Staff Profile

I am currently a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) and a member of the Networked and Ubiquitous Systems Engineering (NUSE) group at the School of Computing at Newcastle University, UK. I earned my BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from COMSATS University, Islamabad, Pakistan, and a PhD in Computer Engineering with a major in Distributed and Networked Systems from Hongik University, South Korea. My PhD research focused on the intersection of information centric networking (ICN) and edge computing, particularly in environments with a large number of IoT devices, where existing solutions struggle. I designed, implemented, and evaluated protocols for ICN-based edge computing and addressed new research problems including mobility, optimization of network functions, non-trivial computations, resources discovery and resources allocation mechanisms.

Before joining Newcastle, I was a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK. Prior to that, I worked as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Engineering at Gachon University, Seoul, South Korea. I gained my post-doctoral experience at Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK.

My research focuses on the broader areas of network and distributed systems that span the cloud-edge-device continuum and edge intelligence applications. Currently, I am focusing on privacy preserving decentralized machine learning (aka Federated Learning) for edge computing systems. In my research, I design algorithms/protocols, develop prototypes using testbeds, and evaluate their performance in real-world settings to address practical problems.

I have an established and growing publication record in Network and Distributed Systems, Cloud/Edge Computing and IoT. My research has been published in premier conferences, journals, and patents including UCC, ACM ICN, HotMobile, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE Internet of Things journal, IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, IEEE Network Magazine, Journal of Network and Computer Applications, and Future Generation Computer Systems. I am also a named inventor on 8 patent applications (filed in US and South Korea) which are at various stages. I have served as a TPC member, keynote speaker, session chair and general chair for several flagship conferences such as ACM ICN 2022, ACM IMC 2018, and ICC 2023/24. 

Patents:

1. Rehmat Ullah, Di Wu Paul Harvey, Peter Kilpatrick, Ivor Spence, and Blesson Varghese, “Cooperative training migration.”, U.S. Patent Application 63/270518, Publication Date: 12-09-2024. View patent
2. Di Wu, Philip Rodgers, Blesson Varghese, Rehmat Ullah, Peter Kilpatrick, and Ivor Spence “Collaborative training with buffered activations”,U.S. Patent Application US2022/053601, June 20, 2024 View patent
3. Di Wu, Philip Rodgers, Blesson Varghese, Rehmat Ullah, Peter Kilpatrick, and Ivor Spence “Collaborative training with compressed transmissions”, U.S. Patent Application US2022/052496, June 20, 2024 View patent
4. Di Wu, Rehmat Ullah, Paul Harvey, Peter Kilpatrick, Ivor Spence, and Blesson Varghese, “Adaptive offloading of federated learning.”, U.S. Patent Application 17/523,920, Publication Date: 19-01-2023. View patent
5. Rehmat Ullah, Dong-hak Kim, Muhammad Atif Ur Rehman and Byung Seo Kim, “Method for enabling Information Centric Networking-based Edge Computing in 5G Networks.”, Registration No: 10-2310212, Date: 06-10-2021. View patent
6. Rehmat Ullah, Hyundo-Jin, Muhammad Atif Ur Rehman and Byung Seo Kim, “Integration System of Named Data Networking-based Edge Cloud Computing for Internet of Things”, Registration No: 10-2260781, Date: 31-05-2021. View patent
7. Rehmat Ullah, Dong-hak Kim, Muhammad Atif Ur Rehman and Byung Seo Kim, “Method for Push-based Data Broadcast Control in Information-Centric Internet of Things”, Registration No: 10-2327947, Date: 17-11-2021. View patent
8. Muhammad Atif Ur Rehman, Muhammad Khalil Afzal, Rehmat Ullah, and Byung Seo Kim, “Method to communication in Cluster-based Information-Centric Wireless Networks”, Registration No: 10-2404984, Date: 20-05-2022. View patent

Journal and Conference Articles: (Selected)

1. Di Wu, Rehmat Ullah, Philip Rodgers, Peter Kilpatrick, Ivor Spence and Blesson Varghese, “EcoFed: Efficient Communication for DNN Partitioning-Based Federated Learning”, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 377-390, March 2024. View article
2. Imran Khan, Yasir Majib, Rehmat Ullah, and Omer Rana, “Blockchain applications for Internet of Things — A survey”, Elsevier Internet of Things Journal, June 2024. View article
3. Rehmat Ullah, Di Wu, Paul Harvey, Peter Kilpatrick, Ivor Spence and Blesson Varghese, “FedFly: Towards Migration in Edge-based Distributed Federated Learning”, IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 60, no. 11, pp. 42-48, November 2022. View article
4. Gary Cleland, Di Wu, Rehmat Ullah, and Blesson Varghese, “FedComm: Understanding Communication Protocols for Edge-based Federated Learning,” 5th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC2022) December 6-9, 2022 - Vancouver, Washington, USA. View article
5. Di Wu, Rehmat Ullah, Paul Harvey, Peter Kilpatrick, Ivor Spence and Blesson Varghese, “FedAdapt: Adaptive Offloading for IoT Devices in Federated Learning” IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 9, no. 21, pp. 20889-20901, November 2022. View article
6. Waqas Khalid, Zeeshan Kaleem, Rehmat Ullah, Trinh Van Chien, Song Noh, and Heejung Yu “Simultaneous Transmitting and Reflecting-Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface in 6G: Design Guidelines and Future Perspectives”, IEEE Network Magazine, 2022. View article
7. Quang Ngoc Nguyen, Rehmat Ullah, Byung-Seo Kim, Rosilah Hassan, Takuro Sato, and Tarik Taleb “A Cross-layer Green Information-Centric Networking Design toward Energy Internet”, IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1577-1593, 1 May-June 2022 View article
8. Muhammad Ali Naeem, Rehmat Ullah, Yahui Meng, Rashid Ali, and Bilal Ahmed Lodhi “Caching Content on the Network Layer: A Performance Analysis of Caching Schemes in ICN-based Internet of Things,” IEEE Internet of Things Journal,vol. 9, no. 9, pp. 6477-6495, May 1, 2022 View article
9. Boubakr Nour, Spyridon Mastorakis Rehmat Ullah and Nicholas Stergiou “Information-Centric Networking in Wireless Environments: Security Risks and Challenges” IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, 28(2), 121-127, 2121. View article
10. Muhammad Atif Ur Rehman, Rehmat Ullah , Byung-Seo Kim, Boubakr Nour, and Spyridon Mastorakis “CCIC-WSN: An Architecture for Single Channel Cluster-based Information-Centric Wireless Sensor Networks,” IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 8, no. 9, pp. 7661-7675, May 1, 2021 View article
11. Rehmat Ullah, Muhammad Atif Ur Rehman, Muhammad Ali Naeem, Byung-Seo Kim and Spyridon Mastorakis, “ICN with Edge for 5G: Exploiting In-network Caching in ICN-based Edge Computing for 5G Networks”, Future Generation Compuer Systems. vol. 111, pp. 159-174, 2020. View article
12. Balázs Sonkoly, Dávid Haja, Balázs Németh, Márk Szalay, János Czentye, János Dóka, Róbert Szabó, Rehmat Ullah, Byung-Seo Kim, and László Toka “Scalable Edge Cloud Platforms for IoT Services.” Journal of Network and Computer Applications, Vol.170, pp. 1-18, 15 November 2020. View article

You may visit my Google Scholar or my personal website www.rehmatkhan.com for a complete list of my publications and my academic activitiess.

In my previous role, I was a module leader for the following courses:

Level 7 MSc Advanced Computer Science Module: Cloud & Edge Computing (CMP7000)

Level 6 Module: Parallel & Distributed Systems (CIS6007)

Level 4 Degree Apprenticeship Module: Principles of Programming Using Java (DAT4010)

I am particularly interested in developing and designing advanced courses such as Edge Intelligence/Edge AI, IoT, Federated Learning, and Future Networks.