Electrical and Electronic Engineering

The research in the Department is organised around two Research Centres on Sensors and Instrumentation and Systems and Control.

TheSensors and Instrumentation Centrehas an established international reputation in the areas of measurement and instrumentation, sensor development, optical systems and photonics, computer vision, medical imaging and biomedical engineering. The work builds on advanced experimental and theoretical developments to meet current sensing challenges from industry and clinical practice.

The Centre comprises research activity in the areas of sensing and photonics and biomedical engineering. It has particular expertise in novel optical fibre-based sensor design, fabrication and implementation, biomedical diagnostics, medical imaging and pattern recognition, photonics modelling, microelectronics, instrumentation and signal processing.

Being an internationally leading Research Centre through innovation in sensing technologies addressing challenges in engineering, environmental and health care processes that improve the quality of life by deploying optical, imaging and biomedical engineering methods, coupled with newly acquired expertise in microelectronics and data processing.

Research Groups within the Systems and Instrumentation Centre

• Sensors and Photonics
• Biomedical Engineering

In the sensors area, important contributions are being made in the development of a range of novel optical fibre sensors for applications such as;

• Very high temperatures and under extreme conditions;
• condition monitoring for various structures, ranging from concrete, composite, limestone, carbon/aluminum to steels
• early fire and gas detection using novel tunable fibre lasers and drug/explosive detection using molecular recognition techniques
• agri-food and environmental monitoring using both molecular recognition and surface-plasmon-resonance based sensors.

In the photonics area, a wide spectrum of research is being undertaken to;

• Create new time-domain electro-magnetic and acoustic models for the characterization of light-matter interactions
• design and optimize novel guided-wave structures in both optical and THz regimes using finite element methods.

In Biomedical Engineering the focus is on the development of new sensors for:

• Detection of Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy in neonates;
• measurements of photoplethysmographs and arterial oxygen saturation from abdominal organs (solid and hollow) during surgery
• assessment of splanchnic perfusion using an intra-luminal opto-electronic probe placed at the duodenum
• in vivo and in vitro investigations of skin hydration and barrier function using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS)
• oesophageal optical sensors for assessing perfusion in patients undergoing cardiothoracic bypass surgery
• an optical fibre system for monitoring blood oxygen saturation of brain tissue
• spectrophotometric techniques for the assessment of tissue perfusion in plastic surgery
• evaluation of a combined laser Doppler and photoplethysmographic system for intra-operative monitoring of bowel tissue viability
• in vitro investigations in tissue optics
• photoplethysmography in the estimation of venous oxygenation
• optical sensors for the non-invasive monitoring of lithium in bipolar disorder patients
• photoplethysmography in the estimation of venous oxygenation
• development of wavelet-based computational framework for the forward problem in Electrical Impedance Tomography;
• automated analysis of CT angiograms to study the relationship between local vessel geometries and the development of arterial lesions at very high temperatures and under extreme conditions.

The Systems and Control Centre activities address the challenge of complexity in engineering and general processes and have extended the control and systems approaches to challenging problems in the Design, Operations, Risk and Management of Industrial Processes, as well as new fields of applications such as Energy, Environment, and Security. Its central goal is the development of methodologies that enable the management of complexity in engineering processes. Applications are supported by basic research in Mathematical Systems and Control Theory, Optimization, Linear Algebra and Computations.

The Research Centre activities are organised into the following Groups:

• Control Systems
• Complex Systems and Networks
• Cyber Security
• Systems Engineering
• Applied Mathematics and Operational Research

Control Systems research examines the development of Control Theory and Design Methodologies for Linear and Nonlinear Systems for the traditional and emerging control paradigms such as supply chain management, control of communication networks, power systems and multi-body mechanics. The work is mostly of basic research nature with applications in selected areas such as power systems studies and control of unstable vehicle dynamics.

In Complex Systems and Networks the research has two dimensions. In complex systems we examine two new paradigms of complexity emerging in the design and operations centered around the notions of Structure Evolving Systems (SES) and the new area of Systems of Systems (SoS). In the area of networks the focus is on modelling and simulation of distributed wireless networks, addressing the problems of optimal scheduling, cooperation, and network self-organisation.

In Cyber Security we deal with issues related to computer and network security. We aim at developing a science and technology base to enhance information assurance and ensure the trustworthiness of networked information systems. The fundamental problem is ensuring the security and reliability of our global critical computing infrastructure. Research covers areas such as: cyber security for business; Internet and cloud security threats; quantitative methods for evaluation of dependability and trustworthiness of complex socio-technical systems.

In Systems Engineering, we focus on reliability, maintenance and the related areas of risk with applications in nuclear engineering and decommissioning, as well as quality management. Key aspect of the work is Decision Modelling for wear and degradation models and the results underpin methods relating to inspection and maintenance strategies. The research adopts a systems view that allows seeing the issues of safety, security, risk and sustainability as an integrated set of requirements and it is supported by research on stochastic optimization and project management.Systems research needs the study of a number of mathematical problems. This includes problems in Optimization, Applied Probability, Linear Algebra, Matrix Pencil Theory and methods from exterior algebra and algebraic geometry. These techniques underpin the development of Mathematical Systems Theory. The area of Algebraic Computations has been developed by the introduction of a framework and tools for developing approximate solutions to non-generic computation problems. In Operational Research the emphasis is on stochastic programming and robust optimization which are linked to optimal decision making under uncertainty.