Researcher Spotlight on Qadeer Ahmed

After receiving his bachelors, masters and PhD in Pakistan, Qadeer Ahmed was offered a post-doctoral position in 2012 at the Center of Automotive Research (CAR) where he has continued to grow and enjoy his career. As a research scientist at CAR, Ahmed takes concepts from his expertise in control systems and applies them to various automotive systems including powertrain control, diagnostics and functional safety.

What project are you currently working on?

Right now I am working with Eeshan Deosthale, a graduate student in

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, on the diagnostics of 8-speed and 10-speed automatic transmissions in collaboration with the Ford transmission diagnostics group. The 10-speed automatic transmissions offer higher fuel economy benefits but at the cost of more complexity, which offers various diagnostic challenges. We are helping Ford determine the minimum set of sensors and diagnostic algorithms for efficient diagnostics of modern automatic transmissions.

In another recently concluded project which I worked with Cummins on, I, along with CAR graduate research associates, Bharat Hegde and Avinash Vallur, analyzed the benefits of technology related to connected and autonomous vehicles in powertrain control to make it fuel efficient. We explored different sensors including GPS, IMU, LiDAR and RADAR to find their benefits in improving the fuel economy of the delivery truck and Line haul truck. We also developed a traffic-in-loop simulator and tested a look-ahead control scheme in the virtual scenarios. In conclusion we found that if we have more information prior to starting the trip we can achieve better fuel economy.

What do you enjoy most about working at CAR?

I have the pleasure of sitting in a world class academic environment and working on real-world industrial problems! I have rarely seen this combination. I would also like to mention that I enjoy being a part of a great team at CAR! I would like to continue contributing and taking the Center to the next level of achievements while helping the automotive industry solve real-world problems.

How do you like spending your time outside of work?

When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with wife, Hira, my 8 year old daughter Hamnah and my 6 year old son, Abdulahad. We spend time together exploring places, swimming, ice-skating, cycling, BBQing and gardening.