EED-Newsletter-Vol-2-Issue-1-2017

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 

DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER 

EED NEWSLETTER 

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 

V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 1 

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 

Shaping the Future of 

Electrical Engineering 

My First Experience as 

an ABET Program Evalu- 

2 

4 

Message from the Head of the Department 

New EE UG Curriculum 5 

New Advising Strategy 6 

Faculty Achievements & 8-10 

Activities 

Faculty Activities’ 

11 

Statistics 

Students 

12-19 

Achievements & 

EED PhD Graduate 20-23 

Success Stories with 24 

Gradate Students 

Gradate Students’ 25 

Statistics 

During the year 2017 the 

Department has made several 

important achievements. 

At different levels 

and activities. I will just 

highlight few most important 

ones. The Electrical 

Engineering BSc program 

has been reaccredited for 

another 6 years starting 

from Fall 2017 by the EAC 

of ABET. After a complete 

review of its programs, the 

department has submitted a 

proposal for a new BSc 

curriculum that was approved 

by the University 

and is became effective 

starting from Fall 2017. Our 

students have been engaged 

in several curricular and 

extracurricular activities and 

have received several 

awards showing their high 

level of competency. Our 

faculty were able to achieve 

a high research and publication 

record with more than 

110 journal papers in SIS 

indexed and reputable journals. 

The department was 

ranked 301-400 by the 

Shanghai Academic Ranking 

of World Universities 

under the Electrical & 

Electronics Subjects . It 

was ranked 51-75 under 

the Telecommunication 

subjects. 

I congratulate all the faculty, 

staff and students at 

the department for their 

great achievements and 

wish them a good continuation. 

Dr. Nasser Al-Emadi 

Head of the Department 

Editorials from EE 

Faculty: Prof. Serkan 


Faculty: Prof. Mohieddine 

Benammar & 

Dr. Rashid Mazhar 


Faculty: Prof. Farid 

Touati 

Department Staff & 

Students Statistics 

26-27 

28-29 

30-32 

33 

EE Program is Re-Accredited 

The Electrical Engineering BSc 

program has been re-accredited 

for another 6 years by the EAC 

of ABET this year (2017) with a 

visit from December 3-5, 2016. 

Graduating from an ABETaccredited 

program makes it 

easier for graduates to eventually 

become licensed as a Professional 

Engineers or pursue 

their graduate studies in reputable 

universities. ABET accreditation 

is really a sign of 

good quality education. 

Faculty and Staff 34 

Editorial Team: 

Prof. Adel Gastli 

Prof. Farid Touati 

Dr. Khawla Alzoubi 

Eng. Mohamed Elsayed 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 2 

Shaping the Future of EE Students 

at QU: ABET Accreditation 

Dr. Ahmed Massoud. 

Associate Professor & 

Program Coordinator 

of EE Program 

The Electrical Engineering (EE) 

program at Qatar University is 

a general EE program structured 

to address the industrial 

and societal needs of the State 

of Qatar. The program was 

first offered in 1980 and the 

first student cohort graduated 

in 1985 [1]. Our first request 

for Accreditation Board for 

Engineering and Technology 

(ABET) accreditation through 

the Engineering Accreditation 

Commission (EAC) was made 

in January 2004, with a visit in 

February 2005 resulting in 

“Substantial Equivalency Accreditation”. 

“ABET accreditation 

provides assurance that a 

college or university program 

meets the quality standards of 

the profession for which that 

program prepares graduates 

[2]”. 

Then, another EAC of ABET 

general review was held from 

November 6-8, 2010 and the 

EE program was accredited 

since October 1st, 2009. Continuing 

these milestones, the 

EE program has been reaccredited 

by the EAC of 

ABET this year (2017) with a 

visit from December 3-5, 

2016. The program has currently 

a study plan built around 

131 credit hours. The curriculum 

had initially 162 credit 

hours, which was reduced to 

139 credit hours when the 

curriculum was revised in 

1997. The number of credit 

hours was further reduced to 

131 credit hours when the 

curriculum was revised in 

2003. 

The students of the EE program, 

graduating with a Bachelor 

of Science (B.Sc.) in EE, are 

prepared for engineering practice 

or further graduate studies. 

The curriculum of the 

program is designed to achieve 

the following Student Outcomes 

(SOs): 

a) An ability to apply 

knowledge of mathematics, 

science, and engineering 

b) An ability to design and 

conduct experiments, as 

well as to analyze and interpret 

data 

c) An ability to design a system, 

component, or process 

to meet desired needs 

within realistic constraints 

such as economic, environmental, 

social, political, 

ethical, health and safety, 

manufacturability, and sustainability 

d) An ability to function on 

multi-disciplinary teams 

e) An ability to identify, formulate, 

and solve engineering 

problems 

f) An understanding of professional 

and ethical responsibility 

g) An ability to communicate 

effectively 

h) The broad education necessary 

to understand the impact 

of engineering solutions 

in a global, economic, 

environmental, and societal 

context 

i) A recognition of the need 

for, and an ability to engage 

in lifelong learning 

j) A knowledge of contemporary 

issues 

k) An ability to use the techniques, 

skills, and modern 

engineering tools necessary 

for engineering practice. 

These SOs ultimately contribute 

to the achievement of the 

Program Educational Objectives 

(PEOs), which are based 

on the following three main 

pillars [3]: 

1) Apply effectively their 

technical, communication, 

and teamwork skills in 

modern work environment 

as well as graduate studies. 

It has to be noticed that technical 

skills that are essential for 

a successful career in EE arena, 

in industry as well as academia, 

should include a good theoretical 

background (mathematics 

and basic science skills, experimental 

skills, and design skills. 

In addition, engineering is all 

about utilizing new tools in 

problem solving. Moreover, 

modern work environment 

requires engineers to work in 

multidisciplinary teams. Nonetheless, 

productive teamwork 

in general demands effective 

communication skills. 

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. 

The most certain way to succeed is always 

to try just one more time. 

Thomas Edison 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 

PAGE 3 

Knowledge application requires a 

solid base of EE fundamentals. Over 

the years, an acknowledged 

strength of the Qatar University 

engineering programs has been 

their insistence on requiring all 

students to learn fundamental 

mathematics, science, and engineering 

topics. This experience prepares 

graduates of the program to succeed 

in their professional careers. 

Practicing engineers should be able 

to tackle problems that require 

hands-on experience in addition to 

theoretical exposure. Electrical EE 

students do an extensive laboratory 

work by designing and conducting 

experiments to demonstrate 

achievement of this outcome. This 

enhances technical hands-on experience 

of our graduates. 

Practicing engineers should be able 

to tackle problems that require 

hands-on experience in addition to 

theoretical exposure. Electrical 

engineering students do an extensive 

laboratory work by designing 

and conducting experiments to 

demonstrate achievement of this 

outcome. This enhances technical 

hands-on experience of our graduates. 

System design is the heart of the EE 

practice, particularly in the design 

of electrical components and systems 

that require both hardware 

and software elements within realistic 

constraints and standards. Engineering 

design is prominent 

throughout the Electrical Engineering 

curriculum. The culminating 

design experience occurs in the 

senior design project. This experience 

prepares graduates of the 

program to develop technical solutions 

to contemporary issues in the 

area. There are several opportunities 

for students to work in multidisciplinary 

teams throughout the 

EE curriculum. Students from other 

programs share courses with EE 

References: 

students, allowing students from 

different technical backgrounds to 

work in teams in order to identify, 

formulate, analyze and/or solve 

problems through course term 

projects and assignments. This prepares 

our graduates for multidisciplinary 

work and graduate studies 

learning environment. To prepare 

EE graduates for this, problems 

become more open-ended as students 

progress upstream in their 

study plan till senior design project. 

In their senior design project, students 

have to identify, formulate, 

compare alternative solutions and 

implement the selected solution 

based on realistic constraints and 

standards. This experience prepares 

them to apply their technical skills 

effectively in work or learning environments. 

In many courses, EE students write 

reports and make presentations 

related to projects that they do. 

Such activity enhances their oral, 

written, and listening communication 

skills, a main prerequisite for 

professional activities in the 

field. EE students use a plethora of 

tools and techniques that increase 

their engineering technical skills and 

knowledge. Such exposure makes 

them more knowledgeable to practice 

EE effectively. 

2) Act professionally and ethically. 

Electrical engineers need to act 

professionally and ethically. All EE 

students must take a course in 

engineering skills and ethics that 

discusses ethical situations and 

professional practice through case 

studies. The ethical theme continues 

throughout their studies, reinforced 

through class attendance 

policies, strict deadlines, and university 

regulations and rules. This experience 

helps graduates to act 

professionally according to work 

ethos. 

3) Adapt to emerging technologies, 

social development, and 

contemporary issues. 

The technical knowledge in the area 

of EE is changing at a very fast pace. 

Electrical engineers are required to 

possess adequate knowledge of 

contemporary advancements in the 

field. Moreover, to keep up with 

the fast pace of change, they are 

required to be independent life-long 

learners. Last but not least, engineering 

solutions must take into 

consideration societal, environmental, 

and economic considerations. 

All EE students must take a course 

in engineering skills and ethics that 

discusses the impact of engineering 

solutions on society. That theme 

appears as well throughout their 

studies, and culminated in the senior 

design project, where they have 

to consider constraints in emerging 

global societal, cultural, and political 

context. This experience prepares 

our graduates to adapt to emerging 

technologies, societal changes, and 

contemporary issues. 

The general education requirement 

coupled with the many projects in 

many of the EE courses allows students 

to do critical investigations 

on a variety of topics. This experience 

prepares graduates of the 

program to become self-learners 

and foster their passion for continuous 

learning. In order to be effective 

and play positive role in the 

work environment, it is important 

for graduates to be well versed in 

the latest activities and the newest 

technologies in the field. The curriculum 

is diverse enough to expose 

students to such knowledge and 

skills, which prepare them to keep 

abreast with the latest issues and 

technologies. 

[1] “ABET Self-Study Report for the Electrical Engineering Program at Qatar University”, June 2016. 

[2] [2] http://www.abet.org/accreditation/ (last accessed October 2017) 

[3] [3] http://www.qu.edu.qa/engineering/electrical/obj.php (last accessed October 2017) 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 4 


Professor at the Electrical 

Engineering Department at 

Qatar University 

Becoming an ABET Expert is a 

highly selective process requiring 

specialized skills. Our program 

evaluators are leaders in 

their fields, have diverse backgrounds 

and experiences, and 

must demonstrate high-level 

competencies, such as technical 

currency, effective communication, 

and interpersonal skills. 

They must be team-oriented 

and exceptionally organized 

and possess a high level of 

integrity and ethical standards. 

Michael K.J. Milligan, PhD 

ABET Executive Director, 

CEO 

My First Experience as an ABET 

Program Evaluator 

In October 2015, I was nominated 

to become an ABET 

Evaluator (PEV) and in February 

2017, my nomination was 

accepted by the IEEE and 

ABET. In April 2016, I participated 

in an ABET-PEV training 

at ABET headquarter in Baltimore, 

USA. I was assigned 

my first General ABET Accreditation 

visit to an US university 

on October 2017. The preparation 

for the ABET visit started 

in July 2017, after receiving 

the Self-Study report and the 

supplementary material from 

the ABET visit Team Chair 

who coordinated all the preparation 

for the team visit. A lot 

of study and analyses of the 

provided document was conducted 

and several forms and 

reports had to be prepared 

before the visit. The Team 

chair organized 2 online team 

meetings to discuss the findings 

being shortcomings or 

observations. I exchanged 

several emails with the chairperson 

of the program under 

review. It is important to get 

the maximum information and 

clarifications before the visit 

because the duration of the 

visit is quite short. 

The campus visit in the US 

took place during the period 

October 15-17., 2017. The 

team met at Day 0, on October 

14, 2017 in the hotel to 

discuss the visit plan and team 

members observations and 

comments. Day 1 of the visit 

was on October 15, during 

which we met with the Dean 

of the College and all the programs’ 

chairs then we for a 

tour of the facilities and then 

we spent the remaining time 

reviewing the display material. 

In a special display room. At 

night, the team met in the 

hotel, and discussed the findings 

for each program under 

review. Day 2 was the most 

hectic one because I had to 

meet with several faculty, staff, 

and students. These meetings 

and interviews helped me understand 

better the situation 

and clarified several issues 

related to the program delivery, 

facilities, support, and 

working environment. At the 

end of the day, the team discussed 

the new findings during 

the dinner. At night, each PEV 

had to prepare his/her reports 

and send them to the team 

chair for feedback. During 

Day 3, we met again all the 

team on campus and finalized 

our reports, printed them and 

then each evaluator met separately 

with the program chair 

and briefed him/her about the 

exit statement. Finally, the 

team met with the University 

President, Vice-Presidents, 

Dean, and all program chairs 

and read again the exit statement. 

Finally, we all left campus 

and went back home. This 

is a common procedure and 

plan that almost all ABET visits 

follow and adopt. 

What I like most in this visit is 

the team work and the collaboration 

of all team members 

which helped me a lot in my 

first visit. 

Extract from an acknowledgement 

letter sent, after 

my first visit, from the 

ABET Executive Director, 

CEO to all my line managers 

at Qatar University. 

“It gives me great pleasure to 

share with you the significant 

contribution that Adel Gastli has 

made to our organization and to 

technical education worldwide. As 

you may know, Adel is a program 

evaluator for ABET, the global 

accreditor of college and university 

programs in applied and natural 

science, computing, engineering, 

and engineering technology. 

With ABET accreditation, students, 

employers, and the society 

we serve can be confident that a 

program meets the quality standards 

that produce graduates 

prepared to enter a global workforce. 

Thanks to the commitment 

of ABET Experts like Adel, more 

than 100,000 graduates each 

year benefit from ABET’s mission 

of promoting quality and innovation 

in technical education. 

In his role as a program evaluator, 

Adel assists ABET in reviewing 

more than 3,800 programs at 

over 700 institutions in 31 countries 

worldwide. Our program 

evaluators thoroughly examine 

and evaluate programs against 

accreditation criteria – reviewing 

course materials and student 

transcripts; interviewing faculty, 

staff, and students; and examining 

academic facilities, such as 

laboratories and libraries. Our 

ABET Experts –program evaluators 

and team chairs – are truly 

at the “front line” of the work we 

do, ensuring a quality educational 

experience for so many students.” 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 5 

New EE UG Curriculum 2017 

 

 

A curriculum change has been proposed 

and approved Spring 2017, 

and is effective from Fall 2017. 

The approved new core courses in 

this new study plan of 2017 as well 

as the new elective courses are 

expected to strengthen the attainment 

of the SOs of the EE program, 

and as per the challenges the students 

have faced and reflected in 

the course of the three years (2012 

-2015) of Cycle IV and two years 

(2015-2017) of Cycle V assessment 

results. 

The approved proposed changes to 

the current curriculum (2013 study 

plan) of Electrical Engineering (EE) 

are: 

The removal of the 2-CH free 

elective course, and the zero- 

CH Electric Engineering Seminar 

course ELEC 299. 

The replacement of one college 

requirement course 

(MATH217: Mathematics for 

Engineering) with another 

college requirement course 

(MATH231: Linear Algebra). 

The replacement of four major 

requirement courses 

(MATH385: Advanced Mathematics, 

ELEC333: Electronics 

Engineering, ELEC334: Electronics 

Engineering Laboratory, 

ELEC375: 

Biomedical Engineering) 

with four other major requirement 

courses (MATH285: 

Mathematics for Electrical 

Engineering, ELEC325: Power 

Electronics, ELEC353: Signal 

Analysis & Filtering, and 

 

 

 

 

ELEC428: Electrical Engineering 

Design). 

The number of required 

courses in major is reduced 

from 24 to 23 and the corresponding 

CH is increased to 

59. 

17 courses are deleted from 

the curriculum (including 12 

major elective courses), and 

19 courses’ attributes have 

been changed (including 5 

major elective courses). 

8 new major elective courses 

have been introduced. 

The total number of credit 

hours is maintained equal to 

131. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 6 

New Advising Strategy 

Dr. Ahmed Massoud. 

Associate Professor & 

Program Coordinator 

of EE Program 

Academic advising in College 

of Engineering (CENG) is a 

collaborative and guided process 

to involve academic advisor, 

faculty and students in 

clarifying direction, establishing 

goals, identifying opportunities 

and challenges, and gauging 

progress along the way. The 

academic advisor serves as the 

primary link between the student’s 

academic program and 

other resources available at 

the university. 

In order to assist students in 

making informed choices about 

their education and career 

goals, academic advisors help 

students identify available opportunities 

and options while 

also communicating accurate 

and timely information about 

academic policies and procedures, 

programs, resources, 

and career opportunities. Academic 

advising is available to all 

students. Through individual 

and group meetings with the 

assigned academic advisor, the 

students are assisted with: 

Knowledge of curricular 

requirements for their 

major, 

Knowledge of student information 

and resources 

use, 

Knowledge of relevant QU 

rules, policies and procedures, 

and 

Participation in academic 

support services and campus 

involvement opportunities. 

The academic advising office 

provides students with information 

about the available 

Qatar University resources 

and refer students to them 

(Academic: Academic Departments 

in the CENG, Student 

Learning Support Center, 

Technology Innovation & Engineering 

Education Unit, The 

Library) and (Non-academic: 

Career Services Center, Student 

Counseling Center, Special 

Needs, Students Activities, 

Financial aid/ Scholarship section). 

New academic advising 

model (Shared Academic 

Advising) 

As part of the Road to Student 

Success initiative at QU level, a 

new Piloting Shared model for 

Academic Advising is implemented 

in CENG. The new 

Shared model requires the 

faculty involvement in the advising 

process as it ensures 

that functions of advising are 

shared between professional 

advisors and faculty advisors. 

Students support and success 

are shared responsibility, 

where all should work together 

as a team to provide the 

needed support and create an 

environment that is conducive 

to enhance students’ performance 

and success. In the new 

academic advising model, there 

are two typical advisors, namely, 

professional advisors and 

academic advisors as shown in 

Figure 1. 

Role of faculty advisors 

In this model, the faculty advisor 

are responsible for Junior 

and Senior students regarding 

the following but not limited 

to: 

Help students with study 

plan and course registration, 

schedule (i.e., adding or 

dropping courses). 

Track students’ academic 

progress/performance. 

Inform students about perquisite 

course equivalency. 

Help students with their 

study skills, time manage- 

Figure 1. Professional and Academic (Faculty) Advisors 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 7 

ment and/or test taking strategies. 

Provide career development; 

internship/graduate studies. 

Inform students about QU policies 

and procedures (changing 

major/minor, probation policies). 

Provide professional advise related 

to major courses & content . 

Help students with their graduation 

requirements. 

Refer students to other campus 

resources when needed. 

Do courses substitute/ equivalency 

All the advising sessions & relevant 

documents are documented 

using Appointment Manager 

(AM). 

Role of the Professional Advisor 

Professional advisors are responsible 

for Freshmen & Sophomore (60 

- CH) & All-at-Risk students & Academic 

Warning . They are responsible 

of the followings: 

Teach the students QU policies , 

regulations , procedures, study 

plan, resources , skills 

Implement the interventions of at 

risk students & academic warning. 

Review student records & do 

required equivalency. 

Teach students about available 

University resources and make 

necessary referrals. 

Document the advising session in 

AM. 

Objectives of the Model 

The objectives of this model can be 

summarized as follows: 

Students success 

Progression, retention, graduation 

rates. 

Shared Responsibility. 

Timely intervention 

Continuous improvement. 

Advantages of the Model 

The main advantages of this model 

are: 

Each student admitted to QU will 

be assigned to a professional 

Advisor. 

More accountability on both 

faculty and professional advisors. 

Reduce the load stress for the 

professional and faculty advisors. 

Enable the faculty to contribute 

into the students success and 

progress 

Allow the professional advisors 

to focus their efforts and time on 

the targeted categories. 

Students can be referred to 

Campus resources through Appointment 

Manager (AM) by the 

faculty advisors & the professional 

advisors. 

Enable the faculty Advisors & the 

professional advisors to document 

the advising session’s notes 

in AM and share it to follow up. 

Assessment of the Model 

The indicators used for assessing 

this model are: 

The number of students’ visits to 

the Faculty Advisor documented 

in the AM. 

Student progression, retention 

and graduation rates. 

Student satisfaction rate. 

Percentage of Faculty Advisors 

who have provided accurate 

information to students from 

AM. 

Commitment 

Positive Attitude 

Teamwork 

Sense of individual and collective 

responsibility 

Ongoing support 

Being resourceful 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 8 

Faculty Achievements & Activities 

Seminars 

1) The Third Age of Electric Cars 

− 

Challenges & Opportunities for the 

Transportation and Electric Energy 

Sectors− By Prof. Adel Gastli. From 

Qatar University, Qatar, May 24, 2017. 

2) Energy Storage System: Its overview 

and use in transportation and renewable 

energy applications. Tuesday, By 

Dr. Mohamed Tariq from Aligarth 

Muslim University, India, Oct. 10, 2017, 

3) Cross Roads between Signal Processing, 

Pattern Recognition and Machine 

Learning – Towards AI^2. 

Wednesday, By Prof. Moncef Gabbouj 

from Tampere University of Technology, 

Finland, Oct, 18, 2017. 

Workshops 

1) Air Quality & Structure Health Monitoring 

& Early Warning Workshop, by Prof. Farid 

Touati and his research team from Qatar 

University and collaborating universities 

from outside Qatar, April 30, 2017. 

2) 5G Event in Qatar, By Dr. Nizar Zorba, 

Qatar University, Qatar. The CSIM team 

within QU (+20 members) has organized a 

workshop on the 5G technology, challenges, 

and advantages for its implementation. 

Nokia Networks was invited to the event 

to showcase their perspective on 5G with 

apecial attention to the IoT use cases. Many 

students within the IEEE students' branch 

attended the workshop and showed high 

interest in the presented topics. 

3) CubeSat Project Workshop, by Dr. Tamer 

Khattab, Qatar University, May 10-14, 

2017. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 9 

School Visits 

1) DEE Supporting Jassim Bin Hamad Independent 

Secondary School for Boys . Oct. 12, 


2) SEK International School Qatar Visit. 

Awards: 

Best Paper Certificate awarded to Dr. Ahmed Masoud and his co-authors for their paper titled: "A Bi-directional Boost Converter- 

Based non-Isolated Dc-DC Transformer with Modular Solid-State Switches for Medium-High-Voltage DC Grids." presented during 

the 2017 4th International Conference on Information Technology, Computer, and Electrical Engineering (ICITACEE). Oct. 18-19, 

2017, Ungaran Semarang, Indonesia. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 10 

Faculty Achievements & Activities (Cont.) 

UAV for Air Quality 

Monitoring Event in 

Qatar 

The electrical engineering 

department at Qatar 

University has hosted a visit 

from an executive from 

Boeing based in Qatar to 

discuss on recent advances 

in Unmanned Aerial 

Vehicles (UAV), and on their 

application for Air Quality 

monitoring in Qatar. On the 

basis of a joint project 

between Boeing and Qatar 

University, the students 

have developed a UAV and 

mounted a wide range of 

sensors to it. Boeing 

provided funding to the 

project as well as guidance 

and mentoring by Mr. John 

C. Wilson from Boeing 

Global Services. A detailed 

presentation about the 

current state of the art as 

well as the recent 

developments have been 

tackled. Then they moved to 

a discussion about the 

employed hardware and 

future targets to make the 

designed UAV more 

commercial and 

implemented in realistic 

systems. Many students 

attended the presentations 

and discussions showing 

high interest in the 

presented topics. 

Interaction with 

Media 

Dr. Atif Iqbal was invited by 

Qatar Radio Urdu Service 

FM 107 in their half an hour 

talk show called , 

‘Haqeeqat” [Truth] on 1st 

Nov. 2017 (broadcast time 

8:00 to 8:30 PM). The 

program was sponsored by 

Gulf times and hosted by 

Mr. Saifur Rahman. The 

topic of discussion was 

“Impact of Qatar Blockade 

on research in Qatar”. 

The background of different 

research funding 

opportunities available in 

Qatar was highlighted and a 

positive impact of the 

present crisis was 

addressed. How the 

research culture has been 

evolved in Qatar and how it 

is helping in the nation 

building and achieving the 

2030 Qatar vision of 

transforming gas based 

economy to knowledge 

based economy was 

discussed. The ranking and 

visibility of higher education 

institutions in Qatar 

especially focusing on 


achievements was 

highlighted. The UREP and 

the internal grants provided 

by Qatar University to 

develop research culture 

was presented. The 

blockade has forced the 

researchers and students in 

Qatar to focus more on 

innovation and applied 

research with product 

development in order to 

move towards the selfsustained 

society with long 

term benefit. The support 

provided by the govt. of 

Qatar and Qatar University 

was praised. The food 

security issue was also in 

the discussion and soil-less 

technology of agriculture 

was further discussed. It 

was highlighted that the 

blockade has impacted 

positively on the research 

culture in Qatar. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 11 

Faculty Activities’ Statistics 

Grants 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 12 

Students’ Achievements & Activities 

Students’ Awards 

Dr Fayçal Bensaali and his 

SDP students (Mr Mohammed 

Al-Disi, Mr Abdullah 

Alsalemi, Yahia 

Alhomsi and Ibrahim Abbes) 

won two awards 

(Best Poster and Best 

Oral Presentation) at the 

ELSO-SWAC 2017 Conference 

for their work on 

‘Using Thermochromic 

Ink for Medical Simulations’ 

and the ‘Design and 

Implementation of a Modular 

ECMO Simulator’. 

The presented work is 

part of an ongoing UREP 

project funded by QNRF 

and in collaboration with 

Hamad Medical Corporation 

(HMC) and comentored 

by Prof. Abbes 

Amira. The conference 

was organized by the 

South and West Asia 

Chapter of Extracorporeal 

Life Support Organization 

and HMC was a strategic 

partner. The conference, 

which took place 

first time in Qatar, was 

attended by people involved 

in Critical Care or 

Emergency Medicine from 

all over the world (USA, 

UK, Australia, China, 

Belgium, Italy, India, UAE, 

Saudi Arabia, etc.). This 

includes Physicians, Nurses, 

Perfectionists, Respiratory 

Therapists, Cardiology 

and Cardio-thoracic 

Surgery, Transport Medicine, 

and Students of 

Medicine and Bioengineering. 

There was a 

huge interest about the 

new idea of using the 

Thermo-chromic Ink for 

Medical Simulations. 

1st place, Senior Design 

Project Contest 2017, 


Department, College of 

Engineering, Qatar University. 

1st Place for Best Project 

in Qatar University Honors 

Program Project Fair 

2017. Students: Ibrahim 

Ahmed, Yahya Alhomsi, 

Mohammed Al Disi, Abdullah 

Alsalemi. 

2nd place, Senior Design 




Engineering, Qatar University, 

Students:Jaber Ali 

AL Marri, Abdullah 

Khaled Amer Alhelabi, 

Abdollah Naser Bahmani, 

Mohd.Jassim Zaman Md. 

Kamruzzaman. 

3th place, Senior Design 




Engineering, Qatar University, 

Students:Helmy 

Husam Eldeen Saker, 

Ahmad Nasser Abu 

Hasirah 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 13 

DEE Students participated in the Shell Eco- 

Marathon Competition Oct. 21, 2017 in Manilla. 

Undergraduate Students’ Publications 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. Aldisi, A. Alsalemi, Y. Alhomsi, I. Ahmed, F. Bensaali, G. Alinier and A. Amira, “Design and Implementation of a Modular 

ECMO Simulator,” Qatar Medical Journal: 4 th Annual ELSO-SWAC Conference Proceedings, vol. 2017, 62, pp. 1-2. DOI: http:// 

dx.doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2017.swacelso.62 

A. Alsalemi, M. Aldisi, Y. Alhomsi, I. Ahmed, F. Bensaali, G. Alinier and A. Amira, “Using Thermochromic Ink for Medical Simulations,” 

Qatar Medical Journal: 4th Annual ELSO-SWAC Conference Proceedings. vol. 2017, 63, pp. 1-2. DOI: http:// 

dx.doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2017.swacelso.63 

A. Alsalemi, M. Al Disi, I. Ahmed, Y. Alhomsi, F. Bensaali, A. Amira and G. Alinier, “'Developing Cost-Effective Simulators for 

Patient Management: A Modular Approach”, 4 th International Conference On Advances in Biomedical Engineering, Lebanon, October 


A. Alsalemi, Y. Alhomsi, M. Al Disi, I. Ahmed, F. Bensaali, A. Amira and G. Alinier, “Real-Time Communication Network using 

Firebase Cloud IoT Platform for ECMO Simulation”, 2 nd International Symposium on Real-time Data Processing for Cloud Computing. 

In conjunction with the 10 th IEEE International Conference on Cyber, Physical, and Social Computing, Exeter, UK, June 


A. Farhat, A. Al-Zawqari, A. Al -Qahtani, O. Hommos, F. Bensaali, A. Amira and X. Zhai, "OCR-based Hardware Implementation 

for Qatari Number Plate on the ZynqSoC," 9 th IEEE GCC Conference and Exhibition, Bahrain, May 2017. 

A. Alsalemi, Y. Alhomsi, M. Al Disi, I. Ahmed, F. Bensaali, A. Amira and G. Alinier, “Real-Time Communication Network using 

Firebase Cloud IoT Platform for ECMO Simulation”, 2 nd International Symposium on Real-time Data Processing for Cloud Computing. 

In conjunction with the 10 th IEEE International Conference on Cyber, Physical, and Social Computing, Exeter, UK, June 


A. Farhat, A. Al-Zawqari, A. Al -Qahtani, O. Hommos, F. Bensaali, A. Amira and X. Zhai, "OCR-based Hardware Implementation 

for Qatari Number Plate on the Zynq SoC," 9 th IEEE GCC Conference and Exhibition, Bahrain, May 2017. 

lslam, M.S., Alam , N., Sakil, A.S., Alammari, R, I Iqbal, A., Khandakar, A., (2017), “Impact of power quality due to large-scale 

adoption of CFL-a review”, Int. journal of Ambient Energy, Taylor & Francis, DOI 10.1080/01430750.2015.1121921, vol. 38, issue 

6, pp. 435-442, Nov. 2017. 

Saleem, M., Al-ammari, R., Iqbal, A., Khandaker, A., (2016), “Investigation into UltraViolet Radiations from Modern Electric Light 

Sources” Int. Journal of Ambient Energy on Taylor & Francis Online, vol. 38, issue 8, pp. 814-818, Nov. 2017 

Antwan E. H., Ahmed, S. A., Rahman, S., Iqbal, A., Ahmad, S., (2017), “Design and Development of a Contactless Battery 

Charger for Electric Vehicles”, Proc. International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering Innovations and Technology 

Management (EITM-2017)” during 16-18 Dec, 2017, Hamirpur, India. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 14 

Students’ Achievements & Activities (Cont.) 

IEEE-Day: Oct. 3, 2017 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 15 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 16 


Technical Sites Visits 

Visit to Ooredoo 

safety of placing the transformer. The next 

stop was the circuit breaker room, followed 

by the control unit where they 

were introduced the LV panels that monitor 

the behavior of the substation. The 

site engineers also quizzed the students at 

each stop, and they gave them cinema 

tickets as a prize for the winners. 

Visit to Doha Cables 

The IEEE student branch at Qatar University 

has organized a visit to local network provider 

Ooredoo to see their new equipment on 4G+ 

and pre-5G as well as their expected benefits 

from them. The team first visited Ooredoo 

headquarter in West Bay-Doha to listen and 

discuss with the innovations team at Ooredoo 

about recent advances in their network, where 

the students had the opportunity to visit the 

OASIS lab. Then they moved to a major cellular 

site to get in touch with equipment and how 

old ones are being replaced by new ones. More 

than 15 students attended the visit and showed 

high interest in the presented topics. 

Visit to Siemens 

Two groups of students (one Male and 

one Female) with their instructors Prof. 

Adel Gastli and Eng. Mazen Faiter, have 

visited Doha Cables Factory on April 27, 

2017 as part of their Electric Power Distribution 

course activities. The visit took 

place during the whole morning and students 

were able to see all the steps of 

power cables manufacturing and their 

testing procedures. The student appreciated 

very much this visit as it complements 

what they have studied during the course 

lectures about power cables. 

Male students of QUIEEESB visited a substation 

for Siemens company, where the students have 

witnessed for the first time the components of 

typical power system in the grid. The visit began 

with safety instructions, because the place 

is still under construction. Then the site engineers 

introduced the transformers and the 

Visit to QU Main Power 

Substation 

Part of their Electric Power Distribution 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 17 

Course, the students have visited the QU main 

power substation on April 25, 2017, to see in real 

world what they’ve studied in the class. The students 

were also able to visit the chillers’ room for 

the centralized (district) cooling at QU. The students 

were able to look inside the switchgear panels 

and the variable speed drives. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 18 


EED Students Movie Night 

The "Imitation Game" 

movie is one of the 

most incredible movies 

in engineering, it introduces 

the famous mathematician 

"Alan Turing" 

who could break the 

German encryption during 

World War 2, and 

shows the first prototype 

for the analog computers. 

As IEEE, it is important 

to motivate the students 

and push them to pursue 

their dreams regardless 

of all the difficulties 

that might occur 

during the road to perfection. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 19 

EED Students Beach Trip, April 22 

EED Participation in the Engineering Week, Event April 23-28, 2017 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 20 

EED PhD Graduate Students 

Thesis Title: Efficient Electromagnetic Analysis & Design Techniques in JET Engines 

APARNA KRISHNA 

Aparna Krishna is a PhD scholar 

(GPA:3.76/4.0) in Electrical 

Engineering at Qatar University. 

Aparna obtained her Masters 

in Communication Systems at 

Anna University, Chennai, India 

and Bachelor in Electronics and 

Communication Engineering at 

Calicut University, India. She 

worked as an R.A at Qatar 

University and as a lecturer at 

S.B College of Engineering, 

Kerala, India. Her current research 

focuses on the analysis 

of electromagnetic propagation 

inside harsh metallic environment. 

She is working under the 

guidance of Dr. Tamer Khattab, 

Associate Professor, Qatar 

University. 

The thesis is focused on 

the simulation and analytical 

model in gof the electromagneticpropagationin 

sideharshmetallicenviron 

mentslikejetengines. A 

statistical electromagnetics 

based approach is proposed 

for efficient analysis 

of electromagnetic propagation 

inside jet engines, 

to establish a communication 

channel inside the 

environment. The study of 

electromagnetic propagation 

inside the jet engine 

compressors that are close 

to turbine blades faces 

several challenges due to 

the design complexity. 

The complex geometry 

environment combined 

with the inhomogeneous 

volumetric target render 

traditional analytical and 

simulation modeling techniques 

highly inefficient. 

To address this issue, jet 

engine environment is 

decomposed into different 

segments and proposed 

two different approaches 

in this thesis. The first approach 

is an innovative 

dynamic simulation approach 

based on statistical 

electromagnetic methods 

and inspired by analysis of 

mechanically stirred reverberation 

chambers. In the 

second approach, a novel 

statistical excitation method 

is applied to develop an 

equivalent model for the 

fields generated by a fixed 

excitation inside a jet engine 

with dynamic rotating 

blade. Hence, the jet engine 

is considered as a 

static system without 

blade rotation, but with a 

random excitation. The 

dynamic and static systems 

have been compared 

using full wave simulation 

method and numerical 

methods. The results 

proved that there is a statistical 

equivalence between 

the dynamic and 

the static systems. Later, 

to successfully build a 

wireless network that 

works in harsh jet engine 

environment, an antenna 

system that is thin, possess 

desired radiation properties 

and conformal to the 

curved jet engine surface is 

designed and developed. 

This design is to establish a 

communication link between 

thewirelesssensorsinsidethejetenginewith 

thereceivingantennasandh 

ence the entire system is 

designed for ISM band of 

frequency. The proposed 

antenna radiates symmetrically 

around the normal 

axis, with a null in the 

boresight direction. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 21 

Software tools: Ansys HFSS, 

Ansys designer, IE3D, 

MATLAB 

Publications 

A. Krishna, T. Khattab, A.F. Abdelaziz and M. Guizani, “Analysis of 

Electromagnetic Fields inside Jet Engines: A Journey from Numerical 

and Experimental Analysis to Statistical Analysis”, IEEE Microwave 

Magazine, Nov 2016. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 22 

EED PhD Graduate Students 

Thesis Title: Organic/Inorganic Semiconductor Based Opto-electronic Devices: 

Light Detectors and Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. 

Ali Sehpar Shikoh 

Mr. Ali Sehpar Shikoh received his 

B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering 

from University of Engineering 

and Technology (UET), Lahore, 

Pakistan. In 2011, he got enrolled 

in for an MSc degree in Renewable 

Energy Systems & Technology 

offered by Loughborough University, 

UK. During the tenure of his 

enrollment at Loughborough University, 

he got involved in various 

extracurricular activities alongside 

serving as the elected “Postgraduate 

Representative” for the 

Electrical Engineering Department. 

After his graduation, he worked as 

a fixed-term R.A. at Loughborough 

University and later joined Qatar 

University in 2013. During his 

tenure at Qatar University he 

worked as a research assistant on 

an NPRP project related to fabrication 

and characterization of high 

performance transparent conducting 

electrodes (TCEs) for solar cell 

applications. At present, he is enrolled 

in as a PhD student in the 

electrical engineering department 

of Qatar University and is planning 

to present his defense in December, 

2017. In addition, he also had 

frequent opportunities to present 

his research work at various reputed 

research forums, both in and 

outside of Qatar. To this date, he 

has six journal publications to his 

name alongside numerous conference 

publications. 

Emerging opto-electronic devices 

(e.g. light sensors and 

solar cells) based on thin-film 

devices have been greatly emphasized, 

owing to their many 

interesting properties including 

low cost, reduced weight, high 

flexibility and solution processability. 

The underlined thesis 

was aimed to enhance the 

performance of optoelectronic 

devices by means of 

optimizing processes associated 

with their fabrication and 

investigating different device 

configurations. 

In the first phase, improvements 

in the electrical and 

photodetection properties of 

thin film devices were done. 

The opto-electronic devices 

based on a dye sensitized semiconductor 

layer showed a 

larger leakage current (i.e. 1.35 

µA) when sensitized with one 

of the most predominantly 

used (Ruthenium based) N719 

sensitizing dye. In a bid to 

reduce the leakage current and 

improve the rectification behaviour 

of the fabricated devices, 

co-sensitization of N719 

with AS-2 dye was carried out. 

This led to a significant reduction 

in the leakage current (to 

around 0.18 µA)alongside 

increased 

linearity and higher breakdown 

voltage. Nevertheless, properties 

like sensitivity and responsivity 

resided within acceptable 

ranges. Also, promising photodetection 

results were also 

achieved when the TiO 2 active 

layer was completely replaced 

with PCBM:P3HT, thereby 

creating a hybrid device DSSC/ 

BHJ configuration, Figure 1. 

In the second phase, a new 

type of CuNWs, rGO and 

PEDOT:PSS based counterelectrode 

was developed to 

replace ITO/Pt counterelectrode, 

present in the dyesensitized 

photosensor (DSPS) 

assembly, shown in Figure 2. 

The fabricated hybrid electrode 

exhibited high transparency(> 

90%) and low sheet 

resistance (20 Ω cm -2 ). Upon 

Figure 1 

integration 

in DSPS device, the CuN- 

Ws/rGO/PEDOT:PSS based 

counter-electrode displayed 

long-term stability and produced 

superior performance in 

terms of photodetection parameters 

such as response 

time, reset time and responsivity. 

Lastly, focus was paid on optimizing 

the photovoltaic properties 

of the TiO 2 photoelectrodes 

by means of altering 

semiconductor layer deposition 

and post-deposition 

(sintering) processes. A novel 

technique known as electrophoretic 

deposition (EPD) was 

utilized for the preparation of 

photo-anodes. During this 

process, various deposition 

EPD voltage levels ranging 

from 2.5 V to7.5 V were uti- 

Figure 2 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 23 

lized. When integrated within 

DSSCs, the photo-anode containing 

TiO 2 semiconductor layer deposited 

at 5 V DC produced the highest 

efficiency of 4.2%. A further increase 

of 6.66% in efficiency was 

achieved due to the restring nucleation 

and growth (i.e. altered crystallinity) 

of anatase nanoparticles, 

when post-deposition single step 

sintering was replace with two-step 

sintering process, Figure 3. 

These results are expected to have 

a profound effect on solar cell and 

photo-detection industry by fostering 

improvement of thin-film optoelectronic 

devices. 

Figure 3 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 24 

Ahmed Mirdad Khan 

Success Stories with Gradate Students 

Ahmed Khan is an MSc Student 

at Electrical Engineering, 

won the best thesis award in 

the academic year 2015/2016. 

His thesis title was 

“Transformerless Microinverter 

with Low Leakage Current 

Circulation and Low Input 

Capacitance Requirement for 

PV Applications” under the 

supervision of Prof. Lazhar Ben 

-Brahim and Prof. Adel Gastli. 

He has published two journal 

papers from the result of his 

thesis in the high prestige journals 

“Renewable and Sustainable 

Energy Reviews” (impact 

factor of 8.05) and “Electric 

Power Systems Research” 

(impact factor of 

2.688). 

Thesis Summary: 

The inevitable depletion of 

limited fossil fuels combined 

with their harmful footprint on 

the environment led to a global 

pursuit for alternative ener- 

gy sources that are clean and 

inexhaustible. Renewable energies 

such as wind, biomass and 

solar are the best alternative 

energy candidates, with the 

latter being more suitable for 

GCC countries. Furthermore, 

recent advances in PV technology, 

especially grid-connected 

PV systems revealed the 

preeminence of using multiple 

small inverters called 

(Microinverters) over using 

the conventional single inverter 

configuration. Specifically, 

the break-even cost point can 

be reached faster and the system 

modularity increases with 

microinverters usage. Nonetheless, 

due to microinverter’s 

small ratings designers prefer 

transformerless designs because 

transformer removal 

achieves higher efficiency and 

power density. The objective 

of his thesis was to design an 

efficient transformerless microinverter 

that has low leak- 

age current circulation and low 

input capacitance requirement 

with a minimum number of active 

switches. In other words, the 

objective was to increase the 

safety and the reliability of the 

system while maintaining the high 

efficiency. Eventually, the configuration 

selected is the transformerless 

differential buck microinverter 

with LCL filter and it is 

modeled with passive resonance 

damping and active resonance 

damping control. 

Publications: 

1) Khan, L. Ben-Brahim, A. Gastli, M. 

Benammar, “Review and simulation 

of leakage current in transformerlessmicroinverters 

for PV applications”, 

Renewable and Sustainable 

Energy Reviews, Vol. 74, July 2017, 

pp. 1240-1256 

2) A. Khan, A. Gastli, L. Ben-Brahim, 

“Modeling and control for new 

LLCL filter based grid- tied pv 

inverters with active power decoupling 

and active resonance damping 

capabilities”, Electric Power Systems 

Research , Vol. 155, February 

2018, pp. 307-319 

Ahmad Anad Abduallah 

Ahmad Anad Abduallah 

got his MSc. at Electrical Engineering 

Department in Spring 

2015 with GPA 3.93/4.00. His 

Master thesis was about vector 

modulation techniques for 

five-phase quasi Z-source inverters 

under supervision of 

Dr. Atif Iqbal. As the result of 

his thesis, he published one 

journal paper and two conference 

papers. He got the PhD 

admission and Dean scholarship 

from the University of 

Liverpool John Moores and 

started his PhD study at this 

university on Fall 2016. He is 

working with the Machines 

and Drives group led by Professor 

Emil Levi which is one 

of the strongest research 

groups in Europe in the field of 

multiphase machines. 

Thesis Summary: 

Impedance source and quasiimpedance 

source inverters 

have gained popularity due to 

their capabilities of inverting 

and boosting in a single stage. 

Impedance source and quasi- 

impedance source inverters 

have additional switching states 

when compared to a traditional 

voltage source inverter (VSI), 

known as shoot-through (same 

leg switches are conducting 

simultaneously) state, that causes 

the boosting of the source 

voltage. The shoot-through 

states are not allowed in a 

standard VSI since this short 

circuits the DC source. This is 

an attractive feature as the inverter 

can handle wide voltage 

variation of the DC input 

source. This thesis proposes 

space vector pulse width modulation 

(SVPWM) techniques to 

control a five-phase two-level 

impedance source inverter that 

is equally applicable to quasiimpedance 

source inverter. 

Unlike the three-phase twolevel 

impedance source inverter, 

the application of the shootthrough 

technique to five-phase 

two-level impedance inverter is 

more complex and offers several 

switch combination redundancies 

which gives certain 

degrees of freedom to generate 

AC output voltage. Depending 

on the placement of 

the shoot-through period in 

each switching period, various 

SVPWM techniques are proposed. 

Each technique offers 

different voltage stresses on 

the switches and outputs voltage 

waveforms with different 

boosting factors and Total 

Harmonic Distortion (THD). A 

thorough comparative study, of 

the proposed SVPWM techniques, 

is carried out based on 

various obtained characteristics 

such as the boosting gain ratio, 

THD and DC link voltage ripples. 

Simulation results are 

validated using experimental 

approaches. 

Publications: 

Ahmad A. Abduallah, M. Meraj, 

M. Al-Hitmi, A. Iqbal, “Space 

Vector Pulse Width Modulation 

Control Techniques for A 

Five-Phase Quasi Impedance 

Source Inverter”, IET Electric 

Power Applications, to appear. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 25 

Gradate Students’ Statistics 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 26 

Editorials from EE Faculty 

Personalized Monitoring and Advance Warning System for Cardiac 

Arrhythmias 

Prof. Serkan Kiranyaz 

Professor at the EED 


“If people have no history of heart 

problems, we can only analyse 

their normal heart rhythm. 

How can we know what their 

abnormal rhythm would look like? 

Our research found that it is possible 

to apply machine learning 

methods to model all the potential 

arrhythmic heartbeats of a healthy 

person,” 

“Our system is personalized for 

each user. A healthy user’s heart 

rate data and the synthesized 

abnormal heartbeats are entered 

into the system to serve as a baseline. 

This way the system is trained 

to monitor the user's heart rate 

and identify irregular heartbeats as 

soon as they occur,” 

“…This approach not only 

achieved an average detection 

probability higher than 99.4% with 

a very low false-alarm rate. The 

system can be embedded in a lowcost 

portable device for real-time 

heart monitoring.” 

Each year more than 7 million 

people die from cardiac arrhythmias. 

Even with the electrocardiogram 

(ECG) acquisition 

technology that we reach 

today, no robust solution yet 

exists to detect such heart 

anomalies right at the moment 

they occur. It is partially because 

everybody’s ECG is 

unique and one’s normal heart 

beats may look like another’s 

arrhythmic beats or vice versa. 

Plus anybody’s ECG can show 

significant variations in time 

with respect to the variations 

of the physical condition 

(stress, excess caffeine, drugs, 

smoking, etc.), age, environment 

(e.g., at high altitude, 

underwater, deep sleep), etc. 

The worst of all, the arrhythmic 

ECG beats may have 

sometimes significant and 

sometimes insignificant differences 

from the normal beats 

(e.g. see Fig.1). This is why 

only the expertise and the 

trained eye of a Cardiologists 

can detect the arrhythmic 

beats accurately. Otherwise 

for a “healthy person” with no 

past history of cardiac arrhythmia, 

automatic detection of 

the first-time occurrence of 

arrhythmic beat(s) poses the 

ultimate challenge that has 

never been addressed up to 

date. 

I was a part of the team of 

researchers along with Professor 

Moncef Gabbouj from 

TUT, Finland and Professor 

Turker Ince from IUE, Turkey. 

The team analysed extensive 

heart rate and arrhythmia 

datasets collected during their 

earlier ECG research. We 

succeeded to “mimic” expert 

Cardiologists’ ability to detect 

early arrhythmia. First, they 

managed to artificially model 

the heart degradation in the 

signal domain to synthesize the 

potential arrhythmic beats of a 

healthy person. 

Then using their recent Machine 

Learning approach that 

achieved the current state-ofthe-art 

solution for patientspecific 

ECG classification, 

they managed to create a personalized 

heart monitoring 

system for that person. This 

approach not only achieved an 

average detection probability 

higher than 99.4% with a very 

low false-alarm rate. 

The system can be embedded 

in a low-cost portable device 

for real-time heart monitoring. 

Fig. 1: Normal (N) vs. Abnormal (S and V) beats from different 

subjects in MIT-BIH dataset. 

The proposed system illustrated 

in Fig. 2, was awraded1 st 

and 2 nd places at the International 

Physionet Challenge 

2017 and 2016, respectively, 

on ECG and PCG anomaly 

detection. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 27 

Fig. 2: The system overflow of the proposed solution in an illustrative Client/Server application. 

The findings appeared recently in 

Scientific Reports – Naturehttps:// 

www.nature.com/srep/ 

S. Kiranyaz, T. Ince, and M. Gabbouj, 

"Personalized Monitoring and 

Advance Warning System for Cardiac 

Arrhythmias," Scientific Reports 

- Nature, 2017. 

See:https://www.nature.com/article 

s/s41598-017-09544-z 

Recent Achievements in 

Cardiac Signal Processing 

October 2017: 

My research team won the 

1 st place in Physionet Challenge 

2017 (a.k.a. Alive- 

Cor) among 75 

teams. Physionet is the 

grand forum of “Computing 

in Cardiology” which offers 

free access via the web to 

large physiologic signals 

and related open-source 

software. 

September 2016: Our 

proposal ranked the 2nd 

place in PhysioNet 

Challenge 2016 among 48 

teams. 

May 2016: Our article, 

“Real-Time Patient-Specific 

ECG Classification by 1D 

Convolutional Neural 

Networks” became the 5 th 

most-popular and the 4 th 

most-cited paperin IEEE 

Transaction on Biomedical 

Engineering. 

2010-2015: The article, 

“Evolutionary Artificial 

Neural Networks by Multi- 

Dimensional Particle Swarm 

Optimization“, is the 

4 th most cited paper in the 

Neural Networks journal. 

Ongoing Research Projects 

 

 

Patient-specific and Real-Time 

Heart beat classification from 

ECG records 

Personalized Advance Warning 

for Cardiac Arrhythmia 

PhonoCardiogram (PCG) 

Anomaly Detection 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 28 

Editorials from EE Faculty (Cont.) 

Development of a Novel Pleural Drainage Monitoring System 

Prof. Mohieddine Benammar 

(EED-QU) 

& 

Dr. Rashid Mazhar 

(Hamad Hospital) 

A success story of collaboration 

between the Electrical Engineering 

Department at Qatar 

University and Hamad Medical 

Corporation. 

The start of research collaboration 

between Prof. Benammar 

(Qatar University) and 

Dr. Mazhar (Hamad Hospital) 

goes back more than seven 

years. It all started with discussions 

on how pleural drainage 

can be monitored electronically. 

Post-operative bleeding 

requiring re-exploration occurs 

in 2-6% of cardiac surgical 

patients [1]. It is established 

that these patients have significantly 

worse outcome with 

increased mortality and morbidity 

with prolonged ICU and 

hospital stay [2]. Delay in the 

time of re-exploration1 and 

the amount of bleeding [3] are 

the main causes for such adverse 

outcome in these patients. 

Time-delay to reexploration 

is “purchased” in 

the ICU at the expense of 

greater blood, blood products 

transfusion and inotropic support. 

Large studies have shown 

that amount of blood transfusion 

is an independent risk 

factor for mortality and morbidity 

in postoperative cardiac 

surgical patients [4].Hence 

there is clear evidence that a 

safe practice should ensure 

minimum blood transfusion 

and least possible delay in reexploration 

following cardiac 

surgery. 

At present post-operative 

monitoring of chest drainage is 

generally carried out by intermittent 

visual method with 

manual recording on paper. In 

case of excessive bleeding, the 

transmission of information to 

the whole operating team is a 

serial, time consuming process. 

This delay is plugged in by 

continued infusion of blood 

and its products. Same subjectivity 

prevails, at a less urgent 

scale, in pulmonary surgery, 

for recording post-operative 

air leak. Furthermore, paperbased 

recording of the data 

makes it difficult to store and 

retrieve. 

To overcome these problems, 

Prof. Benammar and Dr. Mazhar 

have designed a digital 

blood and air leak monitoring 

system (Fig. 1). This device can 

be externally attached to any 

existing chest drainage reservoir, 

without breach of sterility 

or coming in direct contact 

with the effluents. It enables 

setting of patient specific alarm 

threshold, automatic, real time 

measurement of rate and volume 

of drainage with high 

resolution, data processing, 

storage and local/remote, 

group transmission of drainage 

data, in a user friendly manner. 

The solution is based upon a 

combined method of weight 

and flow measurements using 

standard sensing techniques. 

By using appropriate fusion of 

the weight of the drainage 

reservoir and of the air flow 

out of it, it is possible to determine 

unambiguously and 

simultaneously both air and 

blood leak rates. At the heart 

of the device is a digital processor 

that performs all necessary 

calculations. Patient leakage 

data is transmitted wirelessly 

from the device to a 

personal computer where this 

data is stored and displayed 

graphically. The computer may 

be programmed to monitor 

the patient leakage data and 

alert surgical team in case of 

abnormal air and/or blood 

leakage rate patterns. Its usage 

would minimize the time delay 

in decision making, dissemination 

of information, team assembly 

and the time for reexploration. 

Data is also archived 

electronically in a database 

for long term keeping; 

this may be used for the purposes 

of audit, quality assurance, 

research and medicolegal 

concerns. The assembled 

prototype has recently been 

successfully tested in a clinical 

environment. 

The innovation has been 

awarded the HMC “Stars of 

Excellence” research award 

2015 (Fig. 1) and has been filed 

as a US Patent [5] which is 

now published (Fig. 1). Qatar 

University and Hamad Medical 

Corporation have recently 

agreed to make few medicalgrade 

prototypes for thorough 

testing at Hamad Hospital; this 

will be funded by Hamad Medical 

Corporation. 

References 

[1]Karthik S, Grayson AD, 

McCarron EE, Pullan DM, Desmond 

MJ. Reexplorationfor 

bleeding after coronary artery 

bypass surgery: risk factors, 

outcomes, and the effect of 

time delay. Ann Thorac Surg. 

2004 Aug;78(2):527- 34. 

[2]Galas FR, Almeida JP, Fukushima 

JT, Osawa EA, Nakamura 

RE, Silva CM, de Almeida EP, 

Auler JO Jr, Vincent JL, Hajjar 

LA. Blood transfusion in cardiac 

surgery is a risk factor for increased 

hospital length of stay 

in adult patients.JCardiothorac 

Surg. 2013 Mar 26;8(1):54. 

[3]Moulton MJ, Creswell LL, 

Mackey ME, Cox JL, Rosenbloom 

M. Re-exploration for 

bleeding is a risk factor for 

adverse outcomes after cardiac 

operations. J ThoracCardiovasc 

Surg. 1996;111:1037–1046. 

[4]R. Mikkola, J. Heikkinen, J. 

Lahtinen, R. Paone, T. Juvonen, 

F. Biancari. Does Blood Transfusion 

Affect Intermediate Survival 

after Coronary Artery Bypass 

Surgery? Scandinavian Journal of 

Surgery June 2013 vol. 102 no. 

2 110-116. 

[5]M. Benammar M, Mazhar R. 

System, apparatus, method, and 

computer readable medium for 

monitoring volume and rate of 

air drained from a body. US 

Patent , US 2016/0271304 A1; 

published 22 Sept. 2016. 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 29 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 30 


Environmentally Powered WSN for Air Quality Monitoring Operating 

in a “Set-and-Forget Scenario” 




This work aims at remedying 

a carry-over weakness 

in indoor/outdoor air quality 

(AQ) studies, which are 

conducted using expensive 

portable data loggers that 

allow just short-term and 

localized snap shots rather 

than a more conclusive 

long-term monitoring. The 

link between poor AQ and 

several health diseases has 

been confirmed in different 

studies [1-5]. The need 

to have satisfactory air 

pollutants monitoring systems 

that can improve 

reliability and data availability 

in places where traditional 

monitoring methods 

are difficult to establish, 

has led to the design of 

numerous autonomous 

systems able to check indoor 

and outdoor air qualities. 

Capillary wireless 

sensor networks dedicated 

to AQ monitoring have 

provided essential information 

on hazardous air 

the replacement of hundreds 

or even thousands of 

batteries on a regular basis 

that leads to high costs 

and practical problems of 

devices management. This 

work presents a multiconditions, 

generating 

early warnings to prevent 

danger situation for human 

health. The arising 

problem connected to 

capillary networks is the 

adoption of environmental 

energy as primary and/or 

unique energy source instead 

of parametric sensor 

node for AQ monitoring, 

able to work without battery 

nor human intervention, 

harvesting energy 

from the surrounding environment 

for perpetual 

operation. A complete 

autonomy system has 

been designed; and tested 

in lab and under indoor 

and outdoor environment 

in Doha and Italy 

(Technology Readiness 

Level 5/6; TRL5/6). 

TECHNOLOGY OVER- 

VIEW 

The technology is a wireless, 

multi-parameter environmental 

quality monitoring 

and diagnostics device 

that does not require 

batteries or grid power. 

The maintenance-free 

device can monitor in realtime 

a variety of AQ pollutants 

such as carbon monoxide 

(CO), nitrogen dioxide 

(NO2), nitrogen monoxide 

(NO), chlorine (Cl2), 

and hydrogen sulfide 

(H2S). It can also monitor 

environmental conditions 

like humidity, temperature, 

and barometric pressure. 

The battery-less device 

is powered by multiple 

renewable energy harvesting 

sources including 

radio frequency (RF), indoor 

and outdoor photovoltaic 

cells, thermoelectric, 

and piezoelectric devices. 

The proven environmental 

quality-monitoring 

device is modular and scalable 

such that many devices 

can be networked together 

in a cloud-based 

service platform. The GPS 

module enables sending 

data from multiple networked 

devices at different 

locations simultaneously. 

Real-time AQ data 

is collected and sent to an 

open-data platform that 

stores and provides open 

access to the data. Urban 

pollution mapping is enabled 

by integration of this 

system into a municipality, 

facilitating AQ monitoring 

and alerts fostering a better 

quality of life. An example 

of measurement 

campaign in Doha is shown 

in Figure 1. 

ABOUT THE TECHNOL- 

OGY 

How it works? 

The general structure of the 

system (i.e. SERENO) is depicted 

in Figure 2. It has been 

developed with the aim to 

reveal the air pollutants adopting 

low-cost and low-power 

design in indoor and outdoor 

scenarios. Different examples 

of chemical gas transducers 

can be found in the market. 

Each gas transducer has different 

operation principle, size, 

accuracy and power consumption. 

With the use of electrochemical 

technology, these 

sensors feature both small size 

and fast response time. Nevertheless, 

electrochemical sensors 

offer several advantages 

for systems that measure the 

concentration of different 

toxic gases. They operate with 

very small currents, making 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 31 

Figure 1 – An example of measurement campaign in the traffic jam in Doha (Qatar). 

Figure 2 – 3D view of SERENO (PCB top view) where the 6 (version 1, left side) or 4 (version 2, right side) gas sensors are 

shown. Version 2 features a local display. 

them appropriate for self-powered 

wireless nodes. All the sensing 

elements are gas tailored and show 

resolutions around one part per 

million (ppm) meeting International 

Standards in air monitoring arena 

(e.g. WHO).. 

The integration of numerous sensors 

(i.e., gas sensors, barometric 

pressure sensor, humidity sensor 

and temperature sensor) and the 

wireless data transmission into a 

single sensing board led to practical 

problems, especially in terms of 

energy consumption and energy 

management. To provide an autonomous 

source of energy for SERE- 

NO, one can consider scavenging 

energy from the environment with 

the aim to increase the battery 

longevity-energy stored 

(rechargeable mode) or go batteryless 

(set-and-forget scenario). The 

sources of energy that have been 

identified and can operate together 

in concurrent energy recovering 

functionalities are as follows: 

A vibration energy harvester 

Six high-performance thermoelectric 

generators (TEGs) 

One RF power source at 900 

MHz 

One indoor thin-film amorphous 

silicon solar cell 

Technology Benefits 

Maintenance-free operation: 

system operates in a set-andforget 

mode 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 32 


Environmentally Powered WSN for Air Quality Monitoring Operating 

in a “Set-and-Forget Scenario” (Cont.) 




Self-Powered: environmental 

energy harvesting means no 

batteries or grid power 

required for operation . 

Efficient: individual components 

have low power requirements 

. 

Modular design: can be 

modified readily. 

Scalable: system can grow 

from a single device to thousands 

of networked devices. 

Robust: proven operation in 

harsh environments like 

summer of Doha 

Aesthetic Design: public 

spaces will not be disrupted 

by system’s shape. 

APPLICATIONS 

All the applications below are 

operable in an IoT-based AQ 

index service (Figure 3). 

Indoor/outdoor AQ monitoring 

by municipalities, 

government agencies (e.g., 

National Weather Service), 

etc. 

Fossil fuel power plants 

Industrial facilities 

Networked cloud-based 

systems with multiple data 

collection devices 

Transportation movement 

and management. 

DEVELOPMENT STATUS 

Researchers have successfully 

fabricated this technology and 

conducted precommercialization 

testing in a 

laboratory then outdoor environment 

in Doha and Italy for 

extended periods raising it to 

TRL5/6 (technology readiness 

level 5/6). 

PATENT PROTECTION 

This technology is protected 

under the US Patent US 

15/304,855, published 

7/5/2015. 

LICENSING OPPORTU- 

NITIES 

Qatar Foundation is offering 

this technology for license. For 

more info about this Technology, 

please contact technologies@qf.org.qa. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

This publication was made 

possible by NPRP grant # 6- 

203-2- 086 from the Qatar 

National Research Fund (a 

member of Qatar Foundation). 

The statements made herein 

are solely the responsibility of 

the authors. 

REFERENCES: 

[1] Environmental Protection 

Agency: www.epa.gov/air/ 

urbanair/. Latest access 

time: Dec 2012. European 

Environment Agency: 

http://www.eea.europa.eu/ 

themes/air. Latest access 

time: Dec 2012. 

[2] http://www.gsdp.gov.qa/ 

portal/page/portal/gsdp_en/ 

qatar_national_vision/ 

E n v i r o n m e n - 

tal_Development. 

[3] “QATAR NATIONAL 

VISION 2030 - ADVANC- 

ING SUSTAINABLE DE- 

VELOPMENT - QATAR'S 

SECOND HUMAN DE- 

VELOPMENT REPORT 

http://www.gsdp.gov.qa/ 

portal/page/portal/gsdp_en/ 

qatar_national_vision/ 

E n v i r o n m e n - 

tal_Development. [ 

4] K. Arshak, E. Moore, G.M. 

Lyons, J. Harris, S. Clifford, 

(2004) "A review of gas 

sensors employed in electronic 

nose applications", 

Sensor Review, Vol. 24 Iss: 

2, pp.181 - 198. 

Figure (3) IoT cloud AQ index service 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1


PAGE 33 

Department Staff & Students Statistics 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

PAGE 34 

Department of Electrical 

Engineering 


P.O. Box 2713, 

Doha 

Qatat 

Phone: +968-44034200 

E-mail: electrical@qu.edu.qa 

Url: http://www.qu.edu.qa/engineering/electrical 

Striving for 

Excellence 

Vision: 

The Department of Electrical Engineering will be the recognized 

national leader in electrical engineering education and research 

at the local and regional levels; its program will be the preferred 

electrical engineering program in Qatar, and its graduates will be 

the top choice for local employment. 

Mission: 

The Department of Electrical Engineering supports the mission 

of the College of Engineering and that of Qatar University 

through high quality teaching, research, and services that benefit 

the Electrical Engineering students and the State of Qatar. The 

department produces graduates with strong engineering skills 

necessary for contemporary areas of electrical engineering and 

who are well prepared for successful engineering careers or for 

pursuing graduate studies. 

Faculty and Staff Members 

Head of the Department 

Dr. Nasser Al-Emadi 

Professors 



Prof. Lazhar Benbrahim 

Prof. Mohieddine Benammar 

Prof. Ridha Hamila 

Prof. Serkan Keranyaz 

Associate Professors 

Dr. Ahmed Masoud 

Dr. Atif Iqbal 

Dr. Faycal Bensaali 

Dr. Hasan Mehrjerdi 

Dr. Mazen Hasna 

Dr. Nader Meskin 

Dr. Rashid Alammari 

Dr. Tamer Khattab 

Dr. Nizar Zorba 

Dr. Mohammed Al-Hitmi 

Dr. Mohammed Al-Nuaimi 

Lecturers 

Dr. Khawla Alzoubi 

Dr. Muhammed Chowdhury 

Eng. Hamid Azani 

Teaching Assistants 

Eng. Amith Khandakar 

Eng. Antonio Gonzales 

Eng. Asma Khelil 

Eng. Mazen Faiter 

Eng. Mohammed Elsayed 

Eng. Sijoy Raphael 

Lab Engineers/Technician 

Eng. Ayman Ammar 

Eng. Ahmed Zahran 

Eng. Mohamed Al-Shenehy 

Eng. Mohammed Ayad 

Administrative Coordinator 

Mrs. Doaa Gharzeddine 

More information about EED faculty 

and staff can be found at: 

http://www.qu.edu.qa/engineering/ 

electrical/directory.php 


VOL. 2, ISSUE 1

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