College of Aeronautical Engineering
Researches RISE (Radar, Intelligent Signal Processing, and Electronic Warfare)

RISE (Radar, Intelligent Signal Processing, and Electronic Warfare)

Core Competencies

  • Radar Signal Processing & RF Systems
  • Electromagnetic Propagation & Antenna Design
  • AI-Driven Radar & Sensor Fusion
  • Electronic Warfare & Cognitive Radar

Description

The RISE research group focuses on radar technology, electromagnetic sensing, and electronic warfare. Research areas include AI-powered radar signal processing, radar waveform design, cognitive radar, and RF/microwave circuit design. The group also explores joint radar-communication systems and reinforcement learning techniques for advanced sensing applications in defense, remote sensing, and security.

 

Group Members

  1. Bashir Akbar (PI: Principal Investigator)
  2. Usman Illahi (Co-PI: Co-Principal Investigator)
  3. Dr Hidayat Ullah
  4. Adnan Hanif
  5. Zohaib Ahmad Khan

Ancillary Members

  1. Ammar Saleem
  2. Khurram Mahmud

 

Member Profiles

  1. Bashir Akbar: Dr. Akbar specializes in Electromagnetics, focusing on radars, RFID, backscatter communication, antenna design, and RF/microwave circuits.
  2. Usman Illahi: With expertise in antenna optimization and measurements, Dr. Illahi’s research includes wearable circularly polarized dielectric resonator antennas, wideband designs, and MIMO systems.
  3. Hidayat Ullah: Dr. Hidayat Ullah is an authority in RF and microwave systems, concentrating on next generation 5G mm Wave antennas, meta-surfaces, and electromagnetic propagation techniques.
  4. Ammar Saleem: Ammar Saleem received the B.E. degree in Avionics engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan, in 2007, M.Sc. degree in Avionics engineering from Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2013, and Ph.D. degree in electronics engineering from Sabanci University, Türkiye. His research interests include solving inverse problems, machine learning, radar signal processing, and communication resource management.
  5. Syed Khurram Mahmud: Dr. Mahmud’s research encompasses wireless communications and radar signal processing, with notable contributions to beyond-5G systems, radar waveform design, and reinforcement learning applications.
  6. Adnan Hanif: Dr. Hanif (Member, IEEE) received his B.S. degree in Avionics Engineering from the College of Aeronautical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan, in 2010, and his M.S. degree in Avionics Engineering from the Institute of Avionics and Aeronautics, Air University, Pakistan, in 2018. He completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA, in 2025. His research focuses on digital signal processing, THz image processing, wireless power transfer, joint radar-communications, and next-generation (6G) and non-terrestrial communication networks.
  7. Zohaib Ahmad Khan is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Avionics Engineering at CAE, NUST. His current research interests include adaptive signal processing, analog and digital communication, machine learning, and self-mixing laser interferometry.

Patents

  1. Doroslovački and A. Hanif, “Simultaneous Terahertz Imaging, Information, and Power Transfer (STIIPT),” currently patent-pending with USPTO application no. 18/650,485, filed April 30th, 2024.

Publications

  1. K. Mahmud, Y. Liu, Y. Chen and K. K. Chai, “Adaptive Reinforcement Learning Framework for NOMA-UAV Networks,” in IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 2943-2947, Sept. 2021, doi: 10.1109/LCOMM.2021.3093385.
  2. K. Mahmud, Y. Chen and K. K. Chai, “Hybrid Decision Framework for Energy Efficiency Enhancement in NOMA-UAV Networks,” in IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 1378-1382, June 2022, doi: 10.1109/LCOMM.2022.3164427.
  3. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Performance Analysis of Pulse Modulation Schemes for SWIPT in Non-Linear Terahertz Channel,” in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 12, pp. 18684-18696, Dec. 2024.
  4. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Operating a Battery-Limited Drone Swarm in 6G Network by Joint Power Transfer and Radar Imaging,” in IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 5201-5210, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TAES.2024.338792.
  5. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Simultaneous Terahertz Imaging with Information and Power Transfer (STIIPT),” in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 806-818, July 2023, doi: 10.1109/JSTSP.2023.3280343.
  6. Hanif, A. B. Mansoor, and A. S. Imran, “Sub-Nyquist Sampling and Detection in Costas coded Pulse Compression Radars,” in EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, Vol. 2016, No. 1, p. 125, November 2016, doi: 10.1186/s13634-016-0424-1.
  7. Hanif, A. B. Mansoor, and T. Ejaz, “A New Approach to Radionuclide Imaging using Compressive Sensing,” in The Imaging Science Journal, Vol. 61, No. 6, pp. 503–508, November 2013.
  8. K. Mahmud, Y. Chen and K. K. Chai, “Ensemble Reinforcement Learning Framework for Sum Rate Optimization in NOMA-UAV Network,” 2022 IEEE World AI IoT Congress (AIIoT), Seattle, WA, USA, 2022, pp. 032-038, doi: 10.1109/AIIoT54504.2022.9817159.
  9. W. Bashir Rajput, S. K. Mahmud, A. Saleem, S. Y. Chaudhry and M. F. Shahid, “Matched-Spectrum Interference on GPS Receivers; A State-of-the-Art Analysis,” 2024 21st International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences and Technology (IBCAST), Murree, Pakistan, 2024, pp. 466-471, doi: 10.1109/IBCAST61650.2024.10876941.
  10. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Pulse Density Modulation for Wireless Transfer of Power and Waveforms to Nanorectenna-based Closed-loop Neurostimulator,” 2023 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference (PPC), San Antonio, TX, USA, 2023, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/PPC47928.2023. 10310980.
  11. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Intensity-Modulation and Direct-Detection Model for Simultaneous Terahertz Information and Power Transfer in 6G Network,” 2023 IEEE Wireless Power Technology Conference and Expo (WPTCE), San Diego, CA, USA, 2023, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/WPTCE56855.2023.10215610.
  12. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Rectenna based Modem for Simultaneous Terahertz Information and Power Transfer,” 2022 56th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, Pacific Grove, CA, USA, 2022, pp. 11-15, doi: 10.1109/IEEECONF56349.2022.10052100.
  13. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Amplitude Shift Keying Constellation Space for Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer,” 2022 30th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Belgrade, Serbia, 2022, pp. 1706-1710, doi: 10.23919/EUSIPCO55093.2022.9909585.
  14. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Fully Reversible Steganography with Authentication in Wavelet Domain for Telemedicine Applications,” 2021 55th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, 2021, pp. 881-885, doi: 10.1109/IEEECONF53345.2021.9723196.
  15. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Graph Laplacian-based Tumor Segmentation and Denoising in Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging,” 2020 54th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, 2020, pp. 241-245, doi: 10.1109/IEEECONF51394.2020.9443557.
  16. Hanif, A. B. Mansoor and A. S. Imran, “Performance Analysis of Vehicle Detection Techniques: A Concise Survey,” 2018 World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST’18), Naples, Italy, Springer, 2018, pp. 491-500, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-77712-2_46.
  17. Hanif, A. B. Mansoor and A. S. Imran, “Deep Multi-View Correspondence for Identity-Aware Multi-Target Tracking,” 2017 International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications (DICTA), Sydney, NSW, 2017, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/DICTA.2017.8227423.
  18. Hanif, A. B. Mansoor, and T. Ejaz, “Iterative Tomographic Image Reconstruction by Compressive Sampling,” IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP), Hong Kong, September 2010, pp. 4313-4316, doi: 10.1109/ICIP.2010.5652461.
  19. A. Khan, U. Zabit, O. D. Bernal, M. O. Ullah and T. Bosch, “Adaptive Cancellation of Parasitic Vibrations Affecting a Self-Mixing Interferometric Laser Sensor,” in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 332-339, Feb.2017.
  20. A. Khan, U. Zabit, O. D. Bernal and T. Hussain, “Adaptive Estimation and Reduction of Noises Affecting a Self-Mixing Interferometric Laser Sensor,” in IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 20, no. 17, pp. 9806-9815, 1 Sept.1, 2020, doi:10.1109/JSEN.2020.2992848.
  21. Zohaib A Khan, Tassadaq Hussain, Usman Zabit, Muhammad Usman, Eduard Ayguade,”PH‐RLS: A parallel hybrid recursive least square algorithm for self‐mixing interferometric laser sensor”, IET Optoelectronics, 2021.
  22. Muhammad Sadiq Orakzai, Saqib Amin, Zohaib Ahmad Khan, Faraz Akram, “Fast and highly accurate estimation of feedback coupling factor and linewidth enhancement factor for displacement sensing under different feedback regimes” in Optics Communications, Volume 508, 2022, 127751.
  23. Muhammad Sadiq Orakzai, Saqib Amin, Zohaib Ahmad Khan, Faraz Akram, “Fast and highly accurate phase unwrapping algorithm for displacement retrieval using self-mixing interferometry sensor”, Optical Materials, Volume 129, 2022, 112553, ISSN 0925-3467
  24. Ali, Zohaib. A. Khan, T. Senapati and S. Moslem, “Frank-Based TOPSIS Methodology of Development and Operations Challenges Based on Intuitionistic Linguistic Aggregation Operators and Their Applications,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 91605-91618, 2024, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3420711.
  25. Saqib Amin, Muhammad Sadiq Orakzai, and Zohaib Ahmed Khan, “Simple and high-resolution method for displacement sensing using self-mixing interferometry,” Opt. Continuum 3, 2116-2126 (2024)
  26. A. Khan, M Sadiq, Saqib, Faraz Akram “Li-Fi Based Healthcare Monitoring System”, PakJET, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 177-182, Sep. 2022.
  27. R. Z. Hamdani, M. Tahir, F. Akram, M. S. Orakzai, S. Amin, and Zohaib. A. Khan, “Designing A Non-Invasive Testing Device for Infant Diabetes using Saliva”, PakJET, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 193-197, Sep. 2022.
  28. A. Khan, Akram, F., Amin, S., Orakzai, M. S., Muhammad, A. M., Naseer, Z. B., (2023). Design and Fabrication of Heart Rate and Oxygen Saturation Measurement Device using LED-LED Configuration and to Study Correlation of PPG Signal Amplitude with Breathing Rate. Pakistan Journal of Scientific Research, 2023,3(1), 113–118
  29. Nawaz, H., Zohaib. A.Khan, Zahra, S. T., Amin, S., Basheer, Y., Ali, Z., Akram, F., & Orakzai, M. S. (2023). IoT Based Load Management Control and Theft Protection from DISCO’s Side. International Journal of Emerging Engineering and Technology,2023, 2(1), 63–68
  30. Ali,R Nawaz, M Sadiq, Saqib, Zohaib . A. Khan, Faraz Akram “Solar Powered Smart Irrigation System”, PakJET, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 49-55, Mar. 2022.
  31. F Ajaz, M Shahzad, Zohaib A Khan, “WSN-Based Fire, Smoke & Natural Gas Outflow Detection and Prevention System” in LC International Journal of STEM (ISSN: 2708-7123), Vol. 1No. 4 (2020): Oct – Dec 2020.
  32. K. Mahmud, Y. Chen and K. K. Chai, “Hybrid Decision Framework for Energy Efficiency Enhancement in NOMA-UAV Networks,” in IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 1378-1382, June 2022, doi: 10.1109/LCOMM.2022.3164427.
  33. Khalil and Z. Shamsi, “Lightning Protection Design for Radar Antennae: Musings from a Case Study”, 2019 International Conference on Electrical, Communication, and Computer Engineering (ICECCE). IEEE, 2019, pp. 1–6.
  34. K. Mahmud, Y. Liu, Y. Chen and K. K. Chai, “Adaptive Reinforcement Learning Framework for NOMA-UAV Networks,” in IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 2943-2947, Sept. 2021,
  35. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Ramay, S. M., & Sulaiman, M. I. (2024). Design and development of a new circularly polarized MIMO wearable DRA for WBAN applications. AEU-International Journal of Electronics and Communications, 177, 155208.
  36. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Ramay, S. M., & Sulaiman, M. I. (2024). Circularly polarized dual-port MIMO DRA for future Wi-Fi 6E applications. International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, 1–12.
  37. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Irfan, M., Ismail Sulaiman, M., Khan, M. A., Rauf, A., . . . Nowakowski, G. et al. (2022). A Novel Design and Development of a Strip-Fed Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 5G NR Sub-6 GHz Band Applications. Sensors, 22(15), 5531.
  38. Ali, A., Tong, J., Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Rauf, A., Rehman, S. U., Ghoniem, R. M. (2022). Mutual Coupling Reduction through Defected Ground Structure in Circularly Polarized, Dielectric Resonator-Based MIMO Antennas for Sub-6 GHz 5G Applications. Micromachines, 13(7), 1082 doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13071082
  39. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Khan, M. A., Rauf, A., Ali, E. M., Bari, I., . . . Dalarsson, M. (2022). A Novel Single-Fed Dual-Band Dual-Circularly Polarized Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 5G Sub-6 GHz Applications. Applied Sciences, 12(10), 5222.
  40. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Yasin, M., Albreem, M. A., & Akbar, M. (2022). Bandwidth enhancement by using parasitic patch on dielectric resonator antenna for sub-6 GHz 5G NR bands application. Alexandria Engineering Journal, 61(6), 5021–5032.
  41. Bari, I., Iqbal, J., Ali, H., Rauf, A., Bilal, M., Illahi, U., . . . Ghoniem, R. M. (2022). Bandwidth Enhancement and Generation of CP of Yagi-Uda-Shape Feed on a Rectangular DRA for 5G Applications. Micromachines, 13(11), 1913.
  42. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M., Su’ud, M. M., & Khattak, M. I. (2020). Design and development of a singly-fed circularly polarized rectangular dielectric resonator antenna for WiMAX/Satellite/5G NR band applications. AEU-International Journal of Electronics and Communications, 126, 153443
  43. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M. M., Su’Ud, M. M., Jamaluddin, M. H., & Yasin, M. N. M. (2019). Design of New Circularly Polarized Wearable Dielectric Resonator Antenna for Off-Body Communication in WBAN Applications. IEEE Access, 7, 150573–150582. doi:
  44. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M. M., Su’ud, M. M., & Jamaluddin, M. H. (2019). Singly-Fed Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna with a Wide Circular Polarization Bandwidth and Beamwidth for WiMAX/Satellite Applications. IEEE Access, 7, 66206–66214.
  45. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M. M., Su’ud, M. M., Yasin, M. N. M., & Jamaluddin, M. H. (2019). Bandwidth Enhancement and Generation of CP by Using Parasitic Patch on Rectangular DRA for Wireless Applications. IEEE Access, 7, 94365–94372.
  46. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M. M., Su’ud, M. M., & Yasin, M. N. M. (2019). Mutual Coupling Reduction Using Hybrid Technique in Wideband Circularly Polarized MIMO Antenna for WiMAX Applications. IEEE Access, 7, 40951–40958.
  47. Hassan, S. I., Alam, M. M., Illahi, U., & Suud, M. M. (2023). A new deep learning-based technique for rice pest detection using remote sensing. PeerJ Computer Science, 9, e1167.
  48. Hassan, S. I., Alam, M. M., Zia, M. Y. I., Rashid, M., Illahi, U., & Su’ud, M. M. (2022). Rice Crop Counting Using Aerial Imagery and GIS for the Assessment of Soil Health to Increase Crop Yield. Sensors, 22(21), 8567.
  49. Hassan, S. I., Alam, M. M., Illahi, U., Al Ghamdi, M. A., Almotiri, S. H., & Su’ud, M. M. (2021). A Systematic Review on Monitoring and Advanced Control Strategies in Smart Agriculture. IEEE Access, 9, 32517–32548
  50. Abdul Halim, A. A., Andrew, A. M., Mohd Yasin, M. N., Abd Rahman, M. A., Jusoh, M., Illahi, U., Scavino, E. (2021). Existing and Emerging Breast Cancer Detection Technologies and Its Challenges: A Review. Applied Sciences, 11(22), 10753.
  51. Syeda, I. H., Alam, M. M., Illahi, U., & Su’ud, M. M. (2021). Advance control strategies using image processing, uav and ai in agriculture: A review. World Journal of Engineering, 18(4), 579–589
  52. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M., Alam, M., Mazliham, M., & Jamaluddin, M. (2019). Circularly polarized rectangular dielectric resonator antenna excited by an off-set conformal metal strip. Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 15(2), 902–909.
  53. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M., Mazliham, M. S., & Ding, L. S. (2019). Mutual coupling reduction in circularly polarized dielectric resonator mimo antenna. Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 15(1), 266–273.
  54. Khan, M. Y. A., Mustafa, E., Nawaz, A., Saleem, N., & Illahi, U. (2019). Sensor-fusion based navigation for mobile robot in outdoor environment. Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering & Technology, 38(1), 113–128.
  55. Illahi, U., Sulaiman, M. I., Iqbal, J., Alam, M., & Su’ud, M. M. (2018). A Novel Singly Fed Wideband Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna using Hook-Shaped Metal Strip. Sindh University Research Journal (Science Series), 50(3D), 59–62.
  56. Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M. I., Illahi, U., Alam, M., & Mazliham, M. S. (2018). A Wide band Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna Excited by Novel Feed. Sindh University Research Journal (Science Series), 50(3D), 63–66.
  57. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Ullah, W., Junaid, A., & Ullah, R. (2023). Antenna Design and Optimization using Mathematical Modelling-based Machine Learning Approach for ISM Band Applications. In 2023 International Conference and Exhibition for Science (ICES2023), KSU Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Springer (Presented/Accepted for Conference Proceedings).
  58. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M., Mazliham, M. S., & Jamaluddin, M. H. (2019). A Conformal Metal Strip Fed Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna. In 2019 IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Applied Electromagnetics (APACE) (1–3). IEEE.
  59. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M., & Mazliham, M. S. (2019) Improvement in Bandwidths and Beamwidths of a Singly-Fed Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna using Two Parasitic Elements. In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Application (ICSIMA) (1–4). IEEE.
  60. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M., & Mazliham, M. S. (2019). Broad Bandwidth Micro Strip Array Antenna for Direction Finding. In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Application (ICSIMA) (1–6). IEEE.
  61. Illahi, U., Iqbal, J., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M., & Mazliham, M. S. (2017). A novel singly fed wideband circularly polarized cylindrical multilayer DRA using conformal hook-shaped metal strip. In 2017 International Conference on Engineering Technology and Technopreneurship (ICE2T) (1–4). IEEE.
  62. Iqbal, J., Illahi, U., Sulaiman, M. I., Alam, M., & Mazliham, M. S. (2017). Circularly polarized bandwidth enhancement using hollow cylindrical DRA. In 2017 International conference on engineering technology and technopreneurship (ice2t) (1–4). IEEE.
  63. Malekmohammadi, A., Illahi, U., Saqlain, M., & Abdullah, M. K. (2012). A novel mapping multiplexing technique for high speed optical fiber communication systems. In 2012 IEEE 3rd International Conference on Photonics (323–326). IEEE.

PG / UG Student Members (last 03 years)

  1. Bareera Binte Mujahid (96 B)
  2. Muhammad Waleed Ahmed (96B)

Projects / Thesis (Completed + Ongoing)

  1. AI-based Radar Signal Characterization, BE Project, Status: Completed,

Funding

  1. NUST Flagship Project: Development and launch of 3U CubeSat, No FSP-24-21. PI: Dr. Waqar Ahmed Khan, Co-PI: A. Hanif. Status: Ongoing.

Collaboration (Academia / Industry)

  1. NASTP Sensor Div for RCS reduction using Meta Surfaces
  2. NASTP EW Div for RF Power Amplifier development
  3. NASTP EW Div for Antenna Design & Development
  4. Gomal University for research on Dielectric Resonator Antennas for future applications.

Equipment & Resources

  1. RF Function Generators, Arbitrary Function Generator
  2. Spectrum Analyzers
  3. Software Defined Radios (Ni-USRP, BladeRF, HackRF, Adalm Pluto)
  4. Vector Network Analyzers upto 40 GHz
  5. Near-field Antenna Characterization and Radar Cross Section Measurement Setup ( Microwave Anechoic Chamber upto 40 GHz )
  6. Planar microwave circuits / Antenna / surfaces fabrication setup ( ProtoMat PCB Manufacturing machine )

Recent Researches