Digital & Smart Systems

Increasing connectivity and digitization continues to change our world.

Digital is everywhere.

The increasing connectivity and digitization of our world, or the Internet of Things, continues to change everything, from how we catch a taxi, book a trip or turn on a thermostat.

There are forecasts that 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020, representing a $19-trillion (U.S.) global market.

With projects spanning every aspect of the digital world, our research teams are pushing the limits of systems engineering. Whether it is cyber security and privacy, big data manipulation, hardware systems, large system integrations or the effects of these technologies on our society, our world renowned researchers are working with industry, government, and research partners in Canada and around the world to create fresh solutions to the world’s digital problems.

Challenges: Increasing amounts of data, cyber security, privacy, software safety and efficiency, security threats, ease of information sharing, social connectivity, hardware innovations (for example, smartphones, Fitbits)

Study shows smartphones harm the environment

Improving Data Quality

Mark Lawford, Department of Computing and Software

August 9, 2017

McMaster Engineering start up dares to enter the Lion’s Lair to compete for $160K

Persistence and hard work continue to pay off for Lumago Inc.

December 1, 2017

Transforming Technology

Leaders in Artificial Intelligence Gather for McMaster.AI Workshop

September 13, 2017

McMaster earns gold standard for integrating industry software into engineering curriculum

McMaster University was recently recognized for integrating industry software and skills into engineering curriculum with a PACE Gold Certification award. McMaster is one of a few universities outside of the U.S. to receive the prestigious award.

Related Faculty

Dr. Mohamed Bakr

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Optimization methods; computer-aided design and modeling of microwave circuits; neural networks applications; smart analysis of microwave circuits; efficient optimization using time domain simulation methods

Dr. Jennifer Bauman

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Hybrid and electric powertrain design and control; Power electronic converters; Advanced vehicle modeling; Smart-charging and EV integration into the smart-grid

Dr. Berker Bilgin

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Electric Machines and Energy Conversion Systems; Power Electronics and Electric Motor Drives; Acoustic Noise and Vibration Reduction in Electric Motor Drives; Electric and Hybrid Powertrains; Transportation Electrification

Dr. Ian Bruce

Associate Chair (Graduate)
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Professor
McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical engineering and signal processing, particularly development of mathematical models of auditory physiology for predicting auditory perception in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired individuals; assistive devices for the hearing impaired such as hearing aids and cochlear implants; auditory neurophysiology and psychophysics; digital speech processing; stochastic and nonlinear systems

Dr. Chih-Hung (James) Chen

Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

High-frequency characterization of deep submicron MOSFETs; Noise characterization of BJTs and MOSFETs; Ultra low-power, low-noise analog ICs for telecommunications; Analog and RF ICs for wireless transceivers

Dr. Jun Chen

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Information and Coding Theory; Wireless Communications; Multimedia Communications; Signal and Image Processing; Data Compression and Storage; Networking

Dr. Tim Davidson

Department Chair
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Signal processing for communications and networking

Dr. Jamal Deen

Distinguished University Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Distinguished University Professor
McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Associate Member
Department of Engineering Physics

Associate Member
Department of Computing and Software

Micro-/Nano-/Opto-Electronics, Nanotechnology and Data Analytics for Health and Environmental Applications, Bioimagers, Biosensor

Dr. Thomas E. Doyle

Associate Professor
McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Biomedical signal processing; Human-computer interfacing (HCI); Machine learning for the augmentation, rehabilitation, and enhancement of human attributes

Dr. Sorina Dumitrescu

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Multimedia Computing and Communications; Network aware data compression; Signal quantization; Image coding and transmission

Dr. Ali Emadi

Professor and Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Professor and Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Canada Research Chair in Transportation Electrification and Smart Mobility and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Electrified Powertrains
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Canada Research Chair in Transportation Electrification and Smart Mobility and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Electrified Powertrains
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Transportation Electrification; Electrified Vehicles; Autonomous-Capable Vehicles; Electric and Hybrid Powertrains; Power Electronics and Electric Motor Drives; Electric Machines and Energy Conversion Systems; Renewable and Efficient Energy Systems; Energy and Sustainability

Dr. Tim Field

Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Diffusion theory; Electromagnetic scattering and propagation in random media; Geometric phases in quantum theory and coherent states; MRI physics; Population dynamics; Radar scattering; Stochastic differential equations; Stochastic quantization

Dr. Yaser Haddara

Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Physics, modeling, and simulation of microelectronics fabrication process technology; the study of materials properties, process physics, and electronic devices both in conventional VLSI technologies and in emerging technologies

Dr. Mohamed Hassan

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

computer architecture; embedded systems; cyber-physical systems; hardware verification; systems-on-chip; digital design; verification; security; Internet-of-Things

Dr. Simon Haykin

Distinguished University Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Cognitive Dynamic Systems (Cognitive Radar and Cognitive Radio)

Dr. Matiar Howlader

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Associate Member
McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Nano-bonding of materials, devices, and components from emerging technology of microelectronics, photonics, micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), bio-MEMS, bio-MOEMS and microfluidics for miniaturized and robust micro- and nano-system for health and environmental applications

Dr. Steve Hranilovic

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Communication algorithms ; Information theory and experimental implementations for optical channels, especially wireless optical channels

Dr. Aleksandar Jeremic

Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Associate Professor
McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical signal processing ; Medical imaging ; Biochemical sensing ; Environmental monitoring ; Array signal processing

Dr. Thia (Kiruba) Kirubarajan

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Estimation: Target tracking ; Information fusion ; Signal processing ; Communications ; Sensor resource management ; System diagnosis and fault detection

Dr. Shiva Kumar

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Fibre optic communication systems; Photonic devices; Modeling and simulation of optical communication systems

Dr. Xun Li

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Photonic devices with emphasis on semiconductor laser diodes, packaging and integration of photonic devices and sub-systems ; Fiber-optic communication systems and networks

Dr. Babak Nahid-Mobarakeh

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Micro Grids; Transportation Electrification; More Electric Aircraft; Electric Vehicles; Renewable Energy Systems; Stability and Stabilization of Power Conversion Systems; Control of Power Converters; Fault-Tolerant Power Conversion; Power Converters Fault-Detection; Motor Control; AC Drives

Dr. Mehdi Narimani

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Associate Member
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Power Electronics ; High-Power Conversion ; Medium-Voltage Motor Drives ; Application of Power Electronics in Power Systems ; Modeling and Control of Power Electronic Converters ; Renewable Energy Systems

Dr. Nicola Nicolici

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Associate Member
Department of Computing and Software

Computer-Aided Design for VLSI Circuits ; Design for Testability ; Hardware/Software Co-synthesis ; Low Power and Reliable Computing

Dr. Natalia Nikolova

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Microwave and millimeter-wave imaging and detection; Inverse problems; Computational electrodynamics; Computer-aided analysis and design; Radar ; Antennas ; Microwave devices

Dr. Michael Noseworthy

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Professor
McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Medical imaging physics; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); multinuclear spectroscopy (MNS); machine learning; brain; muscle; cancer

Dr. James (Jim) Reilly

Professor Emeritus
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Professor Emeritus
McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering

Statistical signal processing, including blind signal separation, blind deconvolution, image processing, and applications of numerical Bayesian estimation (MCMC) techniques

Dr. Shahram Shirani

Associate Chair (Undergraduate)
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Visual Communications ; Image and Video Compression ; Image/Video Indexing and Retrieval ; Robust Video Transmission over Error Prone Networks ; Image and Video Processing ; VLSI Architectures for Real-Time Signal and Image Processing ; Multimedia Hardware Architectures ; Ultrasonic Imaging

Dr. Shahin Sirouspour

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

robotics; control systems; energy systems; optimization

Dr. Peter M. Smith

Professor Emeritus
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Design tools for surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices ; Analysis, design and application of novel ultrasonic devices ; Circuits for medical telemetry

Dr. Ted Szymanski

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

High Speed Networking ; Intelligent Optical Networks ; Optical Switching ; VLSI Integrated Circuits ; Computing Systems ; Field Programmable Hardware

Dr. Ratnasingham (Thamas) Tharmarasa

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Target Tracking; Resource Management; Multisensor Fusion; Performance Prediction; Radar Signal Processing; Image and Video Processing

Dr. Terry Todd

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Computer networks ; Local and metropolitan area networks ; Wireless communications ; Smart antennas ; Fixed wireless internet access ; Embedded wireless communications ; Low power wireless protocols ; Picocellular radio networks ; Bluetooth ; Performance evaluation ; Queueing theory

Dr. Kon (Max) Wong

Professor Emeritus
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Signal detection and estimation ; Sensor array processing ; Adaptive filtering ; Communication theory ; Optimum designs of transmitters and receivers ; MIMO communications ; Applications of wavelets and solutions in communications ; Biomedical signal processing

Dr. Xiaolin Wu

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

VISUAL/MULTIMEDIA COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS, IMAGE/VIDEO PROCESSING (COMPRESSION, RESTORATION, VISUALIZATION), ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY IN SPATIAL, SPECTRAL AND TEMPORAL DOMAINS, COMPUTATIONAL IMAGING, COMPUTATIONAL DISPLAYS

Dr. Jian Kang (JK) Zhang

Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Multi-rate filterbanks ; Wavelet transforms ; Signal detection & estimation ; Signal Processing (linear algebra, number theory) ; Quantum information theory, random matrices, graphs & their applications in MIMO communication systems ; Coherent optimal trace-orthonormal linear dispersion coding & blind space-time modulation to identify MIMO fading channels & transmitted signals

Dr. Dongmei Zhao

Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Wireless communication networks ; Design and performance modeling of wireless mobile communications networks ; Radio resource management, quality-of-service provisioning, mobility management, access control and admission control

View our Faculty Listing

September 24, 2020 / Department News

Simulating virus spread risk and campus reopening using network science

Researchers Zoe Li and Wael El-Dakhakhni have received support from McMaster’s COVID-19 Research Fund to apply their digital twinning system to simulate reopening scenarios for McMaster’s campus. Hear more on the latest Big Ideas for a Changing World podcast episode.

August 21, 2020 / Department News

Students in Automation Engineering Technology helping the Hamilton Fire Department develop a digital, smart systems roadmap

Smart technology is changing the world in many ways and has the potential to improve how firefighters access information in the field. To take advantage of these technologies, cities require infrastructure to receive and process vast amounts of data.

August 14, 2020 / Department News

Researchers investigate a growing case for distributed smart systems and AI to reduce flooding in cities

As our global climate changes, extreme weather events are growing in frequency in many places, including Southern Ontario. Ontario municipalities experience heavier rainfalls and more extreme storms that frequently overwhelm their sewer infrastructure.

June 8, 2020 / Department News

Can Smart Technology Improve How Patients Recover from Wounds?

In partnership with St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH), professors with the W Booth School are exploring if smart technology can help the healing and treatment of patient’s wounds.

June 2, 2020 / Department News

McMaster civil engineers win Roche Canada COVID-19 Open Innovation Challenge

A project led by Zoe Li and Wael El-Dakhakhni received funding to further their research project, CityDNA, which can support decision makers in re-opening municipal facilities during COVID-19.

April 22, 2020 / Department News

McMaster startup partners with Hamilton grocery store to pilot temperature screening technology for COVID-19

Local businesses have one more way to keep customers and employees safe from COVID-19, thanks to technology developed by a Hamilton start-up with tight ties to McMaster.

March 30, 2020 / Department News

Students leverage big data to track the spread of COVID-19

Maanav Dalal, a second year software engineering student at McMaster, is part of a team of more than 25 students who are working on FLATTEN.ca, a free online platform that helps to track the spread of COVID-19.

March 12, 2020 / Department News

This isn’t your grandfather’s factory

In the first year of the Bachelor of Technology program, every student is given the opportunity to get exposed to Industry 4.0 without leaving campus.

November 28, 2019 / Department News

McMaster professor’s influential contributions honoured

Electrical & Computer Engineering professor Shiva Kumar has been elected as has been elected Fellow of the Optical Society (FOSA).

October 30, 2019 / Department News

Engineering researchers take a novel approach to cybersecurity

Computing and Software researchers develop novel approach to security

September 30, 2019 / Department News

What makes Mac Eng students stand out? We asked Canada's largest telecom provider

As employer of the week, Rogers mentored students on branding themselves and preparing for the career of their lives.

August 15, 2019 / Department News

Students in M.Eng. Design program apply machine learning and data analytics to aquaponics farming

Jingpeng Zhai, a student in the Master of Engineering Design program with the W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology has been working in a team of three with their client to design a process to help demonstrate the viability of a indoor aquaponics farming in Canada.

June 13, 2019 / Department News

ECE professor helps open TSX

“Working with Patriot One to develop PATSCAN continues to be an exceptional opportunity. We are excited about deploying this breakthrough concealed weapons detection technology so we can protect people’s lives.” - Natalia Nikolova

April 10, 2019 / Department News

McMaster Engineering announces new faculty appointments spring 2019

We are pleased to announce the following new appointments to the Faculty of Engineering.

March 1, 2019 / Department News

McMaster engineers create a fireproof sensor to track firefighters, miners, oil workers in high-risk situations

The sensor can track the movement and location of a person in a burning building, a mineshaft or other hazardous environment, alerting someone outside if the movement ceases.

January 4, 2019 / Department News

McMaster Engineering announces new faculty appointments

We are pleased to announce the following new appointments to the Faculty of Engineering.

November 26, 2018 / Department News

Fresh Faces: Li Xi

In 2013, Li Xi landed his dream job as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster. In his Fresh Faces spotlight he discusses his upbringing in Suzhou, China, the rewards of connecting with students and decoding experiments on polymer materials.