Maaz Salman
Maaz Salman

Research Professor

About Me

With a Ph.D. in AI Convergence and an M.S. in Electrical Communication Systems, I build intelligent systems that connect the physical world with machine learning. I bring a unique, dual-focused expertise to my work:

  • AI & Data Science: Designing end-to-end ML pipelines for medical image processing, geometric analysis, engineer ML pipelines capable of extracting robust features from high-dimensional, low-SNR temporal data, and ultrasound signal classification.
  • Hardware & Communications: Prototyping next-generation IoT/UIoT modules (VLC, LoRa, UWOC) and architecting AI-assisted networks, grounded by a strong foundation in RF/microwave design and fabrication.
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Interests
  • AI assisted IoT
  • Applied AI for Biomedical Applications
  • Visible Light Communication/UWOC
  • Passive RF Components
Education
  • PhD Artificial Intelligence Convergence

    Pukyong National University, Korea

  • M.S. Electrical and Electronic Engineering

    Soonchunhyang University, Korea

  • B.S Telecommunication Engineering

    University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan

My Interests
  • Applied AI & Medical Image Processing Designing end-to-end ML and computer vision pipelines (CVAT, SwinIR, Mask/Keypoint R-CNN, SAM, UNet etc.) for the annotation, segmentation, classification, and visualization of X-ray, CT, MRI, and other medical images.

  • Signal Analysis & TinyML Leveraging deep learning (CNN, and Transformer based architectures or Hybrid ) to analyze noisy, long-sequenced signals, extracting robust patterns from complex waveforms, frequency spectrums, and low-SNR ultrasound data. Deploying energy-efficient TinyML models for edge inference on resource-constrained hardware platforms, including Raspberry Pi, STM32, Arduino, and similar microcontrollers.

  • AI-Assisted UIoT & Optical Comm. Architecting UWOC systems, multi-hop UWSNs, relay-based diversity gain, and ML-based predictive monitoring via IMU telemetry.

  • RF/Microwave Engineering Designing, simulating, and optimizing radio/microwave passive components, including EM simulation and DGS circuit development.

Submitted Publications
  • Development of ultrasound-based driver alcohol detection system for safety (UDADSS). J. H. Park, M. Salman, and H. G. Lim. Submitted, 2025.
  • Hybrid VLC/RF System for IoT with Augmented Embedded ML-based Link Switching., IEEE IoT Journal. Submitted, 2025.
  • Identifying Risk Pathways to Chronic Homelessness: A Machine Learning Approaches with Implications for Social Work and Public Health Policy., Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. Submitted, 2026.
Ongoing Core Projects

Advanced Generative AI for Multi-Modal Brain Tumor Imaging

The primary goal of this research is to overcome the critical bottleneck of data scarcity in neuro-oncology by developing a robust, high-fidelity Generative AI framework. This framework leverages state-of-the-art GANs, Latent Diffusion Models (LDMs) and Transformer-based architectures to synthesize realistic, multi-modal (MRI/CT) brain tumor images. The ultimate objective is to demonstrate that augmenting training data with these synthetic images significantly and reproducibly enhances the diagnostic accuracy, robustness, and generalizability of downstream AI models for tumor segmentation (Swin-UNETR) and classification (ViT/ResNet), paving the way for more reliable clinical decision support tools.

Tech Stack: Generative AI (Pix2Pix, CycleGAN), Latent Diffusion Models (LDM), Vision Transformers (ViT), Swin-UNETR, ResNet, PyTorch


ML-aided Medical Image Analysis (Mask/Keypoint R-CNN & SAM)

I design and implement an end-to-end analysis pipeline for red blood cell imaging using machine learning. I use CVAT to annotate images with bounding boxes, pixel-perfect segmentation masks, and keypoints. I incorporate SwinIR to enhance image quality and fine-tune a Mask R-CNN (and Keypoint R-CNN when needed) on the custom dataset. I also leverage the SAM tool (Segment Anything Mask) for robust segmentation tasks. Additionally, I develop scripts to calculate geometric dimensions and compute statistical percentage changes between “before” and “after” images.

Tech Stack: PyTorch, OpenCV, CVAT, SwinIR, SAM, Data Visualization

Featured Publications
Non-invasive drug-release monitoring via AI-enhanced ultrasound in gelatin-magnesium gallate hydrogels

Non-invasive drug-release monitoring via AI-enhanced ultrasound in gelatin-magnesium gallate hydrogels

In summary, non-invasive monitoring of drug-release patterns fills a critical gap in drug-delivery research. Our study demonstrates the ability of deep learning frameworks to capture changes in ultrasound signals from hydrogels with varied concentrations of the crosslinker (magnesium gallate) and at different time points during the drug-release process, enabling automated profiling of drug release. First, we fabricated GMG hydrogels stabilized through magnesium gallate-mediated crosslinking and established ML models to differentiate the hydrogels based on crosslinker concentration under different dispersion medium (DMEM, 1x PBS, and water). For AI-based hydrogel concentration classification, the hybrid CNN-BiLSTM model performed best in the DMEM and 1x PBS conditions, with accuracies of 98.35% and 98.68%, respectively. In the water condition, the hybrid BiGRU model was more suitable, achieving an accuracy of 95.67%. Additionally, we successfully demonstrated gallic acid release patterns through ML analysis of processed ultrasound signals from hydrogels at various stages of drug release, indicating distinct degradation profiles. For time-based monitoring of hydrogel-mediated drug delivery, both the hybrid CNN-BiLSTM and BiGRU models achieved perfect classification accuracy (100%) across all experimental conditions (in vitro without HIFU, ex vivo, and in vitro with HIFU), highlighting their strong applicability for this task. However, the spectrogram-based multi-branch ViT-tiny model showed less favorable performance compared to the other architectures. This study does not extend to in vivo drug release profiling due to constraints such as respiratory motion artifacts and physiological barriers beyond the skin layer. Future studies should focus on developing dual-functional materials that harmonize robust thermal stability with enhanced acoustic responsiveness. Particularly, addressing signal attenuation caused by the thermal dissolution of the gelatin matrix is essential to extend the monitoring window in physiological environments. By integrating such thermally resilient scaffolds with motion-artifact-compensated algorithms, next-generation ultrasound-integrated hydrogel systems can realize their full potential for both precision drug release and long-term clinical monitoring.

Machine learning-Assisted  Object Monitoring supported by UWOC for IoUT

Machine learning-Assisted Object Monitoring supported by UWOC for IoUT

Recent Publications
(2026). AI-augmented ultrasound analysis of noninvasive quantification of hydrogels concentration for bioprinting. Biofabrication.
(2026). Decoding chemical composition of urinary crystals from ultrasonic echo signals via deep learning. Microchimica Acta.
(2025). Face Spoofing Detection using Deep Learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.19223.
(2024). Aqua-sense: Relay-based underwater optical wireless communication for IoUT monitoring. IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society.
(2024). Design and performance evaluation of a relay-assisted hybrid LoRa/optical wireless communication system for IoUT. IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society.