Technology: Past, Present and Future
Ahmad Abu-el-Haija, Director, National Erasmus+ Office, and Chairman, Specto Ltd.
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| Professor Abu-El-Haija is also the Founder and Chairman of Specto since 2005. Specto is a main provider of courseware, learning materials and exams for ICDL in three languages (Arabic, English and French). It has been responsible for training and certification of more than half a million Arab citizens in digital skills and computer literacy.
Professor Abu-El-Haija worked at the Jordan University of Science and Technology since its establishment in 1986 until he retired in 2023. He was the Vice-President (1992-1998) and Dean of Engineering (1989-1992). He worked as an Expert at the World Bank, UNESCO, UN organizations, Islamic Development Bank, and other international organizations.
Dr. Abu-El-Haija obtained the M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Stanford University, California, USA, in 1978. He obtained scholarships and awards from the Fulbright (USA), Alexander-von-Humboldt and DAAD (Germany), Shoman Foundation (Arab region), United Nations, and others.
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| Technology is steering the way we live our lives. Witnessing the rapid developments in technology over the past 50 years, one would wonder how that would be in the next 50 years. With the increasing “intelligence” in computers, we wonder to what extent a machine will replace a human. What can a gadget implanted in our body or at our skin do? How secure will our computers and lives be with the advances in devices and their networks? With the improved solar and renewable energy technologies, will oil remain an important commodity, and what is the impact on human lives? If the advances in transport over the past 100 years continue for the next 100 years, how fast and comfortable one can travel on earth, and between earth and other planets.
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Development of a Probabilistic Damage Simulator for Seismic Risk Evaluation of Hydroelectric Equipment and Transmission Lines
Ali Saeidi, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Canada
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| Professor Ali Saeidi is an internationally recognized expert in geotechnical and earthquake risk analysis. He holds a PhD in Geomechanics (Risk Analysis) from the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine, France, and is currently Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), where he also serves as the Canada Research Chair in Forecasting and Prevention of Hydro-Geotechnical Hazards. His research spans a wide range of geological and geotechnical risks, including seismic hazard assessment, landslides in sensitive clays, subsidence, slope stability, and hydraulic erosion of fractured rock masses in dam spillways. Professor Saeidi is widely recognized for advancing earthquake risk analysis through the development of 3D geological and geotechnical models, shear-wave velocity (Vs) characterization with uncertainty quantification, and regional seismic microzonation maps. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, leads major research programs funded by FRQNT, NSERC, and MITACS, and collaborates extensively with the hydropower, mining and civil engineering sectors on geomechanical risk management and seismic hazard mitigation. |
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In his conference presentation, Professor Saeidi introduces a comprehensive and userfriendly seismic damage simulator designed to assess the vulnerability of electric power networks specifically transmission towers and substations under earthquake loading. Recent global earthquakes have demonstrated the increasing vulnerability of power systems, driven by rapid population growth and infrastructure expansion in seismic regions. Addressing this challenge, the simulator integrates three major components: seismic hazard incorporating local site effects, a detailed inventory of exposed electrical installations, and structure-specific vulnerability functions. The computational workflow includes the selection and evaluation of deterministic or probabilistic seismic hazard inputs, followed by detailed site-effect analysis. The tool uses Vs₃₀(the average shear-wave velocity in the top 30 m) and the fundamental site period T₀ as predictors of seismic amplification. To acknowledge and quantify the uncertainty inherent in soil properties, a stochastic approach is introduced that couples probabilistic Vs–depth correlations with a probabilistic 3D geological model. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are applied to evaluate how these uncertainties impact seismic site characterization. The fully open-source computational framework ensures accessibility for researchers, engineers, and agencies. The seismic demand is expressed through intensity measures (IMs) such as spectral acceleration at the fundamental period of transmission towers and peak ground acceleration for substations. The probabilistic analysis integrates epistemic uncertainty using the NBCC 2020 logic-tree approach and aleatory uncertainty through extensive MC simulations. The damage assessment similarly relies on MC analyses to capture variability in structural response and damage states. The effectiveness of the simulator is demonstrated through a real case study involving Hydro-Québec’s transmission infrastructure in the Saguenay region of Canada.
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Flexible and Cognitive Radio Access Technologies for 5G and Beyond
Hüseyin Arslan, Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey
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Dr. Arslan (IEEE Fellow, NAI Fellow, Member of Turkish Academy of Science) received his BS degree from the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey in 1992; his MS and Ph.D. degrees were received respectively in 1994 and 1998 from Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, TX. From January 1998 to August 2002, he was with the research group of Ericsson, where he was involved with several projects related to 2G and 3G wireless communication systems. Between August 2002 and August 2022, he was with the Electrical Engineering Department, at the University of South Florida, where he was a Professor. In December 2013, he joined Istanbul Medipol University to found the Engineering College, where he has been working as the Dean of the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences. In addition, he has worked as a part-time consultant for various companies and institutions including Anritsu Company, Savronik Inc., and The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. Dr. Arslan served as the founding Chairman of The Board Of Directors of ULAK Communication company, which is the Turkish telecom equipment provider. He was also the member of the Tubitak Scientific Board. Between 2021 and 2024, he has served as a Member of the Board of Directors for Turkcell, the biggest cellular operator in Turkey while also operating in Ukrain, Belarus, and Cyprus.
Dr. Arslan conducts research in wireless systems, with emphasis on the physical and medium access layers of communications. His current research interests are on 6G and beyond radio access technologies, physical layer security, interference management (avoidance, awareness, and cancellation), cognitive radio, multi-carrier wireless technologies (beyond OFDM), dynamic spectrum access, co-existence issues, non-terrestial communications (High Altitude Platforms), joint radar (sensing) and communication designs. Dr. Arslan has been collaborating extensively with key national and international industrial partners and his research has generated significant interest in companies such as InterDigital, Anritsu, NTT DoCoMo, Raytheon, Honeywell, Aselsan, Vestel,Türkcell, Keysight technologies. Collaborations and feedback from industry partners has significantly influenced his research. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Arslan has also contributed to wireless communication education. He has integrated the outcomes of his research into education which lead him to develop a number of courses at the University of South Florida and Istanbul Medipol University. He has developed a unique “Wireless Systems Laboratory" course (funded by the National Science Foundation and Keysight technologies) where he was able to teach not only the theory but also the practical aspects of wireless communication system with the most contemporary test and measurement equipment.
Dr. Arslan has served as general chair, technical program committee chair, session and symposium organizer, workshop chair, and technical program committee member in several IEEE conferences. He has also served as a member of the editorial board for the IEEE Surveys and Tutorials and the Sensors Journal, IEEE Transactions on Communications, the IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking (TCCN), and several other scholarly journals by Elsevier, Hindawi, and Wiley Publishing.
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Today's wireless services and systems have come a long way since the rollout of the conventional voice-centric cellular systems.
The demand for wireless access in voice and
multi-media applications has increased tremendously. In addition to these, new application classes like extreme mobile broadband communication, ultra reliable and low latency communications, massive machine type communications, and Internet of Things have gained significant interest recently for 5G.
The trend on the variety and the number of mobile devices along with the mobile applications will certainly continue beyond 5G, creating a wide range of technical challenges such as cost, power efficiency, spectrum efficiency, extreme reliability, low latency, robustness against diverse channel conditions, cooperative networking capability and coexistence, dynamic and flexible utilization of wireless spectrum.
With the rapid evolution of wireless networks across a broad technological environment which includes virtualization, IoT and Industry 4.0, our lives are surrounded by electronic devices capable of wireless radio transmission and reception, not only for communication purposes but also for radar, wireless sensing, and radio environment monitoring and mapping. Emerging Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) applications aim to bring people, data, processes, and things together to fulfil our needs. With the emergence of software defined networks, adaptive services and applications are gaining more attention since they allow the automatic configuration of devices and their parameters, systems, and services to the user's context change. Granted, these devices, networks, and applications are huge commodities and improve our quality of life but they also present a major risk, not only because of the widely recognized security leaks in current wireless radio access technologies but also because of the enormous amounts of information over a medium which can be extracted by radio-based sensing.
More than anything, 5G and beyond has introduced a new vision and sets of challenges for wireless researchers in many layers of the protocol stacks, especially in the Physical and Medium Access Layers. In order to address these technical challenges, highly flexible and adaptive radio access technologies are needed.
Hence, 5G and beyond is about flexibility and applications. 5G and beyond is expected to bring about a communication system (with a single standard) through very flexible and cognitive design to support wide variety of services. As a result, the wireless radio researchers are facing a new challenge, which is the design of a flexible communication system in every layer of the communication protocol stacks. In this talk, the flexibility and adaptability of 5G and beyond systems will be discussed with a major focus on PHY and MAC layers. The potential directions and research opportunities to address the challenges and requirements of the 5G and beyond vision will be discussed. |
RF Sensor for Non-Invasive Detection of Static Bone Fracture Conditions
Raed Abd-Alhameed, University of Bradford, United Kingdom
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Raed Abd-Alhameed is currently a Professor of electromagnetic and radiofrequency engineering with the University of Bradford, U.K. He is also the Leader of radiofrequency, propagation, sensor design, and signal processing; in addition to leading the Communications Research Group for years within the School of Engineering and Digital Technologies, University of Bradford. He has long years’ research experience in the areas of radio frequency, signal processing, propagations, antennas, communication systems and electromagnetic computational techniques. He has published over 900 academic journals and conference papers; in addition, he has co-authored nine books and several book chapters including seven patents. He is a principal investigator for several funded applications to EPSRCs, Innovate UK, British Council, and the leader of several successful knowledge Transfer Programmes, such as with Arris (previously known as Pace plc), Yorkshire Water plc, Harvard Engineering plc, IETG Ltd., Seven Technologies Group, Emkay Ltd., and Two World Ltd. He has also been an investigator in several ESA, EU, Horizon and UKSA funded research projects. His interest in computational methods and optimizations, wireless and mobile communications, patient monitoring, fracture bone healing, sensor design, EMC, beam steering antennas, energy-efficient PAs, and RF predistorter design applications. He is a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Chartered Engineer.
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This Seminar discusses the design and simulation of a metamaterial-based radio frequency (RF) sensor utilising Split-Ring Resonator (SRR) structures for the non-invasive identification of static bone fracture conditions. Conventional imaging techniques, including X-ray, CT, and MRI, despite their prevalent application, frequently encounter constraints related to accessibility, expense, radiation exposure, and susceptibility to micro-fractures. The proposed sensor functions within the 1–3 GHz frequency range and utilises twin SRRs to improve field confinement and sensitivity to dielectric variations resulting from bone discontinuities. Full-wave simulations were performed with CST Microwave Studio on a multilayer femur phantom that included anatomically accurate layers such as skin, fat, muscle, cortical bone, and blood. The sensor exhibited a robust response to changes in dielectric characteristics linked to fracture conditions, successfully detecting fracture patterns as little as 0.10 mm in width and 20 mm in depth beneath a 5.00 mm thick cortical layer. Analysis of the reflection coefficient demonstrated notable resonance shifts among healthy, fractured, and healed bone states, with frequency deviations reaching 47 MHz and quality factors surpassing 80. An iterative antenna design procedure resulted in an optimised SRR configuration (ANT 5), demonstrating a high Q-factor, improved electromagnetic confinement, and superior impedance matching. The results underscore the sensor's promise as a small, non-ionizing, and wearable diagnostic instrument for orthopaedic applications.
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