Prof. Dr. Ahmed S. Abdul-Amir, an academic staff member of Computer Engineering Department received an appreciation letter from I IEEE Access for reviewing a research paper entitled “Optimal Path Finding with Beetle Antennae Search Algorithm by Using Swarm Initialization and Different Scientific Strategies” on 27-11-2019.

Prof. Dr. Ahmed S. Abdul-Amir, an academic staff member of Computer Engineering Department received an appreciation letter, and certificate from Journal of Engineering for reviewing a research paper entitled “Bat Algorithm Based on an Adaptive PID Controller for Buck Converter Model”.

A graduate student from the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Technology (Hasnaa H. AbdulKareem) has been awarded a Master of Science degree in “Smart Monitoring System Design for Air Pollution Avoidance Based on Wireless Sensor Network”, on 13 November, 2019 at the conference hall of the Computer Engineering Department.

This thesis presents air pollution monitoring system based on wireless sensor network. The proposed system contains two different sensor nodes connected to the Raspberry Pi main server. These two sensor nodes contain air gases sensors to detect harmful gases in the air and monitored by microcontrollers.

Readings of sensors are stored on the main database system of raspberry pi. MySQL database system is used because it is expandable, moreover web service is implemented to allow real time monitoring and provide user interfacing. Also, MQTT protocol was implemented to send and receive messages between sensor nodes and the main server.

The results of system are compared to the results of microtector II gas detector device which is very efficient and precise. The results of both microtector and the proposed system are the same. The results of the proposed system prototype verified the expected aims, namely: air pollution system monitoring and avoidance.

The discussion committee consisted of four members, Prof. Dr. Ahmed S. Abdul-Amir from the University of Technology – Iraq, Computer Engineering Department as Chairman, Asst. Prof. Dr. Zainab T. Al-Essa from the Baghdad University, College of Engineering, Electrical Engineering Department as a member, Dr. Azhar A. Kamel from the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry, Research and Development Department as a member, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Hassan J. Hassan from the University of Technology – Iraq, Computer Engineering Department as a member and supervisor.

A graduate student from the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Technology (Hasan Mudhafar Qays) has been awarded a Master of Science degree in “Drone Based Mail Distribution System”, on 14 November, 2019 at the conference hall of the Computer Engineering Department.

In this thesis, a quadcopter will be used for mail delivery between many destination points. The quadcopter is executing an autonomous flight using the concept of companion computer. This computer acts as Onboard Control Unit (OCU). Raspbeny PI 3 (RPI3) is used as OCU to control the quadcopter movement by sending commands to the Flight Controller (FC). The concept of OCU is useful to perform an additional task to the autopilot and provide such smart capability such as: path planning and power estimation which cannot be done by the flight controller alone.

The proposed system consists of five modules to achieve the required goal; Autonomous flight module, path planning module, notification module, power estimation module and web interface module for easy used by the end-user.

The result of controlling the quadcopter give an error of three to five meters when reaching the destination point depending on GPS signal. The total flight time of the proposed quadcopter is6 minutes and 15second to visit five destination points with total distance of flight is 249.08 meters.

The discussion committee consisted of four members, Prof. Dr. Raad Hamdan Dhahir from Al-Mustansiriyah University, Engineering College, Electrical Engineering Department as Chairman, Asst. Prof. Dr. Safana Madhar Raafat from the University of Technology – Iraq, Control and Systems Engineering Department as a member, Asst. Prof. Dr. Bassim AbdulBaki Jumaa from the University of Technology – Iraq / Computer Engineering Department as a member and supervisor, and Dr. Ayman Dawood Salman from the University of Technology – Iraq / Computer Engineering Department as a member and supervisor.