ISL | Impact through Systems Learning
About
The core focus of the Intelligent Systems Lab (ISL) is on developing novel reasoning and learning theories and algorithms, studying their impact on the wider community, and ensuring they are used in a responsible and safe manner. A primary aim of the ISL is to strengthen academia-industry linkages, moving cutting-edge technologies into production.
Staff
The ISL comprises a core group of academic and industry experts. Partnerships with for-profit institutions are established through the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). Currently, the ISL has academic partnerships with researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA, and Kyungpook National University in Daegu, South Korea.
Application Spaces
Some of the work in the field of ISL is being applied to various areas, including policy and governance, robotics, SCADA systems, attack-resilient systems, digital twins, and AI-enabled software, such as vector databases, AI-enabled servers, and industrial operating systems (for more information, please refer to our GitHub repository)
Information Dissemination
The ISL disseminates information through scientific publications, conferences, seminars and media.
Ongoing Projects Catalogue
The following listings comprise projects that are not bound by an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). Each project is licensed separately and assigned a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) ranging from 1 to 9. See more information about TRL here.
Attack Resilency Framework
Maintainer: Amir Mohammed
TRL: 6
This project is a software and technology based framework for the study of attack resiliency in control systems. Attacks defined here, spans DDOS, FDI and Replay.
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SimuNEX
Maintainer: Lee Bissessar
TRL: 7
SimuNEX is an AI-enabled high-fidelity simulation platform consisting of a physics engine, advanced control systems solver, HMI developer and test harness. It is adaptable for many applications.
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Quantitative Risk Framework for AI systems
Contributor: Samantha Deonarine
TRL: 6
Safety is necessary for LLMs because they have the potential to generate harmful or inappropriate content. This project aims to develop a quantitative risk reduction framework for linguistic reasoning machines.
Automaton-1: The Autonomous Multimodal Planning, Decision and Reasoning System
Contributor: Derron Phagoo
Contributor: Giovanni Alexander
TRL: 6
This project aims to build increasingly autonomous systems with enhanced machine reasoning capabilities with the use of a Multi-Agent structure studied in a Game Theoretic framework and Control theory.
NANO: A low-compute learning framework for AI
Maintainer: Nathan Ragoobar
Contributor: Lee Bissessar
TRL: 2
The Nano software framework is intended to be a cross-platform inference and training framework for AI systems built on Control Theory fundamentals which include: Quantization and numerical stability, nonlinear subspace projection, non-convex online optimization algorithms
Byte-Level Generative Networks: At Scale Universal Approximators are Number System Invariant
Maintainer: Craig Ramlal
TRL: 5
This project explores novel attention head mechanisms that result in subquadratic costs both at training and inference and 1/2 bit parameter sizes. We hypothesize that at scale, the performance of pre-trained, fune-tuned quantized models have the same perplexity of their floating point counterparts.
Federated Database Systems for AI Memory Management
Maintainer: Kevon Andrews
TRL: 2
This project aims to develop a universal fault-tolerant data orchestration system that is interoperable among various data-sources and has a low level of reasoning.
Multi-Agent Cooperative Transportation Control of a Quadrotor Lifting System
Maintainer: Cade Coker
TRL: 2
Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (QUAVs) form a popular platform for tethered payload transportation due to their agility, ability to precisely hover, and their Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) capabilities. These vehicles however, are limited by their carrying capability...
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Semi-automated restoration of cultural footage
Maintainer: Daniel Ringis
TRL: 2
Video is one of the most important cultural carriers. Traditionally, video has been stored on film, however, as a storage medium, film can naturally degrade through the deterioration of colour dyes over time and with dust causing scratches on the film thereby impacting the quality of the video....
Trinidadian Creole Speech Recognition
Maintainer: Daniel Ringis
TRL: 2
Speech recognition technology is becoming more widely adopted across services such as speech-to-text transcription and voice recognition. Additionally, integration with applications including emergency response centers and search engines makes it a valuable tool for interacting with computers....
Research Grants
The following lists the research grants awarded to the ISL
01
Hospitech: Supporting in-hospital COVID-19 response through technology (Research and Development Initiative $120,000USD). Click here for further information
Status: Completed
02
CRP.3NOV23.06: Toward Faithful AI Systems: A Multi-Agent Unfalsified Framework ($11,500USD)
Status: Ongoing
03
ATIM: Autonomous Transmission Infrastructure Monitoring (Research and Development Initiative $100,000USD)
Status: Completed
Publications
Mohammed, Amir, Craig Ramlal, Lincoln Marine, and Fasil Muddeen. "Resilient Event Triggered Interval Type‐2 Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Subjected to Multiple Cyber Attacks." Journal of Advanced Transportation 2024, no. 1 (2024): 2790548.
Phillip, Micah, Arvind Singh, and Craig J. Ramlal. "Narrow Band Frequency Response Analysis of Power Transformers with Deep Learning." Energies 16, no. 17 (2023): 6347.
Mungal, M. J., A. Singh, C. J. Ramlal, and J. Colthrust. "Sensitivity analysis of the unit commitment problem to guide data acquisition investments in a small island developing state: A case study." Results in Engineering 18 (2023): 101191.
Hunte, Kyle, Craig J. Ramlal, and Jingang Yi. "Dynamic Path Planning for Multiple Robots Transporting Objects in a Deformable Sheet." IFAC-PapersOnLine 56, no. 3 (2023): 505-510.
Mohammed, Amir, Fasil Muddeen, Lincoln Marine, and Craig J. Ramlal. "The Exigency for Resilient and Cyber-Secure Critical Infrastructure in the Caribbean." West Indian Journal of Engineering 45, no. 2 (2023).
Manninen, Henri, Craig J. Ramlal, Arvind Singh, Jako Kilter, and Mart Landsberg. "Multi-stage deep learning networks for automated assessment of electricity transmission infrastructure using fly-by images." Electric Power Systems Research 209 (2022): 107948.
Mohammed, Amir, Fasil Muddeen, Craig J. Ramlal, and Lincoln Marine. "A Comprehensive Review of Fault Tolerant and Resilient Cyber-Secure strategies for Critical Infrastructure Protection." The Industrial Engineering and Management Journal 1, no. 1 (2022): 66-76.
Manninen, Henri, Craig J. Ramlal, Arvind Singh, Sean Rocke, Jako Kilter, and Mart Landsberg. "Toward automatic condition assessment of high-voltage transmission infrastructure using deep learning techniques." International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems 128 (2021): 106726.
Ramlal, Craig J., Arvind Singh, Sean Rocke, Henri Manninen, Jako Kilter, and Mart Landsberg. "Toward automated utility pole condition monitoring: A deep learning approach." In 2020 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe (ISGT-Europe), pp. 255-259. IEEE, 2020.
Ramlal, Craig J., Arvind Singh, and Sean Rocke. "Repetitive learning frequency control for energy intensive corporate microgrids subject to Cyclic Batch Loads." In 2020 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe (ISGT-Europe), pp. 349-353. IEEE, 2020.
Mohammed, Amir, Craig J. Ramlal, Arvind Singh, Sean Rocke, and Daniel Goitia. "A simulation framework for controlled critical infrastructures subject to natural disasters." (2020).
Singh, Arvind, Sean Rocke, Akash Pooransingh, and Craig J. Ramlal. "Improving student engagement in teaching electric machines through blended learning." IEEE Transactions on Education 62, no. 4 (2019): 297-304.
Ramlal, Craig J., Arvind Singh, Sean Rocke, and Michael Sutherland. "Decentralized Fuzzy $ H_\infty $-Iterative Learning LFC With Time-Varying Communication Delays and Parametric Uncertainties." IEEE Transactions on power systems 34, no. 6 (2019): 4718-4727.
Dookie, Isa, Sean Rocke, Arvind Singh, and Craig J. Ramlal. "Evaluating wind speed probability distribution models with a novel goodness of fit metric: a Trinidad and Tobago case study." International journal of energy and environmental engineering 9 (2018): 323-339.
Current Researchers
Dr Craig Ramlal
Principal Investigator
Dr. Craig Ramlal is the Head of the Control Systems Group at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine. He earned his BSc(e), MASc, and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering split-site from KFUPM and UWI. He served on the United Nation's Secretary General's High-Level Advisory Board on AI, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union Working Group on AI and the Caribbean Development Bank's Technical Subcommittee on IRC/RDA. He has conducted impactful work such as coordinating open data strategies for Caribbean nations, leading projects with Ministry of Health and University of Florida for COVID-19 mitigation, and developing Industrial Diagnostic tools for Estonia's grid using deep learning techniques. His expertise lies in Intelligent Control Strategies, Game Theory and Artificial Intelligence.
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Dr Arvind Singh
Co-Investigator
Arvind Singh is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of the West Indies. He gained his B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of the West Indies in 2003. Subsequently he went on to study at the University of British Columbia where he obtained his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in 2006 and 2009 respectively. His research focuses on Condition Monitoring of Power Transformers and Electrical Machines, Renewable Energy, Large Scale Energy Management Systems and the Smart Grid. He is also involved in the design complex system simulation for modeling infrastructure interdependencies and emergency responses in times of disaster. In addition to these he is interested in developing pedagogical tools for music and language.
Prof Chris Maharaj
Co-Investigator
Chris Maharaj is a Professor and Head of the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department of The University of the West Indies (UWI). He holds BSc and MSc qualifications in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Management respectively from UWI. His PhD is from Imperial College London. He is an engineering academic with research experience in alternative use of waste materials, mechanical design optimization, failure analysis, component life assessment, asset management, innovation management, flipped classroom methods, and student motivation. He has industrial experience in design verification, maintenance, inspection, and condition monitoring in the petrochemical, petroleum refining, and oil and gas production sectors. He has executive experience in the aviation and airline catering industry.
Dr Daniel Ringis
Co-Investigator
Dr. Daniel Joseph Ringis previously studied Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2008 - 2012 and 2016-2017 at the University of the West Indies. After which he completed a PhD at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in Video Processing. During his time there, he was very active in student organising groups such as the PhD Workers Rights group and previously served as the Faculty Representative for the Graduate Students Union (2018-2020) and competed for awards which include: 2nd Place Huawei Future of Vision Challenge 2019, Top 10 Paper at Picture Coding Symposium 2021 and was a finalist at the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship 2020 (Europe). His current research area is in video processing, engineering education and sports engineering.
Amanda Zilla
Co-Investigator
Amanda Zilla is a digital humanities researcher and full-time temporary assistant lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities and Education. Her interests include virtual reality, artificial intelligence, narratology, transmedial narratives, lived experiences in "multiple realities" and narrative ethics. It is her hope that her work positively contributes to minimizing the digital divide between Developing & Developed nations and influences the incorporation of bleeding-edge technology and media into operations across many fields regionally, and internationally. Ms. Zilla has published articles, delivered conference papers, and designed workshops and an undergraduate course for The UWI STA reflecting these interests.
Azim Abdool
Co-Investigator
Azim Abdool is an engineer and a member (M) of IEEE and APETT. His research interests are in embedded and affective computing. He has been an Instructor in Computer Systems Engineering at the UWI since 2008 and has also served as Director of Fasove Product Development Ltd. since 2015. He received a B.Sc. in ECE from The University of the West Indies (The UWI), St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, in 2008, was formerly a research associate with the University of York, UK (2012) and is currently reading for a Ph.D. in ECE from The UWI.
Kyle Hunte
Co-Investigator
Kyle Hunte completed his BSc and MASc in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of the West Indies and subsequently completed an MSc in Mechanical Engineering at Rutgers University. He is currently a PhD candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers and serves as a Process Control Engineer at ICA Engineering leading design and engineering projects for large-scale utility, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and chemical companies.
Kevon Andrews
Project Manager
Kevon Andrews, with 15+ years in software engineering, is an Electrical and Computer Engineer from The University of West Indies, St. Augustine, holding a B.Sc. (2003) and M.Sc. (2006) in Communication Systems. He's delivered software solutions across industries like fisheries, agriculture, and medical. Since 2008, he's been an Engineer at the same university, co-leading projects such as FEWER, CC4FISH, and mFisheries. Currently, he focuses on software systems research, especially in AI.
Ravi Deonarine
Project Manager
Ravi Deonarine is an Engineer II at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In addition to research and development projects he is responsible for the department’s online systems which includes several web applications that support the department operations. He also supervises undergraduate final year projects and has previously lectured in Telecommunications in both the undergraduate and postgraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering programs.
Amir Mohammed
Researcher
Received his BSc and MASc in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a major in Control Systems from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine. He is currently a PhD Candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UWI. His interests include Industrial Cyber Physical Systems, Resilient Control, Fault Tolerant Control and Artificial Intelligence.
Lincoln Marine
Researcher
He earned a BSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering focused on Control and Communication Systems from UWI, St. Augustine, with a keen interest in Fuzzy Logic Control and Machine Learning.
Lee Bissessar
Researcher
holds a BSc in ECNG from the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. He led the creation of the Autonomous Systems MATLAB Simulation Package, enhancing system reliability using a model-driven approach. Lee is a primary developer at Intelligent Systems Labs, dedicated to dynamic simulation and innovative solutions in AI and robotics.
Jonathan Nancoo
Researcher
Jonathan Nancoo is an Electrical and Computer engineering student specialising in control systems..his interests include modelling and control of power electronic converters, data driven control techniques and fault tolerant control. A part time teacher for the past five years his is also interested in pedagogy and using utliising AI to enhance student engagement and improve student experiences.
Derron Phagoo
Industry Partner
He is an engineer with a diverse background in software and hardware development across the Automotive, Commercial, and Oil & Gas industries, with expertise in compliance with Industry Standards. His interests include Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Robotics.
Cade Coker
Researcher
Cade Coker attained the BSc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine in 2024, with majors in Communication and Control systems. He is currently an MPhil student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UWI. His research interests include multi-agent system control, modern optimal and adaptive control techniques and audio signal processing.
Samantha Deonarine
Researcher
Samantha Deonarine, a recent graduate of the University of the West Indies with a BSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering, developed a strong interest in AI and control systems during her studies. Her research focused on creating a safety framework for large language models using industry standards, addressing AI safety concerns in high-stakes applications. Passionate about responsible AI development, Samantha is keen to explore the ethical implications of advanced AI, working to minimize biases, prevent unintended consequences, and ensure AI aligns with human values. She is dedicated to advancing AI safety for the benefit of humanity.