Fall 2016 - Fall 2017 - Fall 2018 - Fall 2020

• The research problems considered can be easily extended to thesis topics.
• The tools considered have general utility and can be extended for use in other research problems
• The research problem-centered setting is similar to what the graduate student will be doing in his thesis. Therefore, the techniques used to address the research problems can also prepare the student before starting the thesis work.

The learning process will be as follows:

• Instructor explains the research problem and breaks it into its basic engineering problem components
• Instructor shows students example ways to solve each of these engineering problems with practical demonstrations
• Instructor shows students how to assess the resultant solution of the problem on both simulated and real data sets to verify the performance
• Instructor assigns each student to study a slightly modified version of the method considered and report on it in the form of a paper.
•  Student can use the instructor as a resource to ask for help when facing difficulties getting started
• Instructor encourages and awards independence of thinking and problem solving approach

Class Textbooks / Computing Resources

  Topic-specific handouts will be given for each research problem.

All research problems will be investigated using a scientific programming language preferably Matlab or Octave (open source program similar to Matlab)

Final Exam: Take-Home Research Problems

• Final Exam Research Problems

• Answer each question with a brief answer describing the idea and steps

• Feel free to give your own opinion about the exam problems based on your own experiences

• Justify your answers with your own logic to explain them

• You are allowed to discuss the problems with other students but not copy their answers

• Send your answers as an electronic document by December 26, 2015

Research Problems

Problem #1: ECG Artifact Removal

• Research problem description          Data set        Lecture Notes   

• Lecture 2 Code:   code1    code2    code3

• Lecture 3 Code:    code1(ECG BW filters)    code2(zero-phase filters)

• Lecture 4 Code:    code1(ECG MA filters)    code2(ECG EM filters)

• Sample Code (Misc): BW(FIR)    BW(IIR)    EM(FIR)

• Report on this problem is to be submitted in electronic form by e-mail

Problem #2: ECG Arrhythmia Classification

• Research problem description          Data set        Lecture Notes   

• Material Handouts: HO1

• Sample code for data simulation

• Sample code for data classification

• Sample code for performance metrics

• Sample code for signal resampling by a rational number

• Sample code for feature extraction + simple feature selection

Problem #3: Genomic Signal Processing

• Research problem description         Ebola Genome     Mers Coronavirus Genome

• Sample code for genomic signal processing

Problem #4: Brain-Computer Interface Signal Processing

• Research problem description  (use links inside to download data and sample code)

Supplementary Resources

• Types of Information Sources

• Research Documentation using Lab Notebooks  Src1   Src2

• Academic Journal Paper Search sites (Recommended - Accessible from KAU):

  • Google Scholar

  • IEEE Xplore

  • ScienceDirect (Elsevier)

  • Wiley Interscience

  • Springer      Springer Link

• Microsoft OneNote (Nice tool for lab notebook documentation of research)

• Template for conference papers: EMBC 2015    Sample Paper

• Paper Writing Guide

Matlab Resources

• Matlab Tutorial #1 Notes

• Matlab Tutorial #2 Notes

• Matlab Primer (Official Mathworks Material)

• Matlab Introduction (University of Dundee)

Grading Policy