News & Blog
Match Day at ERAU
Quentin Goss from our group presented a poster about his research at Match Day at ERAU, October 18, 2023. The purpose of the event is to connect faculty and their research groups with potential students who are interested in participating in undergraduate research.
The event was be a poster session held in a room at the Student Union. Students got to learn more about research the faculty has been conducting. As a senior PhD student, Quentin represented our research group . He showed different parts of his autonomous systems validation research such as parameter sampling, optimized test selection for autonomous vehicles and interpretation of black box modules.
Post date: December 4, 2023 10:21 AM
Two Demos at IEEE LCN
Graduate students from our group, Quentin Goss and Alejandro Gonzalez, presented their research with two demonstrations at the 48th IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (IEEE LCN) this week.
Quentin's demo focused on our open-source autonomous vehicle (AV) validation and verification (V&V) framework, PolyVerif, and presented a series of “Design for Test” modules focused on detection, localization, control, and path planning.
Alejandro's demo presented a simulation testbed for 3D data collection and hybrid aerial-terrestrial routing in urban environment using crowdsensing, implemented by agent-based modeling (ABM) and simulation.
Post date: Oct 04, 2023 2:14 PM
Paper Published
Our paper titled "A Two-Layered Approach for the Validation of an Operational Autonomous Shuttle" is published at the IEEE Access journal. This paper presents an approach that exploits both methods to find edge case scenarios and evaluates the software reliability of an existing AV shuttle, iseAuto, currently operating at the Tallinn University of Technology campus. To show the method’s effectiveness, a range of scenarios are generated and simulated for avoidance maneuvers by means of a low-fidelity simulator. Then, the scenarios that are found to be jeopardizing the AV are filtered and simulated by a high-fidelity simulator with the AV control software in the loop. Finally, to investigate the methodology and simulation reliability, a real study case is proposed using the AV shuttle. Results of the study suggest that the proposed toolchain is capable of tuning simulation models for automated driving development as well as validating safe AV operations.
Post date: September 9, 2023 5:29 PM
Two Papers Presented at IEEE MOST
Our group had two papers accepted and presented at the IEEE International Conference on Mobility: Operations, Services, and Technologies (MOST). Quentin Goss and John Thompson from our group attended the conference.
- The paper titled "A Strategy for Boundary Adherence and Exploration in Black-Box Testing of Autonomous Vehicles" was presented by John. In this paper, we propose a boundary adherence approach for autonomous vehicle validation that can explore the boundary between targeted and non-targeted behavior. This paper significantly improves and extends our previous approach that focused on generic black-box testing of AI systems by optimizing the algorithm itself, adding new tools for exploration, and applying the strategy to scenario-based AV testing.
- The paper titled "Integration of Formal Specification and Traffic Simulation for Scenario-Based Validation" was presented by Quentin. In this paper, we propose an approach which integrates an open-source network-based traffic simulator with an open-source formal scenario description language designed for formal scenario specification of autonomous vehicle validation scenarios. This approach provides the capability to describe, generate, and share abstract traffic scenarios for validation.
Post date: May 22, 2023 10:22 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "PolyVerif: An Open-Source Environment for Autonomous Vehicle Validation and Verification Research Acceleration." is accepted to the IEEE Access journal. This paper presents PolyVerif, the world’s first open-source solution focused on V&V researchers with the objective of accelerating the state-of-the-art for AV V&V research. PolyVerif provides an AI design and verification framework consisting of a digital twin creation process, an open-source AV engine, access to several open-source physics based simulators, and open-source symbolic test generation engines. PolyVerif’s objective is to arm V&V researchers with a framework which extends the state-of-the-art on any one of the many major axes of interest and use the remainder of the infrastructure to quickly demonstrate the viability of their solution. Given its open-source nature, researchers can also contribute their innovations to the project.
Post date: April 7, 2023 7:03 AM
NSF REU Site - Application Opened
The application site for our NSF REU Site: Cybersecurity Research of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is open. The deadline for applications is April 10, 2023.
The NSF REU Site aims to engage undergraduate students in a 10-week duration full-time summer program researching the topic of UAV cybersecurity, with projects covering aspects such as cyber-attacks and cyber defense mechanisms targeted at UAVs and privacy protection methods for UAV communication.
In addition to the participation in a faculty-led cybersecurity project, students will receive support for stipend ($6000), travel allowence ($600), meals, and on-campus housing.
Post date: March 9, 2023 10:32 AM
NSF Project Awarded
Dr. Akbas is a Co-PI for the recently awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) project “REU Site: Cybersecurity Research of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." This project aims to engage undergraduate students in a 10-week duration full-time summer program researching the topic of UAV cybersecurity, with projects covering aspects such as cyber-attacks and cyber defense mechanisms targeted at UAVs and privacy protection methods for UAV communication.
Post date: February 27, 2023 9:05 AM
Participation on Panel about Cyber Anomaly Detection
Dr. Akbas was a panelist at the “Aviation Research Considerations for Real Time Cyber Anomaly Detection" panel at the ERAU President's Forum on Research and Innovation Symposium on Aerospace Cyber Resilience. The panel and the audience discussed the need for timely aviation anomaly detection, technology priorities and the operational future. The panel was facilitated by FAA Research Cyber RE&D Program Manager Isidore Venetos and the other members were executives and researchers from Boeing, United, Collins, GE, and MIT Lincoln Labs.
Post date: February 08, 2023 12:36 PM
Paper presented
We presented our paper titled "Using Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation to Evaluate Collision Avoidance in UAS Swarms" at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). The paper explores the use of agent-based simulation to evaluate the characteristics and behaviors of collision avoidance for UAS swarms.
It was great to be a part of I/ITSEC, the largest modeling, simulation and training event in the world. It consists of peer-reviewed paper presentations, tutorials, special events, professional workshops, a commercial exhibit hall, a serious games competition, and STEM events for teachers and secondary students. I/ITSEC also emphasizes themes related to defense and security.
Post date: November 30, 2022 3:36 PM
Invited Talk at IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things
Dr. Akbas gave an invited talk and attended the accompanying panel at the IEEE World Forum of Internet of Things, topical track on computing:https://wfiot2022.iot.ieee.org/topi-03/.
The talk, "Challenges in Autonomous Vehicle Validation and an Open-Source Research Framework ", first presented the critical challenges in autonomous vehicle validation. Then, our open-source validation framework, "Autonomous Vehicle Validation Consortium" (https://www.avvc.net/), is introduced. The talk elaborated on the open issues, challenges, and future directions.
Post date: November 7, 2022 5:26 AM
Paper Presented
We presented our paper titled "Boundary Adherence and Exploration in High Dimensions for Validation of Black-Box Systems." at the IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (IEEE WFIoT2022). The paper presents an approach that allows for tree-based state space exploration algorithms to adhere to the boundary between targeted and non-targeted behavior. This algorithm provides boundary points that fall within a predictable and controllable margin of error. Additionally, this boundary adherence strategy applied to a Rapidly Exploring Random tree for two, three, and twenty dimensions.
Post date: November 04, 2022 2:14 AM
Seminar hosted
We hosted a seminar by Dr. Rahul Razdan as a part of the College of Engineering Seminar Series at ERAU. Dr. Razdan's talk was titled "Validation and Verification: The Achilles Heel of Artificial Intelligence Systems." Here is the abstract of his talk: AI/ML systems offer a fundamentally new tool for solving complex computing problems. However, this powerful tool also offers challenges in terms of robustness, efficiency, and verifiability. This talk will introduce the fundamental characteristics of AI/ML systems, their applicability in a variety of applications, and the challenges posed by these techniques. The later part of the talk will focus on the ground mobility (Autonomous Vehicle) problem with a deep dive in some joint research between ERAU, UC Berkeley, Tallinn Institute of Technology, Tokyo University, and Florida Polytechnic University in an open-source system for validating AV systems.
The second part of the talk mainly focused on our joint open source project Autonomous Vehicle Verification Consortium (AVVC) where we build an open source platform for the validation of autonomous systems. For more information about this platform, please check out the following link: https://www.avvc.net/
Post date: November 3, 2022 9:57 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Boundary Adherence and Exploration in High Dimensions for Validation of Black-Box Systems." is accepted to the IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (IEEE WFIoT2022). Congratulations to J. M. Thompson for his first paper.
This paper presents an approach that allows for tree-based state space exploration algorithms to adhere to the boundary between targeted and non-targeted behavior. This algorithm provides boundary points that fall within a predictable and controllable margin of error. Additionally, this boundary adherence strategy applied to a Rapidly Exploring Random tree for two, three, and twenty dimensions.
Post date: September 21, 2022 6:47 AM
Congratulations to Dr. Malayjerdi
Dr. Akbas was in the dissertation defense committee for Ehsan Malayjerdi today. Dr. Akbas joined the meeting online as the defense was in Tallinn, Estonia.
Ehsan successfully defended his dissertation titled "Advanced autonomous vehicle’s functions for safety improvements in urban mobility context" for a PhD degree from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Tallinn University of Technology. This is one of the great results of the collaboration between Dr. Akbas' research group and Dr. Raivo Sell's research group at TalTech.
Post date: August 29, 2022 11:21 AM
iOS Application for our Rhinoplasty Research
With our collaborators at Florida Polytechnic University, we developed the 3D Facial Scan App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/3d-face-scanner-research/id1607559555
You can use the app for free and contribute your 3D facial scan to the research database. The iPhone app is released on the USA and Canada Apple App Store.
Our goal is to create one of the largest 3D Facial Database for research. When you participate in the research study and submit your 3D facial scan, you can email your 3D facial model to yourself.
Post date: June 15, 2022 8:08 PM
EcoCAR EV Challenge
Dr. Akbas is going to be the technical lead mentor for the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) branch of the EcoCAR EV competition team of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU).
ERAU is one of the 15 North American universities selected to join the EcoCAR EV Challenge, the next DOE-sponsored Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) set to begin in Fall 2022. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), General Motors and MathWorks today announced these universities and also announced that 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ is the vehicle selected for the challenge. More than $6 million will be provided to the selected universities.
For more information, please see: https://ecocarevchallenge.org/ecocar-ev-challenge
Post date: April 27, 2022 1:35 PM
IEEE WAMICON
Dr. Akbas serves as the "Wireless for Aviation and Space Chair" at the 22nd annual IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON) https://www.ieeewamicon.org/commiittee. The conference will address up-to-date multidisciplinary research needs and interdisciplinary aspects of wireless and RF technology. The central theme of WAMICON 2022 is "Waves Through Air and Space." Dr. Akbas participates in the effort on starting a new branch in WAMICON in which novel AI/ML-based solutions in wireless communications and devices are discussed.
Post date: April 19, 2022 12:50 PM
Presentation at IEEE ICCVE
Quentin Goss, our research team member and PhD student, presented our paper titled "Eagle Strategy with Local Search for Scenario Based Validation of Autonomous Vehicles" at the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Connected Vehicles and Expo (ICCVE). This paper introduces a nature inspired approach based on eagle strategy to discovering bug profile limits for scenario-based validation of autonomous systems. The approach is modular and extendable in terms of the used strategies, and also scalable to n-dimensions of scenario parameters. The approach is integrated with methods of bug classification and bug profile visualization in high dimensionality. The performance of the approach is demonstrated by extensive simulations of an autonomous vehicle validation scenario.
Post date: March 10, 2022 1:12 PM
Workshop at IEEE ICCVE
Dr. Akbas organized a workshop and presented our research on Validation and Verification of autonomous vehicles at the IEEE International Conference on Connected Vehicles and Expo (ICCVE). Our open-source validation framework, PolyVerif, for autonomous vehicles was also presented.
The workshop started with an introduction from Dr. Rahul Razdan. Then Dr. Akbas presented the theoretical framework and our contributions. Acclivis gave a deep presentation on PolyVerif, which integrates open source components such as Autoware, Scenic, SVL and provides API access to introduce noise models. PolyVerif also provides multiple pathways (drone, ground, etc.) to build digital twin capability into the simulation environment. For more information, please visit: https://iccve2022.org/poliverif-workshop/
Post date: March 7, 2022 11:16 AM
IEEE 1616 Standard
Dr. Akbas' efforts on the development of IEEE 1616 Standard for Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder was recognized with a "Certificate of Appreciation" by IEEE.
Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorders (MVEDRs) collect, record, store and export data related to motor vehicle pre-defined events. IEEE 1616 defines a protocol for MVEDR output data compatibility and export protocols of MVEDR data elements. This standard is applicable to event data recorders for all types of motor vehicles licensed to operate on public roadways, whether offered as original or aftermarket equipment, whether stand-alone or integrated within the vehicle.
Post date: March 7, 2022 10:12 AM
Our Article in the Top 2021 SAE Titles
From the recent Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Mobius Newsletter: One of the SAE Edge articles that Dr. Akbas participated in development made the list of top 2021 SAE Titles: "Unsettled Issues Regarding Autonomous Vehicles and Open Source Software." This paper introduces the impact of software in advanced automotive applications, the role of open-source communities in accelerating innovation, and the important topic of safety and cybersecurity. Below, you can find the information for our other Edge articles:
R. Razdan, W. Mahoney, E. Haritan, A. Kalia, J. Smith, T. Zarola, M. I. Akbas, Joachim Taiber, E. Straub, R. Sell. "Unsettled Topics Concerning Automated Driving Systems and the Development Ecosystem." No. EPR2020004. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) EDGE™ Research Report, March, 2020.
- This paper explores the open issues in the shift of the development and supplier environment towards a new AV-enabled future. Link for details
R. Razdan, M. I. Akbas, A. Sargolzaei, A. J. Alnaser, S. Sahawneh, S. Alsweiss, J. Vargas. "Unsettled Technology Areas in Autonomous Vehicle Test and Verification". Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) EDGE™ Research Report EPR2019001, June, 2019.
- This paper explores the ADS validation challenge by reviewing existing approaches and their effectiveness, presenting critical techniques required to bring safe and effective solutions to market. Link for details
J. Boxold, J. W. Taylor, R. Watts, G. Ralston, D. Neef, P. Mayor and R. Razdan, (M. I. Akbas as a contributor). “Unsettled Topics Concerning Automated Driving Systems and the Transportation Ecosystem”. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Edge Research Report EPR2019005, 2019.
- This paper describes the ecosystems that are going to be impacted by the AVs and how AVs will reshape them, providing a mosaic of the massive infrastructure shifts. Link for details
Post date: January 11, 2022 8:53 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Eagle Strategy with Local Search for Scenario Based Validation of Autonomous Vehicles" is accepted to appear at the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Connected Vehicles and Expo (ICCVE).
This paper introduces the Eagle Strategy with Local Search, a nature inspired approach based on eagle strategy to discovering bug profile limits for scenario-based validation of autonomous systems. The complexity of realistic autonomous system scenarios with many parameters results in a curse of dimensionality which makes finding bugs and predicting extents of bug profiles an arduous task through formal methods, and a time consuming process in simulation-based approaches. The Eagle Strategy with Local Search is modular and extendable in terms of the used strategies, and also scalable to n-dimensions of scenario parameters. The approach is integrated with methods of bug classification and bug profile visualization in high dimensionality. The performance of the approach is demonstrated by extensive simulations of an autonomous vehicle validation scenario.
Post date: December 22, 2021 11:37 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Air Corridors: Concept, Design, Simulation, and Rules of Engagement" is accepted to the MDPI Sensors journal, Special Issue "Latest Advances in UAV Networks: Sensing, Communication, and Control". This is a product of an exciting collaboration with our colleagues from University of North Texas, Florida Atlantic University, Amazon Web Services, Hermes Autonomous Air Mobility.
This paper presents fundamental insights into the design of air corridors with high operational efficiency. Air corridors are an integral part of the advanced air mobility infrastructure. They are the virtual highways in the sky for transportation of people and cargo in the controlled airspace at an altitude of around 1000 to 2000 ft. above ground. These corridors will be utilized by (unmanned) air taxis, which will be deployed in rural and metropolitan regions to carry passengers and freight, as well as emergency vehicles.
Post date: November 12, 2021 9:26 AM
Paper Presented
Our paper titled "Real-Time Urban Observations for Aviation " was presented by Dr. Akbas at 2021 AIAA Aviation Forum.
Urban air mobility (UAM) is anticipated to result in a multitude of sustained flight operations in metropolitan areas around the globe in the coming decades. As presently envisioned, these operations will take place squarely in the urban boundary layer (UBL), a new environment for sustained aviation operations. This paper proposes an overarching architecture for a cyber-physical urban meteorological observational system to support burgeoning UAM operations.
Post date: August 5, 2021 10:34 PM
Invited talk at IEEE WF-IoT
Dr. Akbas gave an invited talk and attended the accompanying panel at the IEEE World Forum of Internet of Things, topical track on computing: https://wfiot2021.iot.ieee.org/top3-computing/
The talk presented the potential of crowdsensing using IoT in the urban area for real-time and high-resolution data collection for UAM operations. The talk elaborated on the open issues, challenges, and future directions.
Post date: July 15, 2021 4:13 PM
Paper Presented
Our paper titled "Generation of Modular and Measurable Validation Scenarios for Autonomous Vehicles Using Accident Data" was presented by our research group member Quentin Goss in 32nd IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV) (IV 2021)
In this paper, we use the existing AV accident data and identify the atomic blocks within each accident, which are modular and measurable scenario units. Our approach formulates each accident scenario using these atomic blocks and defines them in the Measurable Scenario Description Language (M-SDL). This approach produces modular scenario units with coverage analysis, provides a method to assist in the measurable analysis of accident-time AV behavior and identifies edge scenarios using AV assessment metrics.
Post date: July 12, 2021 10:34 PM
GRP Presentation - "Using Reinforcement Learning to Validate CPS"
Congratulations to M. Eleffendi, one of our research group members, who successfully presented his graduate research project (online due to COVID-19). The title of the project is "Using Reinforcement Learning to Generate Scenarios for Cyber-Physical Systems Testing."
In this project, we proposed a reinforcement learning-based framework for testing the robustness and conformity to design requirements of a cyber physical system's motion planning algorithm. We apply our framework to test an adaptive cruise control system of an autonomous vehicle and show that our framework succeeds in getting the system to fail to conform to its requirements in certain scenarios. Our framework can be generalized to other application domains.
Post date: June 10, 2021 07:43:11 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "NASA/GSFC’s Flight Software Core Flight System Implementation for a Lunar Surface Imaging Mission" has been accepted for presentation at the 2021 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, August 8-12, 2021.
This paper will discuss the design and implementation of the flight software of EagleCam, a CubeSat camera system based on the free open-source core Flight System (cFS) architecture developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. EagleCam is a payload transported to the Moon by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Nova-C lander developed by Intuitive Machines. EagleCam's mission is to capture the first third-person view of a spacecraft performing a Moon landing, and to collect other scientific data such as plume interaction with the surface.
Post date: June 09, 2021 12:49 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Generation of Modular and Measurable Validation Scenarios for Autonomous Vehicles Using Accident Data" is accepted for publication in 32nd IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV) (IV 2021), July 11-15, 2021, in Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
In this paper, we use the existing AV accident data and identify the atomic blocks within each accident, which are modular and measurable scenario units. Our approach formulates each accident scenario using these atomic blocks and defines them in the Measurable Scenario Description Language (M-SDL). This approach produces modular scenario units with coverage analysis, provides a method to assist in the measurable analysis of accident-time AV behavior and identifies edge scenarios using AV assessment metrics.
Post date: April 23, 2021 05:34 PM
Research Presented at the Dicovery Day
The Office of Undergraduate Research of ERAU organized the Virtual Discovery Day 2021 to celebrate student research and creative activities. Students from across the university present their research from this past academic year asynchronously from Tuesday, April 13 to Friday, April 16 via posters and video presentations. There are two presentations for the research projects from our group:
Generation of Modular and Measurable Validation Scenarios for Autonomous Vehicles Using Accident Data (https://commons.erau.edu/discovery-day/db-discovery-day-2021/poster-session-grad/6/)
Simulated Effects of Non-Ideal Physical and Cybersecurity Conditions on UAV Swarming (https://commons.erau.edu/discovery-day/db-discovery-day-2021/poster-session/36/)
Post date: April 14, 2021 02:32 PM
Paper Published
Our paper titled "Identification of Test Scenarios for Autonomous Vehicles Using Fatal Accident Data" is published in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Journal of Connected and Automated Vehicles.
This paper proposes an AV test scenario generation system that creates abstract test scenarios using historical fatal accident data. The method processes and prunes the extensive fatal accident data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to generate core test scenarios targeting the reasoning systems of AVs. First, the human-specific factors and the redundant scenario components are filtered out from the crash data. The pruned scenarios are then prioritized by severity levels according to the fatality ratio and a relative scaling factor. The system reduces the sample space of the utilized dataset substantially, which improves the efficiency of validation effort. This focused strategy aims to accelerate the identification of faults in AV systems by complementing the current testing methods.
Post date: April 14, 2021 02:32 PM
Thesis Defense - "Multi-Object Tracking on Automated Vehicles"
Congratulations to Alex Bassett, one of our research group members, who successfully defended his thesis (online due to COVID-19). I've had the pleasure to work with Alex for the last 1,5 years. The title of Alex's thesis is "A Comprehensive Mapping and Real-World Evaluation of Multi-Object Tracking on Automated Vehicles".
The thesis presents two main contributions. The first contribution is a comprehensive mapping for the field of Multi-Object Trackers (MOTs) with a specific focus towards Automated Vehicles (AVs). The second contribution is a real-world evaluation of an MOT developed and tuned using COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) software toolsets.
Post date: Apr 13, 2021 05:27:43 PM
Thesis Defense - "Scenario Generation Using Halton Sequences for AV Testing"
Congratulations to Andrew Ferree, one of our research group members, who successfully defended his thesis (online due to COVID-19). I've had the pleasure to work with Andrew for the last 1,5 years. The title of Andrew's thesis is "Automated Scenario Generation Using Halton Sequences for the Verification of Autonomous Vehicle Behavior in Simulation". The thesis uses Halton sequences to generate scenarios for autonomous vehicle testing in simulation. It compares these scenarios against a set of pseudo-randomly generated scenarios and assesses the performance of each method to cover the simulation state space.
Post date: Apr 13, 2021 05:24:12 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Facial Surface Anthropometric Features and Measurements with an Emphasis on Rhinoplasty" is accepted to the Aesthetic Surgery Journal of Oxford University Press.
We have been working on "digitizing rhinoplasty" to help the surgeon during the process including pre-surgery, in-surgery and post-surgery procedures. This paper presents a comprehensive review of facial surface anthropometric features and measurements with a focus on rhinoplasty. Many disciplines have studied facial morphology through quantitative analysis using anthropometric measurements. Leslie Farkas is considered the pioneer of modern facial anthropometry. Rhinoplasty surgeons have applied this knowledge to analyze their patients’ faces to determine the ideal values. Computer technology and different descriptions of facial features and beauty norms have enriched this field, yet despite the knowledge of these feature points and measurements in general, we did not encounter a current compilation of these parameters in the medical literature. Hence, this study was done to develop a more complete knowledge in this field of rhinoplasty.
Post date: April 06, 2021 6:17 PM
Editing the MDPI Electronics Special Issue on "Cyber-Physical Systems in Smart Cities"
Dr. Akbas is editing a Special Issue of MDPI Electronics Journal on Cyber-Physical Systems in Smart Cities. The aim of this Special Issue will be to feature articles on CPS and how they will impact smart cities in the future. They might span across connected and autonomous vehicle applications, unmanned aerial vehicle applications, IoT-enabled smart city features for CPS, vehicular technologies enabling CPS applications, assurance and safety mechanisms for CPS and infrastructure-level technologies to support CPS.
Post date: March 16, 2021 1:47 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "A Platform-based Incentive Mechanism for Autonomous Vehicle Crowdsensing" is accepted to the IEEE Open Journal of Transportation Systems .
This paper presents an incentive mechanism for vehicular crowdsensing in the context of autonomous vehicles (AVs). The proposed mechanism provides a solution to the problem of sensing coverage for regions located out of the AVs’ planned trajectories by dynamically modifying the AVs’ trajectories and collecting sensing samples from regions otherwise unreachable by originally planned routes. We apply a game theory approach, where AVs are the players and their trajectories are the strategies.
Post date: January 29, 2021 10:09 PM
Article about Turtle Tech on Northrop Grumman Website
To better understand the behavior of multiple sea turtle species along Florida’s Space Coast, we teamed up with the aviation leader Northrop Grumman and the Brevard Zoo to launch a drone-based surveillance effort. Our project is highlighted on Northrop Grumman website with an article. Check out the link to read the article: LINK
Post date: January 14, 2021 6:12 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Real-Time Urban Weather Observations for Urban Air Mobility" is accepted to the International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace (IJAAA).
This paper considers a variety of potential observational sources and proposes a cyber-physical system (CPS) architecture, including an incentive-based crowdsensing application, which empowers Urban Air Mobility (UAM) weather forecasting and operations. Since traditional aviation weather products for observations and forecasts at an airport on the outskirts of a metropolitan area do not translate well to the urban environment, weather data for low-altitude urban airspace is needed and will be particularly critical for unlocking the full potential of UAM. Our CPS architecture with the crowdsensing application provides a scalable solution to this need.
Post date: November 12, 2020 12:31 PM
SAE Edge Report on Autonomous Public Transportation Systems
I've been in the development team of a series of SAE Edge Articles. The focus of the series is on the unsettled challenges concerning automated driving and underlining the urgency of safety issue in autonomous vehicles. Below, you can find the link for our new Edge report, which details the role of Autonomous Public Transportation Systems through the the unique AV deployment schemas for the cities of Jacksonville, Florida; Singapore; Tallinn, Estonia; and finally Orlando/Lake Nona, Florida: https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/epr2020020/
Post date: November 02, 2020 11:29 AM
Abstract Accepted
Our abstract "Work-In-Progress: Developing Undergraduate Research Experiences in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Cybersecurity" has been accepted to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition. This paper will focus on our experience in the planning and first semester of our Office of Naval Research (ONR): Research-Based Enhancement of STEM ROTC Training in Aviation Cybersecurity project. For more information about the project, please check out the following link: https://sites.google.com/site/miakbas/researc/summaries/onr-reu-cybersecurity.
Post date: November 02, 2020 08:21 AM
Group Member on the News with the EagleCam Project
One of the undergraduate members of our research group, Will Edwards, was on the news last week with his experiences in our EagleCam project. We are partnering with NASA commercial payload provider Intuitive Machines to send a camera to space that will take the first selfie of the Nova-C Lunar Lander when it reaches the lunar surface in the fall of 2021. Will works in our team on developing software applications on the core Flight System (cFS), which is a platform developed by NASA. For the news article, please check out the following link: https://www.unionleader.com/news/scitech/bedford-student-helps-create-technology-to-capture-first-selfie-of-lunar-landing/article_d22f5a3e-2597-5526-b644-8289407dfae9.html.
Post date: October 29, 2020 1:50 PM
Presentation at the Florida Statewide Symposium on Undergraduate Research
Dr. Akbas gave a presentation at the Florida Statewide Symposium on Undergraduate Research on his experiences at the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site during the peak time of Covid-19. The REU Site had been planned for a face-to-face research experience under several mentors for an eight-week period. However, due to Covid-19, the teams had to meet, discuss, present and work online, which was both a challenge and an opportunity. Both students and mentors had lessons from this online experience that they will remember and use in the upcoming years. The title of the presentation is "Research Experience for Undergraduates during COVID-19'' and it provides the experience from the angle of a single team mentorship and the lessons learned for similar future operations.
Post date: October 23, 2020 12:27 PM
Project on the news: First-Ever Selfie of a Spacecraft While Touching Down on the Moon
Our project, EagleCam, was on the media today. I'm excited to participate in this interesting project. We are partnering with NASA commercial payload provider Intuitive Machines to send a camera to space that will capture the first-ever selfie of a spacecraft touching down on the moon.
Check out a few examples of the articles on the media:
Post date: October 21, 2020 10:57 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Validation of Decision Making in Artificial Intelligence Based Autonomous Vehicles” is accepted to the Journal of Information and Telecommunication (JIT), published by Taylor & Francis.
This paper presents a simulation scenario generation methodology with pseudo-random test generation to validate the decision-making system of autonomous vehicles. The methodology separates the validation concerns and focuses on generating scenarios that test the decisions taken by the vehicle. The paper also provides implementation examples to demonstrate the capabilities and the efficiency of the approach.
Post date: September 13, 2020 11:12 PM
SAE Edge Articles on Unsettled Challenges of AVs
I've been in the development team of three SAE Edge Articles last year. The focus of the series is on the unsettled challenges concerning automated driving and underlining the urgency of safety issue in autonomous vehicles. Below, you can find the information for these papers and their respective links.
R. Razdan, W. Mahoney, E. Haritan, A. Kalia, J. Smith, T. Zarola, M. I. Akbas, Joachim Taiber, E. Straub, R. Sell. "Unsettled Topics Concerning Automated Driving Systems and the Development Ecosystem." No. EPR2020004. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) EDGE™ Research Report, March, 2020.
- This paper explores the open issues in the shift of the development and supplier environment towards a new AV-enabled future. Link for details
R. Razdan, M. I. Akbas, A. Sargolzaei, A. J. Alnaser, S. Sahawneh, S. Alsweiss, J. Vargas. "Unsettled Technology Areas in Autonomous Vehicle Test and Verification". Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) EDGE™ Research Report EPR2019001, June, 2019.
- This paper explores the ADS validation challenge by reviewing existing approaches and their effectiveness, presenting critical techniques required to bring safe and effective solutions to market. Link for details
J. Boxold, J. W. Taylor, R. Watts, G. Ralston, D. Neef, P. Mayor and R. Razdan, (M. I. Akbas as a contributor). “Unsettled Topics Concerning Automated Driving Systems and the Transportation Ecosystem”. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Edge Research Report EPR2019005, 2019.
- This paper describes the ecosystems that are going to be impacted by the AVs and how AVs will reshape them, providing a mosaic of the massive infrastructure shifts. Link for details
Post date: September 02, 2020 03:14 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Identification of Test Scenarios for Autonomous Vehicles Using Fatal Accident Data" is accepted for publication in the prestigious Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Journal of Connected and Automated Vehicles.
This paper proposes an AV test scenario generation system that creates abstract test scenarios using historical fatal accident data. The method processes and prunes the extensive fatal accident data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to generate core test scenarios targeting the reasoning systems of AVs. First, the human-specific factors and the redundant scenario components are filtered out from the crash data. The pruned scenarios are then prioritized by severity levels according to the fatality ratio and a relative scaling factor. The system reduces the sample space of the utilized dataset substantially, which improves the efficiency of validation effort. This focused strategy aims to accelerate the identification of faults in AV systems by complementing the current testing methods.
Post date: August 18, 2020 02:57 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Digitizing Rhinoplasty: A Web Application for Pre-Operative Planning" is accepted for publication in the prestigious International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery.
This paper presents a web application designed for pre-operative rhinoplasty surgery planning (http://digitized-rhinoplasty.com/app/). The application uses the three-dimensional model of a patient's face and facilitates marking of an extensive number of facial features and auto-calculation of facial measurements to develop a numerical plan of the surgery. The web application includes definitions, illustrations, and formulas to describe the features and measurements. The experienced rhinoplasty surgeons that participated in our survey agree that the web app would be a beneficial tool for rhinoplasty surgeons.
Post date: August 18, 2020 08:12 AM
"NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates" Project
It was a great experience to participate at ERAU's "NSF REU Site: Cybersecurity Research of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" this summer. Due to Covid19, we had to meet, discuss, present and work online, which was both a challenge and an opportunity. I believe both students and mentors will have lessons from this online experience that they will remember and use in the upcoming years. For more information about the REU site: ERAU NSF REU Site
In the particular project that I mentored, I had the chance to work with three students from different parts of the country on a distributed UAV swarming model, in which the goal is the achievement of consensus in the positioning of the whole swarm. Collision avoidance is achieved via a repelling and attracting force functions. The main objective of the project was to investigate the effect of link loses on the swarming algorithm and the physical reaction of the swarm in the case of a compromised node. The students implemented the positioning protocol in agent-based simulation and demonstrated how the swarm would behave in case of a compromised UAV. They also showed a preliminary communication scheme for possible extension of the protocol within the same agent based simulator. You can see a short video about the project below.
Post date: August 13, 2020 10:56 PM
Turtle Tech Project
To better understand the behavior of multiple sea turtle species along Florida’s Space Coast, we teamed up with the aviation leader Northrop Grumman and the Brevard Zoo to launch a drone-based surveillance effort. Our project team includes faculty and students from electrical engineering and computer science, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering and avionics.
For the news article about the project, please check out the following link: LINK
Post date: July 31, 2020 12:25 PM
NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates
I'm excited to participate as a mentor at ERAU's NSF REU Site: Cybersecurity Research of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The site integrates fundamental and state-of-the-art cybersecurity research using UAVs as the platform. Research activities in this site will explore the cybersecurity of UAVs from multiple angles, including secure communication, data privacy protection, secure control systems for autonomous UAVs, etc. By conducting diverse but coherent research projects, participants will gain the in-depth understanding and hands-on experience in cybersecurity research for UAVs, as well as general computer and data security. For more information: ERAU NSF REU Site
Post date: June 11, 2020 10:48 PM
Invited Talk at the Advanced Mobility Institute
It was a pleasure to give an invited talk at the Advanced Mobility Institute, yesterday. Even though it was online due to Covid-19 precautions, the interactions were great with the attending faculty. Here is a short overview of the talk:
Autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to have a significant impact on various sectors. However, their safety and reliability must be certified before they are accepted as a new mode of transportation. Current methods of autonomous vehicle verification are costly, time-consuming, and resource intensive. Hence, modeling and simulation is an indispensable asset to achieve verification goals for autonomous vehicles. This talk first gives a summary of the research background at AMI and then presents a simulation-focused methodology for autonomous vehicle testing and validation.
Post date: June 04, 2020 12:03 PM
Lectures During Covid-19
As a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, we transitioned to online lectures after Spring Break. Even though I've been teaching online from time to time for quite a while now, shifting to online instruction in the middle of a semester was an interesting experience. It wasn't easy for the students, to say the least, but they've mostly adapted in a great way. I've done some lectures synchronous and some asynchronous depending on the course and the topic. The photo on the right is from the last synchronous lecture of the semester and I'm leaving it here to commemorate our Covid-19 lectures.
Post date: May 05, 2020 4:12:29 PM
Research Group Member Thesis Defense
Congratulations to Christopher Medrano-Berumen, one of our research group members, who successfully defended his thesis, today (online as can be seen in the picture below, due to COVID-19). I've had the pleasure to work with Chris since he was an undergraduate student. I was his advisor during his first year in graduate school and when I moved to ERAU, I continued to be his co-advisor. You can find more about his background and publications on his website.
The title of Chris' thesis is "Methodology for Autonomous Vehicle Validation & Verification through Simulation (MAVVVS)". He uses the "separation of concerns" principle to compartmentalize the validation problem. Then, he defines a semantic language to describe scenarios for AV testing. The road components of the language are supplemented to be able to describe a specific geographical area, which is presented through our collaboration with Tallin University of Technology, Estonia. Next, a scenario generation engine is created to take the language as input and run the scenario in a low fidelity simulation environment. Coverage is driven by using constrained pseudo-random scenario generation as well as identifying interesting scenarios using runtime verification methods.
Post date: Apr 17, 2020 04:26:43 PM
Online Conference Attendance
Due to COVID-19, most of our activities moved to their online versions. I've been teaching online, attending meetings, conferences, workshops online and even having happy hours online. This shows us the importance of Internet for our work and also shows us the potential of online teaching and meetings.
The organizations try to use online platforms to make things more interesting, as well. In one of the conferences I attended online, ACIIDS, there were "Coffee Break" online meetings additional to the regular paper presentations. There was even a "Group Photo" (on the right) at the end of the conference.
Post date: Apr 12, 2020 07:07:17 PM
Research Group Member Thesis Defense
Congratulations to Quentin Goss, one of our research group members, who successfully defended his thesis, today. I've had the pleasure to work with Quentin since he was an undergraduate student. I was his advisor during his first year in graduate school. When I moved to ERAU, I continued to be in his committee and today I attended his thesis defense. Because of COVID-19 situation, we had to join the defense online (see the pic below), so it was an interesting experience.
The title of Quentin's thesis is "Evaluation of Street Network Optimization Techniques for Intelligent Transportation Systems Using Simulation". His thesis seeks to optimize the street networks of the intelligent transportation system (ITS) models to produce models that are computationally cost efficient while retaining an acceptable amount of information loss, and produce discretized street networks that are both realistic and optimal for synchronous simulation.
Post date: Apr 10, 2020 02:30:22 PM
Invited talk at IEEE WFIoT postponed due to COVID-19
I was invited to give a talk at the Computing and Information Processing Topical Track of the IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things. I was excited to share my ideas and discuss various opportunities in the world of IoT. However, the safety has the highest priority and the conference is postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19. For more information about the session I was going to talk at, please check out the corresponding website: link.
Post date: Mar 12, 2020 03:59:23 PM
Presentation at the National Aircraft Training Symposium
We had a presentation titled "Validation Framework for Autonomous Aerial Vehicles” at the 32nd National Aircraft Training Symposium (NTAS), in the Urban Air Mobility Session (link). It was exciting to discuss the common challenges of autonomy in different cyber-physical systems with various constraints.
Post date: Mar 04, 2020 09:53:54 AM
Paper Published
Our paper titled "Scenario Generation for Validating Artificial Intelligence Based Autonomous Vehicles” in the Special Session on Privacy, Security and Trust in Artificial Intelligence (PSTrustAI) of the Conference of Intelligent Information and Database Systems (ACIIDS) is published by Springer Nature. Please use this link for more information and to access the paper.
Post date: Mar 04, 2020 09:44:12 AM
Visit from US Department of Energy Official
Daniel R Simmons, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewal Energy visited the EcoCAR Garage recently. This year, more than 50 students in my Senior Design class contribute to different components of the EcoCAR mobility challenge together with the EcoCAR team of ERAU.
For more information, please check out the article on this link.
Post date: Feb 14, 2020 01:35:18 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Digitizing Rhinoplasty: A Web Application for Three Dimensional Preoperative Planning" is accepted to be presented at the Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS) Congress 2020 in Munich.
Rhinoplasty is a challenging plastic surgery operation, which has results with significant impact on the facial appearance. Hence, the planning phase is critical for a successful rhinoplasty surgery. In this paper, we present a web application designed for preoperative rhinoplasty surgery planning. The web application can be reached on this link: http://digitized-rhinoplasty.com/app/. Below, you can see a screenshot of the app:
Post date: Feb 08, 2020 08:43:11 AM
EcoCAR Mobility Challenge Winter Workshop
Last week, I attended the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge Year 2 Winter Workshop and it was a great experience. The event is filled with valuable training for students and professional connections. Our team included two undergraduate students from my Senior Design class in addition to the regular EcoCAR team members.
The Year 2 Winter Workshop was hosted by NXP Semiconductors at their facility in Austin. Students had the opportunity to participate in a series of one-on-one sessions with subject matter experts from companies such as GM and Cohda. The teams also delivered their Project Status Update Presentation.
Post date: Feb 10, 2020 05:08:45 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Development of a Validation Regime for an Autonomous Campus Shuttle" is accepted to be presented at the IEEE SoutheastCon 2020.
The work in this paper is part of a collaboration with Tallinn Technical Institute with the aim of creating a verification framework for autonomous vehicles. Check out the video below for a short demo of matrix-based road description language for scenario generation, showing how real-life roads can be generated for simulation testing. The path generated here is TalTech's AV testing path.
Post date: Feb 05, 2020 11:05:12 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Generation of Autonomous Vehicle Validation Scenarios Using Crash Data" is accepted to be presented at the IEEE SoutheastCon 2020.
In this paper, we describe a methodology to use the information from the crashes involving autonomous vehicles for the validation of autonomous vehicles, which is the most critical obstacle in their mass deployment. We use existing crash databases and provide a methodology to automatically convert them into test scenarios in simulation.
Post date: Feb 01, 2020 11:00:17 AM
MOU with my Previous Institution
Since I've carried over my research work on validation and verification of autonomous technologies from the FPU to ERAU, we have been in talks with my colleagues and friends at both institutions for possible collaboration opportunities. Therefore, I'm excited to see the announcement for the memorandum of understanding between my current institution and previous institution to work together on the research and application of cutting-edge autonomous technology:
I'm happy to be one of the leads in this initiative and hope that it will create various research projects on the verification and validation research of autonomous systems.
Post date: Jan 08, 2020 12:57:12 PM
Paper Published
Our paper titled "Autonomous Vehicles Scenario Testing Framework and Model of Computation'' in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Journal of Connected and Automated Vehicles Journal is published and can be accessed here: LINK
The paper outlines the mathematical framework for our autonomous vehicle validation solution.
Post date: Jan 03, 2020 3:50:12 PM
Paper Presentation at ACM MSWiM - DIVANet
Our paper titled "Spectrum Analytic Approach for Cooperative Navigation of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles" was presented at the 22nd ACM International Conference on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM), Symposium on Design and Analysis of Intelligent Vehicular Networks and Applications (DIVANet). Here is alink for the presentation: DIVANET'19
The symposium had many interesting studies on mobile networks, particularly in connected vehicles domain. It was also a great opportunity to catch up and have research meetings with my former colleague and co-author on the paper, Dr. Chintakunta (in the photo).
Post date: Nov 26, 2019 10:23:56 AM
IEEExtreme
I'm proctoring at IEEExtreme programming competition this year, which is being held from 8:00 pm, Fri, Oct 18 to 8:00 pm, Sat, Oct 19.
IEEEXtreme (https://ieeextreme.org/) is a global challenge in which teams of IEEE Student members, advised and proctored by an IEEE member, and often supported by an IEEE Student Branch, compete in a 24-hour time span against each other to solve a set of programming problems.
It's great to see students having fun while working on their 24-hour tasks. Preliminary results place ERAU Daytona Beach students 289/4103 worldwide, 27/202 nationally, and 8/65 in the Southeast.
Post date: Oct 22, 2019 6:29:53 AM
NSF Grant on the News
Markets Insider:
Yahoo! Finance:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/florida-poly-boost-autonomous-vehicle-170500798.html
Florida Daily:
WBOC 16:
Tampa Bay Business Journal:
Post date: Oct 15, 2019 2:32:42 PM
NSF Proposal Awarded
Our proposal titled "MRI: CNS: Acquisition of Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation for Verification of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles '' is awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
I'm a Co-PI in this Major Research Instrumentation award, which has an award amount of $350,137.
Post date: Sep 18, 2019 9:04:12 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Autonomous Vehicles Scenario Testing Framework and Model of Computation'' is accepted to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Journal of Connected and Automated Vehicles.
The major contribution of this paper is to outline a novel methodology and framework for solving autonomous vehicle verification issues.
Post date: Aug 05, 2019 3:43:38 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Spectrum Analytic Approach for Cooperative Navigation of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles " is accepted to be presented at the ACM International Symposium on Design and Analysis of Intelligent Vehicular Networks and Applications (DIVANet), held in conjunction with the 20th ACM International Conference on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM).
Post date: Jul 24, 2019 9:27:11 AM
Our Research on Spectrum News 13
Julie Gargotta from News 13 visited us last week and we had a great chat about our research on autonomous vehicle verification. We discussed why research on autonomous vehicle verification is interesting and challenging, how it is going to change the world and specifically Florida.
The following links can be used to see the news article, video and Julie's tweets about the article:
https://twitter.com/juliegargotta/status/1132635476442210304
https://twitter.com/juliegargotta/status/1131619646359121922
Akbas Research.mp4Post date: May 27, 2019 11:07:12 PM
NSF Panel
I had the chance to be an NSF panelist for the first time this year. It was great to be a part of the proposal review process and experience first hand how much effort goes into each review. Being in the same table with experts from all around the country and exchanging ideas was invaluable. I believe every researcher who has the chance should accept and embrace this opportunity.
Post date: May 26, 2019 10:53:51 AM
Workshop on Autonomous Vehicle in Public Transport
As the Advanced Mobility Institute (AMI), we organized a workshop on the topic of "Autonomous Vehicles in Public Transport". It was a great event with wonderful guests:
Raivo Sell (TalTech University, Estonia), Samaneh Khazraeian (STANTECH), Jim Frazier (ARC), Rob Palmer (RS&H), Lee Woodcock (Atkins), Mark Reid (Go-Beep), Kevin J. Salzer (JTA), John Lambert (Babcock Ranch), Jafari Bowden (LYNX).
These participants with diverse backgrounds have made the workshop a success with fruitful discussions on topics such as "How does one think about AV Safety?", "Security of AVs (Physical securitym, electronic, EMI)", "Economics and AVs".
Post date: May 03, 2019 14:28:46 PM
Capstone Design Showcase
I taught the Design 2 course this semester, the second course in a sequence of two courses that are based on team projects supervised by universities' industry partners. To give the university’s graduating seniors an opportunity to showcase their inventions to a panel of judges, invited guests, and their peers, Florida Poly organized The Capstone Design Showcase on April 24.
The Capstone Design Showcase was held in the university’s Innovation, Science, and Technology Building from 12-4 p.m. Thirty-five teams of students presented their work and competed for the prizes. Fourteen out of thirtyfive teams were from my sections and one of these teams won the Faculty Choice Award. It was great to see the accomplishments of these teams.
Post date: Apr 25, 2019 18:50:12 PM
Paper Presentations at IEEE SECon
My students presented four publications at IEEE SoutheastCon 2019.
"FPolyOS: A Simulation Platform to Explore Breakthrough Concepts in Intelligent Transportation:" A look at how concepts such as market based pricing and micro-tolling can be used to optimize the transportation system.
"Street Network Generation with Adjustable Complexity Using k-Means Clustering:" A method for creating street networks with adjustable complexity for modeling and simulation.
"Abstract Simulation Scenario Generation for Autonomous Vehicle Verification:" An implementation focused paper on our abstract simulation scenario generation framework for autonomous vehicle verification.
"Requirements for the Next-Generation Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystem". Interesting paper on how police accident reports will have to be updated to account for AV.
Post date: Apr 18, 2019 04:56:42 PM
Proposal Accepted
We received a grant from the Florida Center for Cybersecurity Capacity Building Program for our project on building an open access, healthcare oriented, cybersecurity educational environment. I'm a contributor in the project, which is going to be led by Dr. Francois.
The goal of the educational environment is to train and challenge future cybersecurity professionals as well as to provide a test environment designed to engage the healthcare industry. We are going to create and maintain a mock healthcare network containing mock open access Electronic Health Records (EHRs, OpenMRS) to be used by our students in partnership with Lakeland Regional Health.
Post date: Apr 09, 2019 12:30:41 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper with Dr. Chintakunta, titled "CANSAVE: Cooperative Autonomous Navigation To Support Autonomous Emergency Vehicles", is accepted to the Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) of America Annual Meeting that is going to be held at Washington DC in June 2019.
In this paper, we present a cooperative strategy for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) to enable safe and fast navigation of emergency vehicles (EVs). We also present a novel path planning algorithm for the EV to find an optimal path.
Post date: Mar 31, 2019 05:26:03 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Abstract Simulation Scenario Generation for Autonomous Vehicle Verification" is accepted to the IEEE SoutheastCon that is going to be held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama this year. Special kudos goes to my graduate student Christopher Medrano-Berumen for his first IEEE paper.
Post date: Mar 17, 2019 07:54:15 PM
Project Presented at the University Event
My graduate student Christopher Medrano-Berumen presented his thesis research at the family day. In this research project, Chris works on an abstract simulation scenario generation framework for autonomous vehicle verification. He uses and extends MATLAB ADAS toolbox for pseudo-random generation of test scenarios and validation of them.
Post date: Mar 16, 2019 1:12:23 PM
NSF Project Quarterly Meeting
We've done our second quarterly meeting for our project "Incentive Mechanisms for Mobile Crowdsourcing, Reaching Spatial and Temporal Coverage Under Budget Constraints", which was awarded with an NSF-CNS (Division of Computer and Network Systems) grant. These quarterly meetings help us to focus on specific topics and discuss with all group members in a condensed workshop of one day. For more information, you can check out the project description and the initial implementation.
Post date: Mar 15, 2019 12:28:22 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Street Network Generation with Adjustable Complexity Using k-Means Clustering" is accepted to the IEEE SoutheastCon that is going to be held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama this year. Special kudos goes to my graduate student Quentin Goss since this is his first accepted paper at an IEEE conference.
The paper is based upon the project primarily supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In this paper, we propose a method for creating street networks with adjustable complexity. By using k-Means clustering, our mechanism allows for the increase or decrease of the gradient of a street network.
Post date: Mar 14, 2019 03:14:15 PM
Group Member Takes 3rd Place in Statewide Hackathon with His Team
Congratulations to our research group member Christopher Medrano-Berumen! His team took 3rd place out of 79 submissions at the 36-hour University of Central Florida (UCF) hackathon, Knight Hacks.
Post date: Mar 07, 2019 10:14:38 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Requirements for the Next-Generation Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystem" is accepted to the IEEE SoutheastCon that is going to be held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama this year.
In this paper, we first analyze all the information available for autonomous vehicle (AV) accidents to date and explore the requirements for AV accident reports. Then we recommend an AV crash report template and the associated escalation procedure.
Post date: Mar 05, 2019 10:05:07 AM
Mentees Win Hays Travel Award to Present Research at FAS
Congratulations to Sarah Boyd (CS Sophomore) and Maxwell Medved (CS Freshman)! They won the Florida Academy of Sciences Council’s prestigious Hays Travel Award, which is given for projects searching for solutions to 21st century problems. This award allows them to present their research at the Florida Academy of Sciences annual conference next month at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. They also received some media coverage.
Post date: Feb 25, 2019 7:19:34 PM
Group Member Wins Statewide Hackathon with His Team
Congratulations to Caleb Long! Caleb is an undergraduate member of our research group and he was one of the four members of the winning team at the well-known HackRiddle competition, a 24-hour hackathon held annually at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. For more information:
Post date: Feb 22, 2019 11:36:02 AM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "FPolyOS: A Simulation Platform to Explore Breakthrough Concepts in Intelligent Transportation" is accepted to the IEEE SoutheastCon that is going to be held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama this year. Special kudos goes to the undergraduate members of our research group, who have their first accepted paper at an IEEE conference: Caleb Long, Saivamsi Hanimanthu and Easton Anderson.
Post date: Feb 20, 2019 9:24:11 PM
Guest talk by Universal Orlando Resort Employees at the M&S Class
We hosted two amazing guests at the last class of the Modeling and Simulation (M&S) course at Florida Polytechnic University. Larry Lowe and James Anderson work on the simulation and data analysis at the Universal Orlando Resort. Both shared the interesting parts of their daily work with the class and answered questions.
In addition to being a data analyst at Universal, Larry is a PhD candidate at the industrial engineering department of UCF and about to defend his dissertation at the end of next semester. Therefore, he talked briefly about his research, as well.
James is an FPU alumni and he took this course before as a computer science student. He started working at Universal as an intern after taking my M&S class. It was great to see him come back and share his internship and work experiences with the new students.
Post date: December 08, 2018 3:12:30 PM
Presentation at Board of Trustees Meeting
I gave a presentation about our autonomous vehicles related research at Board of Trustees meeting. I described our current efforts and focus on the testing and verification of autonomous vehicles. I also talked about our current collaborations with industry and future plans. The details of the meeting can be accessed by clicking on this link.
Post date: December 06, 2018 10:21:33 AM
Poster and Shark Tank presentation at Florida Autonomous Vehicle Summit
Congratulations to my MS student Christopher Medrano-Berumen! He presented our poster, titled "Verification of Autonomous Vehicles Through Simulation Using MATLAB ADAS Toolbox" at the Florida Automated Vehicles Summit on November 27.
In the same conference, one of the undergraduate students in our research group, Saivamsi 'Vamsi' Hanumanthu, presented his ideas and our vision on Autonomous Systems Education at the Shark Tank.
Post date: December 05, 2018 9:42:11 AM
Abstract accepted
Congratulations to my MS student Christopher Medrano-Berumen! Our abstract, titled "Verification of Autonomous Vehicles Through Simulation Using MATLAB ADAS Toolbox", is accepted to be published as a poster at Florida Automated Vehicles Summit.
Post date: November 05, 2018 6:47:18 PM
ABET Visit
As the Computer Science Department at Florida Polytechnic University, we had our first ABET visit in the beginning of this month. ABET is a nonprofit, non-governmental accrediting agency for programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology and ABET accreditation is an important indicator for the quality of a program in terms of the quality standards of the profession for which that program prepares graduates.
As the Accreditation Coordinator of the department, this was a huge experience for me. The visit was a big effort overall, both on our side and on the visiting committee's side. I learned a lot along the way and I'm sure this experience will be extremely useful for my career in the future.
Post date: October 25, 2018 3:27:22 PM
Our research on AV Testing and Verification on the News
Spectrum Bay News 9 was at Florida Poly to discuss our research on Autonomous Vehicle Testing and Verification. We had a very nice chat with the Morning News’ Real Time Traffic Expert Chuck Henson about our research, current state and future of AV technology.
Akbas_BayNews9.movPost date: October 05, 2018 10:18:20 AM
Recently on the media: Our Research on the News
Florida Polytechnic University Establishes Advanced Mobility Institute: Capital Soup
Autonomous Car Testing: WFTS – ABC Action News
Florida Polytechnic adds research program to test autonomous vehicle tech: Tampa Bay Business Journal
Florida Poly hopes to change future of transportation with new research center: Fox 13
No Hands: Florida Poly to Research Driverless Vehicles: Florida Politics, Autobody News
Florida Poly Delves Into Driverless Cars: Lakeland Now
Florida Polytechnic University launches Advanced Mobility Institute to advance self-driving cars: The Florida Oracle
Florida Polytechnic University Hopes to be a Leader with Self Driving Cars: Sunshine State News, Florida Dispensaries & Doctors
FL Polytechnic to focus on Self-Driving Cars: 970 WFLA
Florida Poly hopes to improve autonomous cars: Chron.com , Greenwich Time, Stamford Advocate
Post date: October 05, 2018 10:14:23 AM
Graduate Student Orientation
I've attended the Graduate Student Orientation at Florida Polytechnic University. Eight faculty members from computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and data science presented their research interests to give a flavor of Florida Poly’s faculty and research potential to the students. It was a great opportunity to get to know the new graduate students. I've also presented the research questions that we've been actively working on with my students and colleagues at Florida Poly.
Post date: August 21, 2018 4:18:20 PM
ABET Institutional Representatives Meeting
I've attended the 2018 ABET Institutional Representatives Meeting in Baltimore MD. This is a one day session per commission that allows representatives to meet with their Team Chair(s) and to gain insight into the accreditation process including pre-visit preparation, on-site visit and post-visit activities. It was a great experience and opportunity to get to know our team chair and learn more about the details of site visit from him.
Post date: August 02, 2018 3:11:20 PM
Graduate Students
I've had the pleasure to be the MS advisor for two graduate students last year: Mert Aydin and Faezeh Haghighat Mesbahi. Both of them successfully defended their MS theses to earn their MS degrees from the Florida Polytechnic University.
The title of Mert's thesis is "Identification of Autonomous Vehicle Test Scenarios Using Fatal Traffic Accident Data". His thesis proposes an autonomous vehicle (AV) test scenario generation framework that aims to efficiently validate the safety and reliability of AV systems by generating historical fatal accident-based scenarios for scenario-based simulation testing. The framework reduces the sample space needed for testing, while validating safety and reliability of AVs more efficiently and accelerating the identification of faults in AV systems.
The title of Faezeh's thesis is "Quality of Service Protocol for Traffic Management in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks". Her thesis introduces a protocol for Quality of Service (QoS) in the intelligent transportation system (ITS) by using concepts from the computer networking. The thesis brings together approaches from these concepts to provide a basic level of QoS in the ITS. Simulation results of the approach show the efficiency of the model, particularly with a high vehicle density in the area of interest.
Post date: July 6, 2018 17:35 PM
Congratulations Dr. Shoen
I've had the pleasure to be in the dissertation committee of Henriette Schoen and on 23/06/2018, Henriette successfully defended her dissertation titled "Modeling the Innovation Ecosystem and Development of a Dynamic Innovation Index" to earn a PhD degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from the University of Central Florida.
The main objective of Henriette's dissertation research is to improve the current understanding of the innovation ecosystem by developing a model that uses a broad set of relevant static and dynamic variables and incorporates the principles of system dynamics. The abstract can be checked out here.
Post date: June 23, 2018 11:53 AM
Paper accepted
Our paper titled "Intelligent Mobility Concentration for Undergraduate Students in Data Science and Business Analytics " is accepted for presentation and publication in the 3rd North American Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) to be held at the University of the District of Colombia (UDC) on September 27-29, 2018.
Post date: June 11, 2018 1:49 PM
Paper presented
Our paper titled "Verification of Autonomous Vehicles Using Simulations with String Based Scenarios" is presented at the IISE Annual Conference & Expo (IISE’18), in Orlando, Florida.
Post date: May 24, 2018 12:17 PM
Paper presented
Our paper titled "MHopCAV: Multi-Hop Clustering for Autonomous Vehicle Networks " is presented at the Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics 2018 (FCRAR’18), in Orlando, Florida.
Post date: May 10, 2018 7:12 PM
ABET Symposium
I've attended the 2018 ABET Symposium, the premier event for accreditation, assessment, and the global exchange of best practices in STEM education. It was a great opportunity yo learn more about ABET accreditation and discuss related topics with colleagues from all around the world.
The Symposium brings together hundreds of leaders in academia, industry and government, while promoting peer-to-peer and expert interaction around ABET program assessment. It gives participants an opportunity to gain valuable insights, tips and strategies from dozens of presenters from all over the world.
Post date: Apr 16, 2018 1:15:20 PM
MS Thesis Committee
I've had the pleasure to be in the master thesis committee of John Cardenas for the last few semesters. On 04/06/2018, John successfully defended his thesis titled "Modeling the Standard and Poor's 500 Index via Wave Analytics: Harnessing Lag for Intraday Utilizations" to earn an MS degree in Modeling and Simulation from the University of Central Florida.
In his work, John presents a model to harness wave analytics for the needs of traders seeking price capture of the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index on an hourly and even shorter time periods, or intraday. The abstract can be check out here.
Post date: Apr 12, 2018 10:00:59 PM
Brazil visit for joint opportunities
As the Florida Polytechnic University delegation, we were in Brazil looking to build strategic alliances with universities and high-tech companies. Other than myself, the delegation included Dr. Randy K. Avent, Dr. Shahram Taj, and Mr. Mustapha Achoubane.
I gave four talks and met with the faculty, students and industry at Sao Paulo. Here are some details about our trip on the media:
https://floridapoly.edu/news/florida-poly-seeks-joint-opportunities-brazil/
http://capitalsoup.com/2018/04/03/florida-poly-seeks-joint-opportunities-brazil/
Post date: Apr 9, 2018 4:25:09 PM
On the news: Florida Poly's first NSF grant
On the news:
Capital Soup: http://capitalsoup.com/2018/03/08/florida-poly-wins-1st-nsf-research-grant/
Florida Politics: http://floridapolitics.com/archives/258465-florida-poly-gets-first-national-science-foundation-grant
Post date: Mar 9, 2018 12:05:12 AM
Attended Economic Development Symposium
On March 8, 2018, I attended the Economic Development Symposium at Florida Polytechnic University. This event brought together dozens of leaders from the business, government, and education sectors to kick-off a regional effort to develop an economic development collaboration.
Post date: Mar 8, 2018 6:58:28 PM
Attended Florida Autonomous Systems Team (FAST) meeting
On March 3, 2018, I attended FAST, an avenue created for Florida research and educational institutions to discuss their specific areas of expertise in this field. There were 1-2 individuals from each institution who spoke about their institution's expertise in "Autonomous Systems". We believe the areas of overlap and common interest will provide opportunities for collaboration, such as working toward a state-wide ERC application.
Post date: Mar 8, 2018 6:56:47 PM
NSF grant received
Our proposal titled "Incentive Mechanisms for Mobile Crowdsourcing, Reaching Spatial and Temporal Coverage Under Budget Constraints" is awarded with an NSF-CNS (Division of Computer and Network Systems) grant.
The proposal addresses the problem of spatial and temporal coverage for sampling in a target area, in particular the coverage of isolated sub-regions where participants' density is very low. This problem is tackled by an incentive mechanism that dynamically assigns compensation for data collection in the sub-regions of the target area based on the density of the contributors in that sub-region. To achieve this goal, a sensing market is modeled using a game-theory based approach. For more information about the proposal, please check the following page: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1739409
Post date: Mar 2, 2018 12:40:43 AM
Modeling and Simulation Club
I am the faculty advisor for the "Modeling and Simulation" student club, which was recently approved by the Student Organizations Committee. Modeling and Simulation Club aims to to promote research and create awareness in modeling and simulation, and find publicity/support in this field for the members.
Modeling and Simulation Club is going to promote knowledge, growth, research, support, and opportunity for anyone interested in learning more about or pursuing a potential career in the simulation and modeling field. Through meetings and workshops, the organization is going to provide hands-on experience in modeling and simulation, provide connection with important people within the modeling and simulation field and create a platform where its members will be recognized for their contributions to the field of modeling and simulation
Post date: Feb 6, 2018 9:34:22 PM
Phoenix Cultural Cuisine Student Club
I am the faculty advisor for the "Phoenix Cultural Cuisine" student club, which was recently approved by the Student Organizations Committee. Phoenix Cultural Cuisine aims to expose students of Florida Polytechnic University to foods and recipes from various cultures to encourage students to try new food, develop cooking skills, and learn to become better global citizens. I believe this organization will help to fill the gap of an international culture club on campus and allow students to learn about world cultures in an engaging way.
Post date: Jan 8, 2018 3:57:25 PM
Abstract accepted
Our abstract titled "Verification of Autonomous Vehicles Using Simulations with String Based Scenarios" is accepted to be presented at the 2018 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Annual Conference & Expo. The conference is going to be held at Orlando, May 19-22.
Post date: Dec 4, 2017 7:53:15 PM
Paper presented
Our paper titled "Spatially Adaptive Positioning for Molecular Geometry Inspired Aerial Networks" is presented at the ACM International Symposium on Design and Analysis of Intelligent Vehicular Networks and Applications (DIVANet’17), held in conjunction with the 20th ACM International Conference on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM'17). You can access the presentation here.
Post date: Nov 21, 2017 8:32:21 PM
Field Trip to the World's Largest Modeling and Simulation Conference
The Interservice/ Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) is the world's largest modeling, simulation, and training conference, and they have invited Florida Poly students to attend at no charge.
If there is enough interest, Florida Poly will reserve a bus to take students to the Orange County Convention Center (and back to campus).
Date: Monday, November 27
Time: Probably 11am-6pm (exact times may change—focus is the full afternoon)
What: I/ITSEC (http://www.iitsec.org/)
Please send me an email if you are interested in attending. Please use I/ITSEC in the Subject Line.
Post date: Nov 14, 2017 4:23:23 PM
SunTrax Groundbreaking Ceremony
On 11/13/2017, I attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the official launch of SunTrax Construction. SunTrax (http://www.suntraxfl.com/) is a long-term partnership between the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise and Florida Polytechnic University.
SunTrax is designed to test autonomous and connected vehicle technology, toll technology, equipment, software, smart-phone-based payments, lane markage, signage, moveable barrier systems and more using a 2.25-mile, oval track on a 400-acre site in the city of Auburndale. I look forward to work on our autonomous and connected vehicle research projects in this facility
Post date: Nov 14, 2017 5:02:29 PM
Autonomous Vehicle Executive Summit
On 10/27/2017, we hosted 50 CEOs and other top industry leaders at the Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Executive Summit at Florida Polytechnic University. Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, Executive Director and CEO, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE), was the keynote speaker.
The keynote was followed by four breakout sessions to discuss the role of autonomous vehicles in public transportation, planned communities, agriculture, and freight transportation. Each session’s facilitator asked attendees how Florida Polytechnic University can assist them with AV research and testing. I attended the session, where the role of autonomous vehicles in public transportation is discussed.
Post date: Oct 31, 2017 2:04:11 PM
Phoenix Flyers
Our team, Phoenix Flyers, has been selected to participate in the 2017-18 NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) Hybrid Rocket Competition. Phoenix Flyers will be receiving an award of $600 to modify a hybrid rocket and launch it to the highest altitude possible. The team is composed of five undergraduate students from different STEM fields and has the support of four faculty members from CS, EE and Biology.
Post date: Oct 2, 2017 3:41:55 PM
Federal Agency R&D Workshop
I attended the State University System (SUS) of Florida, C. W. Bill Young Federal R&D Agency Workshop at Washington D.C. The workshop provides opportunities to attend important presentations on R&D trends and communicate with federal agency researchers.
The first day of the workshop included informative presentations such as the review trends at NIH and extramural programs at CDC. There were also presentations of the research leaders from DARPA, ARL, AFOSR and ONR. Next day, National Science Foundation (NSF) had presentations and panels on key programs of interest to the SUS for half a day.
Post date: Oct 2, 2017 3:27:59 AM
YouTube playlist: Simulation using HPC
With a team of undergraduate students at Florida Polytechnic University, we explore the capabilities of the modeling tool Repast HPC. We installed the tool on Florida Poly's supercomputer and organized a small workshop for the students. Currently we work on developing our agent based models for highly populated simulation scenarios.
We recently created a playlist on Florida Polytechnic University's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAsB2sPycV9BzKXNSdxWmtH24L1D147Ug
For more information, examples and tutorials, please check the link above.
Post date: Aug 22, 2017 7:49:31 PM
Paper Accepted
Our paper titled "Spatially Adaptive Positioning for Molecular Geometry Inspired Aerial Networks" is accepted to the ACM International Symposium on Design and Analysis of Intelligent Vehicular Networks and Applications (DIVANet’17), held in conjunction with the 20th ACM International Conference on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM'17).
Post date: Aug 14, 2017 8:35:31 PM
Reviews
I created a Publons Merit account to organize my contributions as a reviewer: publons.com/a/791186/
It looks like it's going to take some time to collect most of my previous reviews, but I had a first shot at it and I'll try to keep it updated.
Post date: Jul 31, 2017 9:02:19 PM
Starting News & Blog
I'll be sharing news and blog posts on this page. The news will be mostly on my research, teaching and service updates, while the short blog posts will be related to any research topic and technology that I'm interested in.
Post date: Jul 31, 2017 8:51:28 PM