Department of Electrical Engineering Research Groups

Smart Networking Research Group (SNRG) was formally established in year 2012 under the directorship and supervision of Dr. Saima Zafar. The primary objective of the research group is to enhance research activities in Computer Networks and related emerging fields. Since then, the group has been a significant contributor to research and development in the field of network protocol design, clustering, data-center networking, wireless communications and wireless sensor networks, Internet of Things and its applications, integration of Internet of Things with blockchain and cloud computing, demand side management in smart grid, and applications of machine learning in networking. Around 20 final year projects, and 21 Masters Theses have been completed, and PhD work is in progress. Around 40 research publications in reputed international journals and conferences are credited to this research group. A funded research project titled “Artificial intelligence-based real-time classification of ECG signal for diagnosis of cardiovascular disease” is in progress. The project has won multiple competitions, and has been shortlisted for IGNITE funding.

Members

• Dr. Saima Zafar, Director, SNRG and Principal Investigator

• Dr. Ali Hammad Akbar, Collaborator and Co-Principal Investigator

• Feroz Ahmed, Research Assistant

• Mohammad Ahmed Khan, Research Assistant

• Amna Ehsan, PhD student

Students (with significant contributions)

• Feroz Ahmed

• Usman Ayub

• Syed Faseeh Ul Hassan

• Hafiza Maliha Shabbir

• Khushbakt Munir Bhatti

• Hira Khalid

• Chaudhry Fahad Ali

• Rana Hamza Ayub

• Bilal Hasani

• Sana Jabbar

Selected Projects and Theses

• Artificial intelligence-based real-time classification of ECG signal for diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (2023)

• Internet of Things, cloud computing, and machine learning-based non-invasive Diabetes Management System (2023)

• Load forecasting for smart grid using deep learning techniques (2022)

• Securing Internet of Things network using blockchain Hyperledger Fabric technology (2022)

• Exploring In-depth features of Azure IoT through implementation of telemetry data application (2022)

• Unreal Engine and artificial intelligence-based real-time Digital Home Assistant (2022)

• Evaluating optimal duration of PSM & eDRX timers for NB-IoT devices (2021)

• Temperature supervision of Covid-19 vaccine supply chain using blockchain (2021)

• Internet of Things Based Smart Pandemic Management System Underlining Covid-19 (2021)

• Internet of Things-based Vehicle Tracking and Monitoring System (2021)

• Permissioned automobile manufacturing value chain through blockchain (2020)

• Blockchain based security for Internet of Things healthcare application (2020)

• SHA-3 algorithm-based authentication scheme for VANETs (2020)

• Performance analysis of Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) deployment modes (2020)

• Hierarchical clustering in 5G MIMO-based future Internet of Things (2020)

• Design and analysis of Demand Side Management in Smart Grid (2019)

• Auto-scaling of Virtual Network Functions in a cloud-based environment (2019)

• Propagation channel characterization for 28 GHz & 36 GHz millimeter-wave 5G frequency band (2019)

• Performance analysis and optimization of RPL in mobile wireless sensor networks (2019)

• Calculating the cortical thickness of brain for optimal transcranial direct current stimulation (2019)

• Layout optimization of wireless sensor network using meta-heuristic algorithms (2019)

• Remote Heart Beat Monitoring System (2019)

• An IoT based real-time environmental monitoring system using Arduino and cloud service (2018)

• Inter-cluster communication in wireless sensor networks (2017)

• Throughput and Delay Analysis of AODV, DSDV and DSR Routing Protocols in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (2016)

• On Comparison of TCP Variants with respect to Throughput and Fairness (2016)

• Comparing AODV and DSR Routing Protocols for Connectivity Restoration in Wireless Sensor Networks (2016)

• Performance analysis of DCTCP on data centre networks (2015)

• Elastic Tree with adaptive link rate to reduce energy consumption in data centre networks (2015)

• Effective communication mechanism for Neighbourhood Area Network in Smart Grid (2014)

• Connectivity restoration in sensor networks through collaborative network Architecture (2014)

• Performance evaluation of routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks (2013)

• Delay analysis of MANET routing protocols (2012)

Selected Publications

• F. Ahmad and S. Zafar, "SoC-Based Implementation of 1D Convolutional Neural Network for 3-Channel ECG Arrhythmia Classification via HLS4ML," IEEE Embedded Systems Letters, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1109/LES.2024.3354-81 (Published in the Early Access) (IF: 1.6)

• S. Zafar, U. Ayub, H. I. Alkhammash, N. Ullah, “Framework for Efficient Auto-Scaling of Virtual Network Functions in a Cloud Environment,” Sensors, 22, 7597. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22197597 (IF: 3.847)

• S. Zafar, S. F. U. Hassan, A. Mohammad, A. A. Al-Ahmadi, N. Ullah, “Implementation of a Distributed Framework for Permissioned Blockchain-Based Secure Automotive Supply Chain Management,” Sensors, 22, 7367. 2022 https://doi.org/10.3390/s22197367 (IF: 3.847)

• S. Zafar, K. M. Bhatti, M. Shabbir, F. Hashmat, A. H. Akbar, “Integration of Blockchain and Internet of Things: Challenges and Solutions.” Annals of Telecommunications, 77:1-2:13-32. 2022 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12243-021-00858-8 (IF: 1.444)

• S. Zafar, H. Khalid, “Free Space Optical Networks: Applications, Challenges and Research Directions,” Wireless Personal Communications, 21:1:429-457. 2021 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-021-08644-4 (IF: 1.671)

• S. A. Hashmi, C. F. Ali, S. Zafar, “Internet of things and cloud computing-based energy management system for demand side management in smart grid.” International Journal of Energy Research, 45:1:1007-1022. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.6141. (IF: 5.164)

• S. Zafar, A. Bashir, S. A. Chaudhry, “Mobility-Aware Hierarchical Clustering in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks,” IEEE Access, 2019. 7:20394-20403. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2896938. (IF: 3.367)

• S. Zafar, S. A. Chaudhry, S. Kiran, “Adaptive TrimTree: Green data center network through resource consolidation, selective connectedness and energy proportional computing,” Energies, 2016. 9(10):797. https://doi.org/10.3390/en9100797. (IF: 3.004)

• S. Zafar, A. Bashir, S. A. Chaudhry, “On implementation of DCTCP on three-tier and fat-tree data center network topologies,” SpringerPlus 2016, 5:766. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-2454-4. (IF: 1.780)

• S. Jabbar, A. H. Akbar, S. Zafar, M. M. Quddoos, M. Hussain, “VISTA: Achieving cumulative vision through energy efficient silhouette recognition of mobile targets through collaboration of visual sensor nodes”, Springer EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing, 2014, 2014:32. https://doi.org/10.1186/1687-5281-2014-32. (IF: 1.789)

• B. Hasani, S. Zafar, A. H. Akbar, B. A. Magsi, “Collaborative routing and data dissemination architecture for commercial wireless sensor networks”, Springer EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2013, 2013:54. https://doi.org/10.1186/1687-1499-2013-54. (IF: 1.408)

• S. Zafar, A. H. Akbar, S. Jabbar, “A gating mechanism for border node assisted association of Wireless Personal Area Networks,” SpringerPlus 2012, 1:12. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-1-12. (IF: 1.780)

• S. Zafar, A. H. Akbar, S. Jabbar, N. M. Sheikh, “SET - Session layer-assisted Efficient TCP management architecture for 6LoWPAN with multiple gateways” Springer EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking 2010, Volume 2010, Article ID 936457, 20 pages. https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/936457. (IF: 1.408)

• M. H. Farooq, M. Zain, M. B. Khalid, S. Zafar, “Easy-Weigh-Out: Design and Implementation of Internet of Things-based Smart Luggage System”, International Journal of Online and Biomedical Engineering, 2021. 17(3):37-48. https://online-journals.org/index.php/i-joe/article/view/17165/8809

• M. F. Shafeeq, A. H. Akbar, S. Zafar, “SNAG: Collaborative Routing Architecture for Sensor-based Information at SMS Gateway in Cellular Networks,” International Journal of Wireless Information Networks, 2019. pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10776-019-00451-w.

• S. Zafar, G. Miraj, R. Baloch, D. Murtaza, K. Arshad, “An IoT based real-time environmental monitoring system using Arduino and cloud service,” Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, 2018. 8(4):3238-3242. https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.2144

• S. Zafar, U. Ejaz, “SCTP-aware Link Layer Retransmission Mechanism for Smart-grid Communication Network,” Engineering Technology & Applied Science Research, 2016. 6(4):1093-1098. https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.685

• S. Shahid, S. Zafar, M. Imam, M. U. Chishtee, and H. Ehsan, “Remote Heart Beat Monitoring System,” NFC IEFR Journal of Engineering and Scientific Research, 2019. 7(1):5-10. http://nijesr.com/ojs/index.php/archive/article/view/247.

• Y. Abbas, S. Zafar, A. H. Akbar, “SNS: Architecture for Sensor Network-based Services via Internet Service Provider,” Pakistan Journal of Engineering & Applied Sciences, 2019. 24:97-109. https://journal.uet.edu.pk/ojs_old/index.php/pjeas/article/view/1660/318.

• S. Zafar, A. H. Akbar, “Inter-cluster communication in wireless sensor networks,” International Journal of Computer Networks and Communications Security,” 2017. 5(1):1-6. https://www.ijcncs.org/published/volume5/issue1/p1_5-1.pdf.

• S. Zafar, K. Taj, A. H. Akbar, K. Kim, “Comparing AODV and DSR Routing Protocols for Connectivity Restoration in Wireless Sensor Networks,” International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, 2016. 14(9):554-560.

• M. A. Khan, Z. Nauman, M. Farooq, and S. Zafar, “Internet of Things and machine learning-based Diabetes Management System,” 2023 International Conference on IT and Industrial Technologies (ICIT 2023), Chinniot-Faisalabad, Pakistan, 2023, (accepted)

• T. Ramzan and S. Zafar, "Blockchain-based Security for Internet of Medical Things Application," 2022 International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ICCWS), Islamabad, Pakistan, 2022, pp. 69-74, doi: 10.1109/ICCWS56285.2022.9998443.

• S. Zafar and S. Saleem, "Propagation Channel Characterization of 28 GHz and 36 GHz Millimeter-Waves for 5G Cellular Networks," 2022 International Conference on Emerging Trends in Electrical, Control, and Telecommunication Engineering (ETECTE), Lahore, Pakistan, 2022, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/ETECTE55893.2022.10007312.

• S. Jawad, H. Munsif, A. Azam, A. H. Ilahi and S. Zafar, "Internet of Things-based Vehicle Tracking and Monitoring System," 2021 15th International Conference on Open Source Systems and Technologies (ICOSST), 15-16 December 2021, Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science, UET Lahore, Pakistan. pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/ICOSST53930.2021.9683883.

• A. Iqbal and S. Zafar, "SHA-3 Algorithm-based Authentication Scheme for Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks," 2021 2nd Annual International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ICCWS), 23-24 November 2021, NCCS, Islamabad, Pakistan. pp. 16-23, doi: 10.1109/ICCWS53234.2021.9703025.

• A. Mahmood, S. Zafar, “Performance analysis of NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) deployment modes,” 2019 22nd International Multitopic Conference (INMIC) 29-30 Nov, 2019, FAST NU Islamabad, Pakistan. https://doi.org/10.1109/INMIC48123.2019.9022748.

• M. Qasim, S. Zafar, “Performance evaluation of BEEM clustering algorithm in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks,” 2019 22nd International Multitopic Conference (INMIC) 29-30 Nov, 2019, FAST NU Islamabad, Pakistan. https://doi.org/10.1109/INMIC48123.2019.9022739.

• S. Zafar, A. H. Akbar, M. Amjad, S. Shams, S. A. Chaudhry, J. Seuk, B. Roh, K. H. Kim, “BRIDGE: BoRder-node assistance for common Interest-based Diffusion through a Gating mEchanism for collocated WPANs”, Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Emerging Technologies ICET, 11-13 October 2010, Islamabad, Pakistan.

• S. Zafar, S. Jabbar, A. H. Akbar, N. M. Sheikh, “Staggered-TCP for parallel split-sessions across multiple proxies in heterogeneous networks”, 2010 5th International Conference on Future Information Technology, FutureTech 2010, 21-23 May 2010, Busan, South Korea. https://doi.org/10.1109/FUTURETECH.2010.5482728.

• S. Zafar, W. Younis, N. M. Sheikh, “The Compensation of Head Motion Artifacts Using an Infrared Tracking System and an Algorithm in CT (Computerized Tomography) Imaging”, 2007 International Conference on Electrical Engineering, April 11-12, 2007, Lahore, Pakistan. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICEE.2007.4287347.