Electrical Reflectometry for fault detection and diagnostics in complex wired networks
Embedded diagnostics systems for critical applications (e.g., aerospace, energy)
Signal processing algorithms for anomaly detection and condition monitoring
Data fusion and sensor integration for enhanced reliability assessment
Machine learning & AI for predictive maintenance and prognosis of wiring systems
3D modeling and simulation for defect characterization and testing
Time-domain and frequency-domain analysis for cable fault localization
Smart connectors and distributed sensing in complex environments
Technology transfer and TRL maturation from lab to industry
Reflectometry-based topology reconstuction in live power or communication networks.
Wafa BEN HASSEN received her Ph.D. in Embedded Systems from INP Toulouse in 2014 and joined CEA as a research engineer specializing in signal processing, wire diagnosis, and sensor fusion. She has been recognized as a CEA expert in the field of wire diagnosis and has built a strong scientific track record since 2011, including over 11 patents, 40 publications, and the supervision of 2 Ph.D. students.
With over 15 years of experience managing innovation-driven projects and transferring technologies to industrial partners, she has been leading research units at CEA LIST since 2020. Her role combines strategic planning, team leadership, budget oversight, technology maturation, and collaboration with both academic and industrial stakeholders. Her expertise lies in transforming applied research into industrial innovations with strong market potential across various sectors.
Since January 2023
Head of R&D Service Deputy
Monitoring, Control and Diagnostics Service (SMCD), CEA LIST (~100 research engineers, 4 R&D laboratories)
• Manage service-level budgeting, including revenue tracking and expense control
• Develop and expand strategic partnerships (national and international) and collaborative opportunities
• Lead the preparation of technical proposals, assess risks, and estimate associated costs
• Negotiate institutional and industrial research contracts, including intellectual property matters
• Promote and valorize research development for technology transfer and commercialization
January 2020 – December 2022
Head of R&D Laboratory
Sensor Reliability and Integration Laboratory, CEA LIST (~25 research engineers)
• Manage a team of research engineers
• Organize the laboratory’s operational, scientific, and budgetary activities
• Monitor the execution of contractual commitments
• Develop and consolidate the laboratory’s scientific and technical expertise
• Define the strategic roadmap and structure the laboratory’s research themes
November 2014 – December 2019
R&D Projects Manager
Transfer of reflectometry-based technologies to industrial partners
• Design fault detection and maintenance systems for electrical conductors
• Define, plan, and monitor task progress
• Drive the maturation of emerging technologies (TRL 5/6)
• Communicate and disseminate scientific results
• Maintain strong relationships with academic and industrial partners
• Transfer an electrical system diagnostic technology to industry (i.e. TC50-eTOOL)
Since November 2014
Research Engineer
Embedded System Reliability Laboratory, CEA LIST
• Develop innovative cable diagnostics technologies
• Design and develop algorithms using signal processing, AI, and applied mathematics
• Scientific publications and communications in international conferences and revues (h-index: 11, >50 articles) Google Scholar
• Co-Inventor on 11 patents Patents
• Mentored interns, PhD students, and junior researchers
November 2011 – November 2014
PhD Student
Embedded System Reliability Laboratory, CEA LIST
• Study of strategies for embedded electrical wiring diagnosis: PhD Thesis
(signal post-processing, Bayesian network, inference and decision-making algorithms)
• Develop novel methods (patented) for online diagnosis
• Scientific publications and patents (2 patents)
2011 – 2016
Ph.D. in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
SUPCOM – Higher School of Communication of Tunis, Tunisia
2011 – 2014
Ph.D. in Embedded Systems
INPT – National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, France
2010 – 2011
Master’s Degree in Electronic Systems and Communications
EPT – Tunisia Polytechnic School
Graduated with High Honors
2005 – 2010
Engineering Degree in Networks and Telecommunications
INSAT – National Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, Tunisia
Graduated with High Honors (Top of Class)
2005
National High School Diploma
Graduated with High Honors
W. Ben Hassen, M. Slimani, and F. Auzanneau, “Electrical Reflectometry: An Interesting Technology for Various Domains of Application,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, to be submitted, 2025.
W. B. Hassen and M. Slimani, “Lithium-ion Battery Tab Welding Diagnosis using Electrical Reflectometry,” in Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE AUTOTESTCON, National Harbor, MD, USA, 2024, pp. 1–6, doi: 10.1109/AUTOTESTCON47465.2024.10697527.
B. Naline, N. Ravot, W. Ben Hassen, S. G. Rodriguez, and K. Zeitouni, “Dataset Construction for Machine Learning Based Wired Networks Prognosis,” PHM2024 International Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, May 28–31, 2024.
B. Naline, N. Ravot, W. Ben Hassen, S. G. Rodriguez, and K. Zeitouni, “Towards a Federated Learning Approach for Branched Wired Networks Prognosis,” International Conference on Control, Automation and Diagnosis (ICCAD), 2023. doi: 10.1109/ICCAD57653.2023.10152421.
N. Taki, C. Delpha, D. Diallo, W. Ben Hassen, and N. Ravot, “Soft Fault Diagnosis in Wiring Networks Using Reflectometry and Principal Component Analysis,” Measurement, vol. 198, 2022. doi: 10.1016/j.measurement.2022.111378.
M. Kafal and W. Ben Hassen, “On the Diagnosis of Incipient Faults in Transmission Lines Using a Projection Approach Based on Phase Patterns,” PIERS - Fall 2019, pp. 1288–1294. doi: 10.1109/PIERS-Fall48861.2019.9021894.
W. Ben Hassen and M. Kafal, “Shielding Damage Characterization in Twisted Pair Cables Using OMTDR-based Reflectometry and Inverse Problems,” Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium, 2019-June. doi: 10.1109/PIERS-Spring46901.2019.9017733.
W. Ben Hassen and M. Kafal, “A Damaged Twisted Pair Cable Modeling for Fault Detection and Characterization using OMTDR and Particle Swarm Algorithm,” Sensors & Transducers, vol. 236, no. 8, pp. 7–15, 2019.
M. Kafal, R. Razzaghi, A. Cozza, F. Auzanneau, and W. Ben Hassen, “A Review on the Application of the Time Reversal Theory to Wire Network and Power System Diagnosis,” I2MTC 2019 - IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, 2019-May. doi: 10.1109/I2MTC.2019.8826822.
N. Taki, W. Ben Hassen, N. Ravot, C. Delpha, and D. Diallo, “Frequency Selection for Reflectometry-Based Soft Fault Detection Using Principal Component Analysis,” PHM-Paris 2019, pp. 273–278. doi: 10.1109/PHM-Paris.2019.00053.
N. Taki, W. Ben Hassen, N. Ravot, C. Delpha, and D. Diallo, “Sensors Selection for Distributed Reflectometry-based Soft Fault Detection using Principal Component Analysis,” AUTOTESTCON, 2019-January. doi: 10.1109/AUTOTESTCON43700.2019.8961060.
M. Kafal, W. Ben Hassen, and J. Benoit, “A Performance Analysis of Optimization Algorithms for Wiring Network Reconstruction and Diagnosis based on Reflectometry,” AUTOTESTCON, 2019-January. doi: 10.1109/AUTOTESTCON43700.2019.8961070.
W. Ben Hassen, M. Kafal, and E. Cabanillas, “A Stranded Unshielded Twisted Pair Modeling for Online Fault Location Using OMTDR-based Diagnosis Sensor,” SENSORNETS 2019, pp. 40–46. doi: 10.5220/0007387000400046.
W. Ben Hassen, M. Kafal, and E. Cabanillas, “Online Chafing Fault Diagnosis and Characterization in Twisted Pair Cables based on Multi-Carrier Reflectometry and Genetic Algorithms,” JCABLE 2019.
W. Ben Hassen, M. Kafal, E. Cabanillas, and J. Benoit, “Power Cable Network Topology Reconstruction Using Multi-carrier Reflectometry for Fault Detection and Location in Live Smart Grids,” CMD 2018. doi: 10.1109/CMD.2018.8535596.
M. Kafal, F. Mustapha, W. Ben Hassen, and J. Benoit, “A Non Destructive Reflectometry Based Method for the Location and Characterization of Incipient Faults in Complex Unknown Wire Networks,” AUTOTESTCON, 2018-September. doi: 10.1109/AUTEST.2018.8532500.
E. Cabanillas, M. Kafal, and W. Ben Hassen, “On the Implementation of Embedded Communication over Reflectometry-oriented Hardware for Distributed Diagnosis in Complex Wiring Networks,” AUTOTESTCON, 2018-September. doi: 10.1109/AUTEST.2018.8532560.
W. Ben Hassen, M. Kafal, and E. Cabanillas, “Time Reversal Applied to Multi-Carrier Reflectometry for On-line Diagnosis in Complex Wiring Systems,” AUTOTESTCON, 2018-September. doi: 10.1109/AUTEST.2018.8532546.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “OMTDR-based Embedded Cable Diagnosis for Multiple Fire Zones Detection and Location in Aircraft Engines,” Proceedings of IEEE Sensors, 2017-December, pp. 1–3. doi: 10.1109/ICSENS.2017.8234174.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “Smart Connectors Fusion for Incipient Defect Diagnosis on Aging Aircraft Wiring Systems,” AUTOTESTCON, 2017. doi: 10.1109/AUTEST.2017.8080496.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “Embedded OMTDR Sensor for Small Soft Fault Location on Aging Aircraft Wiring Systems,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 168, pp. 1698–1701, 2016. doi: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.11.493.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “Distributed Sensor Fusion for Wire Fault Location Using Sensor Clustering Strategy,” International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 2015. doi: 10.1155/2015/538643.
L. Incarbone et al., “OMTDR-based Integrated Cable Health Monitoring System SmartCo: An Embedded Reflectometry System to Ensure Harness Auto-Test,” ICIEA 2015 - 10th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications, pp. 1761–1765. doi: 10.1109/ICIEA.2015.7334396.
L. Incarbone, F. Auzanneau, W. Ben Hassen, and Y. Bonhomme, “Embedded Wire Diagnosis Sensor for Intermittent Fault Location,” Proceedings of IEEE Sensors, 2014, pp. 562–565. doi: 10.1109/ICSENS.2014.6985060.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “Ambiguity Cancellation for Wire Fault Location Based on Cable Life Profile,” IFAC Proceedings Volumes, vol. 19, pp. 9593–9598, 2014.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “On-line Diagnosis Using Orthogonal Multi-Tone Time Domain Reflectometry in a Lossy Cable,” SSD 2013 - 10th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals and Devices. doi: 10.1109/SSD.2013.6564144.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “OMTDR Using BER Estimation for Ambiguities Cancellation in Ramified Networks Diagnosis,” ISSNIP 2013 - 8th International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, pp. 414–419. doi: 10.1109/ISSNIP.2013.6529826.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “Diagnosis Sensor Fusion for Wire Fault Location in CAN Bus Systems,” Proceedings of IEEE Sensors, 2013. doi: 10.1109/ICSENS.2013.6688264.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “Optimisation de Capteurs de Diagnostic de Défauts par Réflectométrie dans les Réseaux Filaires Complexes en Utilisant les Réseaux Bayésiens,” QUALITA2013, Mar. 2013, Compiègne, France.
W. Ben Hassen et al., “A Distributed Diagnosis Strategy Using Bayesian Network for Complex Wiring Networks,” IFAC Proceedings Volumes, pp. 42–47, 2012. doi: 10.3182/20121122-2-ES-4026.00031.
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