Ebrahim MAMDANI

Expertise and Research Interests

I have been working in the areas of pattern recognition and artificial intelligence (AI) for nearly 30 years. My very first research was in pattern recognition using neural nets for application to hand-written character and speech recognition. Later my interest shifted to the use of rule based methods with applications in process control. In particular I investigated the use of fuzzy logic for interpreting the human derived control rules. This work was begun before the term expert systems came into use and has lasted nearly 10 years. The work was considered the first application of fuzzy logic, but I feel that it forms an early example of the application of rule based methods. As this technique is being applied commercially for the control of cement kilns, it is perhaps the first example of expert systems in the process control area. Today fuzzy controllers are in widesspread use in all manners of consumer products from cameras to automobiles.

The work on logic arose out of early interest in fuzzy logic, therefore, it stresses inference under uncertainty. However, fuzzy logic now forms a small part of a broader interest in nonstandard logics. This work is of a theoretical nature in which I have a great deal of interest. Meanwhile, my interests in Artificial Intelligence has led to new work concerned with application of software agents and multi-agent systems.

Since 1996, I have taken up the chair of Telecommunication Strategy and Services. This chair has been endowed by Nortel Networks and the Royal Academy of Engineering for a period of 5 years. The research focus of the chair has been on future communication services enabled by intelligence implemented as software agents. The research is aimed at: (a) investigating the enabling technologies needed to implement new services; (b) the social and techno-economic implications of these services; and, (c) the various new standardised means of implementing the underlying technologies. As part of this focus, I have devoted effort to the creation of standards needed for implementing software agents. I am a technical advisor to a non-profit organisation called FIPA which aims to creating such standards.

Other Expertise

I have an interest in mathematical logics (the plurality of the various logics is an important point) given that many of the systems I am interested in are often modelled and indeed implemented in logic. Uncertainty has been an ongoing interest throughout my career because I feel that many complex practical systems require the representation of the underlying uncertainty. I have an ongoing interest in the nature of science and mathematics as it underpins my twin disciplines of Electronic Engineering and Computer science.
The nature of human intelligence is another ongoing are of interest to me. How this intelligence has evolved, and how it ties in with the technologies we keep creating is of interest. And following from this the funding of research into new technologies, the processes involved in bringing the research to fruition through all its stages and particularly the factors that affect their take-up by users are all areas that regularly enter all aspects of my various professional activities.

Industrial Relevance

Telecommunications industry and all media industries affected by the convergence of telecommunications, computers and television.
The creation of the various standards that enable the development of new products and services.
The integration of the many standardised electronic and computational components that combine to create new products and services.
The socio-techno-economic factors affecting the take-up of such products and services.

Keywords

Additional Terms: AI, artificial intelligence, causal modelling, expert system, fuzzy logic, inference, knowledge based system, multidata fusion, uncertainty modelling, multi-agent systems, software agents.

Memberships

Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Previous Positions

1984-1995, Queen Mary and Westfield College (London), Professor of Electronic Engineering

Mailing Address		Other Contact Information
Exhibition Road London SW7 2BT United Kingdom		Phone: 0207 594 6316 Fax: 0207 594 6274 E-mail:e.mamdani@ic.ac.uk

Qualifications
BE, University of Poona M.Sc., University of London PhD, University of London