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

12. 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.

11. 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.

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

In the context of smart city, design and implementation of a smart water system deserves 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.

09. Renewable energy driven desalination using reverse osmosis (RO) and membrane distillation (MD)

This project aims to design, model development, control and experimental validation of renewable energy based desalination system. The renewable energy systems to be considered include PV, wind turbine, fuel cells and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) process. 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 freshwater. Appropriate control methodologies will also be developed for the system.

08. Design, modelling and control of hybrid renewable energy systems

The aim of this research is 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 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.

07. 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, membrane development, process optimisation and control to make PRO based blue energy/osmotic power extraction practically feasible.

06. 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. Power system is one of the main hurdles for UAV, especially the rotary wing UAV, to be in flight for longer time as required to complete a task. The aim for this research is to develop and build a high endurance solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle and their network capable of vertical take-off and landing, hovering and holding its position for 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 exact target location and reliable techniques for collision avoidance between members of the UAV network.

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

The project involves design, model development and control of solar-powered small-scale remote-controlled helicopter systems/air vehicles with potential civilian applications, for example, in 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 as 'solarcopter' to fly with solar energy only.

04. Master-slave robotic system for laparoscopic robotic surgery

(slave). This project will investigate into the design, modelling and control of a new master-slave 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 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 methodology 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.

03. Design and developments of Prosthetics/multi-functional artificial limbs for people with amputated limbs

IThe 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 the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) signal, motor and reflex signals from spinal cord along with the sEMG signals for identification of user intent and training of a Convolutional Neural Network for classification of the gestures. We are also investigating soft robotics approaches to reduce the weight of the prosthetic and to give it a realistic feel.

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

Diseases in Gastrointestinal (GI) tract such as bleeding, ulcer, abdominal pain and cancer are quite common in human. 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 of 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. Appropriate control technology will also be developed and verified. 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.

01. Robotic device (surgical retractor) to assist laparoscopic surgery

During a laparoscopic surgical procedure, tissues/anatomic structures from the surrounding area obstruct the operation of the surgical devices and also restrict 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 structure 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. Along with the design, novel and appropriate control technology is also required to be developed for the retractor. 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.