Bahram Shafai
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Affiliated Faculty, Bioengineering
Contact
- shafai@ece.neu.edu
- 427 Dana Research Center
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Social Media
Office
- 617.373.2984
Research Focus
Control Systems and Signal Processing; Robust and Optimal Control, Positive Dynamic Systems, Fault Detection, Observer Theory, Robotics and Distributed Control of Multi-Agent Systems, Control of Biological Systems
About
Professor Bahram Shafai received the BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and the PhD degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University in 1985. He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern in 1985 and served as the director of the university’s Communications and Digital Signal Processing Center from 1990 to 1992. Since 1996, he has been the director of the ECE Capstone Design Program and its associated laboratory. He has served as associate editor of two major journals. Currently, he is the associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Systems and serves on the conference editorial board of the IEEE Control Systems Society. Professor Shafai has also been a member of the organizing committees for various international and IEEE-sponsored conferences, such as CDC and ACC. He has published one book and more than 150 journal articles and conference papers, and has been the recipient of several honors and awards. His research interests include robust stability and control of multivariable systems, observer theory, identification and estimation, fault detection, time-delay systems, distributed control, robotics and motion control, adaptive signal processing in control, and communications.
Professional Affiliations
- Associate Editor, Editorial Board and Program Chair of ISIAC-WAC
- Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Research Overview
Control Systems and Signal Processing; Robust and Optimal Control, Positive Dynamic Systems, Fault Detection, Observer Theory, Robotics and Distributed Control of Multi-Agent Systems, Control of Biological Systems
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- B. Shafai, S. Nazari, A. Oghbaee, Positive Unknown Input Observer Design for Positive Linear Systems, Proceedings 19th International Conference on System Theory, Control and Computing (ICSTCC), Cheile Gradistei, Romania, 2015, 360-365
- B. Shafai, M. Saif, Proportional-Integral Observer in Robust Control, Fault Detection, and Decentralized Control of Dynamic Systems, Control and Systems Engineering, Springer International Publishing, 2015, 13-43
- S.M.M. Alavi, M. Saif, B. Shafai, Accurate State Estimation in DC-DC Converters Using a Proportional Integral Observer (PIO), Proceedings of 23rd IEEE International Symposium on Industrial electronics (ISIE), 2014, 1304-1309
- R. Ghadami, B. Shafai, Distributed Observer-Based LQR Design for Multi-agent Systems, Proceeding of ISIAC, World Automation Congress, Kona, HI, 2014, 520-526
- P. Brunet, B. Shafai, Identification of Loudspeakers Using Fractional Derivatives, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 62(7/8), 2014, 505-515
- B. Shafai, A Oghbaee, Positive Observer Design for Fractional Order Systems, Proceeding of ISIAC, World Automation Congress, Kona, HI, 2014, 531-537
- B. Shafai, A Oghbaee, Positive Quadratic Stabilization of Uncertain Linear System, Proceeding of IEEE Multi-conference on Systems and Control, CAA, Antibes, France, 2014, 1412-1417
- B. Shafai, A. Oghbaee, T. Tanaka, Positive Stabilization with Maximum Stability Radius for Linear Time-Delay Systems, 2014 IEEE 53rd Annual Conference on Decision and Control, 2014, 1948-1953
- R. Ghadami, B. Shafai, Decomposition-Based Distributed Control for Continuous-Time Multi-Agent Systems, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 58(1), 2013, 258-264

Dec 13, 2018
Shafai Awarded WAC Lifetime Achievement Award
ECE Professor Bahram Shafai received the Lifetime Achievement Award from World Automation Congress (WAC) 2018 for Outstanding Contributions to Robust Stability and Control of Multivariable Systems and Observer Design for Fault Detection.
Jun 06, 2012
Modular Flight Camera
Under the direction of ECE Professor Bahram Shafai, a group of capstone students have created an easy to assemble and transport remote-controlled surveillance helicopter. Source: News @ Northeastern

Jun 06, 2012
Taking flight, then taking it apart
The Oktokopter — a remote-controlled, eight-bladed helicopter that can hover in one place or travel great distances — can be used for a range of tasks, from taking photos to performing military surveillance. But there’s a problem with this commercially available, assembly-required small copter: It’s difficult to transport. So a team of Northeastern electrical and computer […]

Apr 16, 2010
Mind Controlled Remote Vehicle
ECE students Saumitro Dasgupta, Mike Fanton, Jonathan Pham, and Mike Willard, built a brain interface to navigate a mobile robot remotely. The team won first place in the senior capstone project competition.