Photonics research in the Department of Electrical Engineering covers a wide range of science and technology applications, including specialised optical fibre designs and fabrications using silica and polymer materials, fibre lasers, fibre sensors and their applications in gas sensing and structural and condition monitoring, long-haul optical fibre communications and short-distance links for data centres and big data applications, laser nano-/micro-fabrication technologies, microphotonic structures and devices, flexible optoelectronic devices and applications. The Department houses many state-of-the-art facilities, which include:

Fibre drawing towers for the fabrication of specialised silica/plastic optical fibres for optical fibre communication and sensing systems;

High-speed optical fibre transmission equipment (supports Tbps over 1,000s of kilometres) for research in high-performance optical fibre communication systems;

Optical maskless exposure platforms for 2D/3D micro-structures and devices; and

Six UV and femtosecond laser-based platforms for writing gratings and other micro-structures in fibres and waveguides.

The Department is also involved in many industrial R&D projects:

Designed and built the world’s first city-wide optical fibre sensing networks to monitor the operating condition of trains on all urban lines in Hong Kong, and the fibre-optics sensing network to monitor the 610-m tall canton tower in Guangzhou, China.

Developed 200Gb/s, 400Gb/s  for data center optical links, 1 Tb/s transmission for long-distance optical links and using Machine Learning and other signal processing strategy to enable next generation intelligent dynamic optical transmission networks. We worked extensively with industry worldwide including Huawei Technology Co., Nippon Electric Company (NEC) Labs America, Corning Inc., Alibaba Group and other local companies in optical communications equipment on various aspects of optical communications and networks.

The complexity of power systems has increased drastically due to the continuing growth of interconnections between power grids and diverse sources of electricity, the advancement of new technologies and the need to address economic and environmental constraints. Widespread deregulation of the electricity supply industry and the promotion of renewable energy and electric vehicle usage have further added to the complexity of management of power systems. Research on emerging power and energy systems is essential for developing efficient and reliable power grids for the future; i.e., smart grids.

Electrical power engineering has long been the area of excellence within the University, the Department of Electrical Engineering is one of the premier departments of electrical engineering in Asia.  It is also one of the academic departments in Hong Kong which specialises in heavy current electrical engineering programs of both education and research among all universities in Hong Kong. The Department has an excellent record of achievements in a wide range of Smart Grids research areas, including but not limited to optimal system planning and operation, system protection, stability and control, power quality and harmonics, grid integration of renewable energies and electric vehicles, electricity market and distributed transactions and demand side management. Recent focuses also include Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analytics applied to smart grid and smart city development such as deep learning-based system monitoring, renewable prognosis and decision making.  

The Department has been actively involved in many high-level research and consultancy projects such as two HK SAR Government Theme-Based Research Scheme Projects on smart solar energy and smart grid development.  Our strategic partners include research institutions and industrial partners from Hong Kong, Mainland China, USA, Canada, Australia and Europe with whom joint research projects and research publications have been undertaken. The Department is also involved in developing commercial grade software packages for industrial applications.  

Power electronics is an effective method of controlling power processing. The major research areas include static power conversion and motion control. The key development is to achieve high efficiency, high power density and high performance systems based on high frequency and soft-switching techniques. This, together with new control methods and new machine and magnetic designs, will form the elements of power electronics innovation. Areas of study include converter topology analysis, switched-capacitor converters, high frequency magnetics, inductive power conversion, high power converters, multi-level converters, power quality control converters, wind power generation, high power photovoltaic energy storage processing, floating wind and solar station, and battery, fuel cell and super capacitor energy management. In the motion ad control areas, switched-reluctance machine design, permanent magnet motor, driver analysis, magnetic gear, resonant inverter drives, robotic control, generator design and control, and wind power processing are promising areas of future development. The Department is also developing new areas of research in electric vehicles, high speed transportation, electric vessels, electric aircraft, alternative energy, medical power electronics, electromagnetic compatibility, DC and high frequency AC power distribution.

The Department is also actively involved in commercial development in automotive engineering. The pioneering works are in the areas of vehicle air-conditioning, solar vehicles, in-wheel motors, vehicle integrated charger and motor drives, high power chargers, wireless power transfer, connected vehicles, vehicle control units, body integrated energy storage, electric vessels, active suspension, electric braking, autonomous vehicle and drive-by-wire.

Research into smart materials, devices and their integrated systems and applications is a strategic technology resource to facilitate the sustainable development of electrical engineering (and its related science, technology and engineering fields) into newer and smarter dimensions.

Supported by the well-equipped Smart Materials and Systems Laboratory, the research group’s primary focus is on developing multifunctional smart materials with interestingly high magneto-, electro-, thermo- and mechano-optical responses at the bulk, micro- and nano-scales. It also aims to investigate the fundamentals of energy generation, harvesting, conversion and storage processes as well as structural integrity and environmental sustainability for multidisciplinary applications of the materials. The smart materials of interest include, but are not limited to, multiferroic, magnetoelectric, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, magnetostrictive, magnetocaloric, ferromagnetic shape memory, magnetorheological and photovoltaic materials. Moreover, the application of these materials focuses on the development of smart devices, including AIoT smart sensors and actuators; electrical circuit protection and control devices; electromagnetic wave nano-absorbents and absorbers; green rechargeable batteries, flexible supercapacitors and energy cells; ultrasonic motors and vibration absorbers/isolators/dampers, etc. In addition, the synergic technologies for integrated systems are condition and health monitoring; signal analysis, processing and transmission; drives, control and automation; energy harvesting, conversion, storage and management; AIoT and mobile edge cloud computing; big data analytics; prognosis and diagnosis; and non-destructive evaluation.

The research group has an outstanding record of research performance and an excellent reputation for professional services in the three aspects of basic, applied and industrial research, both locally and internationally.

The concept of Smart Mobility is to achieve an efficient and sustainable city by utilising big data, digital platforms and a connected environment to optimise transport services for people and goods. The Department’s research activities include, but are not limited to, connected and autonomous vehicles, managed motorways, traffic signal optimisation, machine learning, sensor data analytics and mining, environment-friendly transportation infrastructure, public transportation systems, queueing systems and multimodal traffic.

The Department has been actively involved in many research projects with leading research institutions and universities from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Korea, Australia, the USA and Europe.