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From Capstone Project to a Potential Entrepreneurship: A Start-up Grant of around 20,000 USD (75,000 AED) Awarded by Huawei- Seeds for the Future
Aug/Oct 2019 | HCT FETS E-Weekly Newsletters, a) Vol. 3, Issue No. 01, August 29, 2019, b) Vol. 3 Issue No 08 October 17 2019
The new HCT 4.0 strategy is aligned to the directives from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum relating to the 4th Industrial Revolution. It directs to formulate graduations producing entrepreneurs. While aiming this strategy, Capstone design projects (CDPs) could prove to be a good venue to integrate the directives. However, a CDP requires several layers of 1) out-of-the-box thinking, 2) brainstorming, and eventually 3) transformation to convert to a real-world start-up feasibility. While aiming at this process, students are encouraged to utilize their skillset to address real problems and create innovative solutions that have demonstrated potential for commercialization. The backstage captain of this proposed ship should surely be the advisor of students, who holds the experience to cruise and steer this ship.
A potential CDP was proposed and eventually supervised by Dr. Haris M. Khalid in the area of intelligent transportation systems. The project talked about an adaptive seat-based safety system, which could enhance the safety feature and thus reduce the impact of high-speed accidents. The implementation steps of this CDP transformation into a potential start-up plan took place as follows: 1) A pre-mature idea started its implementation in 201810 Semester. 2) The initial achievement of the project got nominated in HCT System-wide CDP Competition (April 2019). It got recognition by winning the 3rd prize in the category of Electrical Engineering (See Fig. 1). 3) The upgrade of the initial prototype performance was offered by Sharjah Police in May-June 2019. Fig. 2 shows a group photo of the mentor, Dr. Haris M. Khalid and the students (Shamma Ali Ahmed Baniyas, Sara Faisal Ibrahim Al Zarooni) with the upgraded prototype. 4) The revamp version of the idea got selected by Huawei for “Huawei – Seeds for the Future” Start-up Program (May 2019) on PITCH DAY 1, 5) The students got short-listed to visit Huawei Headquarters in China in June 2019. A 2-week training took place in July-August 2019. The proceedings of a training session at Huawei training center (Fig. 3), Fig. 4 shows the training completion certificate distribution at Huawei University. 6) Out of 475 projects, an enhanced version of the idea was declared finalists at PITCH DAY 2. The event took place in Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) Office in Dubai on October 01, 2019. (See Fig. 5), 7) Awarded 75,000 AED (25,000 for Incubation + 50,000 for trip to Huawei Headquarters) to incubate the project. The award distribution event took place on October 07, 2019 (See Fig. 6 and 7).
Thus, a CDP embryo got fertilized with layers of enhancements and improvements to a potential entrepreneurship idea. Since, the start-up idea holds a set of novelties, the idea is required to be protected. This would involve the: 1) proprietary of the concept, 2) proprietary of the mathematical model, 3) proprietary of the technology, and 4) proprietary of the algorithm to be protected.
Fig. 1 Participation and Awards Distribution at Main Auditorium, Dubai Men’s College, Dubai, UAE in April 2019. From Right to Left 1) Dr. Mohammad Al Jarrah – the Vice-President of Academic Affairs and the Executive Dean, 2) Shamma Ali Ahmed Baniyas (winning CDP project student member), 3) Sara Faisal Ibrahim Al Zarooni (winning CDP project student member), 4) Dr. Haris M. Khalid (mentor)
Fig. 2 From Right to Left 1) Prototype of Adaptive Seatbelt-Based Safety System, 2) Sara Faisal Ibrahim Al Zarooni, 3) Shamma Ali Ahmed Baniyas, and 4) Dr. Haris M. Khalid (mentor)
Fig. 3 Training Session at Huawei Training Center
Fig. 4 Training Completion Certificate Distribution at Huawei University
Fig. 5 Declared finalists at PITCH DAY 2 – Huawei, TRA Office, Dubai
Fig. 6 Award Distribution for Incubation Cheque at Sheikh Saeed Hall, TRA Stand, GITEX Technology Week
Fig. 7 Group photo of the mentor and students after receiving the Incubation Cheque
Capstone Projects Got Recognition in IEEE Student Day and HCT Senior Design Projects Competition
May 2019 | HCT FETS E-Weekly Newsletter, Volume 2, Issue No. 33, May 16, 2019
Capstone design projects are involved in the sequence of an academic year to nurture the graduating students with hands-on experience of design, build, and test. Aiming UAE’s national strategy on research and innovation, three Senior Capstone Projects supervised by Dr. Haris M. Khalid got nominated to present in IEEE Student Day and HCT Design Projects Competition. The events took place on April 27, 2019 and May 02, 2019 respectively. These projects have been supervised at Sharjah Campuses in the area of 1) intelligent transportation systems, and 2) renewable energy. Two of these projects (See Fig. 1(a-b)) got nominated to present in IEEE Student Day. Fig. 1(a) (Student Members – Alya Ibrahim Almatrooshi, Eman Nasser Al Abboudi, Fatima Ibrahim Almarzooqi, Fatma Ahmed Almulla, Shamma Humaid Alshamsi) shows the prototype of the project on resilient autonomous vehicle, which is a vital concept towards transportation systems. The concept brings features which could provide enhancements to decision making while improving on information and support systems. Information and support systems involve many applications such as traffic volume stream, speed of vehicles, variation detection, anti-collision systems etc. Fig. 1(b) (Student Members – Amal Saeed Almheiri, Asma Ahmad Mohamad, Lamya Abdelaziz Al Hajeri, Moza Ali Al Ali) shows the prototype of the project on electrified roads, which could instantly charge the running EVs, while decreasing the size and thereby cost of the battery packs to a considerable extent. The focus of the project is built on by developing self-configured EVs, which could extract some volts and self-charge itself while being in operation. The third project in Fig. 1(c) (Student Members – Sara Faisal Ibrahim Alzarooni, Shamma Ali Ahmed Baniyas, Amna Thani Zayid Al Gheilani, Aysha Abdulla Ali Alshehhi, Meera Muhammad Saleem) got nominated in HCT System-wide Design Projects Competition and got a recognition by winning the 3rd position in the category of Electrical Engineering. The award distribution can be seen in Fig. 2. This project aims to restore impacts of a vehicle crash. The basic form of any vehicle safety system is the seat-belt. However, cases have been reported, where drivers have received severe injuries to abdominal and neck while wearing the seat-belt. This was due to the snubbing action of the safety belt system, which results in different patterns of internal injuries. This project proposes to enhance the safety feature of the seat-belt system. The solution proposes an intelligent retractor system, which could utilize the belt webbing more appropriately during the crash. This was intended to achieve by controlling the: 1) fit of belt webbing, and a 2) seat actuation function, while restoring the seating state of passenger during skids and abrupt maneuvers. The project is also aimed to earn seed funding to extend to a prototype with enhanced safety features and a Journal Publication. This would eventually flourish the resume of students with 1) a world-class recognition of a capstone project, 2) student names registered as an author on Google Scholar at undergraduate level, 3) the work could be considered for scholarship while pursuing higher education. More technical details on these projects can be found on: http://harismkhalid.com/research-projects
Fig. 1 Prototype of a) Resilient Autonomous Vehicle, b) Concept of Electrified Roads, and c) Adaptive Seat-Belt Based Safety System
Fig. 2 Participation and Awards Distribution at Main Auditorium, Dubai Men’s College, Dubai, UAE. From Right to Left 1) Dr. Mohammad Al Jarrah – the Vice-President of Academic Affairs and the Executive Dean, 2) Shamma Ali Ahmed Baniyas (winning project student member), 3) Sara Faisal Ibrahim Al Zarooni (winning project student member), and 4) Dr. Haris M. Khalid (mentor)
UAE Space Agency Announces Winners of ‘Tests in Orbit’ Competition
May 2019 | Khaleej Times, May 02, 2019, Page no. 9
The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) has revealed the winners of the student experiment competition ‘Tests in Orbit’, sponsored by the UAE Space Agency and organised by The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT). The winning teams were announced during the final workshop of the competition, which was held on March 18, 2019 at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, where the final contestants presented their proposals in front of the judging panel. Dr. Haris M. Khalid was one of the members of judging panel representing as an Energy Specialist.
Fig. 1 Group Photo of Finalists of ‘Tests in Orbit’ Competition with Dignities from UAE Space Agency, Dream-up and Nano-Racks
More than 70 university students submitted proposals for ‘Life in Space’ and ‘Energy in Space’ experiments. The two winning teams of ‘Tests in Orbit’ were New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and Khalifa University. The winners will have the opportunity to work alongside space experts from Nano-Racks and Dream-Up, to build their experiments and have them launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020. More details can also be found at: http://satelliteprome.com/news/uae-space-agency-announces-winners-of-tests-in-orbit-competition/
Five Senior Design Capstone Projects of Engineering Got Accepted in IEEE ICITM 2019, CAMBRIDGE, UK
March 2019 | HCT FETS E-Weekly Newsletter, Volume 2, Issue No. 25, March 14, 2019
From its inception and academic curriculum, a capstone design sequence always prides a hands-on experience of students, where phases of design, build, and test are implemented. Aiming UAE’s national strategy on research and innovation, eight Senior Capstone Projects were supervised by Dr. Haris M. Khalid. These projects have been supervised at Sharjah Campuses in the area of 1) renewable, clean energy, 2) technology sector, and 3) intelligent transportation systems. Five out of these eight projects earned a recognition at IEEE 8th International Conference on Industrial Technology and Management (IEEE ICITM 2019). Two of those projects also earned the exception of best oral presentation. One of these projects was presented and won by the students from women’s campus, Eman Y. M. Al-Ali and Mariam A. Al-Ansaari. The other project was presented and won by the co-author and mentor at men’s campus, Dr. Ishaq G. M. Al Blushi. It is indeed a platform of great achievement for the HCT students that their work has been accepted for publication and presentation at an International forum. This would eventually flourish their resume with 1) a world-class recognition of a capstone project, 2) student names registered as an author on Google Scholar at undergraduate level, 3) the work could be considered for scholarship while pursuing higher education. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 shows the details of students members of these five projects and the award distribution at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, UK respectively. The names of students in these five projects are 1) From Sharjah Women’s Campus – Eman Y. M. Al-Ali, Mariam A. Al Ansari, Huda G. Ali, Fatima Yousif, Lamya A. Al-Hajeri, Asma Ahmad, Moza A. Salim, Amal S. Al-Mheiri, Fatma A. Al-Mulla, Shamma H. Al-Shamsi, Alya I. Al-Matrooshi, Eman N. Al-Abboudi, and Fatima I. Al-Marzooqi, 2) From Sharjah Men’s Campus – S. Al Mualla, M. Thani, A. Khalid, R. Al Razooqi, Majed Al Shehhi, Yousef A. Al-Raeesi, Jasem K. Abdulla, Omar A. Al-Shehhi, Fahad I. Al-Mazam, Hasan A. Al-Beshr, and Abdulla K. Al-Awadhi. The accepted articles are now available on Google Scholar and IEEE Xplore Digital Library. More technical details on these projects can be found on: http://harismkhalid.com/research-projects
Fig. 1 Group photo of all the accepted participants from Women’s Campus with Dr. Haris M. Khalid
Fig. 2 Participation and Awards Distribution at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, UK, announced winners were Eman Y. M. Al-Ali, Mariam A. Al-Ansaari, and Dr. Ishaq G. M. Al Blushi
Battery Cell Real-Time Simulator: Training Sessions at HCT leading to Applied Research
July 2018 | HCT FETS E-Weekly Newsletter, Issue No. 33, July 05, 2018
Dr. Haris M. Khalid won a research grant at HCT on “Health Monitoring and Cyber-Attack Immunity of Electrified Vehicle’s Energy storage system”. It could provide a solution towards an effective health monitoring and safe operation of Li-Ion batteries, which is quiet crucial for the automotive and energy sector. This can be further observed in Fig. 1 and 2, where the full operation is dependent on the power pack and battery management system (BMS).
Fig. 1 Working structure of an electric vehicle
Fig. 2 Fusion of battery storage systems into smart grids
Considering the concerns, the aim here is to develop new methods for real-time characterizing and adaptively managing battery systems to ensure their optimal and healthy operation, which is critical for accomplishing clean, efficient and sustainable energy development in transportation and power sectors.
The training session took place after the arrival of equipment. Possible applications were discussed with particular focus on batteries as 1) Energy Storage devices for smart grid, and 2) Energy source device for electric vehicles. The attendees were a diversified audience from electronics, mechanical engineering and IT background. A system and component-level understanding was created to connect all the disciplines. The test cases for different applications are yet to be developed, which will further lead to a series of training sessions. Fig. 3 shows a group photo at the completion of training session. Attendees were awarded with professional development hours (PDH) certificates.
Fig. 3 Training session held on June 27-28, 2018