Contact Professor Saba Al-Rubaye
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754887
- Email: S.Alrubaye@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
- Google Scholar
- ResearchGate
Areas of expertise
- Aeronautical Systems
- Autonomous Systems
- Communications Systems
- Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
- Industrial Automation
- Systems Engineering
- Vehicle Health Management
Background
Professor Dr. Saba Al-Rubaye, a Canadian professional, currently serves as the Professor Chair in Telecommunications and Autonomous Systems at the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Cranfield University, and is also an expert at the UK Telecoms Innovation Network. She leads the development of 6G technologies and their applications in future communication networks, particularly in support of smart air mobility. With over 20 years of experience in both academia and industry, Prof. Al-Rubaye has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and has a proven record of driving innovative solutions in design, testing, consultation, leadership, and program development.
She has been actively involved in various high-profile projects funded by Innovate UK, Research England, EPSRC, the Department for Transport, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the U.S. government. Notably, Prof. Al-Rubaye contributed to establishing the hardware-in-the-loop testbed for smart grid communications and system integration at Quanta’s Sustainable Technology Integration Laboratory (QT-STIL) in Toronto, Canada. These initiatives have played a key role in fast-tracking the adoption and integration of emerging technologies into future communication networks.
Prof. Al-Rubaye contributed to the development of industry standards, including IEEE P1932.1 for License/Unlicensed Interoperability and IEEE P1920.2 for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Her research has been widely recognized, winning best technical paper awards at the IEEE Vehicular Technology conferences in 2011 and 2015, and the best paper awards at the IEEE DASC conference in 2020, 2021, and 2024.
Prof. Al-Rubaye has held leadership roles at various international conferences, including serving as a general co-chair and TPC co-chair. She has delivered tutorials and talks at prestigious IEEE events like ICC and VTC, and has been invited to speak at renowned institutions such as the Communications Research Centre (CRC) of Canada, IEEE Toronto Chapter, and IEEE UK Chapter. Prof. Al-Rubaye is a Chartered Engineer (CEng), a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET), a Life Senior Member of IEEE.
Research opportunities
Telecommunications and Autonmous Systsm research group focusing on modelling, simulation, and testing, and all the aspects which addresses the new generation of emerging technology and integration capabilities:
5G/6G Communications & Networking
Integrated Sensing and Communications
Digital Twin for Air Mobility
Non-Terrestrial Networks (UAV & Satellite Communications)
AI/ML for Decision Making
Intelligent Antenna & RIS
UAV/Aircraft Security and Operations
Energy Efficient & Zero Emission
Excellent Postdoc & PhD candidates can contact me directly with CV and research topic to enquire about joining my research group
Workshop
Speaker in IEEE Smart Mobility 2024, Canada
Speaker in Future Networks World Forum, 2024, Dubai
Speaker and panellist at IEEE ICC 2024, Denver, USA
Speaker and panellist at IEEE PIMRC 2023, Toronto, Canada
Chairing and organising a new workshop for 6G Networks at IEEE ICC 2020, Irland
DARTeC conference - Speakers for Future Connectivity Challenge Digital Aviation Conference
Group Alumni (Staff/PhD)
Dr Abdulmohsan Aloseel- Embedded system security
Dr Nasr Abosata -Distributed Sensors for Industrial Applications
Dr Aminah Ahmed- Intelligent Traffic Systems
Dr Anirudh Warrier - UAV Handover & Interference
Dr Huw Whitworth - Connectivity & Security
Dr Mumin Ozpolat- UAS Networking
Dr Vahid Towhidlou- UAS Communications
Dr Ali Jihad - Wireless Antenna Design
External Examiner
Examiner for PhDs in telecommunications institute, university of Aveiro, Portugal
Current activities
Project- Advanced Air Mobility Ecosystems- Phase III
Co-Investigator & Technical lead - Prof Saba Al-Rubye
Sponsor- Innovation UK- Future Flight Challenges
Total Project Funded - £9.5 million
Partners- Atkins, Vertical Aerospace, Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow, Skyports, NATS, Bristol Airport, Connected Places Catapult, Cranfield University
Shaping The Future of Advanced Air Mobility in the South West of England- For more info
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Project- Advanced Air Mobility- Phase II
(PREPARE FOR COMMERCIAL EVTOL AIRCRAFT SERVICES)
Co-Investigator & Technical lead- Prof Saba Al-Rubye
Sponsor- Innovation UK- Future Flight Challenges
Total Project Funded £2.5m
Partners- Atkins, Vertical Aerospace, Skyports, NATS, Connected Places Catapult, Cranfield University, Neuron
An industry consortium aiming to demonstrate air taxi service in the South West region of England in response to the UK government's Future of Flight Challenge. This project will 'significantly accelerate the introduction of AAM in the UK'.
Shaping The Future of Advanced Air Mobility in The South-west of England- For more info
Test Field Trial at Cranfield Airport - Video
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Project Rise
Principal Investigator & Technical lead- Prof Saba Al-Rubye
Sponsor- Innovation UK- Future Flight Challenges
Total Project Funded £ 500,000
Partners- Dronecloud, Sky-drones, Cranfield University and Skyports
The scheme project aims to integrate evolving Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM), the drone version of Air Traffic Control (ATM), with the control systems on-board drones to Unlock the future of drone operations through integration. Focusing on the approvals process and air traffic management (ATM) for flying within airspace controlled by an Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), integrating across a combined stack of independent software and hardware.
More info about Project Rise Website
Filed test trials at Cranfield Airport- Video
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Project - Unmanned Aircraft Systems Authentication System
Principal Investigator & Technical lead- Prof Saba Al-Rubye
Sponsor- Innovation UK- Future Flight Challenges
Total Project Funded £ 500,000
Partners- ANGOKA, Cranfield University and Connected Places Catapult
The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Authentication System (UASAS) project brings together Cranfield, ANGOKA and Connected Places Catapult collaborators to create an authentication system that will provide a trusted identification service for drone usage. This system will protect communications from potentially devastating cyberattacks. Trusted identification will allow organisations to ensure that drones are flying in the right zones and without adverse effects to other parties, increasing overall confidence in drone technology.
Enabling Secure Authentication for Unmanned Aircraft Systems- Event Video
Cranfield Airport- UASAS- Test Field Demonstration - Video
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Project Smart Airport
Principal Investigator and Technical lead- Prof Saba Al-Rubye
Sponsor- Department for Transport ( DfT )
Total Project Funded £ 135,000
Partners- NCC-Group & Cranfield University
The main aim of this project is to build end to end ecosystem for Smart Airports based on the use of digital twin and intelligent systems such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), sensors and devices configured for specific purposes in different areas in order to control, manage and plan their operations in a centralised digital environment.
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Project Digital Aviation Connectivity & Security
Principal Investigator and technical lead- Prof Saba Al-Rubye
Sponsor- Department for Transport ( DfT )
Total Project Funded £ 135,000
Partners- Thales & Cranfield University
The digital transformation envisaged by the Future Flight Challenge is redefining expectations around connectivity, security, communication system and control. Across civil and military air platforms, manned and unmanned, digital data drives everything - and the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of every mission depends on it.
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Inmarsat - Connectivity
Co-Investigator and technical lead- Prof Saba Al-Rubye
Sponsor- Inmarsat
Total Project Funded £ 100,000
Partners_ Inmarsat & Cranfield University
The aim is to create roadmap for future aviation connectivity
Cranfield- Inmarsat Roadmap --- Digital Aviation Roadmap
For more info download the report from the link below:
Digital Now: Why the future of aviation starts with connectivity - Inmarsat-Cranfield
Clients
Thales
Atkins
Inmarsat
Honeywell
Ankoga
DroneCloud
Sky-Drone
Skyports
NCC-Group
Satellite Applications Catapult
EPSRC
Innovation UK
Department for Transportation (DfT)
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Maguire-Day J, Al-Rubaye S, Warrier A, Sen MA, Whitworth H, .... (2025). Emerging decision-making for transportation safety: collaborative agent performance analysis. Vehicles, 7(1)
- Sen MA, Al-Rubaye S & Tsourdos A. (2025). Securing UAV flying ad hoc wireless networks: authentication development for robust communications. Sensors, 25(4)
- Nnamani CO, Anioke CL, Al-Rubaye S & Tsourdos A. (2025). Signal-to-interference-noise-ratio density distribution for UAV-carried IRS-to-6G ground communication. IEEE Access, 13
- Deep A, Perrusquía A, Aljaburi L, Al-Rubaye S & Guo W. (2024). A novel distributed authentication of blockchain technology integration in IoT services. IEEE Access, 12
- Warrier A, Aljaburi L, Whitworth H, Al-Rubaye S & Tsourdos A. (2024). Future 6G communications powering vertical handover in non-terrestrial networks. IEEE Access, 12
- El Debeiki M, Al-Rubaye S, Perrusquía A, Conrad C & Flores Campos JA. (2024). An advanced path planning and UAV relay system: enhancing connectivity in rural environments. Future Internet, 16(3)
- Mohanta K & Al-Rubaye S. (2024). Towards 6G satellite–terrestrial networks: analysis of air mobility operations. Electronics, 13(14)
- Kumar A, Perrusquía A, Al-Rubaye S & Guo W. (2024). Wildfire and smoke early detection for drone applications: a light-weight deep learning approach. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 136
- Mbaye I, Al-Rubaye S, Conrad C & Inalhan G. (2024). Integrated Sensing and New Radio Communications for Air Vehicle Positioning. Vehicles, 6(3)
- Chen Y, Al-Rubaye S, Tsourdos A, Chu K-F, Wei Z, .... (2024). Federated Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Intelligent Surface Configuration in 6G Secure Airport Networks. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, PP(99)
- Jiang D, Wang F, Lv Z, Mumtaz S, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2023). QoE-Aware Efficient Content Distribution Scheme For Satellite-Terrestrial Networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 22(1)
- Abosata N, Al-Rubaye S & Inalhan G. (2023). Customised Intrusion Detection for an Industrial IoT Heterogeneous Network Based on Machine Learning Algorithms Called FTL-CID. Sensors, 23(1)
- Al-Rubaye S, Tsourdos A & Namuduri K. (2023). Advanced air mobility operation and infrastructure for sustainable connected eVTOL vehicle. Drones, 7(5)
- Conrad C, Al-Rubaye S & Tsourdos A. (2023). Intelligent embedded systems platform for vehicular cyber-physical systems. Electronics, 12(13)
- Whitworth H, Al-Rubaye S, Tsourdos A & Jiggins J. (2023). 5G aviation networks using novel AI approach for DDoS detection. IEEE Access, 11
- Souanef T, Al-Rubaye S, Tsourdos A, Ayo S & Panagiotakopoulos D. (2023). Digital twin development for the airspace of the future. Drones, 7(7)
- Liu J, Yan J, Wan D, Li X, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2023). Digital twins based intelligent state prediction method for maneuvering-target tracking. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 41(11)
- Warrier A, Al-Rubaye S, Inalhan G & Tsourdos A. (2023). AI-enabled interference mitigation for autonomous aerial vehicles in urban 5G networks. Aerospace, 10(10)
- Jadav NK, Rathod T, Gupta R, Tanwar S, Kumar N, .... (2023). Blockchain-based secure and intelligent data dissemination framework for UAVs in battlefield applications. IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, 7(3)
- Liu X, Zhang H, Sheng M, Li W, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2023). Ultra dense satellite-enabled 6G networks: Resource optimization and interference management. China Communications, 20(10)
- Pan J, Ye N, Yu H, Hong T, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2022). AI-driven blind signature classification for IoT connectivity: a deep learning approach. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 21(8)
- Abosata N, Al-Rubaye S & Inalhan G. (2022). Lightweight payload encryption-based authentication scheme for advanced metering infrastructure sensor networks. Sensors, 22(2)
- Gao Y, Tian F, Li J, Fang Z, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2022). Joint optimization of depth and ego-motion for intelligent autonomous vehicles. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 24(7)
- He Y, Ren Y, Zhou Z, Mumtaz S, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2022). Two-timescale resource allocation for automated networks in IIoT. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 21(10)
- Li X, Zhang H, Zhou H, Wang N, Long K, .... (2022). Multi-agent DRL for resource allocation and cache design in terrestrial-satellite networks. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 22(8)
- Almeaibed S, Al-Rubaye S, Tsourdos A & Avdelidis NP. (2021). Digital twin analysis to promote safety and security in autonomous vehicles. IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, 5(1)
- Mondal S, Al-Rubaye S & Tsourdos A. (2021). Handover prediction for aircraft dual connectivity using model predictive control. IEEE Access, 9
- Abosata N, Al-Rubaye S, Inalhan G & Emmanouilidis C. (2021). Internet of Things for system integrity: a comprehensive survey on security, attacks and countermeasures for industrial applications. Sensors, 21(11)
- Aloseel A, Al-Rubaye S, Zolotas A, He H & Shaw C. (2021). A novel approach for detecting cyberattacks in embedded systems based on anomalous patterns of resource utilization - Part I. IEEE Access, 9
- Aloseel A, Al-Rubaye S, Zolotas A & Shaw C. (2021). Attack-detection architectural framework based on anomalous patterns of system performance and resource utilization - Part II. IEEE Access, 9
- Van Nguyen M-S, Do D-T, Al-Rubaye S, Mumtaz S, Al-Dulaimi A, .... (2021). Exploiting impacts of antenna selection and energy harvesting for massive network connectivity. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 69(11)
- Yu K, Tan L, Mumtaz S, Al-Rubaye S, Al-Dulaimi A, .... (2021). Securing Critical Infrastructures: Deep-Learning-Based Threat Detection in IIoT. IEEE Communications Magazine, 59(10)
- Li J, Dang S, Yan Y, Peng Y, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2020). Generalized quadrature spatial modulation and its application to vehicular networks with NOMA. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 22(7)
- Zhou Z, Yu H, Mumtaz S, Al-Rubaye S, Tsourdos A, .... (2020). Power control optimization for large-scale multi-antenna systems. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 19(11)
- Al-Rubaye S & Tsourdos A. (2020). Airport connectivity optimization for 5G ultra-dense networks. IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking, 6(3)
- Li C, Guo W, Sun SC, Al-Rubaye S & Tsourdos A. (2020). Trustworthy deep learning in 6G-enabled mass autonomy: from concept to quality-of-trust key performance indicators. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 15(4)
- Al-Rubaye S, Kadhum E, Ni Q & Anpalagan A. (2019). Industrial Internet of Things Driven by SDN Platform for Smart Grid Resiliency. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 6(1)
- Busari SA, Huq KMS, Mumtaz S, Rodriguez J, Fang Y, .... (2019). Generalized hybrid beamforming for vehicular connectivity using THz massive MIMO. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 68(9)
- Al-Rubaye S, Rodriguez J, Zanotti Fragonara L, Theron P & Tsourdos A. (2019). Unleash narrowband technologies for industrial Internet of Things services. IEEE Network, 33(4)
- Awais Khan M, Adeshina Busari S, Mohammed Saidul Huq K, Mumtaz S, Al-Rubaye S, .... (2019). A novel mapping technique for ray tracer to system-level simulation. Computer Communications, 150
- Al-Rubaye S, Al-Dulaimi A & Ni Q. (2019). Power interchange analysis for reliable vehicle-to-grid connectivity. IEEE Communications Magazine, 57(8)
- Al-Dulaimi A, Al-Rubaye S & Ni Q. (2019). Energy Efficiency Using Cloud Management of LTE Networks Employing Fronthaul and Virtualized Baseband Processing Pool. IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, 7(2)
- Al-Dulaimi A, Mumtaz S, Al-Rubaye S, Zhang S & Lin C. (2019). A framework of network connectivity management in multi-clouds infrastructure. IEEE Wireless Communications, 26(3)
- Al-Rubaye S, Rodriguez J, Al-Dulaimi A, Mumtaz S & Rodrigues JJPC. (2019). Enabling digital grid for industrial revolution: self-healing cyber resilient platform. IEEE Network, 33(5)
- Tahira Z, Asif HM, Khan AA, Baig S, Mumtaz S, .... (2019). Optimization of non-orthogonal multiple access based visible light communication systems. IEEE Communications Letters, 23(8)
- Al-Rubaye S, Al-Dulaimi A, Mumtaz S & Rodriguez J. (2018). Dynamic Pricing Mechanism in Smart Grid Communications Is Shaping Up. IEEE Communications Letters, 22(7)
- Li S, Ni Q, Sun Y, Min G & Al-Rubaye S. (2018). Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation for Industrial Cyber-Physical IoT Systems in 5G Era. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 14(6)
- Al-Rubaye S, Al-Dulaimi A, Cosmas J & Anpalagan A. (2018). Call Admission Control for Non-Standalone 5G Ultra-Dense Networks. IEEE Communications Letters, 22(5)
- Busari SA, Mumtaz S, Al-Rubaye S & Rodriguez J. (2018). 5G Millimeter-Wave Mobile Broadband: Performance and Challenges. IEEE Communications Magazine, 56(6)
- Zhao L, Li X, Gu B, Zhou Z, Mumtaz S, .... (2018). Vehicular Communications: Standardization and Open Issues. IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, 2(4)
- Al-Dulaimi A, Al-Rubaye S, Cosmas J & Anpalagan A. (2017). Planning of Ultra-Dense Wireless Networks. IEEE Network, 31(2)
- Al-Rubaye S & Aulin J. (2017). Grid Modernization Enabled by SDN Controllers: Leveraging Interoperability for Accessing Unlicensed Band. IEEE Wireless Communications, 24(5)
- Al-Dulaimi A, Anpalagan A, Al-Rubaye S & Ni Q. (2017). Adaptive Management of Cognitive Radio Networks Employing Femtocells. IEEE Systems Journal, 11(4)
- Al-Dulaimi A, Al-Rubaye S, Ni Q & Sousa E. (2015). 5G Communications Race: Pursuit of More Capacity Triggers LTE in Unlicensed Band. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 10(1)
- Al-Rubaye S, Al-Dulaimi A & Cosmas J. (2011). Cognitive Femtocell. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 6(1)
