Events

Nov 8 - Nov 15, 2020

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  Control Theoretic Approaches to Computational Modeling and Risk Mitigation for Large Crowd Management

  Mohammed M. Alrashed, M.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Nov 11, 20:00 - 21:00

  KAUST

  resource management risk assessment computational models

  Abstract We develop a computational framework for risk mitigation in high population density events. With an increased global population, the frequency of high population density events is naturally increased. Therefore, risk-free crowd management plans are critical for efficient mobility, convenient daily life, resource management, and most importantly mitigation of any inadvertent incidents and accidents such as stampedes. The status-quo for crowd management plans is the use of human experience/expert advice. However, most often such dependency on human experience is insufficient, flawed
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  Civil drones traffic management: Wireless communication for safe UAV

  Prof. Sofie Pollin, KU Leuven

  Nov 10, 16:00 - 17:15

  KAUST

  UAV

  In this webinar, we describe the common terminology for these two communities. First, the traffic management system architecture, requirements, terminology, and services are discussed. A quick overview of existing technologies that can be useful for aerial deconfliction. Next, the focus will shift to wireless technologies used for the tactical (while flying) deconfliction: ADS-B, p2p LoRa, WiFi, FLARM.
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  A Novel HVDC Architecture for Offshore Wind Farm Applications

  Otavio Dezem Bertozzi Junior, MS Student, Physical Science and Engineering

  Nov 10, 15:00 - 16:00

  KAUST

  Novel HVDC architecture Offshore wind

  Advances in power electronics have enabled many renewable energy applications. Wind energy harnessing is very promising and offshore farm installations have grown considerably in the past years. In this thesis, we introduce a novel power converter solution for the parallel connection of high-power offshore wind turbines, suitable for HVDC collection and transmission. For the parallel operation of energy sources in an HVDC grid, DC link voltage control is required. The proposed system is based on a full-power rated uncontrolled diode bridge rectifier in series with a partially-rated fully-controlled thyristor bridge rectifier. The thyristor bridge acts as a voltage regulator to ensure the flow of the desired current through each branch, where a reactor is placed in series for filtering of the DC current. AC filters are installed on the machine side to mitigate harmonic content. The mathematical modeling of the system is derived and the control design procedure is discussed. Guidelines for equipment and device specifications are presented. The concept is validated through simulation, and an experimental framework for testing of the system is suggested.
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  UAV Enabled IoT Network Designs for Enhanced Estimation, Detection, and Connectivity

  Osama Bushnaq, Ph.D. (former), Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Nov 9, 11:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  The Internet of Things (IoT) is a foundational building block for the upcoming information revolution and imminent smart-world era. Particularly, the IoT bridges the cyber domain to everything and anything within our physical world which enables unprecedented ubiquitous monitoring, connectivity, and smart control. In this Ph.D. defense, we present Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) enabled IoT network designs for enhanced estimation, detection, and connectivity. The utilization of UAVs can offer an extra level of flexibility which results in more advanced and efficient connectivity and data aggregation for the IoT devices.

Nov 1 - Nov 15, 2020

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  Developing smart systems to connect communities.

  Ahmed Eltawil, Associate Dean for Research, Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering

  Nov 8, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  smart systems connect communities

  In this talk, we address fundamental questions that should be asked when contemplating future smart and connected systems, namely, How, Where and What? How can we design computing and communication nodes that best utilize resources in a way that is cognizant of both the abilities of the platform, as well as the requirements of the network? Where are the nodes deployed? By understanding the context of deployment, one can architect unique solutions that are currently unimaginable. With the transformation to diverse applications such as body area networking, critical infrastructure monitoring, precision agriculture, autonomous driving etc., the need for innovative solutions becomes even more amplified. What benefit can be inferred from the data gathered by nodes in the capacity of computing, communication and sensing? The talk will discuss how recent advances in wireless computing and communication nodes can be harnessed to serve the multitude of deployment scenarios required to empower communities of the future with smart and connected systems.

Nov 1 - Nov 8, 2020

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  Using Massive MIMO Arrays to Reject Radar-Generated Interference and to Perform Integrated Sensing and Communications

  Prof. Stefano Buzzi, University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale, Italy

  Nov 3, 16:00 - 17:15

  KAUST

  MIMO

  This webinar will explore the potentiality of massive MIMO arrays in a scenario where radar and communication tasks coexist. The first part of the talk will be devoted to the discussion of a scenario where a wireless network is to co-exist with an external radar system sharing the same frequency band. The second part of the talk will be instead focused on a scenario where a base station equipped with a large scale antenna array simultaneously perform the task of radar surveillance of the surrounding environment and of data communication with mobile users.
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  Design and topological optimization of nanophotonic devices

  Ronghui Lin, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Nov 2, 10:30 - 12:30

  KAUST

  Nanophotonic research has a huge influence on various aspects of modern society, such as communication, commercial products, biochemistry, and information processing. A central topic in the research of nanophotonics is the geometrical optimization of the nanostructures since the geometries are deeply related to the Mie resonances and the localized surface plasmon resonances in dielectric and metallic nanomaterials. When many nanostructures are assembled to form a metamaterial, the tuning of the geometrical parameters can bring even more profound effects, such as bound states in the continuum (BIC) with infinite quality factors (Q factors). Moreover, with the development of nanofabrication technologies, there is a trend of integrating nanostructures in the vertical direction, which provides more degrees of freedom for controlling the device performance and functionality. In this dissertation, we explore how the geometrical changes of the nanostructures influence the nanophotonic devices, furthermore, we utilize machine learning techniques to actively control the topologies of the devices to enhance their performances.

Oct 25 - Nov 8, 2020

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  Ultraviolet semiconductor technologies for COVID-19 and beyond

  Xiaohang Li, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Nov 1, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Ultraviolet semiconductor technologies COVID-19

  COVID-19 is a wake-up call for public health and safety. Since the pandemic began, the ultraviolet (UV) technologies have been widely employed in numerous places to contain and eliminate the viruses. Although UV light is nonchemical and does not contaminate the environment, however, most of the UV light today comes from the toxic mercury lamps. In our lab and many institutions in the world, researchers are developing semiconductor-based UV technologies that are compact, reliable, and nontoxic. This seminar shows the research background and briefly discusses the research progress made by our team in a few key areas including material growth, physics, and device fabrication for UV lasers, LEDs, and photodetectors.

Oct 25 - Nov 1, 2020

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  Webinar on Resource Allocation in Cloud-Radio Access Networks and Fog-Radio Access Networks for B5G Systems

  Omar Knio, Professor, Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences

  Oct 27, 15:45 - 17:15

  KAUST

  Fog-Radio Access cloud-radio access

  First Speaker: Megumi Kaneko, National Institute of Informatics, Japan. Talk Title: Resource Allocation in NOMA-Based Fog Radio Access Networks. In this talk, I will first describe the potential benefits offered by the integration of NOMA in an FRAN architecture for achieving the specific objectives of use cases envisioned in B5G, in terms of throughput, latency, reliability and energy efficiency. Second Speaker: Bruno Clerckx, Imperial College London, United Kingdom. Talk Title: Rate-Splitting Multiple Access and its Applications to Cloud-Enabled Platforms. This talk argues that to efficiently cope with the high throughput, reliability, heterogeneity of Quality-of-Service (QoS), and massive connectivity requirements of future multi-antenna wireless networks, multiple access and multiuser communication system design need to depart from the two extreme interference management strategies, namely fully treat interference as noise (as commonly used in 5G, MU-MIMO, CoMP, Massive MIMO, millimetre wave MIMO) and fully decode interference (as in NOMA).

Oct 18 - Nov 1, 2020

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  Beyond Solid-State Lighting: Miniaturization and Integration of Nitride-based Visible LEDs

  Zhe Zhuang, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Oct 25, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Solid-State Lighting Miniaturization Integration Nitride-based Visible LEDs

  This talk will give an overview of the research of III-nitride based visible light-emitting diodes (LEDs) from the KAUST Energy Conversion Devices and Materials (ECO Devices) Laboratory (https://ecodevices.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/Overview.aspx). III-nitride based visible LEDs have achieved tremendous success in the field of solid-state lighting and dominated the lighting markets in the past decades. This technique becomes mature, and the luminous efficacy of LED devices approaches the theoretical maximum limit.

Oct 18 - Oct 25, 2020

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  Aerospace Systems Research at KAUST, an uplifting experience

  Eric Feron, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Oct 21, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Aerospace Systems research KAUST

  Aerospace Engineering is the source of much dreaming and worrying in most people's imagination. As such, it constitutes a marvelous support for the development and application of numerous disciplines, chief among them are aerodynamics, structures, flight and orbital mechanics. With time however, information technologies are progressively becoming the costliest activity within the aerospace engineering systems design phase. Indeed, they stand as the core elements of avionics systems, airline operations, air traffic control, spacecraft engineering, and planetary exploration, among others. Such subjects have been bringing much joy and teaching many lessons to your speaker for the past 30 years and will keep doing so, hopefully, for the next three decades.
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  Visible Light Communications Technology and Machine Learning - 2020-10-20

  Paul Anthony Haigh, Newcastle University, United Kingdom and Dr. Bo Tan, Tampere University, Finland

  Oct 20, 15:45 - 17:15

  KAUST

  machine learning Visible light communications

  In this webinar we will give an overview of several key technologies related to our special issues in Frontiers of Communications and Networks; (1) visible light communications (VLC) and (2) applications of machine learning in optical and wireless communication systems.

Oct 11 - Oct 18, 2020

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  Post-processing and Feature Extraction Methods for Smart Biomedical Signal Monitoring: Algorithms and Applications

  Abderrazak Chahid, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Oct 14, 16:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  Digital health solutions improve healthcare services and help achieve sustainable and higher standards of health and well-being. These solutions are mainly based on Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to record, interpret, and diagnose bio-signals such as Electrocardiogram (ECG) or Magnetoencephalography (MEG). In my thesis, a novel signal/image post-processing algorithm is proposed based on the Semi-Classical Signal Analysis method (SCSA) to enhance biomedical data quality. In addition, new feature extraction algorithms are proposed, based on the SCSA and the new Quantization-based Position Weight Matrix (QuPWM), which opens new tracks toward smart biomedical diagnosis and decision-making assistance in different fields such as predicting true Poly(A) regions in a DNA sequence, multiple hand gesture prediction.
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  3D Near Isotropic Antenna in Package for IoT Applications

  SU Zhen, Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Oct 14, 16:00 - 18:00

  KAUST

  Billions of IoT devices will need to communicate with each other in a wireless fashion in the future. Thus, new antenna designs, which perform irrespective of their orientation and position, and can be mass manufactured at lower costs are required. This work presents the theory and design of antennas with near isotropic radiation performance which can be additively manufactured on the packaging of the circuits.
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  Integrated access and backhaul for 5G and beyond

  Dr. Behrooz Makki and Dr. Filip Barać

  Oct 13, 16:00 - 17:30

  KAUST

  5G

  In this talk, we review the main backhauling techniques, and present the main motivations/standardization agreements on IAB. Moreover, we present comparisons between the IAB networks and the cases where all or part of the small access points are fiber-connected.

Oct 4 - Oct 18, 2020

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  MXenes for Electronic and Sensing Applications

  Professor Husam Alshareef, Material Science and Engineering, KAUST

  Oct 11, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  MXenes Electronic Sensing Applications

  This talk will focus on the device applications of MXenes and MXene-derived functional materials. Our group has been developing device concepts that capitalize on the rich and promising properties of MXenes. For example, the excellent electrical conductivity of MXenes makes them good candidates as contact materials electronics (printed, wearable, and stretchable electronics) both as local and global contacts. We have demonstrated that MXenes can be used as electrical contacts in thin-film electronics, CMOS devices, quantum-dot transistors, LEDs, and solar cells.

Oct 4 - Oct 11, 2020

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  6G: A new frontier for the design of NOMA

  Prof. Zhiguo Ding, University of Manchester

  Oct 6, 16:00 - 17:15

  KAUST

  6G

  The aim of this talk is to provide an overview of the latest research results and innovations in NOMA technologies as well as their emerging applications. Future research challenges regarding NOMA in B5G and 6G are also presented.

Sep 27 - Oct 11, 2020

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  Monolithic Integration of InAs Quantum Dot Lasers on Si Substrates

  Yating Wan, Postdoctoral fellow at of University of California, Santa Barbara

  Oct 4, 18:00 - 19:00

  KAUST

  monolithic Quantum Dots laser

  Here, I will talk about recent advances in the field of QD lasers with a focus on direct growth on Si. Si photonics has found widespread application, particularly for high volume applications and for co-integration with CMOS electronics. I will start with an overview of the field, followed with a summary of device performance and fundamental physics basis for the improved response.
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  Recent Advances in Sensor Design

  Khaled Salama, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Oct 4, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Recent sensor analog design optimization

  In this talk we will discuss the work conducted at KAUST sensors lab and KAUST sensor initiative

Sep 27 - Oct 4, 2020

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  Wireless Communications with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

  Prof. Ertugrul Basar, Koç University, Istanbul

  Sep 29, 16:00 - 17:15

  KAUST

  Abstract Extensive research has already started on 6G and beyond wireless technologies of 2030 due to the envisioned new use-cases including multisensory augmented/virtual reality applications, wireless brain computer interactions, and fully autonomous systems. Although a plethora of modern physical layer solutions have been introduced in the last few decades with the context of 4G and 5G wireless systems, it is undeniable that a level of saturation has been reached in terms of the available spectrum, adapted modulation/coding solutions and accordingly the maximum throughput as well as

Sep 20 - Oct 4, 2020

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  Exploring the Potentials of EM Waves from Body-scale to Nano-communications for Healthcare and Next Generation Wireless Applications

  Akram Alomainy, Reader, Antennas and Applied Electromagnetics, Queen Mary University of London

  Sep 27, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  healthcare electromagnetic Radio frequency devices Biomedical Engineering

  With the advent of commercial products, such as Apple iWatch and Samsung Galaxy Gear, body-centric communication has increasingly garnered the public attention and smoothly translated state-of-the-art research work into reality. However, challenges still remains and these are often fundamental physical hurdles that need to be further explored and investigated to come up with efficient and scalable solutions applicable to many fields and areas. This becomes an important research area when you look at the scale or rather the multiple scales it needs to work at from body-size or larger networks to the nano-scale where there have been lots of interest recently on how to get nano-devices inside tissues and even inside intelligent materials around us. The talk will present recent development in the area of antennas, RF devices and electromagnetic solutions for applications such as healthcare, biomedical engineering and next generation wireless communications. It will look at the challenges from theoretical, numerical and experimental prospective to ensure that proposed concepts and outcomes are of benefit not only to those domains but other beyond such as agricultural technology and smart home and cities.

Sep 13 - Sep 27, 2020

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  Gbit/s Visible Light Communications

  Boon Ooi, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Sep 20, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Gbit/s Visible light communications

  Visible light communication (VLC or LiFi) has been a topic of intense research after the idea was proposed in 2011. To date, a data rate of multiple 100s Mbps has been demonstrated using LED as light source. At KAUST, we are developing the next generation of SSL lighting using visible laser diodes (LDs) and superluminescent diodes (SLDs). Laser diodes and SLDs do not suffer efficiency droop at high current densities. This allows for the design of lamps using a single, small footprint, light-emitting chip operating at high current densities. Using a single chip reduces system costs compared with LEDs because the system uses less material per chip, requires fewer chips, and employs simplified optics and a simplified heat-sink. The chip area required for LED technologies will be significantly reduced using LD/SLD-based solid-state lighting. This technology will also enable highly controllable beams in term of tunable throw distance, tunable color temperature and rendering index. Multiple Gbit/s VLC links have been demonstrated using LD/SLD as transmitters. In this talk, I will focus on the recent progress of visible diode LD/SLD-based lighting technology and high-speed transmitters and receivers for multiple-Gbps VLC and underwater wireless optical communication.

Sep 13 - Sep 20, 2020

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  High-Speed GaN-Based Distributed-Feedback Lasers and Optoelectronics

  Jorge A. Holguin-Lerma, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Sep 17, 09:30 - 11:00

  KAUST

  Gallium nitride (GaN) is a semiconductor material highly regarded for visible light generation since it provides the most efficient platform for compact violet, blue, and green light emitters, and in turn, high-quality and ubiquitous white lighting. Despite this fact, the potential of the GaN platform has not been fully exploited. This potential must enable the precise control in the various properties of light, realizing functions beyond the conventional. Simultaneously, the field of the telecommunications is looking for candidate technologies fit for wireless transmission in the next generations of communication. Visible light communication (VLC) may play a significant role in the future of the last mile of the network by providing both a fast internet connection and a high-quality illumination.

Sep 6 - Sep 20, 2020

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  Research at the Image and Video Understanding Lab (IVUL) - Graduate Seminar - ECE

  Bernard Ghanem, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Sep 13, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  research image Video Understanding Lab IVUL

  In this talk, I will give an overview of research done in the Image and Video Understanding Lab (IVUL) at KAUST. At IVUL, we work on topics that are important to the computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML) communities, with emphasis on three research themes: Theme 1 (Video Understanding): We aim to extract meaningful semantic information from large-scale video data by tackling research problems such as object tracking, activity detection, moment retrieval, and language grounding in video. Theme 2 (Visual Computing for Automated Navigation): We develop methodology to enable more accurate, reliable, and robust perception of the visual world for automated navigation applications (e.g. self-driving cars and UAVs). In this theme, we tackle research problems such as object tracking, segmentation, and detection in 3D data, as well as transfer learning from simulation (sim2real). Theme 3 (Fundamentals/Foundations): In this theme, we tackle fundamental research problems in CV and ML that transcend specific applications with focus on deep network theory/analysis (e.g. robustness, certification, and interpretability) and structured optimization methods for large-scale CV/ML problems. Throughout the talk, I will highlight some of the interesting projects at IVUL to encourage students to get interested in the research field.

Aug 30 - Sep 13, 2020

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  Flexible, Wearable, Disposable Wireless Communication and Sensing Systems Through Additive Manufacturing - 2020

  Atif Shamim, Program Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Sep 6, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  flexible Wearable disposable Wireless communication Sensing Systems additive manufacturing

  With the advent of wearable sensors and internet of things (IoT), there is a new focus on electronics which can be bent so that they can be worn or mounted on non-planar objects. Due to large volume (billions of devices), there is a requirement that the cost is extremely low, to the extent that they become disposable. The flexible and low-cost aspects can be addressed through additive manufacturing technologies such as inkjet, screen and 3D printing. This talk introduces additive manufacturing as an emerging technique to realize low cost, flexible and wearable wireless communication and sensing systems. The ability to print electronics on unconventional mediums such as plastics, papers, and textiles has opened up a plethora of new applications. In this talk, various innovative antenna and sensor designs will be shown which have been realized through additive manufacturing. A multilayer process will be presented where dielectrics are also printed in addition to the metallic parts, thus demonstrating fully printed components. Many new functional inks and their use in tunable and reconfigurable components will be shown. In the end, many system level examples of wireless sensing applications will be shown. The promising results of these designs indicate that the day when electronics can be printed like newspapers and magazines through roll-to-roll and reel-to-reel printing is not far away.

Aug 30 - Sep 6, 2020

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  Low Power Micro-electromechanical Resonator-Based Logic Circuits

  Sally Ahmed, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Aug 31, 16:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  Abstract The notion of mechanical computation has been revived in the past few years, with the advances of nanofabrication techniques. Although electromechanical devices are inherently slow, they offer zero or very low off-state current, which reduces the overall power consumption compared to the fast complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) counterparts. This energy efficiency feature is the most crucial requirements for most of the stand-alone battery-operated gadgets, biomedical devices and the internet of things (IoT) applications, which do not require the fast processing speeds

Aug 23 - Sep 6, 2020

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  Power Electronics Applications in Offshore Wind Farms

  Otavio Bertozzi, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Aug 30, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Power electronics Applications Offshore Wind Farms

  Advances in power electronics have enabled many renewable energy applications. Wind energy harnessing is very promising and offshore farm installations have grown considerably in the past years. In this seminar we will go through some of the fundamentals of these enabling technologies and their applications. We will also present a simple, reliable, efficient and cost-effective concept applied to parallel connection of offshore wind turbines.

Aug 9 - Aug 16, 2020

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  Semi-talk: Efficiency Improvement of AlGaN based Deep UV emitter grown by HT-MOCVD

  Dr. Byeongchan So, Postdoctoral researcher / Ph.D. Department of Nano-Semiconductor Engineering, ​Korea Polytechnic University

  Aug 13, 15:00 - 16:00

  KAUST

  In this seminar, the approaches for improving the efficiency of AlGaN based DUV emitters will be presented. The high-temperature metal organic chemical vapor deposition system has been used to grow high-quality AlGaN based epi-layers and nanostructure on the sapphire substrate.

Jul 26 - Aug 2, 2020

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  Additively Manufactured Vanadium Dioxide (VO₂) based Radio Frequency Switches and Reconfigurable Components

  Shuai Yang, Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Jul 30, 18:00 - 20:00

  KAUST

  Frequency-reconfigurable RF components are highly desired in a wireless system because a single frequency-reconfigurable RF component can replace multiple RF components to reduce the size, cost, and weight. Typically, the reconfigurable RF components are realized using capacitive varactors, PIN diodes, or MEMS switches, which are expensive, require tedious soldering steps, and are rigid and thus non-compatible with futuristic applications of flexible and wearable electronics. In this work, we have demonstrated vanadium dioxide (VO₂) based RF switches that have been realized through additive manufacturing technologies (inkjet printing and screen printing), which dramatically brings the cost down to a few cents. Also, no soldering or additional attachment step is required as the switch can be simply printed on the RF component. The printed VO₂ switches are configured in two types (shunt configuration and series configuration) where both types have been characterized with two activation mechanisms (thermal activation and electrical activation) up to 40 GHz. The measured insertion loss of 1-3 dB, isolation of 20-30 dB, and switching speed of 400 ns is comparable to other non-printed and expensive RF switches. Moreover, as an application for the printed VO₂ switches, a fully printed frequency reconfigurable filter has also been designed in this work.

Jul 19 - Jul 26, 2020

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  Semi-talk: Ion beams in III-nitride research: Doping, characterisation and radiation resistant electronics

  Prof. Katharina Lorenz, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon

  Jul 23, 16:00 - 17:30

  KAUST

  Katharina Lorenz's main research interests are the doping of WBS with optically active ions and the study of radiation effects in WBS materials for radiation detectors and radiation resistant electronics.

Jul 12 - Jul 19, 2020

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  Semi-talk: Recent advances in deep-UV photodetectors based on ultrawide band gap semiconductors

  Prof. Digbijoy Nath, Indian Institute of Science

  Jul 16, 14:30 - 16:00

  KAUST

  Brief Biography Education: PhD, Electrical Engineering, 2013, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA. B. E. (Hons), Electrical & Electronics Engineering, 2008, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani.

Jul 5 - Jul 12, 2020

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  Heterogeneous Integration Strategy for Obtaining Physically Flexible 3D Compliant Electronic Systems

  Sohail Faizan Shaikh, Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Jul 9, 15:00 - 16:00

  KAUST

  In this thesis, we present a pragmatic heterogeneous integration strategy to obtain high-performance 3D electronic systems using existing CMOS technology. Critical challenges addressed during the process are; reliable flexible interconnects, maximum area efficiency, soft-polymeric packaging, and heterogeneous integration compatible with current CMOS technology. First, a modular LEGO approach presents a novel method to obtain flexible electronics in a lock-and-key (plug and play) manner with reliable interconnects. It includes a process to convert standard rigid IC into flexible LEGO without any performance degradation with a high-yield. For the majority of healthcare and environmental monitoring applications, a sensory array is essential for continuous spatiotemporal activity recording. Here we present an ultra- high-density sensory solution (1 million sensors) as an epitome of density and address each of the associated challenges. A generic heterogeneous integration scheme is devised to obtain a physically flexible standalone electronic system using 3D-coin architecture. Lastly, a feather-light non-invasive ‘Marine-Skin’ platform to monitor deep-ocean monitoring is presented using the heterogeneous integration scheme. Electrical and mechanical characterization establish the reliability, integrity, robustness, and ruggedness of the processes, sensors, and multisensory flexible system.
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  Semi-talk: Characteristics of gallium oxide based wide bandgap semiconductors

  Prof. Qixin Guo, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Saga University

  Jul 9, 09:00 - 10:30

  KAUST

  Prof. Dr. Guo received B. E., M.E., and Dr. E degrees in electronic engineering from Toyohashi University of Technology in 1990, 1992, and 1996, respectively. He is currently a Professor of Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Saga University as well as Director of Saga University Synchrotron Light Application Center. His research interests include epitaxial growth and characterization of semiconductor materials. Prof. Guo has published more than 300 papers in scientific journals including Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Physical Review B, and Applied Physics Letters with more than 7200 citations (h-index: 43).

Jun 28 - Jul 5, 2020

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  Semi-talk: Wearable Textile Electronics for Personalized Health Care

  Jun Chen, Department of Bioengineering, University of California Los Angeles

  Jun 29, 19:00 - 20:30

  KAUST

  Dr. Jun Chen is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles. His current research focuses on nanotechnology and bioelectronics for energy, sensing, environment and therapy applications in the form of smart textiles, wearables, and body area sensor networks.

Jun 14 - Jun 21, 2020

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  Situational Awareness and Decision-Making Support for Crowd Management in Mina, A Grand Challenge Project Funded by the Ministry of Education

  Dr. Emad Felemban, Associate Professor in Computer engineering of Umm Al-Qura University

  Jun 17, 13:00 - 14:00

  KAUST

  Computer science communication engineering

  Recent real disastrous crowd incidents have shown that crowded places can be exposed to significant safety dangers and that the presence of many pedestrians can potentially result in injuries and fatalities at large scales if not planned and managed reasonably. This fact has resulted in significant challenges for managing the safety of large volumes of pedestrians in dense areas. In retrospect, many such real crowd disasters could have been avoided with better crowd management. Better tools and methodologies to predict crowd behavior during planning for potential emergencies would enable authorities to plan and prepare for improved public safety in crowded environments. Better still, real-time management of crowds might avert disasters if live event data could be used to make rapid predictions of crowd dynamics over the immediate future, allowing management to be optimized as an event unfolds. Such tools do not yet exist, and the technical demands of creating them are not trivial; they will require innovative approaches to both empirical research and modeling.
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  Semi-talk: MOCVD epitaxial growth and device fabrication of GaN-based laser diodes: from visible to ultraviolet

  Prof Ping Chen, Institute of Semiconductor, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Jun 16, 16:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  Dr. Ping Chen now works as a full Professor in the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing China). He received his bachelor’s degree of Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2003, and doctor’s degree of Microelectronics and Solid State Electronics from the Graduate School in University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008. He worked in Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) as a Visiting Scholar from 2017 to 2019.

Jun 7 - Jun 14, 2020

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  Semi-talk: Low Cost Photonics

  Dr. Naresh Chand, Life Fellow of IEEE, Associate Vice President, Chapter Relations of the IEEE Photonics Society

  Jun 9, 16:00 - 17:30

  KAUST

  Dr. Naresh Chand is a Life Fellow of IEEE, Associate Vice President, Chapter Relations of the IEEE Photonics Society, and the Chair, Photonics Society, North Jersey Chapter. Dr. Naresh Chand was previously with US R&D Center of Huawei Technologies in NJ in 2011-2019 where he was working on developing low-cost advanced technologies for Ultra Broadband Optical Access Networks. Prior to this, he worked for BAE Systems (2003-11), Agere Systems and AT&T/Lucent Bell Laboratories (1986-2003), and Dept of Electronics, Government of India (1974-79).

May 31 - Jun 7, 2020

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  Semi-talk: Deep UV photodetectors based on Ga2O3 thin films grown on sapphire and muscovite mica

  Prof. Rajendra Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

  Jun 5, 16:00 - 17:30

  KAUST

  Dr. Rajendra Singh is presently a Professor at the Department of Physics, IIT Delhi. He did M.Sc. (Physics) from D.B.S. College, Dehra Dun (affiliated to H.N.B. Garhwal University) in 1995. After that he joined Inter University Accelerator Centre (formerly Nuclear Science Centre), New Delhi for Ph.D. His Ph.D. work was related to the study of the effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on electrical properties of Si and GaAs. He completed his Ph.D. in 2001 with degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He then joined Walter Schottky Institute (WSI), Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany as a post doctoral fellow. There he worked on the design, fabrication and characterization of InP-based heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). He extensively used Class 100 Cleanroom facilities at WSI working on various processing tools such as photolithography, wet etching, reactive ion etching, UHV metallization and rapid thermal annealing. In January 2004 he joined the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, Germany as a post doctoral fellow. There he worked in the area of direct wafer bonding and layer splitting of semiconductors for the fabrication of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI). He worked in a Class 10 Cleanroom facility at MPI Halle using processing tools such as wet benches, wafer bonding system, plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and annealing furnaces.
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  Game-Theoretic Analysis of Smart Grid Markets: From Retail to Wholesale

  Khaled Alshehri, Assistant Professor, KFUPM

  Jun 4, 13:00 - 14:00

  KAUST

  game theory energy

  As end-consumers of electricity become more proactive and as many countries around the world push for a deeper penetration of renewable resources into the power grid, critical issues and challenges arise to the design and operation of deregulated electricity markets. In this presentation, we show how one can exploit tools from game theory to address some of these critical issues. Firstly, wholesale and retail markets are becoming more integrated due to the increasing adoption of distributed energy resources, creating a large gap in the current understanding of the impact of such small-scale energy resources on the larger power system operation and electricity market outcomes. This motivates us to develop a metric, called the Price of Aggregation, which quantifies the impact of integrating distributed energy resources in the retail-level on wholesale market efficiency. Secondly, evidence from real markets indicate that large-scale adoption of wind energy in the transmission system leads to significantly higher price volatility in wholesale markets. To mitigate the effects of price volatility, we propose an add-on centralized clearing mechanism that is applicable to any wholesale market, with the aim of allowing any market participant to hedge against profit volatilities, without changing the existing market operations. Finally, we develop a multiperiod-multicompany demand response framework in retail markets, which captures the behavior of competing companies and their price-responsive end-consumers. Using real-life data, we demonstrate potential savings that can exceed 30% for end-consumers, in addition to revealing desirable mathematical properties and deep insights.

May 24 - May 31, 2020

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  Semi-Talk: III-Nitride Nanowire Light-Emitting Diodes on Silicon and Patterned Substrates

  Prof Hieu Nguyen, Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology

  May 29, 18:00 - 19:00

  KAUST

  Prof. Hieu Nguyen received the B.S. degree in Physics from Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2005), the M.S. degree in Electronics Engineering from Ajou University, South Korea (2009), and the PhD. degree in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, Canada (2012). In September 2014, he joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology. He has authored/co-authored 1 book chapter, 1 patent, 48 journal articles, and more than 70 conference presentations.
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  Indoor 3D Scene Understanding Using Depth Sensors

  Jean Lahoud, Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  May 28, 16:00 - 18:00

  KAUST

  Computer Vision 3D object detection Deep learning

  One of the main goals in computer vision is to achieve a human-like understanding of images. This understanding has been recently represented in various forms, including image classification, object detection, semantic segmentation, among many others. Nevertheless, image understanding has been mainly studied in the 2D image frame, so more information is needed to relate them to the 3D world. With the emergence of 3D sensors (e.g. the Microsoft Kinect), which provide depth along with color information, the task of propagating 2D knowledge into 3D becomes more attainable and enables interaction between a machine (e.g. robot) and its environment. This dissertation focuses on three aspects of indoor 3D scene understanding: (1) 2D-driven 3D object detection for single frame scenes with inherent 2D information, (2) 3D object instance segmentation for 3D reconstructed scenes, and (3) using room and floor orientation for automatic labeling of indoor scenes that could be used for self-supervised object segmentation. These methods allow capturing of physical extents of 3D objects, such as their sizes and actual locations within a scene.

May 17 - May 24, 2020

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  Semi-Talk: Role of 3D chemical imaging in advancing wide band gap technology

  Prof. Baishakhi Mazumder, Department of Materials Design and Innovation, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University at Buffalo

  May 22, 16:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  No summary is available.

May 10 - May 17, 2020

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  Semi-Talk: III-Nitride Semiconductor Photonics and Nanoelectronics

  Prof. Jing Zhang, Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology

  May 15, 21:00 - 22:00

  KAUST

  Dr. Jing Zhang is currently the Kate Gleason Endowed Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology. She obtained B.S. degree in Electronic Science and Technology from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2009), and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University (2013). Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on developing highly efficient III-Nitride and GaO semiconductor based photonic, optoelectronic, and electronic devices. Her research group is working on the development of novel quantum well active regions and substrates for enabling high-performance ultraviolet and visible LEDs/ lasers, as well as engineering of advanced device concepts for nanoelectronics.

Apr 26 - May 10, 2020

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  6G: Super-connecting the connected and connecting the unconnected

  Mohamed-Slim Alouini, Al-Khawarzmi Distinguished Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  May 3, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  6G

  This talk aims to 1) provide an envisioned picture of 6G, 2) serve as a research guideline in the beyond 5G era, and 3) go over the recently proposed solutions to provide high-speed connectivity in under-covered areas to serve and contribute to the development of far-flung regions. The role of Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) in bringing about a revolution in almost all aspects of human life needs no introduction. It is indeed a well-known fact that the transmission of the information at a rapid pace has transformed all spheres of human life such as economy, education, and health to name a few. In this context, and as the standardization of the fifth generation (5G) of wireless communication systems (WCSs) has been completed, and 5G networks are in their early stage of deployment, the research visioning and planning of the sixth generation (6G) of WCSs are being initiated. 6G is expected to be the next focus in wireless communication and networking and aim to provide new superior communication services to meet the future hyper-connectivity demands in the 2030s.

Apr 26 - May 3, 2020

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  Semi-Talk: Multifunctional Flexible Semiconductor Materials and Devices for Photonic, Electronic, Energy, and Sensing Applications

  Prof. Jae-Hyun Ryou, Mechanical Engineering, Texas Center for Superconducitity

  May 1, 16:00 - 17:00

  KAUST

  Brief Biography Prof. Jae-Hyun Ryou is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Also affiliate with Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas Center for Superconducitity (TcSUH), and Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI) Education and experience: Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Austin M.S. and B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea Honeywell Technology Center Center for Compound Semiconductors at Georgia Institute of Technology Research: Current research interests: semiconductor materials, devices, and
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  On Optimal Regularization in Estimation, Detection, and Classification

  Tareq Al-Naffouri, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 30, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  linear systems computational Complexity Convex Gaussian Min-max theorem

  In many problems in statistical signal processing, regularization is employed to deal with uncertainty, ill-posedness, and insufficiency of training data. It is possible to tune these regularizers optimally asymptotically, i.e. when the dimension of the problem becomes very large, by using tools from random matrix theory and Gauss Process Theory. In this talk, we demonstrate the optimal turning of regularization for three problems : i) Regularized least squares for solving ill-posed and/or uncertain linear systems, 2) Regularized least squares for signal detection in multiple antenna communication systems and 3) Regularized linear and quadratic discriminant binary classifiers.

Apr 19 - May 3, 2020

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  Distributed Robotics

  Apr 26, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  robotics distributed systems

  This talk presents an overview of challenges, state-of the-art, and applications for distributed robotic systems. In distributed robotic systems, there is a group of robots that seek to achieve a collective task. Applications include environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and programmable self-assembly. Settings can range from a small team of cooperative robots to a swarm of many interacting agents. An essential feature of such systems is that individual robots make decisions based on available local information as well as limited communications with other robots. The challenge is to design local protocols that result in desired global outcomes. In contrast to a traditional centralized paradigm, both measurements and decisions are distributed among multiple actors.

Apr 19 - Apr 26, 2020

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  Nanomaterials and Nanostructure Based Energy Efficient In-Memory Sensing

  Nazek El-Atab, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 20, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  nanomaterials Nanostructure energy efficiency

  In this talk, I will present the potential of nano-islands grown by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) in addition to novel material combinations in scaled memory devices. Moreover, in order to relax the scalability requirement, I will introduce an integrated potential single device solution by infusing memory device which can monitor and remember our actions and the surrounding environment. Such a device performs the roles of both a MEMory and a senSOR at once and is referred to as a MEMSOR. The MEMSOR is directly programmed by external physical stimuli rather than an applied electric potential as in conventional devices. As a result, the MEMSOR leads to faster data analysis, lower footprint area, energy consumption, and ideally, the cost of the system. Finally, the MEMSOR device will be based on a MOSFET architecture with a mature manufacturing process, and thus it can be integrated with conventional Flash devices on the same silicon wafer with minimal additional process steps.

Apr 12 - Apr 26, 2020

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  Near Field Wireless Power Transfer: Circuits and Application

  Shehab Ahmed, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 19, 12:00 - 13:00

  KAUST

  Near Field wireless Power Transfer

  Recently, wireless power transfer has been used in mobile phones, electric vehicles, medical implants, wireless sensor networks, unmanned aerial vehicles, and so on. In this seminar, we will walk through circuit theory and simulations that illustrate the nature and constraints of the technology. We will also address contemporary topics related to application of wireless power transfer in electric vehicle applications.

Apr 12 - Apr 19, 2020

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  Economic Model Predictive Control Strategies for Nonlinear Systems

  Fahad Albalawi , Research Scientist, Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Apr 16, 16:00 - 17:30

  KAUST

  Model Predictive Control neural network nonlinear control systems

  The first part of this talk provides a brief introduction of the EMPC (motivation, challenges, and solutions). The second part of this talk proposes a regret-based robust EMPC paradigm for nonlinear systems subject to unknown but bounded disturbance. The main motivation of the proposed work is the possible improvement of the economic performance when one considers the regret function as the objective function for the robust EMPC algorithm instead of the worst cost. The third part of this talk introduces an integrated framework that combines a Neural Network (NN) algorithm with an MPC scheme that can guarantee closed-loop stability in the presence of deception cyberattacks (e.g., min-max cyberattack). Both discrete-time and continuous-time nonlinear systems will be utilized throughout the talk to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed control methods. Finally, future research directions will be presented at the end of the talk.