Senior Researcher
Mathematics / Robotics & Autonomous Systems,
Royal Military Academy
Address
Avenue De La Renaissance 30, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Contact Information
Call: +32(0)2-44-14117
Email: rihab.lahouli@rma.ac.be
Rihab Lahouli is a senior researcher at the Robotics & Autonomous Systems unit of the department of Mechanics of the Belgian Royal Military Academy. Her research focuses on the fields of connected objects, internet-of-things (IoT), location tracking, situational awareness and data management.
In May 2016, she received her Ph.D in Electronics from the University of Bordeaux (France), and in Information and Communication Technologies from the Engineering School of Communications (Tunisia).
Hereafter, Rihab worked as a postdoctoral researcher at IM2NP laboratory (Institute of Materials Microelectronics Nanosciences of Province) of Marseille (France). During this experience her activities were related to real-time computing of applied forces on the sport shoes soles and location tracking of cyclists.
Since February 2018, she is participating in European and regional research projects at the Belgian Royal Military Academy: H2020-AIOSAT (Autonomous Indoor & Outdoor Safety Tracking System) project, which is about the development of location tracking and alerting system of firefighters during rescue interventions. Positions and alert messages are sent using long-range and narrow-band LoRa and NB-IoT communication links.
Currently, Rihab is participating in a collaborative research project SSAVE that aims to enable shared situational awareness and interoperability between multi-agent maritime robotic systems, with a focus on various forms of autonomy, secure interconnectivity, and interoperability between assets in the maritime and inland waterway environment.
Publications
2022
- R. Lahouli., G. De Cubber, B. Pairet., C. Hamesse., T. Fréville., and R. Haelterman., “Deep Learning based Object Detection and Tracking for Maritime Situational Awareness," in Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2022) – Volume 4: VISAPP, 2022, pp. 643-650.
[BibTeX] [DOI]@conference{visapp22, author={Rihab Lahouli. and Geert {De Cubber}. and Benoît Pairet. and Charles Hamesse. and Timothée Fréville. and Rob Haelterman.}, title={Deep Learning based Object Detection and Tracking for Maritime Situational Awareness}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2022) - Volume 4: VISAPP}, year={2022}, pages={643-650}, publisher={SciTePress}, organization={INSTICC}, doi={10.5220/0010901000003124}, isbn={978-989-758-555-5}, issn={2184-4321}, } - R. Lahouli, G. De Cubber, B. Pairet, C. Hamesse, T. Freville, and R. Haelterman, “Deep Learning based Object Detection and Tracking for Maritime Situational Awareness," in Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications – Volume 4: VISAPP,, 2022, pp. 643-650.
[BibTeX] [Download PDF] [DOI]@conference{visapp22, author={Lahouli, Rihab and De Cubber, Geert and Pairet, Benoit and Hamesse, Charles and Freville, Timothee and Haelterman, Rob}, title={Deep Learning based Object Detection and Tracking for Maritime Situational Awareness}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 4: VISAPP,}, year={2022}, pages={643-650}, publisher={SciTePress}, organization={INSTICC}, doi={10.5220/0010901000003124}, isbn={978-989-758-555-5}, project={SSAVE}, url={https://www.scitepress.org/PublicationsDetail.aspx?ID=mJ5eF6o+SbM=&t=1}, unit= {meca-ras} }
2021
- Hamesse Charles, Pairet Benoît, Lahouli Rihab, Fréville Timothée, and H. Rob, “Simulation of Pan-Tilt-Zoom Tracking for Augmented Reality Air Traffic Control," in 2021 International Conference on 3D Immersion (IC3D), 2021, pp. 1-5.
[BibTeX] [DOI]@INPROCEEDINGS{9687257, author={Hamesse Charles, and Pairet Benoît, and Lahouli Rihab, and Fréville Timothée, and Haelterman Rob}, booktitle={2021 International Conference on 3D Immersion (IC3D)}, title={Simulation of Pan-Tilt-Zoom Tracking for Augmented Reality Air Traffic Control}, year={2021}, volume={}, number={}, pages={1-5}, keywords={Headphones;Visualization;Solid modeling;Three-dimensional displays;Atmospheric modeling;Cameras;Air traffic control;Augmented Reality;Air Traffic Control;Pan Tilt Zoom;Visual Tracker;Aircraft}, doi={10.1109/IC3D53758.2021.9687257} } - G. De Cubber, R. Lahouli, D. Doroftei, and R. Haelterman, “Distributed coverage optimisation for a fleet of unmanned maritime systems," ACTA IMEKO, vol. 10, iss. 3, pp. 36-43, 2021.
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [DOI]
Unmanned maritime systems (UMS) can provide important benefits for maritime law enforcement agencies for tasks such as area surveillance and patrolling, especially when they are able to work together as one coordinated system. In this context, this paper proposes a methodology that optimises the coverage of a fleet of UMS, thereby maximising the opportunities for identifying threats. Unlike traditional approaches to maritime coverage optimisation, which are also used, for example, in search and rescue operations when searching for victims at sea, this approach takes into consideration the limited seaworthiness of small UMS, compared with traditional large ships, by incorporating the danger level into the design of the optimiser.
@ARTICLE{cubberimeko2021, author={De Cubber, Geert and Lahouli, Rihab and Doroftei, Daniela and Haelterman, Rob}, journal={ACTA IMEKO}, title={Distributed coverage optimisation for a fleet of unmanned maritime systems}, year={2021}, volume={10}, number={3}, pages={36-43}, issn={2221-870X}, url={https://acta.imeko.org/index.php/acta-imeko/article/view/IMEKO-ACTA-10%20%282021%29-03-07/pdf}, project={MarSur, SSAVE}, publisher={IMEKO}, month=oct, abstract = {Unmanned maritime systems (UMS) can provide important benefits for maritime law enforcement agencies for tasks such as area surveillance and patrolling, especially when they are able to work together as one coordinated system. In this context, this paper proposes a methodology that optimises the coverage of a fleet of UMS, thereby maximising the opportunities for identifying threats. Unlike traditional approaches to maritime coverage optimisation, which are also used, for example, in search and rescue operations when searching for victims at sea, this approach takes into consideration the limited seaworthiness of small UMS, compared with traditional large ships, by incorporating the danger level into the design of the optimiser. }, doi={http://dx.doi.org/10.21014/acta_imeko.v10i3.1031}, unit= {meca-ras}}
2020
- G. De Cubber, R. Lahouli, D. Doroftei, and R. Haelterman, “Distributed coverage optimization for a fleet of unmanned maritime systems for a maritime patrol and surveillance application," in ISMCR 2020: 23rd International Symposium on Measurement and Control in Robotics, Budapest, Hungary, 2020.
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [DOI]
In order for unmanned maritime systems to provide added value for maritime law enforcement agencies, they have to be able to work together as a coordinated team for tasks such as area surveillance and patrolling. Therefore, this paper proposes a methodology that optimizes the coverage of a fleet of unmanned maritime systems, and thereby maximizes the chances of noticing threats. Unlike traditional approaches for maritime coverage optimization, which are also used for example in search and rescue operations when searching for victims at sea, this approaches takes into consideration the limited seaworthiness of small unmanned systems, as compared to traditional large ships, by incorporating the danger level in the design of the optimizer.
@InProceedings{decubber2020dco, author = {De Cubber, Geert and Lahouli, Rihab and Doroftei, Daniela and Haelterman, Rob}, booktitle = {ISMCR 2020: 23rd International Symposium on Measurement and Control in Robotics}, title = {Distributed coverage optimization for a fleet of unmanned maritime systems for a maritime patrol and surveillance application}, year = {2020}, month = oct, organization = {ISMCR}, publisher = {{IEEE}}, abstract = {In order for unmanned maritime systems to provide added value for maritime law enforcement agencies, they have to be able to work together as a coordinated team for tasks such as area surveillance and patrolling. Therefore, this paper proposes a methodology that optimizes the coverage of a fleet of unmanned maritime systems, and thereby maximizes the chances of noticing threats. Unlike traditional approaches for maritime coverage optimization, which are also used for example in search and rescue operations when searching for victims at sea, this approaches takes into consideration the limited seaworthiness of small unmanned systems, as compared to traditional large ships, by incorporating the danger level in the design of the optimizer.}, project = {SSAVE,MarSur}, address = {Budapest, Hungary}, doi = {10.1109/ISMCR51255.2020.9263740}, url = {http://mecatron.rma.ac.be/pub/2020/conference_101719.pdf}, unit= {meca-ras} }
2019
- R. Lahouli, M. H. Chaudhary, S. Basak, and B. Scheers, “Tracking of Rescue Workers in Harsh Indoor and Outdoor Environments," in Ad-Hoc, Mobile, and Wireless Networks – 18th International Conference on Ad-Hoc Networks and Wireless, ADHOC-NOW 2019, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, October 1-3, 2019, Proceedings, 2019, p. 48–61.
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [DOI]
Making use of reliable and precise location and tracking sys-tems is essential to save firefighters lives during fire operations and tospeed up the rescue intervention. The issue is that Global NavigationSatellite System (GNSS) (e.g., GPS and Galileo) is not always availableespecially in harsh wireless environments such as inside buildings andin dense forests. This is why GNSS technology needs to be combinedwith auxiliary sensors like inertial measurement units (IMU) and ultra-wideband (UWB) radios for ranging to enhance the availability and theaccuracy of the positioning system. In this paper, we report our work inthe scope of the AIOSAT (Autonomous Indoor/Outdoor Safety Track-ing System) project, funded under the EU H2020 framework. In thisproject, the Royal Military Academy (RMA) is responsible for develop-ing a solution to measure inter-distances between firefighters, based onIEEE Std 802.15.4 compliant UWB radios. For these inter-distance mea-surements, accuracy better than 50 cm is obtained with high availabilityand robustness. Medium access control based on time division multipleaccess (TDMA) mechanism is also implemented to solve the conflict toaccess the UWB channel. As a result, each node in a network can per-form range measurements to its neighbors in less than 84 ms. In addition,in this project, we are in charge of developing a long-range narrow-bandcommunication solution based on LoRa and Nb-IoT to report updatedpositions to the brigade leader and the command center.
@inproceedings{DBLP:conf/adhoc-now/LahouliCBS19, author = {Rihab Lahouli and Muhammad Hafeez Chaudhary and Sanjoy Basak and Bart Scheers}, editor = {Maria Rita Palattella and Stefano Scanzio and Sinem Coleri Ergen}, title = {Tracking of Rescue Workers in Harsh Indoor and Outdoor Environments}, booktitle = {Ad-Hoc, Mobile, and Wireless Networks - 18th International Conference on Ad-Hoc Networks and Wireless, {ADHOC-NOW} 2019, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, October 1-3, 2019, Proceedings}, series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science}, volume = {11803}, pages = {48--61}, publisher = {Springer}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-31831-4\_4}, timestamp = {Thu, 26 Sep 2019 14:42:25 +0200}, biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/conf/adhoc-now/LahouliCBS19.bib}, bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}, abstract = {Making use of reliable and precise location and tracking sys-tems is essential to save firefighters lives during fire operations and tospeed up the rescue intervention. The issue is that Global NavigationSatellite System (GNSS) (e.g., GPS and Galileo) is not always availableespecially in harsh wireless environments such as inside buildings andin dense forests. This is why GNSS technology needs to be combinedwith auxiliary sensors like inertial measurement units (IMU) and ultra-wideband (UWB) radios for ranging to enhance the availability and theaccuracy of the positioning system. In this paper, we report our work inthe scope of the AIOSAT (Autonomous Indoor/Outdoor Safety Track-ing System) project, funded under the EU H2020 framework. In thisproject, the Royal Military Academy (RMA) is responsible for develop-ing a solution to measure inter-distances between firefighters, based onIEEE Std 802.15.4 compliant UWB radios. For these inter-distance mea-surements, accuracy better than 50 cm is obtained with high availabilityand robustness. Medium access control based on time division multipleaccess (TDMA) mechanism is also implemented to solve the conflict toaccess the UWB channel. As a result, each node in a network can per-form range measurements to its neighbors in less than 84 ms. In addition,in this project, we are in charge of developing a long-range narrow-bandcommunication solution based on LoRa and Nb-IoT to report updatedpositions to the brigade leader and the command center.}, url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336050955_Tracking_of_Rescue_Workers_in_Harsh_Indoor_and_Outdoor_Environments}, unit= {ciss} }