 20, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  Multiphysics Simulation

  Terahertz (THz) frequency electromagnetic fields have numerous applications ranging from wireless communications to imaging systems and nondestructive testing, to material characterization. One of the main obstacles in the way of widespread industrial use of THz technologies is the difficulty of implementing compact and frequency-stable THz sources that can operate at room temperatures. Among a variety of possible options, photoconductive devices (PCDs) satisfy these conditions. Indeed, they have become one of the most promising candidates for THz source generation since recent advances in fabrication techniques, such as metasurface integration and nanostructured surface inclusions have significantly increased their optical-to-THz conversion efficiency and made them polarization insensitive.

Feb 13 - Feb 19, 2022

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  Security and Resiliency for Critical Infrastructures

  Professor Roberto Di Pietro, College of Science and Engineering, Cybersecurity at Hamad Bin Khalifa University

  Feb 14, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  Our standard of living, nation GDP, and, in some cases, even our safety rely on critical infrastructures (CIs). In particular, being CIs generally perceived as a commodity (think of GPS availability, or avionics & maritime traffic routes and hubs), their security has largely been overlooked. The emergent property is that, nowadays, CIs systems are generally fragile, especially with respect to cyber attacks.
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  Fully-integrated gas sensing systems and self-powered NO₂ gas sensors

  Mani Teja Vijjapu, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Feb 13, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  Fully integrated gas sensing systems

  Mobile devices for the personalized detection of health and environmental hazards are becoming the basis for futuristic sensing technologies.

Feb 6 - Feb 12, 2022

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  Safe and Secure Computer Control Systems? The devil is in the details...

  Feb 6, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L2 R2322 H1

  In modern societies, there is an accelerated convergence of information technology (IT) like the internet-cloud-web complex, with operational technology (OT) like cyber-physical systems (CPS) control, complemented by Internet-of-Things fabrics (IoT).

Jan 30 - Feb 5, 2022

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  Fully-integrated systems and self-powered gas sensors for sustainable environment monitoring

  Mani Teja Vijjapu, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Feb 3, 13:30 - 15:00

  B3 L5 R5209

  Mobile devices for the personalized detection of health and environmental hazards are becoming the basis for futuristic sensing technologies. In recent decades, air and environmental pollution levels have risen globally. Therefore, environmental protection must be strengthened by developing sensors that detect pollutants. The monitoring of these pollutants with high spatial coverage requires inexpensive electronic gas sensors and self-sustainable sensing systems that can be deployed everywhere. This dissertation reports on technological developments to provide solutions for inexpensive, compact, power-efficient, and easily deployable toxic gas sensors and integrated systems using semiconducting metal-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs).
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  Exoplanet Imaging Coronagraphic Mask Development and Testing: A North American Perspective

  Benjamin L. Gerard, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, UC Observatories

  Feb 2, 16:30 - 17:30

  KAUST

  Over 4000 exoplanets - planets beyond the Solar System - have been discovered since the first Nobel prize-winning exoplanet detection around a Sun-like star in 1995. The majority of these exoplanets have been detected by indirect methods, inferring the presence of the exoplanet by observing the star.
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  On-Chip Antennas: The Last Barrier to True RF System-on-Chip

  Atif Shamim, Program Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Jan 30, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Antennas are integral part of wireless communication devices and traditionally have remained off the Integrated Circuits (ICs which are also commonly known as chips) resulting in large sized modules.

Jan 23 - Jan 29, 2022

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  Modulating Functions Based State and Parameter Estimation for Robotic Systems

  Matti Noack, Research Fellow, Control Engineering, Technische Universität Ilmenau

  Jan 27, 13:00 - 14:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  Robotic systems are well-known to be highly nonlinear processes due to their complex kinematics. The identification of the corresponding system dynamics plays an important role in obtaining an adequate model which is especially hard under changing parametric circumstances. Furthermore, precise knowledge of the state is crucial for a large variety of control tasks. Sparse sensor setups make these problems more challenging due to significant noise impact. For designing an efficient and robust algorithm, an integral transform approach is proposed exploiting the robotic system structure. Specifically, the Modulating Function Method is introduced in the context of multi-body systems for fixed-time parameter and state estimation. An adaptive observer structure is presented in order to give an impression of the general methodology and the related research questions.
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  Designing a Stable Periodic Orbit for a Triple Pendulum on a Cart

  Prof. Johann Reger, Automation and Systems Engineering, Technische Universität Ilmenau

  Jan 27, 12:00 - 13:00

  B1 L4 R4214

  In this talk an inversion-based control approach is presented for the generation and stabilization of a periodic orbit in a multi-link triple pendulum on a cart. To this end, a nominal trajectory is generated by formulating the posture transition problem as a two-point Boundary Value Problem (BVP) in an input-output representation. For solvability of the BVP, a setup function is introduced such that additional parameters are provided in the differential equation of the internal dynamics. Based on the linearized dynamics about the nominal trajectory, a linear-quadratic-Gaussian controller is implemented to compensate for measurement noise, model uncertainties, and external disturbances. This way we force a triple pendulum to move along a non-trivial periodic orbit and render it attractive. The high performance and accuracy of our approach is illustrated on an experimental setup.
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  Towards Compact Grid Interactive EV Charging

  Shehab Ahmed, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Jan 23, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Towards Compact Grid Interactive EV Charging

  After a quick overview of the ECE Graduate Seminar logistics, I will share the progression of our team’s work in the field of compact integrated on-board EV charging.

Jan 16 - Jan 22, 2022

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  Miniaturized Drug Delivery Systems for Biomedical Applications

  Khalil Moussi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Jan 18, 18:15 - 20:00

  KAUST

  Highly integrated and customizable systems have been a principal focus of development for parenteral and oral drug administration. Extensive work has been done to optimize drug efficacy via localized delivery and dosage control providing new ways for accomplishing targeted therapeutic effects. However, many challenges and opportunities for advancement remain. One promising research path is introducing novel microfabrication methods or engineering discoveries in concept realization, making devices more versatile and effective.

Dec 19 - Dec 25, 2021

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  Control Design for Alignment Problem in Optical Wireless Communication

  Asem Al Alwan , Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Dec 23, 16:00 - 18:00

  KAUST

  Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) offers many benefits over established radio frequency-based communication links. In particular, high beam directivity generates efficient power usage and high-speed data services. Moreover, due to its ease of deployment, high transmission security, license-free operation, and insensitivity to interference, the OWC link is becoming an attractive solution for the next generation of communication systems.

Dec 12 - Dec 18, 2021

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  Signal Processing and Optimization Techniques for High Accuracy Indoor Localization, Tracking, and Attitude Determination

  Mohammed Hussain AlSharif, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

  Dec 16, 14:00 - 15:00

  B1 L3 R3119

  Indoor localization Ultrasonic-based Localization Signal processing

  High-accuracy indoor localization and tracking systems are essential for many modern applications and technologies. However, accurate location estimation of moving targets is challenging. This thesis addresses the challenges in indoor localization and tracking systems and proposes several solutions. A novel signal design, which we named Differential Zadoff-Chu, allows us to develop algorithms that accurately estimate the distances of static and moving targets even under random Doppler shifts. The results show that the proposed algorithms outperform the state-of-the-art in terms of both accuracy and complexity.

Dec 5 - Dec 11, 2021

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  Integrated Sensors: The synergistic combination of materials and microelectronics - 2021

  Khaled Salama, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Dec 5, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Integrated Sensors

  In this talk we will present the design and implementation of monolithic and hybrid sensors using integrated circuits.

Nov 28 - Dec 4, 2021

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  From Intrusion Tolerance to Trust and Recovery: A Research Overview

  Professor Miguel Correia, Computer Science and Engineering Department, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa

  Dec 1, 12:00 - 13:00

  B9 L3 R3223

  The seminar is an overview on my research path and approach. I will start with my initial research on the concept of intrusion tolerance and present some of the results I had at the time. Then, I will show how this initial research had led me to other areas and related approaches: software security, trusted computing, intrusion detection, intrusion recovery, and blockchain interoperability. I will present with some detail very recent research on securely moving data between trusted execution environments (TEEs) in a non-interactive way, a problem that must be solved for digital id crypto wallets starting to appear in Europe and elsewhere.