Rising senior examines embedded systems and real-time networking in transportation
Published August 4, 2025
Salman Umar, a rising senior studying computer engineering at the University at Buffalo, is currently working on a vehicle communication system within the university’s Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Transportation Research & Visualization Laboratory (TRAVL). He is advised by Dr. Kevin Hulme, senior staff member at the Institute of Sustainable Transportation and Logistics (ISTL).
“He is trying to build a microcontroller for our Mustang instrument panel so the driver can get on-board feedback about their driving,” said Hulme. “This feature will make our simulator look and feel (much) more like the real driving experience.”
Umar’s research also focuses on the in-vehicle controller area network (CAN) bus for TRAVL’s Mustang cabin that resides on a 360-degree simRING driving simulator.
“My project focuses on CAN traffic to understand how the cluster communicates with different aspects of the car. Using that, I would develop an embedded controller that replicates this and safely transports data from the simulator to the gauge cluster,” said Umar.
Umar has a long-term goal of contributing to the next generation of intelligent transportation technologies.
“I'm interested in embedded systems which are small, specialized computers (such as microcontrollers) that control electronic devices. These have applications that can vary widely such as cars, medical equipment, robots, etc.,” noted Umar. “Real-time networking programming involves implementing programs that adhere to strict time constraints, where communication has to be quick and predictable. Both areas are central to my work—the vehicle's network—where timing and reliability are critical.”
Umar’s research is helping to create more realistic driving environments for examinations into human behavior, vehicle safety and automative systems.
