Research
- Internet of Things (IoT) Architectures and Protocols
- IoT Applications in Agriculture and Healthcare
- Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in IoT
- Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs)
- Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) Networks
- Security and Blockchain
- Compressive Sensing Applications
- Cognitive Radio Networks
- IEEE 802.11 Networks
- Cross-Layer PHY/MAC designs for MIMO Networks
- 4G and LTE cellular Networks
- Prototyping and Hardware Implementation
Currently Funded Projects
CIP-OLIVE: Cloud-based Integrated Platform for Monitoring Pests, Salinity and Efficient Irrigation in Olive Precision Farming
Egyptian-Spanish joint co-operation in ICT to develop an integrated software/hardware platform to monitor different olive diseases and pests, while monitoring the irrigation water and salinity. The goal of this multinational project is to develop an integrated software/hardware platform to monitor different olive diseases and pests, while monitoring the irrigation water and salinity. The research components involved in this project include embedded systems, IoT, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and precision agriculture. My research focus is on:
- The design and implementation of image detection and classification algorithms for olive fruit fly control.
- The exploitation of machine learning and time-series analysis to find trends in the collected weather and irrigation data.
- The development of energy-efficient communication protocols to efficiently connect the the different components of the system.
Funding Agency: IT Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).
Fund Amount: 1.5 Million EGP (16 EGP = 1 USD).
Role: Principal Investigator (PI).
Collaborating Institutions: Cairo University, Smartec Systems (Egypt), University of Cordoba (Spain), SERESCO (Spain), CEBAS-CSIC (Spain).
Ongoing UnFunded Projects
Securing the Internet of Things
In this line of research, the various types of security threats that affect both the IoT and WSNs and their many critical and non-critical applications that touch almost every aspect of our modern life. My research in this area focuses on:
- The design and implementation of lightweight cryptographic techniques for the resource-limited IoT, WSN, and RFID systems.
- The exploitation of machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect abnormal and malicious behaviors.
- The use of blockchain technology in securing IoT systems.
Collaborating Institutions: Cairo University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette (USA).
Internet of Things Applications and Architectures
Several ongoing research projects work on developing new architectures and design complete IoT systems for the following applications:
- Assisted Living and remote monitoring of the elderly.
- Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).
- Smart Ambulance: routing and patient monitoring.
- Internet of Greenhouses.
- Smart museums and smart buildings.
Collaborating Institutions: Cairo University, American University in Cairo (Egypt), Central Michigan University (USA).
Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) Routing
Several ongoing research collaborations on developing routing and data collection algorithms that tackle the unique characteristics of UAV networks and FANETs.
Collaborating Institutions: Cairo University, Stevens Institute of Technology (USA), American University in Cairo (Egypt), American University in Sharjah (UAE).
Exploitation of Machine Learning in VANETs and WSNs
As machine learning can significantly improve the performance of several protocols of the network stack, my students and I are exploring the use of machine learning in:
- Clustering and routing of vehicles in VANET networks.
- Lane detection and autonomous driving systems.
- Object and image detection in WSNs.
Compressive Sensing
Compressed sensing enables sensing at a much lower sampling rate than that dictated by the Nyquist theorem. However, the complexity and speed of existing compressed sensing reconstruction techniques remains a barrier. We are developing fast and accurate compressive sensing techniques for:
- Spectrum reconstruction in Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs).
- Meausuring multiple jointly-sparse attributes in IoT and WSN networks.
- Face recognition.
Past Funded Projects
Energy Harvesting Solution for Wireless Sensors in IoT Systems for Smart Environments
The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to develop an Internet of Things (IoT)-based system for museum monitoring and control. The developed system does not only autonomously set the museum ambience to levels that preserve the health of the artifacts and provide alarms upon intended or unintended vandalization attempts, but also allows for remote ambience control through authorized Internet-enabled devices. A key differentiating aspect of the developed system is the use of always-on and power-hungry sensors for comprehensive and precise museum monitoring, while being powered by harvesting the Radio Frequency (RF) energy freely available within the museum. My research focus is on:
- The development of a layered IoT architecture for ambience control in smart environments.
- System design and the integration of the deep learning and RF energy harvesting modules with the system.
Funding Agency: National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA).
Fund Amount: 2 Million EGP (16 EGP = 1 USD).
Role: Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI).
Collaborating Institutions: Cairo University, Electronics Research Institute, Fayoum University.
Integrated Monitoring System for Plant Disease Forecast
The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to develop an integrated software/hardware platform to monitor different plant diseases, and to realize an expert system that allows the proposed platform to emulate the decision-making ability of a human expert regarding the diseases. The research components involved in this project include wireless sensor networking and artificial intelligence in addition to agriculture pathology. My research focus is on:
- Efficient wireless communication between the system modules.
- Overall system design and integration.
Funding Agency: Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF).
Fund Amount: 2 Million EGP (16 EGP = 1 USD).
Role: Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI).
Collaborating Institutions: Cairo University, Agricultural Research Center, German University in Cairo.
Web of Objects
This multinational project aims at developing a network and services infrastructure for the Internet of Things (IoT). Our goal is simplifying the development and the deployment of distributed applications independent of proprietary protocols. My research focus is on:
- Autonomous wireless sensor networking with self-X features.
- Fault/delay tolerant routing for intermittently connected networks.
Funding Agency: IT Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).
Fund Amount: 1 Million EGP (16 EGP = 1 USD).
Role: Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI).
Collaborating Institutions: 25 industrial and academic partners from 5 countries: Egypt, Spain, France, South Korea and Canada.
4G++: Advanced Performance Boosting Techniques in 4th Generation Wireless Systems
This research project addresses the challenges facing beyond 4G wireless systems and providing protocol design principles and guidelines that can be used by the wireless industry to boost the user experience. My research focus is on:
- Opportunistic spectrum access in femtocell networks.
- Spectrum sharing in LTE and LTE-A environments.
- LTE uplink scheduling and radio resource management.
Funding Agency: National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA).
Fund Amount: 2.5 Million EGP (16 EGP = 1 USD).
Role: Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI).
Collaborating Institutions: Cairo University and National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA).
Past Unfunded Projects
High Accuracy GPS-Free Vehicle Localization
- Proposed a GPS-free localization framework that uses two-way time of arrival to locate the vehicles based on communication with a single RSU.
- Exploited the vehicle kinematics information obtained via the vehicle's onboard inertial navigation system (INS) to further improve the accuracy.
- Proposed the protocol implementation of the framework and demonstrated its superior accuracy (as low as 1.8 meters).
Probabilistic Spectrum Management in Distributed Cognitive Wireless Networks
- Proposed a probabilistic framework for spectrum sensing and access that counters unavoidable inaccuracies of existing spectrum sensing techniques.
- Analytically optimized the parameters of the proposed scheme.
- Proposed the protocol implementation of the framework and demonstrated its superior throughput (up to 138% gain) and fairness performance.
- Empirically demonstrated the superior performance of the proposed framework by implementing it using the Wireless Open Access Research Platform (WARP).
The Case for SIMO Random Access in Multi-hop Wireless Networks
- Experimentally and analytically demonstrated the superior robustness of SIMO communications to uncoordinated interference compared to MIMO.
- Proposed simple modifications to the IEEE 802.11n PHY/MAC to enable multiple uncoordinated SIMO flows to concurrently share the medium and alleviate 802.11n severe unfairness.
- Analytically computed SIMO MAC carrier sense threshold.
Fair Randomized Antenna Allocation in Asynchronous MIMO Multi-hop Networks
- Experimentally demonstrated high-speed CSMA multi-hop networks, such as IEEE 802.11n, vulnerability to starvation.
- Presented a framework for randomized resource allocation in asynchronous networks.
- Proposed the first fair asynchronous multi-antenna MAC. (US patent pending)
- Modeled the achievable rates of asynchronously interfering MIMO links with the lack of channel state information.
Overhead-Free Congestion Control in Wireless Mesh Networks
- Experimentally demonstrated and modeled CSMA behavior in multi-hop mesh networks as a distributed almost-strict priority system.
- Proposed overhead-free congestion control scheme for such systems.
WARP Platform MAC Implementation
- Implemented the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol including the physical and virtual carrier sensing, and RTS/CTS four-way handshake on the WARP FPGA-based platform.
Opportunistic Scheduling of Delay Sensitive Traffic in OFDMA-based Wireless Networks
- Proposed a two-step opportunistic subcarrier allocation and assignment scheme that takes delay information and deadline due violations into account with the channel state information to maximize the system throughput subject to QoS delay constraints.
Channel-Aware Earliest Deadline Due Fair Scheduling for Wireless Multimedia Networks
- Introduced the channel-dependent earliest-due-date discipline for QoS provisioning for multimedia applications in cellular systems.
Programmable Baseband Chain for a Fully-Integrated Multi-Standard CMOS RF Receiver (Senior Year Dissertation)
- Designed a reconfigurable baseband chain, with filter, amplifier, and analog to digital converter modules, that can be digitally programmed to operate according to either GSM or DECT standards.