Sayed Saad Afzal

Sayed Saad Afzal is a PhD candidate whose research interests lie in developing novel low-cost and low-power distributed sensor technologies and systems for climate monitoring, environmental sustainability, and food security. Specifically, Sayed is working on ocean sensor technologies to monitor vital signs such as biodiversity and carbon balance. With the support of a MathWorks Fellowship, he will advance his successful work on an underwater sensor utilizing backscatter, a technique that enables communication with 1 million times less power than existing systems. He recently used this technology to build one of the world’s first battery-free underwater cameras, enabling long-duration monitoring in remote ocean locations. MathWorks tools such as MATLAB’s DSP System Toolbox and Signal Processing Toolbox are crucial tools in his research. Sayed has already made notable technological contributions with implications for climate monitoring, food security, and ecology. His future work has tremendous potential to advance sensor technologies, supporting innovative research and a sustainable future.