A graduate student from the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Technology (Hasnaa H. AbdulKareem) has been awarded a Master of Science degree in “Smart Monitoring System Design for Air Pollution Avoidance Based on Wireless Sensor Network”, on 13 November, 2019 at the conference hall of the Computer Engineering Department.

This thesis presents air pollution monitoring system based on wireless sensor network. The proposed system contains two different sensor nodes connected to the Raspberry Pi main server. These two sensor nodes contain air gases sensors to detect harmful gases in the air and monitored by microcontrollers.

Readings of sensors are stored on the main database system of raspberry pi. MySQL database system is used because it is expandable, moreover web service is implemented to allow real time monitoring and provide user interfacing. Also, MQTT protocol was implemented to send and receive messages between sensor nodes and the main server.

The results of system are compared to the results of microtector II gas detector device which is very efficient and precise. The results of both microtector and the proposed system are the same. The results of the proposed system prototype verified the expected aims, namely: air pollution system monitoring and avoidance.

The discussion committee consisted of four members, Prof. Dr. Ahmed S. Abdul-Amir from the University of Technology – Iraq, Computer Engineering Department as Chairman, Asst. Prof. Dr. Zainab T. Al-Essa from the Baghdad University, College of Engineering, Electrical Engineering Department as a member, Dr. Azhar A. Kamel from the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry, Research and Development Department as a member, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Hassan J. Hassan from the University of Technology – Iraq, Computer Engineering Department as a member and supervisor.

A graduate student from the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Technology (Hasan Mudhafar Qays) has been awarded a Master of Science degree in “Drone Based Mail Distribution System”, on 14 November, 2019 at the conference hall of the Computer Engineering Department.

In this thesis, a quadcopter will be used for mail delivery between many destination points. The quadcopter is executing an autonomous flight using the concept of companion computer. This computer acts as Onboard Control Unit (OCU). Raspbeny PI 3 (RPI3) is used as OCU to control the quadcopter movement by sending commands to the Flight Controller (FC). The concept of OCU is useful to perform an additional task to the autopilot and provide such smart capability such as: path planning and power estimation which cannot be done by the flight controller alone.

The proposed system consists of five modules to achieve the required goal; Autonomous flight module, path planning module, notification module, power estimation module and web interface module for easy used by the end-user.

The result of controlling the quadcopter give an error of three to five meters when reaching the destination point depending on GPS signal. The total flight time of the proposed quadcopter is6 minutes and 15second to visit five destination points with total distance of flight is 249.08 meters.

The discussion committee consisted of four members, Prof. Dr. Raad Hamdan Dhahir from Al-Mustansiriyah University, Engineering College, Electrical Engineering Department as Chairman, Asst. Prof. Dr. Safana Madhar Raafat from the University of Technology – Iraq, Control and Systems Engineering Department as a member, Asst. Prof. Dr. Bassim AbdulBaki Jumaa from the University of Technology – Iraq / Computer Engineering Department as a member and supervisor, and Dr. Ayman Dawood Salman from the University of Technology – Iraq / Computer Engineering Department as a member and supervisor.

In consistency with its scientific and applied orientation, the University of Technology signed a memorandum of understanding with Al-Aswar Company (a leading company in the field of networks, fiber-optic cable and energy solutions) to upgrade the infrastructure of the university by setting up three laboratories, one of which is the networks lab in the Compute Engineering Department.

Under the patronage of the University President (Prof. Dr. Emad H. Al-Husseini) and the supervision of Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry – studies, planning and follow-up department, the university proceeded the inauguration of the networks laboratory, on Thursday,14-11-2019.

The inauguration was attended by the university president representative (Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Jawad Kadhem), the University Scientific Affairs Deputy (Prof. Dr. Jawad Kadhm Ali), the University Administrative Affairs Deputy (Asst. Prof. Dr. Abdullah Saadoun Salman), the higher education and research minister representative (the Studies, Planning and Follow-up Department General Director Dr. Ihab Naji Abbas), al-aswar company representative (Eng. Firas Qasim), number of departments heads, faculty members, and staff of the university.

The responsible of the Computer Engineering Department management, Scientific Affairs Deputy (Asst. Prof. Dr. Hassan Jalil Hassan), welcomed the honored guests and commenced the inauguration with the national anthem.

Then, the university president representative said in his speech, “This good and unique initiative works to provide the industry with highly skilled engineers that contribute to the development and economy sustainability in the country. Furthermore, it will prepare students to join the labor market and maintain the scientific and academic development”.

After that, the higher education and scientific research minister representative said in his speech, “This initiative is successful in providing after graduation services like in cooperation with the Career Development Unit to enable them to have an employment potental, in addition this is a significant contribution from the ministry and local companies interested in community service”.

Later, al-aswar company representative (Eng. Firas Qasim) mentioned in his speech “in the companies’ efforts to support the higher education sector by providing support through training and development to students and in cooperation with the university, Al-Aswar Company constructed a fully equipped with the latest technology network lab in the Computer Engineering Department as a part of training requirements with a modern internationally recognized curriculum for graduate and unemployed students to enable them obtaining experience and efficiency that qualifies them to engage in the labor market”.

At the end, The Administrative Affairs Deputy (Dr. Ahmed Saad Karim) gave an introductory presentation in the laboratory, stating that this lab is a qualitative shift for students to transfer theoretical experience to the practical field and how they can benefit from training in this laboratory as it uses OSI layer two networking devices.

Three academic staff members from the University of Technology-Iraq, Prof. Dr. Ahmed S. Abdul-Amir from the Computer Engineering Department, Asst. Prof. Dr. Haider Abd Dhahed from the Mechanical Engineering Department, and Asst. Lect. Israa Abbas Jabr from the of Control and Systems Engineering Department published the research paper “A Neural Networks based Predictive Voltage-Tracking Controller Design for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Model” in the Journal of Engineering.

This work proposed a new development of predictive voltage-tracking control algorithm for the proton exchange membrane fuel cell model (PEMFCs) using neural network technique based on-line auto-tuning intelligent algorithm. The aim of proposed robust feedback nonlinear neural predictive voltage controller is to find precisely and quickly the optimal hydrogen partial pressure action in order to control the stack terminal voltage of the (PEMFC) model for N-step ahead prediction.