Professional Summary
Ahmed Allam is an Assistant Professor at the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department. He heads the UC Metasonics Lab, and his research interests include acoustics and ultrasonics, 3D-printed materials, underwater communications, IoT, in-body sensing, and industrial monitoring. He is the author of over 20 journal and conference publications in acoustics, communications, applied physics, and non-destructive testing.
The Metasonics lab specializes in acoustic materials, transducers, and systems for emerging domains such as the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0. We use sound and ultrasound for sensing, communication, and power transfer in challenging environments such as deep in the ocean, in the human body, and in nuclear waste containers. Our group designs and builds the circuits, acoustic devices, and signal processing software to generate acoustic and ultrasonic waves, control their propagation, and convert them back to useful electrical signals. We use 3D printing to design metamaterials that control acoustic wave propagation. Then, use these metamaterials to build acoustic devices such as lenses, matching layers, and collimators. We also combine 3D printing and metamaterials to design novel piezoelectric (ultrasonic) transducers for novel applications.
Education
PhD: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 2021 (Mechanical Engineering)
MSc: Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, 2017 (Mechanical Engineering)
BSc: Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, 2012 (Mechatronics Engineering)
Research and Practice Interests
Acoustics; Vibrations; Additive Manufacturing; Metamaterials; Underwater Communications; Internet of Things; Wireless Sensing; Non-destructive Testing
Positions and Work Experience
2022 -2023 Postdoctoral Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
2021 -2022 Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Research Support
Grant: #2565451 (DOE) Investigators:Allam, Ahmed 02-15-2024 -09-30-2024 Department of Energy Evaluation of the Thermal Performance of Through-Metal Power Transfer Role:PI 79979.00 Hold Level:Federal
Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications
Eid A.; Rademacher J.; Akbar W.; Wang P.; Allam A.; Adib F. (09-10-2023. ) Enabling Long-Range Underwater Backscatter via Van Atta Acoustic Networks.SIGCOMM 2023 - Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2023 Conference, , 1-19 More Information
Allam A.; Akbar W.; Adib F. (09-10-2023. ) Demo: Underwater Backscatter Link Budget Tool.SIGCOMM 2023 - Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2023 Conference, , 1191-1192 More Information
Allam A.; Arrington C.L.; St. John C.; Steinfeldt J.; Erturk A.; El-Kady I. (02-01-2023. ) System-Level DC-to-DC Analysis and Experiments of Ultrasonic Power Transfer Through Metallic Barrier.IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, , 28 (1 ) ,15-25 More Information
Allam A.; Sabra K.; Erturk A. (09-01-2022. ) Piezoelectric transducer design for simultaneous ultrasonic power transfer and backscatter communica.Smart Materials and Structures, , 31 (9 ) , More Information
Allam A.; Alfahmi O.; Patel H.; Sugino C.; Harding M.; Ruzzene M.; Erturk A. (09-01-2022. ) Ultrasonic testing of thick and thin Inconel 625 alloys manufactured by laser powder bed fusion.Ultrasonics, , 125 , More Information
Allam A.; Bhardwaj A.; Sabra K.; Erturk A. (01-01-2022. ) Piezoelectric Transducer Design and Impedance Tuning for Concurrent Ultrasonic Power and Data Transfer.Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, , 12043 , More Information
Allam A.; Alfahmi O.; Patel H.; Sugino C.; Harding M.; Ruzzene M.; Erturk A. (01-01-2022. ) Ultrasonic Inspection of Additively Manufactured Metallic Components Using Bulk and Guided Waves.Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, , 12048 , More Information
Allam A.; Sugino C.; Harding M.; Bishop D.P.; Erturk A.; Ruzzene M. (11-01-2021. ) Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing of Inconel 625 Produced by Selective Laser Melting.Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation, Diagnostics and Prognostics of Engineering Systems, , 4 (4 ) , More Information
Allam A.; Sabra K.; Erturk A. (03-08-2021. ) Sound energy harvesting by leveraging a 3D-printed phononic crystal lens.Applied Physics Letters, , 118 (10 ) , More Information
Kohtanen E.; Sugino C.; Allam A.; Erturk A.; El-Kady I. (01-01-2021. ) Computational Optimization of Mechanical Energy Transduction (COMET) Toolkit.IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS, , More Information
Allam A.; Patel H.; Sugino C.; Arrington C.; John C.S.; Steinfeldt J.; Erturk A.; Elkady I. (01-01-2021. ) Detachable Dry-Coupled Ultrasonic Power Transfer Through Metallic Enclosures.IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS, , More Information
Sugino C.; Oxandale S.; Allam A.; Arrington C.; John C.S.; Baca E.; Steinfeldt J.; Swift S.H.; Reinke C.; Erturk A.; El-Kady I. (01-01-2021. ) Experimental Validation of Crosstalk Minimization in Metallic Barriers with Simultaneous Ultrasonic Power and Data Transfer.IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS, , More Information
Allam A.; Sabra K.; Erturk A. (06-01-2020. ) 3D-printed gradient-index phononic crystal lens for underwater acoustic wave focusing.Physical Review Applied, , 13 (6 ) , More Information
Allam A.; Sabra K.G.; Erturk A. (05-01-2020. ) Aspect Ratio-Dependent Dynamics of Piezoelectric Transducers in Wireless Acoustic Power Transfer.IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, , 67 (5 ) ,984-996 More Information
Allam A.; Sabra K.; Erturk A. (01-01-2020. ) Enhanced sound energy harvesting by leveraging gradient-index phononic crystals.ASME 2020 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, SMASIS 2020, , More Information
Alan S.; Allam A.; Erturk A. (08-26-2019. ) Programmable mode conversion and bandgap formation for surface acoustic waves using piezoelectric metamaterials.Applied Physics Letters, , 115 (9 ) , More Information
Allam A.; Sabra K.; Erturk A. (01-01-2019. ) Comparison of various models for piezoelectric receivers in wireless acoustic power transfer.Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, , 10967 , More Information
Allam A.; Elsabbagh A.; Akl W. (03-28-2017. ) Experimental demonstration of one-dimensional active plate-type acoustic metamaterial with adaptive programmable density.Journal of Applied Physics, , 121 (12 ) , More Information
Allam A.; Elsabbagh A.; Akl W. (11-01-2016. ) Modeling and design of two-dimensional membrane-type active acoustic metamaterials with tunable anisotropic density.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, , 140 (5 ) ,3607-3618 More Information
Contact Information
Academic - Rhodes 685
ahmed.allam@uc.edu