Saif Ullah
Current Organizations / Institutes
The organizations/institutes from the scholar's latest article
Research Subjects
Saif Ullah has a total of 11 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
- Jong-Myon Kim
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
9 shared publications - Muhammad Farooq Siddique
Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Republic of Korea
5 shared publications - Zahoor Ahmad
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan, South Korea
4 shared publications - Niamat Ullah
Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Republic of Korea
3 shared publications - Wasim Zaman
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Republic of Korea
3 shared publications - Faisal Saleem
Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Republic of Korea
2 shared publications
Latest Publications
- 2 August 2026
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 188-199
Attention-Guided Dual Feature Extractor for Bearing Fault Diagnosis from Vibration Data
- 2 August 2026
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 188-199
Attention-Guided Dual Feature Extractor for Bearing Fault Diagnosis from Vibration Data
- Open Access
Trust-Aware Domain Adaptation Using Physics-Guided Reliability Learning for Cross-Condition Fault Diagnosis of Milling Machines
Reliable fault diagnosis of milling machines under varying operating conditions remains challenging due to distribution shifts caused by speed variations, nonstationary dynamics, and limited labeled data in target domains. Conventional domain adaptation methods often assume equal reliability across samples and neglect the varying physical consistency of signals collected under different conditions. To address this limitation, this study proposes trust-aware domain adaptation network for cross-domain fault diagnosis that integrates physics-guided reliability estimation with deep representation learning. In the proposed framework, physically interpretable global and local features are first extracted from multi-channel vibration signals using energy, spectral, nonlinear, and impulsiveness descriptors. A dedicated Physics Trust Network is then introduced to estimate per-sample trust scores that quantify the physical reliability of each signal based on its physics feature consistency. These trust scores are explicitly embedded into representation learning through a trust-weighted feature encoder, ensuring that physically reliable samples contribute more strongly to the learned latent space. To address distribution mismatch between source and target conditions, a trust-weighted covariance alignment strategy is introduced, enabling domain adaptation to be guided by reliable samples instead of treating all data equally. In this way, the model simultaneously learns discriminative, transferable, and physically consistent features. The entire framework is trained end-to-end using labeled source data and unlabeled target data, enabling effective knowledge transfer under cross-speed conditions. Extensive experiments on a real milling machine dataset collected at different spindle speeds demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves an average accuracy of 98.07%, performing better than two recent state-of-the-art domain adaptation approaches by a significant margin. Ablation experiments further confirm that reliability estimation, trust-weighted representation learning, and trust-guided alignment each contribute independently to performance improvement.
Open AccessTrust-Aware Domain Adaptation Using Physics-Guided Reliability Learning for Cross-Condition Fault Diagnosis of Milling Machines
Reliable fault diagnosis of milling machines under varying operating conditions remains challenging due to distribution shifts caused by speed variations, nonstationary dynamics, and limited labeled data in target domains. Conventional domain adaptation methods often assume equal reliability across samples and neglect the varying physical consistency of signals collected under different conditions. To address this limitation, this study proposes trust-aware domain adaptation network for cross-domain fault diagnosis that integrates physics-guided reliability estimation with deep representation learning. In the proposed framework, physically interpretable global and local features are first extracted from multi-channel vibration signals using energy, spectral, nonlinear, and impulsiveness descriptors. A dedicated Physics Trust Network is then introduced to estimate per-sample trust scores that quantify the physical reliability of each signal based on its physics feature consistency. These trust scores are explicitly embedded into representation learning through a trust-weighted feature encoder, ensuring that physically reliable samples contribute more strongly to the learned latent space. To address distribution mismatch between source and target conditions, a trust-weighted covariance alignment strategy is introduced, enabling domain adaptation to be guided by reliable samples instead of treating all data equally. In this way, the model simultaneously learns discriminative, transferable, and physically consistent features. The entire framework is trained end-to-end using labeled source data and unlabeled target data, enabling effective knowledge transfer under cross-speed conditions. Extensive experiments on a real milling machine dataset collected at different spindle speeds demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves an average accuracy of 98.07%, performing better than two recent state-of-the-art domain adaptation approaches by a significant margin. Ablation experiments further confirm that reliability estimation, trust-weighted representation learning, and trust-guided alignment each contribute independently to performance improvement.
- Open Access
- 23 November 2025
- Published by MDPI AG in Applied Sciences
- Vol. 15 (23) , 12431
Transformer Attention-Guided Dual-Path Framework for Bearing Fault Diagnosis
Reliable bearing fault diagnosis plays an important role in maintaining the safety and performance of rotating machinery in industrial systems. Although deep learning models have achieved remarkable success in this field, their dependence on a single feature-extraction approach often restricts the diversity of learned representations and limits diagnostic accuracy. To overcome this limitation, this study proposes an attention-guided dual-path framework that integrates spatial and time–frequency feature learning with transformer-based classification for precise fault identification. In the proposed framework, vibration signals collected from an experimental bearing test rig are simultaneously processed through two complementary pipelines: one converts the signals into two-dimensional matrix images to extract spatial features, while the other transforms them into continuous wavelet transform (CWT) scalograms to capture fine-grained temporal and spectral information. The extracted features are fused through a lightweight transformer encoder with an attention mechanism that dynamically emphasizes the most informative representations. This fusion enables the model to effectively capture cross-domain dependencies and enhance discriminative capability. Experimental validation on an industrial vibration dataset demonstrates that the proposed model achieves 99.87% classification accuracy, outperforming conventional CNN and transformer-based approaches. The results confirm that integrating multi-domain features with attention-driven fusion significantly improves the robustness and generalization of deep learning models for intelligent bearing fault diagnosis.
- 23 November 2025
- Published by MDPI AG in Applied Sciences
- Vol. 15 (23) , 12431
Open AccessTransformer Attention-Guided Dual-Path Framework for Bearing Fault Diagnosis
Reliable bearing fault diagnosis plays an important role in maintaining the safety and performance of rotating machinery in industrial systems. Although deep learning models have achieved remarkable success in this field, their dependence on a single feature-extraction approach often restricts the diversity of learned representations and limits diagnostic accuracy. To overcome this limitation, this study proposes an attention-guided dual-path framework that integrates spatial and time–frequency feature learning with transformer-based classification for precise fault identification. In the proposed framework, vibration signals collected from an experimental bearing test rig are simultaneously processed through two complementary pipelines: one converts the signals into two-dimensional matrix images to extract spatial features, while the other transforms them into continuous wavelet transform (CWT) scalograms to capture fine-grained temporal and spectral information. The extracted features are fused through a lightweight transformer encoder with an attention mechanism that dynamically emphasizes the most informative representations. This fusion enables the model to effectively capture cross-domain dependencies and enhance discriminative capability. Experimental validation on an industrial vibration dataset demonstrates that the proposed model achieves 99.87% classification accuracy, outperforming conventional CNN and transformer-based approaches. The results confirm that integrating multi-domain features with attention-driven fusion significantly improves the robustness and generalization of deep learning models for intelligent bearing fault diagnosis.
- Open Access
Hybrid Deep Learning Model for Fault Diagnosis in Centrifugal Pumps: A Comparative Study of VGG16, ResNet50, and Wavelet Coherence Analysis
Significant in various industrial applications, centrifugal pumps (CPs) play an important role in ensuring operational efficiency, yet they are susceptible to faults that can disrupt production and increase maintenance costs. This study proposes a robust hybrid model for accurate fault detection and classification in CPs, integrating Wavelet Coherence Analysis (WCA) with deep learning architectures VGG16 and ResNet50. WCA is initially applied to vibration signals, creating time–frequency representations that capture both temporal and frequency information, essential for identifying subtle fault characteristics. These enhanced signals are processed by VGG16 and ResNet50, each contributing unique and complementary features that enhance feature representation. The hybrid approach fuses the extracted features, resulting in a more discriminative feature set that optimizes class separation. The proposed model achieved a test accuracy of 96.39%, demonstrating minimal class overlap in t-SNE plots and a precise confusion matrix. When compared to the ResNet50-based and VGG16-based models from previous studies, which reached 91.57% and 92.77% accuracy, respectively, the hybrid model displayed better classification performance, particularly in distinguishing closely related fault classes. High F1-scores across all fault categories further validate its effectiveness. This work underscores the value of combining multiple CNN architectures with advanced signal processing for reliable fault diagnosis, improving accuracy in real-world CP applications.
Open AccessHybrid Deep Learning Model for Fault Diagnosis in Centrifugal Pumps: A Comparative Study of VGG16, ResNet50, and Wavelet Coherence Analysis
Significant in various industrial applications, centrifugal pumps (CPs) play an important role in ensuring operational efficiency, yet they are susceptible to faults that can disrupt production and increase maintenance costs. This study proposes a robust hybrid model for accurate fault detection and classification in CPs, integrating Wavelet Coherence Analysis (WCA) with deep learning architectures VGG16 and ResNet50. WCA is initially applied to vibration signals, creating time–frequency representations that capture both temporal and frequency information, essential for identifying subtle fault characteristics. These enhanced signals are processed by VGG16 and ResNet50, each contributing unique and complementary features that enhance feature representation. The hybrid approach fuses the extracted features, resulting in a more discriminative feature set that optimizes class separation. The proposed model achieved a test accuracy of 96.39%, demonstrating minimal class overlap in t-SNE plots and a precise confusion matrix. When compared to the ResNet50-based and VGG16-based models from previous studies, which reached 91.57% and 92.77% accuracy, respectively, the hybrid model displayed better classification performance, particularly in distinguishing closely related fault classes. High F1-scores across all fault categories further validate its effectiveness. This work underscores the value of combining multiple CNN architectures with advanced signal processing for reliable fault diagnosis, improving accuracy in real-world CP applications.
- Open Access
Advanced Bearing-Fault Diagnosis and Classification Using Mel-Scalograms and FOX-Optimized ANN
Accurate and reliable bearing-fault diagnosis is important for ensuring the efficiency and safety of industrial machinery. This paper presents a novel method for bearing-fault diagnosis using Mel-transformed scalograms obtained from vibrational signals (VS). The signals are windowed and pass through a Mel filter bank, converting them into a Mel spectrum. These scalograms are subsequently fed into an autoencoder comprising convolutional and pooling layers to extract robust features. The classification is performed using an artificial neural network (ANN) optimized with the FOX optimizer, which replaces traditional backpropagation. The FOX optimizer enhances synaptic weight adjustments, leading to superior classification accuracy, minimal loss, improved generalization, and increased interpretability. The proposed model was validated on a laboratory dataset obtained from a bearing testbed with multiple fault conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves perfect precision, recall, F1-scores, and an AUC of 1.00 across all fault categories, significantly outperforming comparison models. The t-SNE plots illustrate clear separability between different fault classes, confirming the model’s robustness and reliability. This approach offers an efficient and highly accurate solution for real-time predictive maintenance in industrial applications.
Open AccessAdvanced Bearing-Fault Diagnosis and Classification Using Mel-Scalograms and FOX-Optimized ANN
Accurate and reliable bearing-fault diagnosis is important for ensuring the efficiency and safety of industrial machinery. This paper presents a novel method for bearing-fault diagnosis using Mel-transformed scalograms obtained from vibrational signals (VS). The signals are windowed and pass through a Mel filter bank, converting them into a Mel spectrum. These scalograms are subsequently fed into an autoencoder comprising convolutional and pooling layers to extract robust features. The classification is performed using an artificial neural network (ANN) optimized with the FOX optimizer, which replaces traditional backpropagation. The FOX optimizer enhances synaptic weight adjustments, leading to superior classification accuracy, minimal loss, improved generalization, and increased interpretability. The proposed model was validated on a laboratory dataset obtained from a bearing testbed with multiple fault conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves perfect precision, recall, F1-scores, and an AUC of 1.00 across all fault categories, significantly outperforming comparison models. The t-SNE plots illustrate clear separability between different fault classes, confirming the model’s robustness and reliability. This approach offers an efficient and highly accurate solution for real-time predictive maintenance in industrial applications.
- Open Access
- 10 November 2024
- Published by MDPI AG in Applied Sciences
- Vol. 14 (22) , 10339
Spatio-Temporal Feature Extraction for Pipeline Leak Detection in Smart Cities Using Acoustic Emission Signals: A One-Dimensional Hybrid Convolutional Neural Network–Long Short-Term Memory Approach
Pipeline leakage represents a critical challenge in smart cities and various industries, leading to severe economic, environmental, and safety consequences. Early detection of leaks is essential for overcoming these risks and ensuring the safe operation of pipeline systems. In this study, a hybrid convolutional neural network–long short-term memory (CNN-LSTM) model for pipeline leak detection that uses acoustic emission signals was designed. In this model, acoustic emission signals are initially preprocessed using a Savitzky–Golay filter to reduce noise. The filtered signals are input into the hybrid model, where spatial features are extracted using a CNN. The features are then passed to an LSTM network, which extracts temporal features from the signals. Based on these features, the presence or absence of a leakage is determined. The performance of the proposed model was compared with two alternative approaches: a method that employs combined features from the time domain and LSTM and a bidirectional gated recurrent unit model. The proposed approach demonstrated superior performance, as evidenced by lower validation loss, higher validation accuracy, enhanced confusion matrices, and improved t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding plots compared to the other models when tested on industrial data. The findings indicate that the proposed model is more effective in accurately detecting pipeline leaks, offering a promising solution for enhancing smart cities and industrial safety.
- 10 November 2024
- Published by MDPI AG in Applied Sciences
- Vol. 14 (22) , 10339
Open AccessSpatio-Temporal Feature Extraction for Pipeline Leak Detection in Smart Cities Using Acoustic Emission Signals: A One-Dimensional Hybrid Convolutional Neural Network–Long Short-Term Memory Approach
Pipeline leakage represents a critical challenge in smart cities and various industries, leading to severe economic, environmental, and safety consequences. Early detection of leaks is essential for overcoming these risks and ensuring the safe operation of pipeline systems. In this study, a hybrid convolutional neural network–long short-term memory (CNN-LSTM) model for pipeline leak detection that uses acoustic emission signals was designed. In this model, acoustic emission signals are initially preprocessed using a Savitzky–Golay filter to reduce noise. The filtered signals are input into the hybrid model, where spatial features are extracted using a CNN. The features are then passed to an LSTM network, which extracts temporal features from the signals. Based on these features, the presence or absence of a leakage is determined. The performance of the proposed model was compared with two alternative approaches: a method that employs combined features from the time domain and LSTM and a bidirectional gated recurrent unit model. The proposed approach demonstrated superior performance, as evidenced by lower validation loss, higher validation accuracy, enhanced confusion matrices, and improved t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding plots compared to the other models when tested on industrial data. The findings indicate that the proposed model is more effective in accurately detecting pipeline leaks, offering a promising solution for enhancing smart cities and industrial safety.
- Open Access
- 20 August 2024
- Published by MDPI AG in Smart Cities
- Vol. 7 (4) , 2318-2338
Pipeline Leak Detection System for a Smart City: Leveraging Acoustic Emission Sensing and Sequential Deep Learning
This study explores a novel approach utilizing acoustic emission (AE) signaling technology for pipeline leakage detection and analysis. Pipeline leaks are a significant concern in the liquids and gases industries, prompting the development of innovative detection methods. Unlike conventional methods, which often require contact and visual inspection with the pipeline surface, the proposed time-series-based deep learning approach offers real-time detection with higher safety and efficiency. In this study, we propose an automatic detection system of pipeline leakage for efficient transportation of liquid (water) and gas across the city, considering the smart city approach. We propose an AE-based framework combined with time-series deep learning algorithms to detect pipeline leaks through time-series features. The time-series AE signal detection module is designed to capture subtle changes in the AE signal state caused by leaks. Sequential deep learning models, including long short-term memory (LSTM), bi-directional LSTM (Bi-LSTM), and gated recurrent units (GRUs), are used to classify the AE response into normal and leakage detection from minor seepage, moderate leakage, and major ruptures in the pipeline. Three AE sensors are installed at different configurations on a pipeline, and data are acquired at 1 MHz sample/sec, which is decimated to 4K sample/second for efficiently utilizing the memory constraints of a remote system. The performance of these models is evaluated using metrics, namely accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and convergence, demonstrating classification accuracies of up to 99.78%. An accuracy comparison shows that BiLSTM performed better mostly with all hyperparameter settings. This research contributes to the advancement of pipeline leakage detection technology, offering improved accuracy and reliability in identifying and addressing pipeline integrity issues.
- 20 August 2024
- Published by MDPI AG in Smart Cities
- Vol. 7 (4) , 2318-2338
Open AccessPipeline Leak Detection System for a Smart City: Leveraging Acoustic Emission Sensing and Sequential Deep Learning
This study explores a novel approach utilizing acoustic emission (AE) signaling technology for pipeline leakage detection and analysis. Pipeline leaks are a significant concern in the liquids and gases industries, prompting the development of innovative detection methods. Unlike conventional methods, which often require contact and visual inspection with the pipeline surface, the proposed time-series-based deep learning approach offers real-time detection with higher safety and efficiency. In this study, we propose an automatic detection system of pipeline leakage for efficient transportation of liquid (water) and gas across the city, considering the smart city approach. We propose an AE-based framework combined with time-series deep learning algorithms to detect pipeline leaks through time-series features. The time-series AE signal detection module is designed to capture subtle changes in the AE signal state caused by leaks. Sequential deep learning models, including long short-term memory (LSTM), bi-directional LSTM (Bi-LSTM), and gated recurrent units (GRUs), are used to classify the AE response into normal and leakage detection from minor seepage, moderate leakage, and major ruptures in the pipeline. Three AE sensors are installed at different configurations on a pipeline, and data are acquired at 1 MHz sample/sec, which is decimated to 4K sample/second for efficiently utilizing the memory constraints of a remote system. The performance of these models is evaluated using metrics, namely accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and convergence, demonstrating classification accuracies of up to 99.78%. An accuracy comparison shows that BiLSTM performed better mostly with all hyperparameter settings. This research contributes to the advancement of pipeline leakage detection technology, offering improved accuracy and reliability in identifying and addressing pipeline integrity issues.
- Top Cited PapersOpen Access
Pipeline Leak Detection: A Comprehensive Deep Learning Model Using CWT Image Analysis and an Optimized DBN-GA-LSSVM Framework
Detecting pipeline leaks is an essential factor in maintaining the integrity of fluid transport systems. This paper introduces an advanced deep learning framework that uses continuous wavelet transform (CWT) images for precise detection of such leaks. Transforming acoustic signals from pipelines under various conditions into CWT scalograms, followed by signal processing by non-local means and adaptive histogram equalization, results in new enhanced leak-induced scalograms (ELIS) that capture detailed energy fluctuations across time-frequency scales. The fundamental approach takes advantage of a deep belief network (DBN) fine-tuned with a genetic algorithm (GA) and unified with a least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) to improve feature extraction and classification accuracy. The DBN-GA framework precisely extracts informative features, while the LSSVM classifier precisely distinguishes between leaky and non-leak conditions. By concentrating solely on the advanced capabilities of ELIS processed through an optimized DBN-GA-LSSVM model, this research achieves high detection accuracy and reliability, making a significant contribution to pipeline monitoring and maintenance. This innovative approach to capturing complex signal patterns can be applied to real-time leak detection and critical infrastructure safety in several industrial applications.
Top Cited PapersOpen AccessPipeline Leak Detection: A Comprehensive Deep Learning Model Using CWT Image Analysis and an Optimized DBN-GA-LSSVM Framework
Detecting pipeline leaks is an essential factor in maintaining the integrity of fluid transport systems. This paper introduces an advanced deep learning framework that uses continuous wavelet transform (CWT) images for precise detection of such leaks. Transforming acoustic signals from pipelines under various conditions into CWT scalograms, followed by signal processing by non-local means and adaptive histogram equalization, results in new enhanced leak-induced scalograms (ELIS) that capture detailed energy fluctuations across time-frequency scales. The fundamental approach takes advantage of a deep belief network (DBN) fine-tuned with a genetic algorithm (GA) and unified with a least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) to improve feature extraction and classification accuracy. The DBN-GA framework precisely extracts informative features, while the LSSVM classifier precisely distinguishes between leaky and non-leak conditions. By concentrating solely on the advanced capabilities of ELIS processed through an optimized DBN-GA-LSSVM model, this research achieves high detection accuracy and reliability, making a significant contribution to pipeline monitoring and maintenance. This innovative approach to capturing complex signal patterns can be applied to real-time leak detection and critical infrastructure safety in several industrial applications.
- Open Access
Fault Diagnosis of a Multistage Centrifugal Pump Using Explanatory Ratio Linear Discriminant Analysis
This study introduces an innovative approach for fault diagnosis of a multistage centrifugal pump (MCP) using explanatory ratio (ER) linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Initially, the method addresses the challenge of background noise and interference in vibration signals by identifying a fault-sensitive frequency band (FSFB). From the FSFB, raw hybrid statistical features are extracted in time, frequency, and time–frequency domains, forming a comprehensive feature pool. Recognizing that not all features adequately represent MCP conditions and can reduce classification accuracy, we propose a novel ER-LDA method. ER-LDA evaluates feature importance by calculating the explanatory ratio between interclass distance and intraclass scatteredness, facilitating the selection of discriminative features through LDA. This fusion of ER-based feature assessment and LDA yields the novel ER-LDA technique. The resulting selective feature set is then passed into a k-nearest neighbor (K-NN) algorithm for condition classification, distinguishing between normal, mechanical seal hole, mechanical seal scratch, and impeller defect states of the MCP. The proposed technique surpasses current cutting-edge techniques in fault classification.
Open AccessFault Diagnosis of a Multistage Centrifugal Pump Using Explanatory Ratio Linear Discriminant Analysis
This study introduces an innovative approach for fault diagnosis of a multistage centrifugal pump (MCP) using explanatory ratio (ER) linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Initially, the method addresses the challenge of background noise and interference in vibration signals by identifying a fault-sensitive frequency band (FSFB). From the FSFB, raw hybrid statistical features are extracted in time, frequency, and time–frequency domains, forming a comprehensive feature pool. Recognizing that not all features adequately represent MCP conditions and can reduce classification accuracy, we propose a novel ER-LDA method. ER-LDA evaluates feature importance by calculating the explanatory ratio between interclass distance and intraclass scatteredness, facilitating the selection of discriminative features through LDA. This fusion of ER-based feature assessment and LDA yields the novel ER-LDA technique. The resulting selective feature set is then passed into a k-nearest neighbor (K-NN) algorithm for condition classification, distinguishing between normal, mechanical seal hole, mechanical seal scratch, and impeller defect states of the MCP. The proposed technique surpasses current cutting-edge techniques in fault classification.