School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering

The Advanced Systems, Modelling and Simulation Research Group undertakes leading research into challenging complex systems problems involving enterprises, people, processes and technologies. Our research advances modelling and simulation methods to provide greater insight and understanding, encompassing a wide range of methods from abstract mathematical representations, sophisticated computer simulations through to hardware in the loop simulation. The focus of this research is not only on development of better modelling and simulation methodologies, but also on the application of state of the art techniques to help understand and predict the behaviour of complex systems. Applications for our research span many industry sectors including aerospace, automotive, construction, counter-terrorism, defence, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, transport and virtual engineering.

At the heart of our approach is the strong desire to balance stakeholder perspectives with input from engineering and non-engineering disciplines. This application of a multi-disciplinary systems engineering methodology is key to performing the cross-domain trade-offs required to deliver future optimal solutions.

Verification, validation and assurance are foremost in our minds as we develop appropriate model based systems engineering solutions.

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Research Specialisms

• Advanced collaborative environments
• Advanced visualization
• Autonomous systems
• Autonomy
• Complex system behaviour modelling and representation
• Emergence in systems
• High performance computing
• Human factors
• Human in the loop simulation
• Idotypic networks
• Integrated sensor simulation
• Integrated training
• Machine vision
• Mathematical modelling
• Medical imaging
• Model based systems engineering
• Reaction diffusion equations
• Semi-autonomous systems
• Synthetic and virtual environments
• Systems engineering
• Unmanned aerial vehicles
• Visual analytics
• Virtual engineering
• Virtual manufacturing

Our research is strongly supported both by government agencies such as EPSRC, MoD, TSB and by major industrial organisations (please refer to projects page). Over the years the group has developed strong links with research groups in Australia, France, Netherlands and USA.

Dr. Quoc Do, Dr. Stephen C. Cook, Dr. Todd Mansell, Dr. Roy S. Kalawsky and Dr. Rashmi Jain, Special Issue on Systems Engineering Education, International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems (IJIDSS), Volume 2 - Issue 3 – 2009.

Price, S. and Summers, R., Clinical Knowledge Management: The Role of an Integrated Drug Delivery System, Idea Group, Hershey, USA, May 2005, pp 182-195.

Vyas, H. and Summers, R., ''An Information-Driven Approach to Pharmacogenomics'', Pharmacogenomics, 6(5), 1st July 2005, 473-480, ISSN 15701603.

Doherty, N.F., Dudhal, N., Coombs, C.R., Summers, R., Vyas, H., Hepworth, M. and Kettle, E., ''The Application of Benefits Realisation Practices to the Development of a Clinical Trials Support System'', European Conference on Information Management and Evaluation, Montpellier, France, September 2007, 11 pp.

Zheng, J., Hu, S., Chouliaras, V. and Summers, R., ''Feasibility of Imaging Photoplethysmography'', In: Proceedings of BioMedical Engineering and Informatics, IEEE Computer Society, Sanya, Hainan, China, May 2008, pp. 72-75.

Chouliaras, V., Hu, S., Summers, R., Echiadis, A., Azorin-Peris, V., King, I. and Zheng, J., ''Real-time VLSI Architecture for Bio-Medical Monitoring'', In: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Information Technology and Application in Biomedicine, Shenzhen, China, May 2008, pp. 463-468.

Summers, R., Vyas, H., Dudhal, N., Doherty, N.F., Coombs, C.R. and Hepworth, M. “Innovations in Clinical Trials”, In: Proceedings of the 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Vancouver, Canada, August 2008.

Summers, R. and Betker, A.L., “Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Bioengineering (Minisymposium)”, In: Proceedings of the 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Vancouver, Canada, August 2008.

Doherty, N.F., Dudhal, N., Coombs, C., Summers, R., Vyas, H., Hepworth M. and Kettle, E.  (2008) “Towards an Integrated Approach to Benefits Realisation Management – Reflections from the Development of a Clinical Trials Support System”, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, vol. 11 (2), pp. 83-90. (www.ejise.com)

Price, S. and Summers R., “Exploration of Sector Level Roadmaps”, In Proceedings of the Third International Seville Seminar on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis, Seville, Spain, October 2008.

Summers, R., “Envisioning art: Engineering Icons”, Inaugural Lecture, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK, November, 2008.

Summers, R., “Knowledge Management in Clinical Trials”, In: The Evolution of Data Management in Pharma, Amsterdam, November, 2008 (Keynote: www.pharmadata-event.com)

Price, C. and Summers, R., (2009) “ Decision Support in Large Scale Healthcare Information Systems: The Challenge of Integrating Ontologies”, International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.

Summers, R., “Disruptive Technologies in Healthcare”, In: Proc. Symposium on Disruptive and Emerging Technologies in Healthcare”, City University, London, May 2009. (Keynote)

Summers, R., “From Disruption to Innovation” In: Proceedings of the VII IEEE UKRI PG Symposium on Biomedical Engineering, Oxford, July 2009. (Also available via IET.TV at …) (Keynote)

Mitchell, N., Randell, R., Foster, R., Dowding, D., Lattimer, V., Thompson, C., Cullum, N. and Summers, R. (2009), “A national survey of computerized decision support systems available to nurses in England”, Journal of Nursing Management.

Summers, R., Hu, S., Echiadis, A., Azorin-Peris, V. and Chouliaras, V. (2009), “Innovation for personalization: a healthcare case study” In: Proceedings of the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Minneapolis, USA, September 2009.

V.M.Dwyer,  Modeling the Electromigration Failure Time Distribution in Short Copper Interconnects', J Appl Phys 104, (2008), 053708

V. M. Dwyer, An Analytical Model of the Microstructure in Near-Bamboo Interconnects, J Phys D, 37, (2004), 422-431

P. C. Bressloff, V. M. Dwyer and M. J. Kearney, The localization-delocalization transition for drift diffusion in a random environment, Phys Rev Letts 25, (1996) 5075.

V. M. Dwyer, A. J. Franklin and D. S. Campbell, Thermal failure in semiconductor devices. Solid State Elect. 33, (1990) 553-560.

V. M. Dwyer and J. A. D. Matthew, The effects of elastic backscattering on the Auger or X-ray photoelectron spectra of solids. Surf. Sci. 143 (1984) 57-83.

Al-Najdawi, A., Kalawsky R.S. (2008a, December 10-13, 2008.). Quantitative quality assessment of video sequences - a human-based approach. Paper presented at the The 6th IEEE International Conference on Information, Communications, and Signal Processing (ICICS07), Singapore.

Al-Najdawi, A., Kalawsky, R.S. (2008b). Visual quality assessment of video and image sequences - a human based approach. Journal of Signal Processing Systems.

Al-Najdawi, A. Kalawsky, R.S. (2008c). A multi-objective optimization framework for video compression and transmission. Paper presented at the Communication Systems, Networks and Digital Signal Processing, 2008. CNSDSP 2008. 6th International Symposium, Austria.

Awang Rambli, D. R., & Kalawsky, R. S. (2006, July 6-7). Distance estimations in static images: Does viewing distance matter? Paper presented at the ACM International Conference 7TH ACM SIGCHI New Zealands chapter's international conference, Christchurch New Zealand.

Clarke, K., Lewin, M. R., Atkins, D., & Kalawsky, R. S. (2005, 25 October 2005). Testing a framework for multimodal control in the home environment. Paper presented at the Perspectives in Pervasive Computing, London.

Do, Q., Cook, S. C., Kalawsky, R. S., Jain, R., & Mansell, T. (2009). Special issue on systems engineering education. International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems (IJIDSS), 2(3).

Green, W., Gyi, D., Kalawsky, R. S., & Atkins, D. (2006, 10th - 14th July). A contextual enquiry: Studying user requirements for future home technology. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the International Ergonomics Association 2006 Congress:Meeting Diversity in Ergonomics, Maastricht, Nederlands.

Gyi, D., Kalawsky, R. S., Green, W., & Atkins, D. (2005). What do people really want from their 'smart homes'. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Las Vagas, Nevada, USA.

Heatley, D. J. T., Kalawsky, R. S., Neild, I., & Bowman, P. A. (2006). Integrated sensor networks for monitoring the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals. In A. Steventon & S. Wright (Eds.), Intelligent spaces the application of pervasive ict series: Computer communications and networks (pp. 219 - 237): Springer.

Holmes, I. R., & Kalawsky, R. S. (2007, June 2007). Delivering effective and usable interactive 3d visualization on lightweight mobile devices. Paper presented at the Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics 2007 (TPCG'07), Bangor, Wales, UK.

Kalawsky, R. S. (2006). Human factors audit of selected e-science projects: Joint Information Systems Committee.

Kalawsky, R. S. (2009a). Gaining greater insight through interactive visualization: A human factors perspective. In A. T. Zudilova-Seinstra E., van Liere R., (Ed.), Trends in interactive visualization (pp. 119-154). Netherlands: Springer.

Kalawsky, R. S. (2009b). Grand challenges for systems engineering research: Setting the agenda. Paper presented at the Conference on Systems Engineering Research, Loughborough, UK.

Kalawsky, R. S., & Al-Najdawi, A. (2007, Dec 2007). Quantitative quality assessment of video sequences - a human-based approach. Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on Information, Communications and Signal Processing, Singapore.

Kalawsky, R. S., & Holmes, I. R. (2007a, June 2007). Overcoming engineering challenges of providing an effective user interface to a large scale distributed synthetic environment on the us teragrid: A systems engineering success story. Paper presented at the INCOSE, San Diego.

Kalawsky, R. S., & Holmes, I. R. (2007b, June 24-28). Overcoming engineering challenges of providing an effective user interface to a large scale distributed synthetic environment on the us teragrid: A systems engineering success story. Paper presented at the Systems Engineering:   Key to Intelligent Enterprises, San Diego, California, USA.

Kalawsky, R. S., Nee, S. P., Holmes, I., & Coveney, P. V. (2005a). A grid enabled lightweight computational steering client: A.Net pda implementation. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, 363(1833), 1885-1894.

Kalawsky, R. S., O'Brien, J., & Coveney, P. V. (2005b). Improving scientists interaction with complex computational-visualisation environments based on a distributed grid infrastructure. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, 363(1833), 1867-1884.

Kalawsky, R. S., & Simpkin, G. (2006). Automating the display of third person/stealth views of virtual environments. Presence, 15(6), 717-739.

Limb, P. R., Armitage, S., Chin, J. S. Y., Kalawsky, R. S., Callaghan, V., Bull, P. M., et al. (2005, 25 October 2005). User interaction in a shared information space - a pervasive environment for the home. Paper presented at the Perspectives in Pervasive Computing, London.

O'Brien J. T., & Kalawsky R. S. (2007, June 2007). A novel control mechanism for distributed stream rendering. Paper presented at the Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics (TPCG'07), Bangor, Wales, UK.

O’Brien, J. T., & Kalawsky, R. S. (2007). A service agreement framework for grid based distributed rendering. Paper presented at the EPSRC e-Science All Hands Meeting.

Dani, S. and Burns, N.D., ''Supply Chain Transactions: A Psychological view of Buyer-Supplier relationships'', Proceedings of the Logistics Research Network 6th Annual Conference, Heriot-Watt University, 13th September 2001, pp 111-117, ISBN 1-870214-92-7. 

Dani, S. and Burns, N.D., ''Developing a Framework Based on a Psychological Perspective for Studying Buyer-Supplier Relationships'', Proceedings of SPIE Vol 4566, "Internet Based Enterprise Integration & Management", Paper 4566-04, Boston, USA, October 2001, 6 pp. 

Sharifi, H., Kehoe, D.F., Boughton, N.J., Michaelides, Z.M., Burns, N.D. and Dani, S., ''E-business Models in the Support of Demand Networks Alignment'', 13th Annual POMS Conference (2002), San Francisco, USA, 5th April 2002, 12 pp. 

Dani, S., Burns, N.D. and Backhouse, C.J., ''Modeling Voice and Exit Strategies within Industrial Network Relationships'', Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Engineering Management Conference, Cambridge, UK, 18th August 2002, pp 264-269, ISBN 0-7803-7385-5. 

Dani, S., Burns, N.D. and Backhouse, C.J., ''The Effect of Context Upon Leadership Behavior'', IEEE International Engineering Management Conference, New York, USA, 2nd November 2003, pp 120-124, ISBN 0-7803-8151-3.

Dani, S., Burns, N.D. and Backhouse, C.J., ''Human Aspects of Supply Chain Optimization'', IEEE International Engineering Management Conference, New York, USA, 2nd November 2003, pp 350-353, ISBN 0-7803-8151-3. 

Hopkins, J., Kehoe, D.F., Burns, N.D. and Dani, S., ''Strategies and Behaviour Experienced with Online Reverse Auctions Under Laboratory Conditions'', EUROMA Conference 2004, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, 27th June 2004, 10 pp. 

Dani, S. and Burns, N.D., ''Proactive Risk Management in Maritime Logistics'', Logistics Research Network 2007 Conference Proceedings, Kingston upon Hull, UK, September 2007, pp 499-504, ISBN 978-1-904564-19-5.


Dani, S. and Burns, N.D., ''Proactive risk management in Maritime logistics'', Proceedings of The Logistics Research Network Annual Conference 2007, University of Hull, 5th September 2007, pp 499-504, ISBN 978-1-904564-19-5. 

Deep, A., Guttridge, P., Dani, S. and Burns, N.D., ''Critical factors for selecting a 'lean-ERP' system in a manufacturing SME'', Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Responsive Manufacturing, Nottingham, UK, 17th September 2007, ..

Dani, S., Burns, N.D. and Backhouse, C.J., ''Decision making for innovation under uncertainty'', Proceedings of the Third World Conference on POM, Manufacturing Fundamentals: Necessity and Efficiency, Paper TA202, Tokyo, Japan, August 2008, pp 1379-1390, ISBN 978-488361-646-6.