Ashfaq Ahmed (PhD)

Department of Electrical Engineering

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
Wah Cantt., Pakistan
+92 302 847 8333
ashfaqahmed@ciitwah.edu.pk, ashfaq2419@gmail.com

Education
PhD (Jan. 2011 to Feb. 2014)
VLSI Group, Dept. of Electronics & Telecommunications
Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
PhD Thesis: Low complexity, high quality digital architectures for H.264 (AVC & MVC) and HEVC
standards

MS (Electronics Engineering)
Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy (Sep 2008 Sep 2010)
MS Thesis : VLSI implementation of high speed turbo decoder for 3GPP LTE and Wimax standards

BCE (Bachelors of Computer Engineering)

Bahria University Islamabad, Pakistan (Sep 2003 Aug 2007)
Degree project: Implementation of 32-bit MIPS microprocessor using verilog

Experience
Assistant Professor (March 2014 Present)
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Wah Campus, Pakistan
Assistant professor at the department of electrical engineering CIIT Wah, under the Tenure Track System
(TTS) contract.

Junior Lecturer (Sep 2007 Sep 2008)

Bahria University Islamabad, Pakistan
To deliver lab lectures to Electronics, Telecommunication and Computer Engineering students at
bachelors level and to maintain the electronics.

Research Interests
- Applied optimization in telecommunication and smart systems
- VLSI/ASICs/FPGAs architectures for - Channel coding (Turbo codes) & Video coding standards (H.264
and HEVC)

Publications
Journals:
1. M. Ahmad, M. Naeem, A. Ahmed, M. Iqbal and A. Anpalagan, Mesh Adaptive Direct Search Approach for
D2D Resource Management, Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2016 (Impact factor:
0.858)
2. M. Awais, M. Iqbal, M. Naeem, A. Ahmed, Nadia Qadri, A. Anpalagan, Multiple Line Outages
Identification in Smart Grids: A Randomized Quantum Inspired Approach, Electric Power System
Research, 2016 (Accepted, Impact factor: 1.749)
3. Iqbal, M.; Naeem, M.; Anpalagan, A.; Ahmed, A.; Azam, M. Wireless Sensor Network Optimization: Multi-
Objective Paradigm.Sensors 2015, 15, 17572-17620 (Impact factor: 2.033)
4. Shahid, M.U.; Ahmed, A.; Martina, M.; Masera, G.; Magli, E., "Parallel H.264/AVC Fast Rate-Distortion
Optimized Motion Estimation by Using a Graphics Processing Unit and Dedicated Hardware," Circuits and
Systems for Video Technology, IEEE Transactions on , vol.25, no.4, pp.701,715, April 2015 (Impact factor:
2.615)
5. A. Ahmed, A.U. Rehman, M.U. Shahid; N-Point DCT Architecture for H265/HEVC, Hindawi VLSI
Design Special Issue on VLSI Circuits, Systems, and Architectures for Advanced Image and Video
Compression Standards, 2012.
6. M. Awais, A. Ahmed, M. Naeem, M. Iqbal, A. Anaplagan, Efficient Joint User-Base Station Assignment
and Resource Allocation for Cloud Radio Access Networks, Vehicular Technologies, IEEE Transactions on
(Submitted; Impact factor: 1.978)

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7. A. Ahmed, M. Awais, M. Iqbal, M. Naeem, A. Anpalagan, Estimation of Distribution Algorithm with
Thresholding for Multiple Lines Outage Detection in Smart Grid, Wiley Computational Intelligence
(Submitted; Impact factor: 0.673)
8. A. Ahmed, M. Awais, M. Iqbal, M. Naeem, A. Anpalagan, An Insight to Estimation of Distribution
Algorithm for Multiple Line Outage Identification, Elsevier Swarm Intelligence (Submitted; Impact
factor: expected this year)
Conferences:
1. Mushtaq Ahmad; Naeem, Muhammad; Ahmed, Ashfaq; Iqbal, Muhammad; Alpalagan, Alagan, " Utility
based Resource Management in D2D Networks using Mesh Adaptive Direct Search Method," in Vehicular
Technologies Conference (VTC), 2016 , vol., no., pp no., 19-21 September 2016
2. Ahmed, Ashfaq; Awais, Muhammad; Naeem, Muhammad; Iqbal, Muhammad; Alpalagan, Alagan,
"Efficient multiple lines outage detection in SmartGrid," in Power Generation System and Renewable
Energy Technologies (PGSRET), 2015 , vol., no., pp.1-6, 10-11 June 2015
3. Shahid, M.U.; Ahmed, A.; Magli, E., "Parallel rate-distortion optimized fast motion estimation algorithm for
H.264/AVC using GPU," Picture Coding Symposium (PCS), 2013 , pp.221,224, 8-11 Dec. 2013
4. Ahmed, Ashfaq; Shahid, M.Usman; Martina, Maurizio; Magli, Enrico; Masera, Guido, "VLSI Architecture
for Low-Complexity Motion Estimation in H.264 Multiview Video Coding," Digital System Design (DSD),
2013 Euromicro Conference on , vol., no., pp.288,292, 4-6 Sept. 2013
5. A. Ahmed, M. Martina, G. Masera, Turbo decoder VLSI architecture with non-recursive max* operator for
3GPP LTE standard, SPACOMM 2013, The Fifth International Conference on Advances in Satellite and
Space Communications, April 21, 2013 to April 26, 2013 . pp. 40-45
6. Ahmed, A.; Awais, M.; Rehman, A.; Maurizio, M.; Masera, G.; A High Throughput Turbo Decoder VLSI
Architecture for 3GPP LTE Standard, Presented at 14th IEEE INMIC Conference (INMIC 2011), Dec 22
24, 2011, Karachi, Pakistan.
7. Ahmed, A.; Awais, M.; Maurizio, M.; Masera, G.; VLSI Implementation of 16-point DCT for
H.265/HEVC using Walsh Hadamard Transform and Lifting Scheme, Presented at 14th IEEE INMIC
Conference (INMIC 2011), Dec 22 24, 2011, Karachi, Pakistan.

Research Projects Funding

1. HEC startup grant, worth 0.5 million PKR (PI)
2. In NRPU (National Research Program for Universities) 2016 for a project title Safety and operational
Management System for Pakistan railways, worth 3.03 million PKR (PI: submitted)
3. In National grassroots ICT research initiative (2015-16) for a project title Highly Parallel GPU Based
Motion Tracking Algorithm, worth 0.0485 million PKR (FYP supervisor: submitted)
4. In National grassroots ICT research initiative (2015-16) for a project title Environmental Management in
the Broiler House,anoptimizedsolution, worth 0.0624 million PKR (FYP supervisor: submitted)

MS Thesis Supervision
1. Optimal PMU Placement in Smart Grid for Line Outage Detection, Azhar Iqbal (Completed)
2. Flexible Reference Model for LTE/UMTS Turbo Codes, Sidra Iqbal (Completed)
3. Hardware Accelerator of Estimation of Distribution Algorithm based Multiple Line Outage Detection Tool
in Smart Grid, Nouman Irshad (Completed)
4. An Evolutionary Approach towards Efficient Mode Selection in Multimode Image compression, Farzana
Kausar (External supervision)
5. Real time fast motion tracking with multiple cameras using NVIDIA Jetson TK1, Shahid Nouman
Siddiqui (Completed: External supervision)

BS FYP Supervision
1. Highly parallel GPU based motion tracking algorithm, Kaynat Rana, Waqar Ahmad (Completed)
2. Environmental management in the broiler house, an optimized solution, Asim Niaz, Inam Elahi
(Completed)
3. Railway monitoring system, Muhammad Talha, Warda Malik (In Progress)
4. Remotely operated generators wireless kit, Ammar Ahmad, Muhammad Zeeshan, Haseeb Faisal (In
Progress)

Professional Membership and Awards

Received an honorarium of PKR 25000 for devoted job performance in year 2015-16 from COMSATS
Institute of Information Technology Wah Campus

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 Won research award from COMSATS Institute of IT for academic year 2015-16
IEEE young professional member
Counselor IEEE student branch at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Wah Campus
Internal auditor ISO 9001:2008 standard at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Wah Campus
Won research award from COMSATS Institute of IT for academic year 2014-15
5 years fully funded HEC scholarship for MS leading to PhD for Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) COMP/7566
Convener PEC (Pakistan Engineering Council) team for Dept. of Electrical Engineering at COMSATS
Institute of Information Technology Wah Campus
HEC approved PhD supervisor

Professional Activities
Reviewer at IEEE Transaction of VLSI (TVLSI)
Reviewer at Journal of Circuits, Systems and Computer
Reviewer at International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology
Reviewer at Elsevier Journal of Digital Signal Processor
Reviewer at International Conference on Advances in Satellite and Space Communications (SpaComm)
Reviewer at Design And Test in Europe (DATE) conference
Reviewer at Frontier of Information Technology (FIT) conference
Reviewer at Elsevier Journal of Applied Soft Computing
Research committee member for a PhD student at department of Electrical Engineering UET Taxila
Member IEEE Software Define Networking (SDN) community
Member IEEE Big Data community
Member IEEE Green ICT community
Member IEEE Internet of Things community
Member IEEE Smart Cities community
Member IEEE Smart Grid community
Member IEEE Software Defined Networks community

Teaching Activities (courses)

MS Level
Optimization Techniques
Biological inspired computing Evolutionary Optimization Algorithms
ASICs and FPGA design
BS Level
Microprocessor Systems and Interfacing
Electronics AC and DC analysis
Digital System Design
Probability Methods for Engineers

Skills
Programming: C/C++, Visual Studios, Eclipse IDE, Netbeans
Tools: Synopsys Design Vision, Mentor graphics, Matlab, XILINX foundation series, Latex, Lyx, Visio
Hardware: VHDL, Verilog HDL, FPGA Implementation, ASICs, 8051/89C51 microcontroller

Languages
English, English and Punjabi (Fluent in spoken, reading, writing and listening)

Participation
Held a workshop on High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) at COMSATS Institute of IT, Wah campus,
Pakistan in April 2015
Presented paper on line outage detection in PGSRET 2015 conference
Attended FIT (2014, 2015) conference, held in Islamabad, Pakistan
Attended SpaComm 2013 conference at Venice, Italy
Attended DSD 2013 conference at Santender, Spain
Remained President OPS (Organization of Pakistani Students), consists of more than 400 students, at Politecnco
di Torino for one year (2012)
Attended STDay 2011 (Streaming Day) held at Politecnico di Torino Italy. A paper on 16-point DCT for

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 H.265/HEVC was accepted and presented.
Attended workshop on FPGA based chip designing at Bahria University Islamabad Pakistan in March 2008
NESCON2007 (engineering problem solving) held in FAST-NU, Islamabad, representing Bahria University
Islamabad, Pakistan
SOFTEC2007 (micro-controller interfacing) held in FAST-NU, Lahore to represent Bahria University
Islamabad, Pakistan

Major Engineering Courses of Interest

Biological Inspired Computing, Optimization Techniques, Probabilities and stochastic processes, Integrated
system architecture, Digital designing using Verilog/VHDL

References
Prof. Guido Masera (PhD supervisor)
Confirmed associate professor
Dept. of Electronics & Telecommunications,
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
guido.masera@polito.it
Prof. Maurizio Martina (PhD co-supervisor)
Associate professor
Dept. of Electronics & Telecommunications,
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
maurizio.martina@polito.it

Salman Azam (BS final project supervisor)

Regional director, Middle east & Africa, LCC
salman_azam@lcc.com

Dr. Muhammad Naeem (Research colleague)

Assistant Professor
COMSATS Institute of IT, Wah campus, Pakistan
muhammadnaeem@gmail.com