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Rendezvous |
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I am Khurram Maluk Qureshi, a Pakistani by origin and
an Engineer by profession. I have been living in the
states for 12 years, in Virginia.
I was born in Multan, the city of saints, and
grew up in Lahore, Punjab. I come from a very traditional
Pakistani family. My father is from an agriculturist
family in a town called Vehari and mother from Multan.
My father Mian Taj-ul-Maluk Qureshi (late) was a senior
beauraucrat with the Pakistan government. I have three
sisters, two of them are older than me and married,
and the youngest is completing her fellowship in medicine.
I completed my high school from a renowned institution,
Aitchison College in Lahore, Pakistan. Soon after my
high school in 1997, I drifted away to the United States
to pursue my degree in Systems Engineering in Networks
and Telecommunications at George Mason University in
Fairfax, Virginia. I continued with my education by
doing Masters in Systems Engineering in Advanced Transportation
Systems and received Phi Beta Delta International Scholar
award. At the same time, I was offered a fellowship
to work on projects funded by “Lockheed Martin
Corporation” and “National Aeronautics and
Airspace Corporation (NASA)”. The NASA work was
lead my Dr. George L. Donohue, who held several key
positions such as Associate Administrator for the Federal
Aviation Administration and was amongst “50 who
is who” in Washington D.C. Under his mentorship,
I developed my interest in Aviation and Air Traffic
Control Systems and decided to pursue my career in this
arena.
During my fellowship, I also worked with “The
Preston Aviation Solutions, a subsidiary of BOEING”
and learned highly complex and state of the art Airspace
and Airport modeling and simulation tools and techniques.
Recently, I have completed my certificate in International
Business Management from Georgetown University in Washington
D.C.
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ADS-B display
At the Oshkosh Air Show
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Currently, I am working as an Aviation Systems Engineer,
as a consultant to the Federal Aviation Administration
in Washington D.C. I am supporting the Automatic Dependent
and Surveillance Broadcast also known as ADS-B program.
I am involved with various engineering and business
development efforts related to the ADS-B technology
which includes domestic and international. It includes
interfacing this technology with the current FAA’s
National Airspace System (NAS) and equipping all the
aircrafts, domestic and international, with the right
avionics that would provide the pilots with the benefits
from this technology.
During my 8 years career, I have worked on several
advanced and complex airport and air traffic control
technologies namely Airport Surface Detection Equipment
Model X (ASDE-X), Advanced Electronic Flight Strip System
(AEFS), Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS)
and Automatic Dependent Surveillance and Broadcast Services
(ADS-B).
As for the changes in aviation and surveillance, the
ADS-B technology “is like a Navigation screen
in your car, but with real-time aircraft and weather
information”. With ADS-B, both pilots and controllers
will see radar-like displays with highly accurate traffic
data from satellites – displays that update in
real time. The system will also give pilots access to
weather services, terrain maps and flight information
services. The improved situational awareness will mean
that pilots will be able to fly at safe distances from
one another with less assistance from air traffic controllers.
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ADS-B was first conceived in the early 1990s by the FAA
and a variety of government agencies and businesses that
build and/or rely heavily on airplanes, including NASA
and delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS)—relies
on the proactive communication between global positioning
system (GPS) satellites and transponders placed on board
aircraft to inform pilots, other aircraft and air traffic
controllers about an aircraft's location, identity, speed
and altitude. Whereas ADS-B is constantly collecting and
transmitting information, radar emits electromagnetic
waves at regular intervals, and measures the time it takes
for their reflection to return to determine the proximity
of objects to an aircraft.
ADS-B is expected to increase airline efficiency and help
the environment. In weekly experimental flights, UPS,
which helped develop ADS-B, has already seen the benefits.
At its World port hub in Louisville, Ky., the company
handles more than 100 flights, most during a four-hour
window.
With radar, pilots rely on air traffic controllers and
a see-and-avoid strategy that literally entails looking
out the window to avoid wandering in the way of—or
colliding with—other aircraft on the runways. With
ADS-B, pilots have a cockpit display, which looks like
a full-color, topographical map on a computer screen,
showing where they are, where everyone else is, and the
ever-changing weather around them.
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ADS-B is a global technology. The FAA is working actively
with key international players such as China, Australia,
Euro control and many more to assure that all countries
work towards the same goal.
The idea for ADS-B is to be used in commercial aircrafts.
However, it has a potential to be used on the defense
side. We are actively working with various agencies including
Department of Home Land Security and the Department of
Defense.
It’s an honor, I will be able to tell my kids
that I was part of this evolutionary technology that
changed the way the airlines and air traffic control
operates today. We are making history, and it feels
great to see that my family and friends are proud of
me.
Absolutely! During my eight years in this industry,
I have met Pakistanis in least numbers who are working
in this environment. I would highly encourage that our
Pakistanis should get involved in such high technological
fields which are highly challenging and fast paced but
rewarding.
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Considering my work schedule, I maintain a good work/life
balance. I was an excellent gymnast while at Aitchison
College. Since my early school years, I was into playing
sports such as, horse back riding, gymnastics, swimming,
polo, soccer and field hockey. I have also played international
hockey while I was at Aitchison College. I was able
to keep up with my athletics by joining the soccer league
in Virginia. Actually, I will be playing the semifinal
this Sunday.
I also have a taste for good music. I learned music
and musical instrument from a famous music director
in Pakistan for almost eight years.
Key Accomplishments:
As a student, both undergraduate and graduate, I
was consistently on the University Dean’s List.
During my college, I have received several recognitions
and awards including Asian Pacific Highlander award
for excellence in academics.
I also authored and co-authored several papers in
aviation, out of which one was co-authored with Dr.
George Donohue and got published in 5th FAA/Euro Control
Air Traffic Management conference in Budapest, Hungary.
Beside my educational experience at the university,
I was actively involved in the student government
and university politics. It was an honor to be elected
as a Student Senator for consecutive 5 terms at the
university.
The biggest accomplishment is a recent one when I
received an “Outstanding Performance Recognition”
award by the Federal Aviation Administration. This
award was for my contributions to the Automatic Dependent
Surveillance and Broadcast Services declaration of
In-Service decision. To me, this is like the hall
of fame awards of Hollywood!
First, I would like to thank The Saturday Post for providing
me with this opportunity to be part of the TSP family.
As for the readers, KEEP READING the TSP, and fly with
ADS-B!
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