Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Archives

Bats are the only animals that live most of their lives hanging upside down. Alireza Ramezani, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern, is working on a robot that mimics the ability of bats to hang feet up and save energy. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

To build a better drone, look to the bat

When bats fly, they use less energy than other flying animals. Alireza Ramezani, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern, is making a new robotic mechanism that will mimic the ability of bats to fly smart and save energy.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa October 18, 2019

Sarah Ostadabbas, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and doctoral student Shuangjun Liu use a manikin to test their camera setup. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

They know how you’ve been sleeping

The positions we take in our sleep can have implications for our health, including affecting the symptoms of conditions like sleep apnea or carpal tunnel syndrome. Sarah Ostadabbas, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern, and her team built a data set of sleeping positions and used it to train algorithms to recognize and identify the pose of a sleeping person.

by Laura Castañón August 8, 2019

Matteo Rinaldi, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and the director of Northeastern’s SMART Center, has come up with a clever solution for that: a smart detector that wakes itself up from ultra battery saver mode using the very flames it is engineered to detect. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

How many disasters could this new fire detector prevent over 10 years? That’s how long its battery lasts.

Northeastern researchers in electrical and computer engineering have been awarded a patent for a smart sensor that consumes no power and can operate for years without a battery change. They plan to use it to prevent fires in places including forests and construction sites.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa August 1, 2019

Tommaso Melodia, William Lincoln Smith Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, conducts research on a 3D-printed phantom of the human kidney in the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Could sound waves bring us smarter medical implants?

Northeastern engineering professor Tommaso Melodia is working to develop smart medical implants that communicate wirelessly through high-frequency sound waves. He says this technology could one day treat a broad range of ailments, including diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and heart conditions.

by Kerry Benson - contributor July 24, 2019

“Our primary purpose is allowing Muslims to read and recite the Quran correctly without the need of reaching out to an instructor, so we’re automating that process,” says Anas Abou Allaban, who graduated from Northeastern in May.
Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

He created an app to help Muslims with their daily prayers

Northeastern graduate Anas Abou Allaban's app, Tarteel.io, follows users as they recite their prayers in Arabic, and offers corrections for any pronunciation errors. The startup company he co-founded was recently accepted into MassChallenge, a global business accelerator program for companies in their early stages.

by Irvin Zhang July 11, 2019

Rebecca Leeper, who is graduating in computer engineering, looks forward to giving the student speech at Northeastern’s 2019 Commencement. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

‘I want to make sure whatever I'm doing is benefiting people’

Rebecca Leeper will be the student speaker at Northeastern’s 2019 Commencement at TD Garden on Friday. It will be a poignant, turning-of-the-page moment for her and her fellow graduates.

by Ian Thomsen April 29, 2019

Isaac Kresse, a chemistry and computer engineering student at Northeastern, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, which he will use to study the role of chaperone proteins in age-related diseases such as Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

‘What happens on the molecular level to make us sick?’

Northeastern student Isaac Kresse will explore this question as a Fulbright Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany.

by Khalida Sarwari April 22, 2019

Srinivas Tadigadapa, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is developing sensing technology for health applications. <i>Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University</i>

He once turned clay pots into acoustic speakers. Now he makes smart sensors for health applications.

Srinivas Tadigadapa grew up tinkering with electronics and appliances. Now, as professor and chair of Northeastern’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he’s developing sensing technology for health applications. “The advent of the internet of things has made this work even more relevant because sensors are the baseline acquiring data for everything,” he says.

by Greg St. Martin June 6, 2018

Northeastern researchers, led by Tommaso Melodia, associate professor, will determine the best practices that researchers will follow in developing projects for a new NSF program on advanced wireless communications. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern

Northeastern researcher to co-lead groundbreaking NSF initiative to advance wireless communications

Northeastern professor Tommaso Melodia has been named director of research of the Project Office for the National Science Foundation-sponsored Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research. The program will foster fundamental research and development of multiple community-scale platforms supporting next-generation wireless communications networks across the U.S.

by Thea Singer March 8, 2017

Faculty Expert

Tommaso Melodia

William Lincoln Smith Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering