Professor S. M. Ahmad

Education and Professional Experience

PhD, Modelling and Control of a Twin Rotor MIMO System (TRMS/Lab helicopter), Dept. of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK, May 2001.

Professional Membership: United Kingdom Engineering Council, Chartered Engineer- Member IMechE, UK

Work Experience:

• Dean, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, GIK Institute (Aug 2014 to Aug 2020)
• Professor (July 2017 to date)
• Associate Professor: GIK Institute, Topi,KP, Pakistan (Feb 2013 – June 2017)
• Control Systems Engineer: TRW, Birmingham, UK (2011 – 2012)
• Senior Engineer: AVL Powertrain Ltd/Ford Motors, Dunton, UK (2010 – 2011)
• Systems Engineer: Waukesha Magnetic Bearings, Worthing, UK (2006 – 2010)
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate: School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, UK (2003 – 2005)
• Post-Doctoral Research Fellow: Department of Mechanical and Marine Engineering, University of Plymouth, UK (2001 – 2003)

Research and Teaching Interests

• Unmanned air and underwater vehicles modelling and robust control.
• Finite Element Modelling and active control of flexible structures ie, active vibration attenuation.
• Rotor-dynamics analysis and finite element modelling of flexible structures.
• Modelling, Simulation and Control of Active Magnetic Bearing actuators.
• Application of Classical, Robust (Quantitative Feedback Theory-QFT), modern and optimal control theories to real world engineering problems.
• Non-linear control system analysis employing describing function method.
• System Identification (parametric and non-parametric) Estimation Theory/Kalman Filter.
• Digital signal processing.
• Hardware in the loop Simulation (HIL).

Active Magnetic Bearing: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W5W5vFy9ERzBYejTcfTfMrwkj_vIPBuA/view?usp=sharing

Autopilot design: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZZ2W45wQK7yZdafKXFOumIbOyOFnzCIX/view?usp=sharing

• Teaching Interests:
  1. ME 464 Systems Dynamics and Control
  2. ME 464 Mechanical Vibrations 
  3. ME 567 System Dynamics and Applied Control
  4. ME 494 Flight dynamics and Control
  5. ME 568 Elements of Vibration and Feedback Control

Journal papers: (* outgrowth of supervised student research)

[27] *Muhammad Abdul Ahad and Sarvat M. Ahmad (2021). Investigation of a 2-DOF active magnetic bearing actuator for unmanned underwater vehicle thruster application, Actuators,  Vol 10, Issue 4:79, IF:1.957 (doi 10.3390/act10040079)

[26]* Muhammad Abdul Ahad, Nadeem Iqbal, Sarvat M Ahmad and Masroor Khan (2021). Detailed modelling and LQG/LTR control of a 2-DOF radial active magnetic bearing for rigid rotor, Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 43:234. IF:1.755 

[25] Bilawal Ramzan, Muhammad Sohail Malik Milena Martarelli, Hafiz T.Ali, Mohammad Yusuf and S.M.Ahmad (2021). Pixel frequency based railroad surface flaw detection using active infrared thermography for Structural Health Monitoring, Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, Volume 27, October 2021, 101234, IF:4.72, 

[24] A. S. Saleem, T. A. Cheema, R. Ullah, S. M. Ahmad, J. A. Chattha, B. Akbar and C. W. Park (2020). Parametric study of single-stage gravitational water vortex turbine with cylindrical basin. Energy (IF: 5.537), Volume 200, 117464, (doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.117464).  (Cross-disciplinary collaborative work)

[23] R. Ullah, T. A. Cheema, A. S. Saleem, S. M. Ahmad, J. A. Chattha and C. W. Park (2020). Preliminary experimental study on multi-stage Gravitational Water Vortex turbine in a conical basin. Renewable Energy (IF: 5.439), Volume 145, 2516-2529, 2020 (doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.07.128).   (Cross-disciplinary collaborative work)

[22] R. Ullah, T. A. Cheema, A. S. Saleem, S. M. Ahmad, J. A. Chattha and C. W. Park (2019). Performance analysis of multi-stage gravitational water vortex turbine. Energy Conversion and Management (IF: 7.181), Volume 198, 111788, 1-14, 2019 (DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2019.111788).  (Cross-disciplinary collaborative work)

[21] Kazi Sher Ahmed, S M Ahmad (2019). VibronRotor, an opensource rotordynamic code: Development and benchmarking, Measurement  Vol.131,pp 546-558. IF:2.25

[20] Adnan Jafar, Aamer Iqbal Bhatti, S M Ahmad and Nisar Ahmed (2019).H-Inf Optimization based robust decoupling control algorithm in LPV systems using Hadamard weighting. Transaction of the Institute of Measurement and Control, Vol 41, Issue 7 pp 1833-1848 , IF:1.57

[19] S M Ahmad, S M Siddique, M S Yousaf, M Tariq, M I Khan and M A Alam (2018). Computational and experimental investigation of fluidic thrust vectoring actuator. Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 40:315. IF:1.63 

[18] Y. M. Khan, S. M. Ahmad, A. Mohsin and M. Khan (2018). Flight Dynamics and Parametric Modelling of a 2-DOF Lab Aircraft. IMechE, Journal of Aerospace Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954410018789313. IF:1.04

[17] Adnan Jafar, Aamer Iqbal Bhatti, S M Ahmad and Nisar Ahmed (2018).  Robust gain scheduled LPV control algorithm for lab Helicopter: An LMI based approach,  Proc. IMechE Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, doi:10.1177/0959651818759861; IF:0.988

[16] S. U. Ansari, M. Hussain, A. Rashid, S. Mazhar, S. M. Ahmad (2018). Numerical Solution and Analysis of Three-Dimensional Transient Darcy Flow, Transport in Porous Media, 123:289–305. IF: 2.211

[15] S. U. Ansari, M. Hussain, A. Rashid, S. Mazhar, S. M. Ahmad and K. J. Siddiqui (2018) Validating Numerical Solution of Transient Darcy Flow using Stabilized Mixed Finite Element Method, Simulation: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation International. pp. 55-65, 94(1). IF:0.94

 [14]* M R Siddiqui, S M Ahmad and U Asghar (2017). Stabilizing control of a 1-DOF electromagnetic levitation of a pivoted-free rigid ferromagnetic beam, Measurement, Vol. 106, pp 35-45. IF:2.255

[13]* Shahab U. Ansar, Masroor Hussain, S.M. Ahmad, Ahmar Rashid and Suleman Mazhar (2017). Stabilized Mixed Galerkin Method for Transient Darcy Flow, Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 41, No. 1. IF=0.333

[12]  M.J. Maghsoudi, Z. Mohamed, S. Sudin, S. Buyamin, H.I. Jaafar and S.M. Ahmad (2017). An improved input shaping design for an efficient sway control of a nonlinear 3D overhead crane with friction, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Vol 92, 364-378. IF= 2.771

[11] S M Ahmad (2015). Linear and nonlinear system identification techniques for modelling of a remotely operated underwater vehicle, International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, Vol. 24, No 1, pp 75-87.

[10] S M Ahmad, O A Ahmed and Z Mohamed (2015). Vibration induced failure analysis of a high speed rotor supported by active magnetic bearings, Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, Vol 39, No 4, pp 1-12. IF: 0.33

[9] S M Ahmad (2013). “Flight dynamics, parametric modelling and real-time control of a 1-DOF Tailplane” Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, Vol 19, No 3, pp 220-237. IF:0.586

[8] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2004). “Dynamic modelling and open loop control of a 2 DOF Twin Rotor Multi-Input Multi-Output System,” Proc. IMechE Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, Vol. 218, pp. 451–463. IF:0.988

[7] W. Naeem, R. Sutton, S. M. Ahmad (2004). “Pure pursuit guidance and model predictive control of an autonomous underwater vehicle for cable/pipeline tracking,” Proc. IMarEST Part C No. C.1: Journal of Marine Science and Environment, pp. 25-35. Received prestigious Denny Medal for the best paper, awarded by The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology

[6] S. M. Ahmad, R. Sutton and R. S. Burns (2003). “Retrieval of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: an interception approach,” Journal of the Society for Underwater Technology, Volume 25, No. 4, pp. 185-197. doi.org/10.3723/175605403783101676

[5]* W. Naeem, R. Sutton, S. M. Ahmad, and R. S. Burns (2003). “A review of guidance laws applicable to unmanned underwater vehicles,” The Journal of Navigation, 56, pp. 15-29. IF: 1.58

[4] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2003) “Dynamic modelling and linear quadratic Gaussian control of a twin-rotor multi-input multi-output system,” Proc. IMechE Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, Vol. 217, pp. 203–227. IF:0.988

[3] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2002). “Dynamic modelling and open loop control of a twin rotor MIMO system,” Proc. IMechE Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering. , Vol. 216, pp. 477–496. IF:0.988

[2] S. M. Ahmad, M. H. Shaheed, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2002). “Nonlinear modelling of a 1 DOF TRMS using radial basis function networks,” Proc. IMechE Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Vol. 216, pp. 197–208. IF:1.04

[1] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2001). “Parametric modelling and dynamic characterisation of a 2-DOF Twin Rotor MIMO System,” Proc. IMechE, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Vol. 215, pp. 63–78. IF:1.04

Refereed Conference papers: (* outgrowth of supervised student research)

[24]* Ahsan Tanveer and Sarvat M Ahmad (2021). Heave Modeling and Control of a Micro-ROV, International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 26-27 October, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 10.1109/ICRAI54018.2021.9651465

[23]* Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah, Masroor Khan and Sarvat M Ahmad (2021). Design, Development and Fabrication of a Low Cost Remotely Operated Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, IEEE, International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 26-27 October, Rawalpindi, Pakistan (accepted). 10.1109/ICRAI54018.2021.9651355

[22] Bilawal Ramzan, Muhammad Sohail Malik, S.M.Ahmad and Milena Martarelli (2021). Railroads surface crack detection using Active Thermography, IBCAST 2021, 10.1109/IBCAST51254.2021.9393210.

[21]*Usama Hussain, Saif U. Malook, Burhan Shabir, Ozaif Ali and Sarvat M Ahmad (2017). Effect of trailing edge serration on the lift and drag characteristics of NACA0012 airfoil wing, 35^th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, AIAA Aviation Forum, (AIAA 2017-4470), 5-9^th June, Denver, Colorado, USA. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2017-4470 

[20]* Hashim Ali Khan, S M Ahmad and Nisar Ahmad (2017). 1-DoF modelling and control of multi-rotor system, The 5^th International conference on Aerospace Science & Engineering (ICASE-2017), 14-16^th IST, Islamabad. pp 234-240. ISBN 978-1-5386-3601-5.

[19]* A Rehman, K S Ahmed, F A Umrani, B Munir, A Mehboob, S M Ahmad and Z Kazmi (2015). Finite element modelling of a generic rotor-bearing system and experimental validation, Proceeding of the ASME 2015 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, DSCC 2015, October 28-30, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

[18]* M A Ahad and S M Ahmad (2016). Study of non-contact power transmission mechanism for unmanned underwater vehicle applications, International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences and Technology ‘IBCAST’, Islamabad, January 2016.

[17] * M A Ahad, S M Ahmad and M Shakeel (2015). CFD analysis of propeller for magnetically coupled thruster of unmanned underwater vehicle applications, Symposium on Advances in Mechanical Engineering ‘SAME’, PIEAS Islamabad, October 2015.

[16]* M. R. Siddiqui, I. Ahmad, M. Khan and S.M. Ahmad (2015). Experimental analysis of electromagnetic vibration damping of a cantilever beam, 15^th International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems, 13-16 Oct, Busan, Korea.

[15] S M Ahmad (2013). Fluidic thrust vector actuator modelling and control, 3^rd International Conference on Aerospace Science and Engineering, 21-23 August, Islamabad, Pakistan, (Keynote Speaker).

[14] T Larkowski, S M Ahmad and K J Burnham (2012). “Modelling, identification and control of a stirred tank reactor-preliminary study” In Proc. 22^nd International Conference on Systems Engineering, 11-13 Sept, Coventry, UK

[13] S M Ahmad (2007) “Aerodynamic Modelling and Real-time Control of a 1-DOF Tailplane” IBCAST 2007, International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences and Technology, 8-11 Jan. 2007 pp:123 – 130. IEEE Co-Sponsored.

[12]* F. M. Aldebrez, Z. Mohamed, M. O. Tokhi and S.M. Ahmad (2003) “Vibration control of pitch movement using command shaping techniques” Proc. Of EFTA 2003: 9^th IEEE International Conference on emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, Lisbon, Portugal, pp 447-452.

[11] Naeem, W., R. Sutton and S. M. Ahmad (2003). “Pure pursuit guidance and model predictive control of an autonomous underwater vehicle for cable/pipeline tracking” World Maritime Technology Conference, October 17-20, San Francisco, California, USA (invited paper).

[10]* C. S. Tan, S. M. Ahmad and R. Sutton (2003). “Autonomous underwater vehicle retrieval manoeuvre using artificial intelligent strategies”, Proc. 1^st IFAC Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles, GCUV’03, Newport, UK, 9-11 April, pp 143-148.

[9]* W. Naeem, R. Sutton and S. M. Ahmad (2003). “LQG/LTR control of an Autnomous Underwater Vehicle using a hybrid guidance law”, Proc. 1^st IFAC Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles, GCUV’03, Newport, UK, 9-11 April, pp 35-40.

[8] S. M. Ahmad and R. Sutton (2003). “Dynamic modelling of a Remotely Operated   Vehicle”, Proc. 1^st IFAC Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles, GCUV’03, Newport, UK, 9-11 April, pp 47-52.

[7] M. I. Khan, B. S. Choo and S. M. Ahmad (2002). “Application of neural networks for concrete durability”, In Proc. of the 9^th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Taipei, Taiwan, 3-5 April, pp. 73-78.

[6] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2000). “Dynamic modelling and control of a 2 DOF Twin Rotor Multi-Input Multi-Output System”, Proc. IEEE Industrial Electronics, Control and Instrumentation Conference (IECON’2000), Nagoya, Japan, 22-28 Oct., pp. 1451-1456.

[5] S. M. Ahmad, M. H. Shaheed, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2000). “Nonlinear Modelling of a Twin Rotor MIMO System using Radial Basis Function Networks”, Proc. IEEE National Aerospace and Electronics Conference (NAECON’2000), Dayton, Ohio, USA, 10-12 Oct., pp. 313-320.

[4] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2000). “Dynamic modelling and optimal control of a Twin Rotor MIMO System”, Proc. IEEE National Aerospace and Electronics Conference (NAECON’2000), Dayton, Ohio, USA, 10-12 Oct., pp. 391-398.

[3] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2000). “Dynamic modelling of a two degree-of-freedom Twin Rotor Multi-Input Multi-output System”, Proc. IEE United Kingdom Automatic Control Conference (UKACC 2000), Cambridge, UK.

[2] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield and M. O. Tokhi (2000). “Modelling and control of a Twin Rotor Multi-Input Multi-output System”, Proc. American Control Conference, Chicago, IL, USA, pp. 1720-1724.

[1] S. M. Ahmad, A. J. Chipperfield, and M. O. Tokhi (1999). “System identification of a one degree-of-freedom Twin Rotor Multi-Input Multi-Output System”, In International Conference on Computer and Information Technology. SUST, Sylhet, Bangladesh, 3-5 Dec., pp. 94-98.

Awards Medal and Achievements

• Awarded the prestigious Denny Medal by The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology for the paper entitled “Pure pursuit guidance and model predictive control of an autonomous underwater vehicle for cable/pipeline tracking” published in the Journal of Marine Science and Environment in 2004. Main author of this paper.
• Main author of invited paper presented in the World Maritime Technology Conference, October 17-20, 2003, San Francisco, California, USA.
• Received 1^st prize for the Postdoctoral Conference Session Organisation, Research Open Day 21^st May 2003, at the School of Engineering, University of Manchester.
• Awarded International Student Scholarship by the University of Sheffield to pursue PhD in the Dept. of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering.

Professional Activities

• Reviewer for:
  • Measurment, Journal of the International Measurement Confederation
  • Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control
  • IMechE, Part G, Journal of Aerospace engineering
  • Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers
  • Journal of Vibration and Control
• Member of IPC, 1^st IFAC Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles. GCUV’03, 9-11 April, Newport, South Wales, UK.