Contact Professor Nabil Aouf
- Tel: +44 (0) 1793 785445
- Email: n.aouf@cranfield.ac.uk
Areas of expertise
Background
Nabil received his PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, in 2002. He has been a scientist for National Research Council Canada and also an Adjunct Assistant Professor with Concordia University, Canada.
Nabilis an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks and the International Journal of Computational Intelligence in Control.
Current activities
Nabil Aouf is Head of Unmanned Autonomous Systems Laboratory (UASL), which is part of Centre for Electronic Warfare (CEW) and works very closely with industries that have a strong heritage in autonomous systems research.
Nabil is also the research lead of the Centre of Electronic Warfare, leading the autonomy, imaging and sensor fusion theme of research. He is a founding member of the CDS research forum defining the CDS research strategy.
Nabil's research interests include:
- Signal and Image processing
- Heterogeneous sensor data fusion
- Robust identification and Control systems
- Navigation (Localisation)
- Guidance
- Decision-making
- Big data mining/analysis
Applications:
- Autonomous ground and Aerial Vehicles (EW and Civilian)
- Distributed sensor networks (EW and Civilian)
- Multiple target detection and tracking, radar and imaging signals (EW and Civilian, Home office type of applications)
- GPS denied Localisation (visual/infrared and inertial modalities), (EW and Civilian)
- Fault monitoring and tolerant control
- Multisensory object (target) recognition (EW and civilian)
- Tele-operation and Intelligent Multi-view (multisensory) display (EW and civilian)
Clients
- BAE Systems
- MBDA
- European Space Agency (ESA)
- Chemring Ltd
- Astrium
- Thales
- Sagem/Safran
- Selex
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Kechagias-Stamatis O, Aouf N, Gray G, Chermak L, Richardson M & Oudyi F (2017) Local feature based automatic target recognition for future 3D active homing seeker missiles, Aerospace Science and Technology, 73 (February) 309-317.
- Yilmaz O, Aouf N, Checa E, Majewski L & Sanchez-Gestido M (2017) Thermal analysis of space debris for infrared based active debris removal, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Early online.
- Boulekchour M, Aouf N & Richardson M (2017) Robust L∞ convex optimisation for UAVs cooperative motion estimation, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 231 (11) 2006-2031.
- Kechagias-Stamatis O & Aouf N (2017) Evaluating 3D local descriptors for future LIDAR missiles with automatic target recognition capabilities, Imaging Science Journal, 65 (7) 428-437.
- Araar O, Aouf N & Vitanov I (2017) Vision based autonomous landing of multirotor UAV on moving platform, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 85 (2) 369-384.
- Chermak L, Aouf N & Richardson MA (2017) Scale robust IMU-assisted KLT for stereo visual odometry solution, Robotica, 35 (9) 1864-1887.
- Kechagias-Stamatis O, Aouf N & Richardson MA (2016) 3D Automatic Target Recognition for Future LIDAR Missiles, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 52 (6) 2662-2675.
- Chermak L, Aouf N, Richardson M & Visentin G (2016) Real-time smart and standalone vision/IMU navigation sensor, Journal of Real-Time Image Processing, Early online.
- Boulekchour M, Aouf N & Richardson M (2016) Robust ∞ Convex Optimisation for Monocular Visual Odometry Trajectory Estimation, Robotica, 34 (3) 703-722.
- Amamra A & Aouf N (2016) Real-time multiview data fusion for object tracking with RGBD sensors, Robotica, 34 (8) 1855-1879.
- Azzam R, Kemouche MS, Aouf N & Richardson M (2016) Efficient visual object detection with spatially global Gaussian mixture models and uncertainties, Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation, 36 90-106.
- Araar O & Aouf N (2015) Practical servoing of VTOL UAVs from object of unknown 3d geometry: New hybrid approach, Imaging Science Journal, 63 (8) 476-487.
- Mouats T, Aouf N & Richardson MA (2015) A novel image representation via local frequency analysis for illumination invariant stereo matching, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 24 (9) 2685-2700.
- Amamra A, Aouf N, Dowling S & Richardson M (2015) A recursive robust filtering approach for 3D registration, Signal, Image and Video Processing, 10 (5) 1-8.
- Mouats T, Aouf N, Chermak L & Richardson M (2015) Thermal stereo odometry for UAVs, IEEE Sensors Journal, 15 (11) 6335-6347.
- Araar O, Aouf N & Vallejo JL (2015) Power pylon detection and monocular depth estimation from inspection UAVs, Industrial Robot: An International Journal, 42 (3).
- Boulekchour M, Aouf N & Richardson M (2015) Robust L convex pose-graph optimisation for monocular localisation solution for unmanned aerial vehicles, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 229 (10) 1903-1918.
- Chermak L, Aouf N & Richardson M (2014) HDR imaging for feature tracking in challenging visibility scenes , Kybernetes, 43 (8) 1129-1149.
- Li X, Aouf N & Richardson M (2014) Comparative analysis on SIFT features in visible and infrared aerial imaging, International Journal of Applied Pattern Recognition, 1 (3) 273-297.
- Djamaa B, Richardson M, Aouf N & Walters B (2014) Towards efficient distributed service discovery in low-power and lossy networks, Wireless Networks, 20 (8) 2437-2453.
- Feetham LM, Aouf N, Bourdarias C & Voirin T (2014) Single camera absolute motion based digital elevation mapping for a next generation planetary lander, Acta Astronautica, 98 169-188.
- Rodriguez D, Aouf N & Richardson M (2014) Moments-based stereo camera egomotion analysis and results for long-range trajectories, Imaging Science Journal, 62 (1) 35-41.
- Amamra A & Aouf N (2014) GPU-based real-time RGBD data filtering, Journal of Real-Time Image Processing.
- Mouats T, Aouf N, Sappa AD, Aguilera C & Toledo R (2014) Multispectral Stereo Odometry, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 99 (3) 1-15.
- Nemra A & Aouf N (2013) Robust cooperative visual localization with experimental validation for unmanned aerial vehicles, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 227 (12) 1892-1910.
- Morsly Y, Aouf N, Djouadi M & Richardson M (2012) Particle swarm optimization inspired probability algorithm for optimal camera network placement, IEEE Sensors Journal, 12 (5) 1402-1412.
- Imran S, Aouf N & Robust l (2012) Robust linfinity homography estimation using reduced image feature covariances from an RGB image, Journal of Electronic Imaging, 21 (4) 043022-043022.
- Aouf N & Boulet B (2012) Linear fractional transformation gain-scheduling flight control preserving robust performance, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 226 (7) 763-773.
- Kharbat M & Aouf N (2012) Recursive estimation of three-dimensional unmanned aerial vehicle motion and structure based on the L-infinity-norm, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 226 (G7) 751-762.
- Imran S A & Aouf N (2012) Robust L-infinity homography estimation using reduced image feature covariances from an RGB image, Journal of Electronic Imaging, 21 (4).
- Gray GJ, Aouf N, Richardson MA, Butters B, Walmsley R & Nicholls E (2012) Feature-based recognition approaches for infrared anti-ship missile seekers, Imaging Science Journal, 60 (6) 305-320.
- Gray G J, Aouf N, Richardson M A, Butters, B, Walmsley R & Nicholls E (2011) Feature-Based Target Recognition in Infrared Images for Future Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Journal of Battlefield Technology, 14 (2) 27-36.
- Kharbat M & Aouf N (2011) Dense optical flow via robust data fusion, Signal, Image and Video Processing, 5 (2) 203-215.
- Kemouche MS, Aouf N & Richardson M (2011) Object detection using Gaussian mixture-based optical flow modelling, Imaging Science Journal, 61 (1) 22-34.
- Lin CL, Li YH & Aouf N (2010) Potential-field-based evolutionary route planner for the control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 224 (11) 1229-1242.
- Nemra A & Aouf N (2010) Experimental airborne NH infinity vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping in unknown environments, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 224 (G12) 1253-1270.
- Aouf N, Ollero A & Sasiadek JZ (2009) Airborne Simultaneous Localisation and Map Building (A-SLAM) : Special Issue, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 55 (4-5) 247-248.
- Nemra A & Aouf N (2009) Robust INS/GPS sensor fusion for UAV localization using SDRE nonlinear filtering, IEEE Sensors Journal, 10 (4) 789-798.
- Nemra A & Aouf N (2009) Robust airborne 3D visual simultaneous localization and mapping with observability and consistency analysis, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 55 (4-5) 345-376.
- Hong MW, Lin CL, Shiu BM & Aouf N (2009) Stabilizing networked pneumatic control systems with time delays, International Journal of Computational Intelligence and Applications, 8 (2) 209-223.
- Aouf N & Boulet B (2008) Uncertainty-based model-order reduction of flexible systems preserving robust closed-loop performance, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 222 (2) 291-295.
- Lazarus SB, Ashokaraj I, Tsourdos A, Zbikowski R, Silson PMG, Aouf N & White BA (2007) Vehicle localization using sensors data fusion via integration of covariance intersection and interval analysis, IEEE Sensors Journal, 7 (9-10) 1302-1314.
- Turner MC, Aouf N, Bates DG, Postlethwaite I & Boulet B (2006) Switched control of a V/STOL aircraft: an application of LQ bumpless transfer, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, 220 (3) 157-170.
- Rabbath CA, Aouf N, Hori N & Lauzon M (2004) Combined H infinity Model-Matching Control and Dual-rate Digital Redesign for Missile Acceleration Autopilots, Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, 28 (1) 73-87.
- Aouf N, Molhem H, Rabbath C & Lauzon M (2004) Model following control of BTT missile with switching procedure, Journal of Non-Linear Studies, 11 (2) 227-242.
- Aouf N, Henrique Mohallem Paiva, Rabbath CA & Marc Lauzon (2004) Model following control of BTT Missile with switching procedureý Special issue on control of defence systems in the International Journal of Nonlinear Studies, Non-Linear Studies, 11 (2) 227-242.
- Aouf N & Boulet B (2003) Uncertainty models and robust complex-rational controller design for flexible structures, 26 (4) 530-535.
- Aouf N, Boulet B & Botez R (2002) Model and controller reduction for flexible aircraft preserving robust performance, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 10 (2) 229-237.
- Aouf N & Boulet B (2002) Scheduling schemes for an integrated flight and propulsion control system, Control Engineering Practice, 10 (7) 685-696.
- Aouf N, Boulet B & Botez R (2000) Robust gust alleviation for flexible aircraft, Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal, 46 (3) 131-139.
Conference Papers
- Kechagias-Stamatis O (2017) Automatic x-ray image segmentation and clustering for threat detection. In: 2017 Target and Background Signatures III, Warsaw, 11-14 September 2017.
- Kechagias-Stamatis O, Aouf N & Nam D (2017) 3D automatic target recognition for UAV platforms. In: Sensor Signal Processing for Defence Conference (SSPD), 2017, London, 6-7 December 2017.
- Kechagias-Stamatis O, Aouf N & Nam D (2017) Multi-modal automatic target recognition for anti-ship missiles with imaging infrared capabilities. In: Sensor Signal Processing for Defence Conference (SSPD), 2017, London, 6-7 December 2017.
- Junoh S & Aouf N (2017) Person Classification Leveraging Convolutional Neural Network for Obstacle Avoidance via Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. In: 2017 International Workshop on Research, Education and Development on Unmanned Aerial Systems (RED-UAS 2017), Linköping, 3-5 October 2017.
- Dena Ruiz JA & Aouf N (2017) Real-Time Setup with PD and Backstepping Control for a Pelican Quadrotor. In: 14th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO), Madrid, 26 July 2017.
- Dena Ruiz JA & Aouf N (2017) Unscented Kalman Filter for Vision Based Target Localisation with a Quadrotor. In: 14th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO), Madrid, 26 July 2017.
- Belloni C, Aouf N, Merlet T & Le Caillec JM (2017) SAR image segmentation with GMMs. In: Radar 2017 : International Conference on Radar Systems, Belfast, 23-26 October 2017.
- Bergé L, Aouf N, Duval T & Coppin G. (2017) Generation and VR visualization of 3D point clouds for drone target validation assisted by an operator. In: 2016 8th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CEEC), Colchester, 28-30 September 2016.
- Yılmaz O, Aouf N, Majewski L, Sanchez-Gestido M & Ortega G (2017) Using infrared based relative navigation for active debris removal. In: 10th International ESA Conference on Guidance, Navigation & Control Systems, Salzburg, 29 May - 2 June 2017.
- Wieszok Z, Aouf N, Kechagias-Stamatis O & Chermak L (2017) Stixel Based Scene Understanding for Autonomous Vehicles. In: 2017 IEEE 14th International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control, Calabria, 16-18 May 2017.
- Kechagias-Stamatis O, Aouf N & Chermak L (2017) B-HoD: A Lightweight and Fast Binary descriptor for 3D Object Recognition and Registration. In: 2017 IEEE 14th International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control, Calabria, 16-18 May 2017.
- Kechagias-Stamatis O & Aouf N (2016) Histogram of distances for local surface description. In: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Stockholm, 16-21 May 2016.
- Kechagias-Stamatis O & Aouf N (2015) Fast 3D object matching with Projection Density Energy. In: 23th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED),, Torremolinos, 16-19 June 2015.
- Boulekchour M & Aouf N (2014) Efficient real-time loop closure detection using GMM and tree structure. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 2014 (IROS), Chicago, 14-18 September 2014.
- Boulekchour M & Aouf N (2014) Robust motion estimation using covariance intersection. In: 22nd Mediterranean Conference of Control and Automation (MED) 2014, Palermo, 16-19 June 2014.
- Djamaa B, Richardson M, Aouf N & Walters B (2014) Unicast/multicast performance in single-hop duty-cycled 6LoWPAN networks. In: Communication Systems, Networks & Digital Signal Processing (CSNDSP 2014), Manchester, 23-25 July 2014.
- Djamaa B, Richardson M, Aouf N & Walters B (2014) Service discovery in 6LoWPANs: classification and challenges. In: 2014 IEEE 8th International Symposium on Service Oriented System Engineering (SOSE), Oxford, 7-11 April 2014.
- Mouats T & Aouf N (2014) Fusion of thermal and visible images for day/night moving objects detection. In: Sensor Signal Processing for Defence (SSPD), 2014, Edinburgh, 8-9 September 2014.
- Vitanov I & Aouf N (2014) Fault diagnosis for MEMS INS using unscented Kalman filter enhanced by Gaussian process adaptation. In: NASA/ESA Conference on Adaptive Hardware and Systems (AHS), 2014, Leicester, 14-17 July 2014.
- Amamra A & Aouf N (2014) RGBD sensors correction with Gaussian process regression. In: 56th International Symposium (ELMAR), 2014, Zadar, 10-12 September 2014.
- Mouats T & Aouf N (2014) Foreground segmentation based on thermo-visible fusion. In: 56th International Symposium (ELMAR), 2014, Zadar, 10-12 September 2014.
- Mouats T & Aouf N (2014) Robust feature matching for aerial visual odometry. In: 56th International Symposium (ELMAR), 2014, Zadar, 10-12 September 2014.
- Azzam R & Aouf N (2013) The Gaussian Processes for Acoustic Localisation and Tracking in Wireless Sensor Network. In: 5th International Conference on Imaging for Crime Detection and Prevention (ICDP 2013), 2013, London, 16 December 2013.
- Amamra A & Aouf N (2013) Real-time robust tracking with commodity RGBD camera. In: IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2013, Manchester, 13-16 October 2013.
- Araar O & Aouf N (2013) Visual servoing of a quadrotor UAV for the tracking of linear structured infrastructures. In: IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2013, Manchester, 13-16 October 2013.
- Azzam R & Aouf N (2013) Acoustic detection and localization enhanced by video analysis. In: IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2013, Manchester, 13-16 October 2013.
- Djamaa B, Aouf N, Richardson M & Walters B (2013) Enhancing delay-based packet forwarding schemes in Wireless Sensor Networks. In: 2013 4th Annual International Conference on Energy Aware Computing Systems and Applications (ICEAC), Istanbul, 16-18 December 2014.
- Mouats T & Aouf N (2013) Cross-spectral stereo matching based on local self-similarities and image moments. In: IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2013, Manchester, 13-16 October 2013.
- Li X & Aouf N (2013) Experimental research on cooperative vSLAM for UAVs. In: 5th International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Communication Systems and Networks (CICSyN), 2013, Madrid, 5-7 June 2013.
- Mouats T & Aouf N (2013) Multimodal stereo correspondence based on phase congruency and edge histogram descriptor. In: 16th International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), 2013, Istanbul, 9-12 July 2013.
- Imran S., Aouf N. & Richardson M. (2013) Photo-geometric registration via a coupled L∞ filter. In: 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), Shenzhen, 12-14 December 2013.
- Gray GJ, Aouf N, Richardson MA, Butters B & Walmsley R (2012) An Intelligent Tracking Algorithm for an Imaging Infrared Anti-Ship. In: Technologies for Optical Countermeasures IX, Edinburgh, 24 September 2012.
- Li X & Aouf N (2012) Cooperative vSLAM based on UAV application. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), 2012, Guangzhou, 11-14 December 2012.
- Gray GJ, Aouf N, Richardson MA, Butters B, Walmsley R & Nicholls E (2011) Feature Based Tracking Algorithms for Imaging Infrared Anti-Ship Missiles.
- Nemra A & Aouf N (2009) Robust feature extraction and correspondence for UAV map building. In: 17th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, 2009 (MED '09), Thessaloniki, 24-26 June 2009.
- Shah M A & Aouf N (2009) Dynamic Cooperative Perception and Path Planning for Collision Avoidance. In: 6th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications, 2009. ISMA '09., Sharjah, 23-26 March 2009.
- Abdelkrim N, Aouf N, Tsourdos A & White B (2008) Robust nonlinear filtering for INS/GPS UAV localization.
- Lazarus SB, Tsourdos A, Zbikowski R, Nabil A & White BA (2007) Robust localisation using data fusion via integration of covariance intersection and interval analysis. In: International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems, 2007 (ICCAS '07), Seoul, 17-20 October 2007.
- Aouf N, Sazdovski V, Tsourdos A & White BA (2007) Low altitude airborne SLAM with INS aided vision system.
- Lazarus SB, Tsourdos A, Aouf N, Zbikowski R & White BA (2007) Autonomous aerial vehicle localisation and mapping.
