Tareq Al-Naffouri

About Tareq Al-Naffouri

Tareq Al-Naffouri

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

statistical signal processing communications tracking wireless networks Localization

Professor Al-Naffouri's research focuses on designing and analyzing wireless communication systems, particularly spectrum sharing, cognitive radio, energy efficiency and security within the context of advanced technologies like 5G.

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Related News

July 2026

ISL-MCEM Team Wins First Place at the Global Young Professionals Challenge

1 min read · Sat, Jul 11 2026

Awards News

We are thrilled to announce that a collaborative team from the Information Science Lab (ISL) and the Mechanics of Composite for Energy and Mobility (MCEM) Lab has won First Place in the Global Young Professionals Challenge at the 12th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM) , held in Toulouse, France. Organized by COFREND and sponsored by Airbus and CEA-List, the prestigious competition brings together outstanding early-career researchers in structural health monitoring from around the world. The winning team consisted of Omar Khalifa (ISL), Hassan A. Mahmoud, and Aldyandra

June 2026

Excited to share our work "Harnessing Cellular Network Data for Accurate Transportation Mode Recognition" accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology

1 min read · Wed, Jun 3 2026

News

Excited to share that our work "Harnessing Cellular Network Data for Accurate Transportation Mode Recognition" has been accepted by IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, with co-authors Kalamkas Zhagyparova, Nour Kouzayha, Hesham Elsawy, Ahmed Bader, and Tareq Al-Naffouri. 🔥 In this work, we show that transportation modes — bus, car, walk, and train — can be accurately classified using only radio access network (RAN) measurements from cellular infrastructure, without relying on GPS, IMU sensors, or any user-installed apps. 💡 Key Highlights: ⭐ A privacy-preserving, energy-efficient

May 2026

Advancing THz Communications: Hybrid Far- and Near-Field Channel Estimation

1 min read · Sun, May 24 2026

News

Excited to share our work “Multi-User Hybrid Far- and Near-Field THz UM-MIMO Channel Estimation via UNet-OAMP” published in IEEE Communications Letters

January 2026

Two of our recent works have been accepted in IEEE Journal and Conference

1 min read · Mon, Jan 26 2026

News

We are delighted to share that two of our recent works have been accepted 🎉 One paper has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society ( #IEEE OJ-COMS), and another paper, previously published in IEEE Signal Processing Letters (SPL), has been accepted for presentation at IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP) 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. 📄 Paper 1 — IEEE OJ-COMS Title: Diversity Analysis for Terahertz Communication Systems Under Small-Scale Fading In this work, we develop a framework to analyze diversity gain in

December 2025

CEMSE student Rawan Alghamdi selected as a 2025 IEEE SPS Scholarship Program recipient

3 min read · Wed, Dec 3 2025

Awards News

6G and Beyond

CEMSE’s Rawan Alghamdi honored with IEEE SPS Scholarship for her work to bridge the global “digital divide.”

November 2025

October 2025

Excited to share our publication in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications

1 min read · Sun, Oct 26 2025

News

We are thrilled to share that our latest paper, “𝙀𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙎𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙒𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨: 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣, 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝘼𝙡𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙢, 𝙁𝙖𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩,” has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. This work is the result of a collaborative effort between the KAUST IMPACTS Lab and the Information Science Lab, with amazing co-authors: Ruiqi Wang; Pinjun Zheng; Vijith Varma Kotte; Sakandar Rauf; Yiming Yang; Muhammad Mahboob Ur Rahman; Tareq Al-Naffouri; Atif Shamim. In this paper, we present a comprehensive

August 2025

July 2025

June 2025

Building Better Backhaul for 6G Networks

2 min read · Tue, Jun 17 2025

News Research in Focus

In a recently accepted paper in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, researchers Dr. Waqas Aman, Dr. Marwa Qaraqe, Dr. Muhammad Mahboob Ur Rahman, Saif Al-Kuwari, and Prof. Tareq Al-Naffouri explored a promising solution — a hybrid backhaul link that combines Free Space Optics (FSO) and Terahertz (THz) communication.

May 2025

February 2025

Professor Tareq Al-Naffouri named Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow

2 min read · Sun, Feb 2 2025

News

IEEE Wireless Communications

KAUST Professor Tareq Al-Naffouri has been named an IEEE Fellow, the organization’s highest distinction, in recognition of his contributions to adaptive signal processing and its applications in wireless communications.

January 2025

KAUST ECE students achieve high honors in Competition on Non-Terrestrial Networks for 6G (NTNYS'24)

4 min read · Tue, Jan 21 2025

News

6g wireless systems connectivity NTN Communication Non-Terrestrial Networks IoT

KAUST Ph.D. candidate Omar Khalifa earned an impressive second place in the global Competition on Non-Terrestrial Networks for 6G (NTNYS'24). The IEEE Future Networks Initiative organized the competition as part of the "Connecting the World from the Skies Global Forum," which took place last November in Riyadh. Second place, and a prize of $10,000, was awarded to Khalifa based on his work titled "Supplying Data for Digital Twins in Green Smart Cities: A Non-Invasive NTN-IoT Approach." The international forum, which focused on the theme “Shaping the Future of Converged Connectivity,” was hosted

December 2024

KAUST-Engineered tool drives sustainable solutions in water conservation

3 min read · Sun, Dec 1 2024

IoT devices IoT AI Smart sensors Signal processing

KAUST’s startup EcoStream cuts water waste by 50% while promoting affordability and sustainability, winning the 2024 StartSmart prize.

August 2024

Gold-Medal Sensors: KAUST Racing Toward High-Tech Athletic Excellence For KSA

1 min read · Thu, Aug 8 2024

News Clip News

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is sprinting ahead in sports training innovations, forging meaningful collaborations and developing cutting-edge wearable sensors to revolutionize athletic regimens and injury prevention. These advancements offer game-changing insights to support peak performance and health, aligning with Saudi Vision 2030’s goal of achieving both regional and worldwide excellence in professional sports.

July 2024

New Google collaboration advances AI research in Saudi Arabia

1 min read · Mon, Jul 8 2024

News Clip News

Google has awarded $100,000 in seed research grants to KAUST's CEMSE faculty to advance multilingual, multimodal machine learning, fostering innovations in areas like health and education, with projects led by Tareq Al-Naffouri, Mohamed Elhoseiny, and Bernard Ghanem aimed at enhancing mobile networks and developing inclusive AI models.

May 2024

March 2024

Exciting News from LEAP2024!

1 min read · Sun, Mar 31 2024

News

artificial intelligence Data Analytics digital health

Exciting News from LEAP2024! We are thrilled to announce that our two innovative startup companies, Qawam and MOBiSENSE, participated in LEAP2024, showcasing their cutting-edge products and services. Qawam, known for its groundbreaking posture correction solutions, has now developed an app that utilizes sensors from Apple Airpods. This app eliminates the need for a separate clip-on device, providing consumers with a more convenient and seamless posture correction experience. MOBiSENSE specializes in extracting valuable insights for mobile network operators (MNOs) and communications services

February 2024

2nd place in the Digital Innovation Award

1 min read · Sun, Feb 11 2024

News

We are pleased to announce that Qawam won 2nd place ? out of ~2600 applications in the Digital Innovation Award by #CODE Labs and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia Qawam, a startup company stemming from the Information Science Lab, has developed a compact clip-on device that detects poor posture, addressing issues like "tech neck" and reducing back pain among office workers. Led by our former internship students Safwan Ibrahim and Mohammed Shukri, Qawam's mission to enhance posture health with AI has been recognized with this significant award

January 2024

December 2023

November 2023

Congratulations to Lama Niyazi on Successfully Defending her PhD Thesis

1 min read · Sun, Nov 26 2023

News

Lama Niyazi celebrated a significant academic triumph, successfully defending her Ph.D. thesis in Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST. Her extensive research, guided by Professors Tareq Al-Naffouri and Mohamed-Slim Alouini, focused on advancing high-dimensional data classifiers using tools from asymptotic Random Matrix Theory (RMT). Lama's work filled critical gaps in understanding linear classifiers in scenarios with small, high-dimensional datasets. Throughout her dissertation, Lama meticulously outlined how asymptotic RMT provided insights into classifier behavior, paving the way

August 2023

An exhilarating day at the ISL

1 min read · Wed, Aug 30 2023

News

An exhilarating day at the Information Science Lab, KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology), where we had the privilege of presenting an array of innovative projects to distinguished guests, including the Technology Research Advisor and GM of Technology Adoption and Growth from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia. Here's a glimpse of the groundbreaking solutions they witnessed: 1. MOBiSENSE: A visionary non-invasive mobility analytics solution, harnessing AI and radio access network data. Empowering mobile network operators and service

July 2023

Congratulations to Kalamkas for successfully defending her MS dissertation

1 min read · Wed, Jul 12 2023

News

Today is a significant day for Kalamkas Zhagyparova, a master's student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, as she successfully defended her thesis titled "Transportation Mode Recognition based on Cellular Network Data." The master's defense took place at the Information Science Lab (ISL) in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where Kalamkas presented her extensive research in the field of transportation mode recognition and the challenges related to utilizing cellular network data. Kalamkas' thesis has addressed the challenge of transportation mode recognition

May 2023

January 2023

December 2022

November 2022

October 2022

Prof. Mohamed Siala joined ISL as a visiting faculty

1 min read · Wed, Oct 5 2022

News

Prof Mohamed Siala is a Professor at Ecole Supérieure des Communications de Tunis (Higher School of Communication of Tunisia, Sup’Com) where he has been teaching since 2001. His research activities are focused on reception algorithmics (channel estimation, synchronization), channel coding, OFDM and OFDM/OQAM modulations, MIMO systems and space-time coding, cognitive radio, cooperative systems, and resource allocation in CDMA and OFDMA. He joined Information Science Lab, CEMSE, KAUST in August 2022 as a Visiting Faculty member for 1 year.

September 2022

January 2022

Congratulations to our graduates in 2021

1 min read · Wed, Jan 5 2022

News

We at Information Science Lab would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the following students who have graduated during the academic year 2021/2022. Ayed Alrashdi (Ph.D. Feb’21) – Currently working as an Assistant Professor at the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia. Hui Chen (Ph.D. July’21) – Joined as a Postdoc researcher at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Mohammed Alsharif (Ph.D. Dec’21) – Currently working at ARAMCO R&D Ahmed Magbool (MS 2021) – He is continuing Ph.D. at University College, Dublin Muhanned Alsaif (MS July’21) – Currently working as a

November 2021

KAUST-KFUPM collaboration wins top honors at STC AIoT Hackathon

3 min read · Mon, Nov 29 2021

News

IoT agriculture artificial intelligence drones

A team composed of KAUST and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) students was one of three winning teams of this year’s Saudi Telecom Company (STC) AIoT (AI & IoT) Hackathon. The KAUST entry, AgriDoctor, a proposed autonomous, sustainable, intelligent agriculture system, was a standout pick for the competition judges from a pool of 110 project submissions and 350 participants.

July 2021

Redefining travel paradigms: New wireless communication solutions to flying cars

1 min read · Wed, Jul 7 2021

News

The existing ground-based transportation systems suffer from various challenges, including the high cost of infrastructure development, limited land space, and a growing urban population. Hence, one solution to tackle this problem is by moving from 2D transportation systems towards 3D mobility that will improve urban air mobility and help reach last-mile regions. Nevertheless, the safe operation of flying cars will require well-developed wireless communication networks; however, existing communication technologies need enhancement to provide services to flying cars. Therefore, this work

June 2021

KAUST research group win inaugural MCIT Digital Innovation Award

3 min read · Mon, Jun 28 2021

News

digital innovation award smart tap artificial intelligence

A team of KAUST researchers have won first place in the Digital Research track at the inaugural Digital Innovation Awards held on Sunday, April 25, 2021. Launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the awards aim to “enhance the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in digital research and development” in Saudi Arabia.

March 2021

Tethered drones have wireless data covered

1 min read · Thu, Mar 25 2021

News

Flying drones connected by a cable tethered to a ground station could be a flexible solution for enhancing wireless connectivity in temporary hotspots.

October 2020

STOP WATER WASTE with AI-Driven Smart Tap

1 min read · Mon, Oct 12 2020

News

The Information System Lab led by Professor Tareq Al-Naffouri has developed an AI-driven smart tap that runs a personalized water flow and pressure profile based on each individual's actions. HOW? Check this out: https://youtu.be/5-30Z7Omugw

July 2020

June 2020

A clique away from more efficient networks

1 min read · Sun, Jun 14 2020

News

networks connectivity applied mathematics electrical engineering

An old branch of mathematics finds a fertile new field of application.

February 2020

Internet of underground things to reveal buried vistas

1 min read · Sun, Feb 9 2020

News

fuel-resources communications electrical engineering

Pinpoint mesh of smart underground objects could give real-time 3D readout of fossil fuel reserves.

December 2019

Drones deliver on internet connectivity

1 min read · Thu, Dec 12 2019

News

communications electrical engineering IoT

Hovering airborne vehicles could connect smart sensors to the internet of things.

November 2019

EE 398 Graduate Seminar

1 min read · Mon, Nov 11 2019

News

In November 2019, Professor Tareq Al-Naffouri delivered a talk at a Graduate Seminar in KAUST.

August 2019

July 2019

ISL Students place 4th at Microsoft Indoor Localization Competition 2017

1 min read · Mon, Jul 29 2019

News

Accurate indoor positioning has the potential to transform the way people navigate indoors similar to the way the GPS transformed outdoor navigation. Over the last 20 years, many indoor positioning technologies have been proposed and experimented by both academia and industry. We developed an accurate acoustic 3D positioning system, which consists of one mobile device (MD) and four base stations (BSs) with known locations. The MD transmits a series of ultrasound and RF sequences, named Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences, at the same time. The propagation time of the RF signal is negligible compared to

May 2019

Measurement Selection: A Random Matrix Theory Approach

1 min read · Thu, May 30 2019

News

Random Matrix Theory Measurement Wireless Communications

Khalil Elkhalil , Student Member, IEEE, Abla Kammoun, Member, IEEE, Tareq Y. Al-Naffouri, Member, IEEE, and Mohamed-Slim Alouini , Fellow, IEEE Abstract This paper considers the problem of selecting a set of k measurements from n available sensor observations. The selected measurements should minimize a certain error function assessing the error in estimating a certain m dimensional parameter vector. The exhaustive search inspecting each of the (n) possible choices would require very high computational k complexity and as such is not practical for large n and k. Alternative methods with low

March 2019

KAUST alumna wins ADIPEC Young Engineer of the Year Award

2 min read · Sun, Mar 3 2019

Spotlight

award

KAUST alumna Shamael Al-Shuhail won the prestigious Abu Dhabi International Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC) Young Engineer of the Year Award at ADIPEC 2018 held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

January 2019

Lighting the way to the underwater Internet of things

1 min read · Wed, Jan 2 2019

News

underwater sensor platform electrical engineering communications

An optical system for monitoring underwater sensor positions could enable large networks of devices to be deployed for ocean measurements.

March 2018

Marine exploration sensing with light and sound

1 min read · Sun, Mar 11 2018

News

marine exploration electrical engineering Sensor networks

Unveiling new strategies to improve future wireless underwater sensing networks for marine research and communication.

May 2017

The crest of waveforms for next-gen radar

1 min read · Sat, May 6 2017

News

electrical engineering Computer science radar

A new method for shaping the waveform generated by multi-antenna radar systems is inexpensive and practical.

February 2016

Wireless devices tune-in to cloud power

1 min read · Sat, Feb 6 2016

News

electrical engineering

Next-generation mobile networks can use cloud computing algorithms to manage the increasingly high data demands of users.

July 2015

Signal noise annoys no more

1 min read · Mon, Jul 13 2015

News

electrical engineering signals

Identifying noise in communication signals helps to filter out glitches and improve transmission quality.

February 2013

PhD EE student Mudassir Masood from Prof. Tareq Al-Naffouri's group wins best poster award at ICCSPA'13

1 min read · Tue, Feb 26 2013

News Spotlight

Distribution Agnostic Bayesian Estimation of Sparse Signals communications tracking statistical signal processing

Mudassir Masood, a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering (EE) at the CEMSE division, received the best poster award at the International Conference on Communications, Signal Processing, and Their Applications (ICCSPA), held 11-14 February 2013 in Sharjah, UAE.

January 2013

EE students, postdocs shine in WEP poster competition

1 min read · Sun, Jan 27 2013

News Spotlight

WEP Poster Competition

EE students and postdocs won 5 out of 9 prizes at the WEP university-wide poster competition in all three categories. These prizes are the latest in a series of awards brought home by the EE students from similar contests.