Hi :wave:, I'm Amir! I've worked across the software stack in Autonomous Vehicles and have 6+ years of experience. I use this website as a portfolio and blog to post technical articles.

Experience

In industry, I’ve worked on the sensors and SW platforms that drove 18-wheelers weighing 40,000 lbs at 65+ MPH autonomously. I’ve also worked in Academia researching autonomous vehicles, teleoperation, and LiDAR sensors.

Though I love working on challenging problems in Software, I also enjoy the chance to get my hands “dirty” building cutting edge compute systems, toying around with new sensors, using microcontrollers, 3D printing, and so forth.

Here’s some interest areas based on past experiences of mine:

Perception :eyes:

  • object detection and tracking via LIDAR, using both geometric and learning based methods
  • detection-track cost functions
  • track motion prediction, filtering
  • LiDAR pointcloud filtering, projection, voxelzation
  • state estimation, Kalman Filters, kinematic / dynamic modeling of vehicles

Sensors 🎥

  • sensor sriver architectures
  • IMU, GPS, wheel odometry and sensor fusion
  • fixed pattern scanning LiDARs, random-scan pattern LiDARs
  • stereo cameras, thermal Cameras

Control ⚙️

  • lateral control algorithms, (MPC, LQR, PurePursuit, etc)
  • longitudinal control algorithms, (PID, MPC, lookup tables)
  • dynamic modeling, offline/online model parameter estimation
  • linearization of non-linear dynamic models, look-up tables

Platform SW :computer:

Everything between the Hardware and Autonomy layer is crucial for reliable robotics! Hot take, but I think that we are often unaware of how small things in this layer can have big impacts upstream.

  • Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for Time Synchronization, GNSS disciplined oscillators, estimating time inaccuracies
  • sensor driver architectures, fault tolerance, diagnostics
  • multi-socket CPU architectures & IO flow optimizations
  • OS build systems, SW Provisioning, A/B update schemes

SW / Tools 🛠️

Software and Tools I like using:

  • python, C++
  • Docker, docker-compose
  • ROS
  • simulators – Gazebo, CARLA, MATLAB
  • data analysis – Jupyter Notebooks, numpy, pandas, scipy, sklearn
  • Linux, Ubuntu, bash scripts, command line tools, building custom tools
  • CI / CD, Jenkins

Publications:

  • Darwesh, A., Woods, G., & Saripalli, S. (2020). Systems Integration, Simulation, and Control for Autonomous Trucking. In 31st IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium. Full Paper Link

  • Darwesh, A., Wu, D., Le, M., & Saripalli, S. (2021, September). Building a smart work zone using roadside lidar. In 2021 IEEE International Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) (pp. 2602-2609). IEEE. Paper Link

  • Darwesh, A. A. (2021). LiDAR Based Object Detection and Tracking in Stationary Applications (Dissertation). Link

  • Wu, D., Darwesh, A., Le, M., & Saripalli, S. (2022). Simulation of Roadside LiDAR Applications: A Smart Work Zone Case Study (No. TRBAM-22-02381). Link

Photography :camera:

I’m not a photographer. But I have some cool photos, or at least I think they are :wink:!

The website :computer:

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