EMAN Group is part of the Computer, electrical and mathematical science and engineering division at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
EMAN group research interests encompass works across the fields of applied mathematics, control systems and signal analysis.
The objective of EMAN group is to develop mathematical models and algorithms to characterize, analyze and control complex systems.
Due to the inherent complexity and to physical or economical constraints, some physical systems are inaccessible.
This is the case for the brain for example. In spite of its importance, it remains a mystery for scientists. Understanding the brain function and monitoring its activity is of great importance, particularly for detecting and treating diseases such as Alzheimer or brain tumor.
It is also the case for some engineering systems like water desalination plants, where testing control strategies on the physical system itself are not feasible and very expensive, while simulations make the control design and validation easier, more flexible, less costly and provide more insights on the performance.
So proper mathematical modeling and mathematical analysis are the key enablers to develop efficient methods and algorithms to characterize and control physical systems. The group's projects are motivated by real-world problems inspired by engineering and biomedical fields. Being in Saudi Arabia, we address problems that respond to the kingdom’s needs but we also focus on issues that can have an impact on the global community. Depending on the complexity of the system, its nature, and the desired objectives, we develop new models, control strategies and estimation algorithms mainly for systems modeled by a wide class of partial, nonlinear and fractional differential equations.
Examples of EMAN Group's activities include,
- Developing recursive estimation algorithms based on observers and modulating functions.
- Modeling, optimization, and control of distributed heat transfer mechanisms, which can be used to control the performance of solar-powered desalination plants under given constraints.
- Modeling the neuro-vascular-metabolite coupling in order to physiologically characterize brain regions and estimate the neural activity from some measurements.
- Developing new efficient signal/image reconstruction and analysis methods with potential and interesting applications in the biomedical field.