Professional Snapshot

Doctoral researcher at the University of Central Florida focused on free-space optical (FSO) and RF communications for UAVs, connected vehicles, and smart transportation systems.

I design and validate end-to-end wireless systems that bridge mobility and communication infrastructure. From FSO beam-steering algorithms to hurricane evacuation crash-risk models, my work spans embedded prototyping, large-scale simulation, and applied machine learning.

Areas of Impact

  • FSO & mmWave links for high-mobility networks
  • Autonomous vehicle perception and crash prediction
  • Co-simulations merging transportation and comms
  • TinyML pipelines for edge sensing on UAV & IoV

Education

2023 – 2026 Orlando, FL

Ph.D. in Computer Engineering

University of Central Florida · GPA 3.92/4.00

Researching UAV and connected-vehicle communication with emphasis on FSO beam steering, network optimization, and resilient mobility networks.

2021 – 2023 Orlando, FL

M.S. in Civil Engineering (Intelligent Transportation Systems)

University of Central Florida · GPA 3.805/4.00

Developed crash prediction models and connected-vehicle simulations for smart city evacuation planning.

2016 – 2019 Dhaka, Bangladesh

B.Sc. in Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Islamic University of Technology · GPA 3.88/4.00

Specialized in wireless systems, embedded design, and robotics; led the IUT Mars Rover team to global competitions.

Research Experience

Advancing wireless, transportation safety, and autonomous mobility systems.

Graduate Research Assistant

Networking & Wireless Systems Lab, UCF · Aug 2021 – Present

  • Lead intelligent transportation and wireless communication research across three NSF-funded and one industry collaboration, resulting in 5+ peer-reviewed papers.
  • Develop machine learning pipelines for crash risk prediction and resilient infrastructure support during hurricane evacuations.
  • Engineer UAV and FSO communication prototypes with robotics integration to improve long-range, low-latency connectivity.

Industry Experience

Delivering large-scale wireless deployments and resilient infrastructure.

Project Control Manager / Wireless Engineer

Huawei Technologies Ltd. · Feb 2020 – Jul 2021

  • Managed the "Abis Over IP" modernization, upgrading 3,000 tower sites from 2G to 4G across Bangladesh with fully autonomous remote connectivity to core network sites.
  • Directed the microwave backhaul initiative for remote island connectivity, deploying RAN and long-haul microwave links end to end.
  • Performed LTE protocol layer analysis (L1, MAC, RRM) to troubleshoot issues and raise KPI performance for nationwide operations.
  • Coordinated multi-vendor stakeholders and logistics to maintain aggressive rollout schedules and service-level compliance.

Core Strengths

Programming

Python MATLAB C/C++ SQL Bash HTML/CSS/JS

Frameworks & Tools

PyTorch TensorFlow scikit-learn Pandas OpenCV ROS & Gazebo AirSim SUMO

Hardware Platforms

FPGA (VHDL/Verilog) Raspberry Pi STM32 mmWave Radios FSO Modems

Domain Expertise

Wireless Systems Intelligent Transportation Connected & Autonomous Vehicles UAV Swarm Networks V2X / V2V / V2I TinyML at the Edge FSO Communication

Projects

Hands-on systems engineering across UAVs, transportation safety, and embedded platforms.

UAV Vibration Analysis

2025 · Paper Submitted

  • Captured 1000 kHz IMU and EKF3 telemetry with ArduPilot pipelines using pymavlink and MAVExplorer.
  • Executed FFT and PSD vibration spectrum analysis with 3D trajectory reconstruction for FSO beam alignment and channel modeling.
  • Diagnosed hardware vibration sources, including propeller balancing and airframe isolation.

AADM UAV Challenge

2025 · Competition Development

  • Optimized UAV trajectories inside the AERPAW digital twin with reinforcement learning and robotics control stacks.
  • Resolved critical mission bugs and integrated system modules spanning simulation, autonomy, and communications.
  • Coordinated cross-functional contributors and led team execution through iterative flight tests.

Links: GitHub / Challenge Site

Mechanical Steering Head with FSO Transceivers

2024 · Robotics Platform

  • Designed dual-axis actuation assemblies with servo motors and slip rings for continuous optical alignment.
  • Integrated FSO terminals with embedded control on ESP32 and Raspberry Pi controllers.
  • Developed real-time mechatronics control loops for precise beam steering.

Real-Time Crash & Pedestrian Detection

2022 · Edge AI Deployment

  • Implemented YOLOv5 and CNN perception models for roadway incident detection and pedestrian awareness.
  • Built IoT-based vehicular communication pipelines enabling low-latency inference distribution.
  • Hardened edge deployment with network protocol tuning for real-time analytics.

Links: GitHub Repository

FPGA-Based Arcade Game

2023 · Hardware Prototype

  • Programmed custom gameplay logic in Verilog/HDL with cycle-accurate timing constraints.
  • Simulated digital subsystems and verified embedded interfaces for responsive controls.
  • Prototyped an interactive system-on-chip experience on FPGA development boards.

Links: GitHub / Demo

Mars Rover Project

2017 – 2019 · Competition Team Lead

  • Led 64-member team delivering autonomous navigation with path planning and sensor fusion.
  • Engineered communications and robotics subsystems using MATLAB, ROS, and custom hardware.
  • Coordinated competition campaigns and media engagements showcasing rover capabilities.

Links: Competition / Media Coverage

Publications & Recognition

  1. Randomized 3D Neighbour Discovery with Mechanically Steered FSO Transceivers IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM) · 2024 Link

    Designed an all-optical neighbor-discovery protocol by formulating PAT as a constrained steering optimization and implementing a beta-distribution randomized scan that uniformly covers the 3D search space, reducing discovery time.

  2. DQN with Transfer Learning for Sub-microsecond AoA Detection in a Millimeter-Wave SDR Testbed Open Journal of Communication · 2025 (Major Revisions) Link

    Implemented a GNU Radio–ZeroMQ–Python SDR pipeline with phased arrays achieving <1 µs beam loops and trained a three-layer DQN with cross-scenario transfer learning, cutting AoA error to <2°.

  3. Predicting Real-time Crash Risks During Hurricane Evacuation Using Connected Vehicle Data SAE International Journal of Transportation Safety · 2025 Link

    Engineered a low-latency connected vehicle pipeline for speed and acceleration telemetry, training lightweight ML models with SMOTE balancing to surface crash-risk hotspots in real time with up to 0.91 recall and ~0.95 F1.

  4. Real-time Traffic Restoration Time Prediction Based on the Estimated Traffic State Journal of Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives · 2025 Link

    Developed eight XGBoost models using 65 fused features from traffic, weather, and emergency access data to forecast post-crash recovery, achieving 82.4% cosine similarity between predicted and reported clearance times.

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Let’s Collaborate

Open to research partnerships, consulting, and speaking engagements.

Email

zaheensyed@ucf.edu

LinkedIn

/in/zaheen-e-muktadi-syed

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaheen-e-muktadi-syed/
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