Solar-powered VTOL UAS-based Intelligent Sensing/Monitoring Applications of Precision Agriculture (S&E Industry Studentship Model)

Drinking Water from Rain: a standalone green energy powered rainwater purification system

Proof of Concept Fund 2013/14

Newton Fund International Links - Egypt

UKIERI-DST Thematic Partnerships

PoC Fund 2013/14

Robotic device (surgical retractor) to assist laparoscopic surgery

During a laparoscopic surgical procedure, tissues/anatomic structures from the surrounding area obstruct the operation/manipulation of the surgical devices and also restrict the surgeon's view of the body cavity in which surgery is to be carried out. The aim of this research is to design a robotic retractor to keep those tissues/anatomic structures away while performing surgery from the region of operation and also to make enough space for the surgeon for the operation to be quick, safe and easy. This novel retractor aims to enhance surgical precision while minimising invasiveness. Along with the design, the project also aims to develop novel and appropriate control technology for the safe and effective control of the retractor within the body cavity. The research is carried out in collaboration with the National Centre for Bowel Research & Surgical Innovations (NCBRSI), Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.

Robotic arms and graspers with applications to remote handling and manufacturing

The BH8-series BarrettHandTM is a multi-fingered highly flexible, self-contained and low weight grasper which can be used to grasp objects of different shapes and sizes. There are numerous applications of such a hand in industries for manufacturing and remote handling. The control challenges of this type of system include both position and force control to address switching based on force sensing. This research investigates to develop appropriate modelling and control strategies for such a hand which include sliding mode and adaptive fuzzy logic control.

Renewable energy-driven desalination and water treatment

This project aims to design, model development, control and experimental validation of renewable energy-based desalination systems. The renewable energy systems to be considered include PV, wind turbine, fuel cells and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) processes. Osmotic energy from natural salinity gradients of water possesses a great potential to contribute to the world energy supply as well as water desalination without any greenhouse gas emission. Combining PRO and other renewable energy systems with RO/MD on a single framework, water desalination and renewable energy generation will be carried out using water of different salinity concentrations by mixing saline water with fresh water and appropriate control methodologies will also be developed for the system. Past achievements include optimising water treatment with renewable energy and emphasising reverse osmosis.

Leader-follower robotic system for laparoscopic robotic surgery

Most of the surgical robots in use today are based on the leader-follower principle, one robot (leader) driving the other (follower). This project will investigate the design, modelling and control of a new leader-follower robotic system to be used for laparoscopic surgery and elderly care. The existing laparoscopic robotic surgical technology is bulky and expensive and is therefore limited to only a few hospitals across the world. The aim of this project is to design a new light-weight, inexpensive and highly portable laparoscopic surgical system. Novel control methodologies will also be developed for the system. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the National Centre for Bowel Research & Surgical Innovations (NCBRSI), Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.

Expert systems with application to disease prognosis and classification

Research topics in this area include using computational approaches for medical diagnostics, especially disease prognosis and classification. Noteworthy projects involve Colon Cancer Classification, gene expression data analysis, and pioneering gene selection methods. The project aims to develop novel algorithms and data/signal classification approaches to identify genes and select the most informative genes to be used as a biomarker to help physicians identify and understand the drugs and treatment processes that give the most beneficial results for a particular disease

Design, modelling and control of UAV swarms for remote sensing and monitoring

The loss of life, assets and economic output that accompany natural disasters can be minimised by prompt action based on sufficient and timely information. UAV-based remote sensing and monitoring present a cheaper alternative to satellite imaging, with the potential for superior data capture rates and precision. There are many applications of UAV-based sensing and monitoring including infrastructure security, habitat monitoring, traffic control, environmental monitoring, flood monitoring, leakage detection in water distribution network, healthcare and precision agriculture. The power system is one of the main hurdles for UAV, especially the rotary wing UAV, to be in flight for a longer time as required to complete a task. This research aims to develop and build a high-endurance solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle and its network capable of vertical take-off and landing, hovering and holding its position for the above applications. The project will involve the investigation of the UAV design: optimum topology, powering with solar energy, flight time duration, integration between decision algorithms and output signals of multiple sensors, accurate machine learning and Neural Network Training to determine the exact target location and reliable techniques for collision avoidance between members of the UAV network. One noteworthy project funded under the S&E Industry Studentship Model is centred around the "Solar-powered VTOL UAS-based Intelligent Sensing/Monitoring Applications of Precision Agriculture." This initiative explores the integration of solar energy to power Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), incorporating intelligent sensing technologies like high-resolution imaging and multispectral sensors.

Design, modelling and control of hybrid renewable energy systems

This research aims to design, model development, control and experimental validation of a hybrid renewable (solar/wind/fuel-cell/pressure retarded osmosis) energy system. One of the main challenges of this type of system is to develop an appropriate control methodology to ensure the extraction of maximum power from the system. To this end, nonlinear fuzzy-PID and model predictive control (MPC) mechanisms will be investigated. To optimise control parameters, various biologically inspired optimisation algorithms will be also used to enhance controller performance.

Design, modelling and control of a Solar-powered helicopter system

The project involves the design, model development, and control of solar-powered small-scale remote-controlled helicopter systems/air vehicles with potential civilian applications, such as law enforcement and traffic management. Appropriate modelling and control methodologies need to be investigated to address the nonlinearity of the system. Possible control techniques to be adopted include fuzzy logic-based control and nonlinear model predictive control. We have already developed a solar quadrotor dubbed 'solarcopter' to fly with solar energy.

Design, fabrication and control of a miniature pipe inspection robot for leakage detection

In the context of smart city, design and implementation of a smart water system deserves the utmost attention. At present, water loss in distribution networks is an issue of significant concern. Some countries lose as high as 35% of produced water through leakages in the distribution pipe-network. In UK, about 28% of produced water is lost through leakages in the distribution network in London and around 40% in Glasgow. As a part of the smart water system, sensing and detection of water loss and leakages in the distribution network in a sophisticated way is highly essential. The project aims to design, model and fabricate an in-pipe inspection robot to sense real-time flow conditions within a water pipe network and detect leakages so that they can be repaired within the shortest time possible. The robot will be designed to be easily controllable remotely and be accurate in sensing from any angle around the circumference of the pipes. It needs to be fitted with video capturing capability to detect leakages accurately by transmitting and analysing the data real-time in a ground station. The efficacy of the fabricated prototype will be tested in an in-house-built water pipe-network. Such a system, with some modification, is also expected to be suitable for inspecting the conditions of other pipe-networks such as gas and oil distribution systems.

Design and development of Prosthetics/multi-functional artificial limbs for people with amputated limbs

The development of prosthetic bionics and exoskeletons are an active area of research of biomedical engineering, along with human-machine interface technologies. Many commercial products are available, but they are limited in terms of dexterity, processing power, design and capabilities. The available products are mainly based on surface EMG (sEMG) signals or optical input from the environment. Moreover, they are also very heavy and rigid, leading to muscle fatigue in the remaining muscles. Our investigations involve (i) better classification (including multi-label classification) of sEMG signals using deep learning to improve grasping, (ii) the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) signal, motor and reflex signals from the spinal cord along with the sEMG signals for the identification of user intent and training of a Convolutional Neural Network for classification of the gestures and (iii) soft robotics approaches to reduce the weight of the prosthetic and to give it a realistic feel.

Classification of cancer using microarray and next generation sequencing (NGS) data

This research investigates into the development of AI based techniques for classification of multi-category diseases using gene expression profile and next generation sequencing (NGS) data. Many diseases including Cancers involve malfunctioning of genes that control cell growth and division. The variation in expression values in certain genes contains key information about those diseases. The expression levels of thousands of genes can be measured simultaneously using a technique called Gene Expression profiling and this microarray data then can be used to predict and classify diseases, which will subsequently make treatment easy. Similarly, NGS data contains epigenetic influence on cancer development and classification of cancer can be carried out based on this information.

Capsule/miniature robot for health care (screening) inside human body

Diseases in the Gastrointestinal (GI) tract, such as bleeding, ulcers, abdominal pain and cancer, are quite common in humans. An ideal solution for GI tract investigation/screening seems to be a wireless active miniature robotic device/capsule endoscope. The aim of this research is to design, model development and control an active capsule robot for GI tract screening. As an initial evaluation, the performance of the capsule robot will be tested on a soft surface/on phantom. This project also focuses on developing a control approach for navigating the active capsule robot within the challenging GI tract environment. The aim of the proposed control scheme is to ensure accurate navigation of the capsule device through the GI tract, reduce device oscillations resulting in patient comfort, lower energy consumption, and improve communication resource efficiency. The research is carried out in collaboration with the National Centre for Bowel Research & Surgical Innovations (NCBRSI), Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London. We have already designed and fabricated an impact-based locomotion mechanism for the capsule device (patent filed, PCT/EP2021/075342).

Blue Energy (Osmotic Power) extraction from salinity gradient resources

The aim of this project is to study and investigate the feasibility of single-stage and dual-stage pressure retarded osmosis (DSPRO) for power generation from salinity gradient resources. The concept of power generation from salinity gradients is based on harvesting Gibbs' free energy of saline solutions using membrane technology and it has the potential to meet about 13% of the world's energy demand. The successful implementation of PRO process requires pre-investigation of the feasibility of the PRO process under certain environmental conditions. The project will involve system modelling, process optimisation and control to make PRO-based blue energy/osmotic power extraction practically feasible.

Bio-sensory Feedback: Tactile Sensing and Haptic systems

This research focuses on the development and applications of tactile sensors, with particular attention to their role in robotics, human-machine interaction, and biomedical engineering. Current projects involve the study of soft and flexible tactile sensors, haptic feedback systems, and their integration into robotic platforms to enhance dexterity and facilitate human-robot collaboration. One of the applications of this type of sensor on prosthetics. Currently available prostheses do not have the tactile feedback and sensory loop i.e., they do not support the sensing of the texture or temperature information of the touches with the prosthesis and feeling the sensation. This is particularly important when the user wants to return to an independent daily routine, without causing damage to the prosthesis. We aim to develop an electronic skin (e-Dermis) for the prosthesis that can sense the surface and environmental cues that help with hand positioning and movements. It would sense the pressure on the surface of the skin and the texture of the object the user touches. In addition to that, I would include anti-slip technology to prevent the over-exertion or under-exertion of the force used when grasping the objects.