Zainab Syed, P.Eng., PhD
If you have relied on your vehicle’s built-in navigation system to keep from getting lost, you may want to thank Zainab Syed.
A professional engineer specializing in geomatics, she helped design the groundbreaking navigation software now found in thousands of new automobiles hitting the road in Canada and around the globe. Using sensors, the software tracks vehicles in places where satellite signals are blocked, like underground parking garages or deep inside mountain tunnels.
“Almost everybody has a car navigation system. We provide navigation solutions to companies that make those systems, which they then sell to the car companies,” explains Dr. Syed, senior director at Calgary-based Trusted Positioning Inc. The company is part of TDK, a world-leading electronic components and devices manufacturer.
“If you’ve purchased a new car in the past four years, there’s a chance you are using our technology,” she says.
Trusted Positioning’s technology also enables emergency services in Canada and the U.S. to navigate and continuously track ambulances, police cars, and firetrucks. More recently, it’s equipping local governments in Asia with the data needed to ensure millions of e-bike and e-scooter users return their rides to designated parking spots, lined up in a row with the handlebars all facing the same angle.
Finding Her Way
When she was a young girl growing up in Pakistan, though, Syed dreamed of becoming an artist so she could draw colourful rainbows and pretty flowers.
She had no idea what engineers did.
She certainly never imagined becoming one.
That all changed when she was in Grade 7 and her uncle returned home from studies abroad with a PhD in engineering.
“The way people were treating him—I was really moved. Everybody was celebrating this big milestone he had achieved. I knew that engineering was something important, and I wanted to have that. It was a big deal, and a defining moment for me,” she recalls.
“That was the turning point in my life. I started telling all my friends that when I grow up, I will get a PhD in engineering.”
Her biggest obstacle was embracing math and science.
For a young Zainab, algebra, algorithms, and acceleration formulas were not beautiful like art—not yet, anyway.
“When I started out, it was hard for me because math and physics did not come naturally to me. But I made it my mission in life to like it,” she laughs. “Then you work on it so much, you start to love it. Not just like it—I love it!”
From Point A to Point B
With the determination to succeed woven into her character, Syed moved to Alberta at age 17 and enrolled in engineering at the University of Calgary (U of C) soon after. Her initial plan of becoming a civil engineer changed when she heard a presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, P.Eng., a pioneer in the emerging field of geomatics engineering.
“This presentation literally changed my life. She was talking about satellite navigation, how we can pinpoint where we are based just using satellites, and all the exciting new opportunities in geomatics. That was very intriguing for me,” says Syed.
“We all know how important it is to go from point A to point B. How cool is it that I could be the one showing people the way?”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in geomatics, Syed completed a master’s in electrical and computer engineering, then a PhD in navigation—just like she had planned back in Grade 7.
Along the way, she co-founded Trusted Positioning with her geomatics professor and two fellow grad students. Through their research at the U of C, they developed and patented low-cost, high-precision software initially used for navigation in smartphones.
In 2014, their startup sold for more than C$40 million, eventually becoming part of TDK.
SATELLITES, SENSORS, SCIENCE — AND PUBLIC SAFETY
While our ancestors used the stars to navigate, today we use science, says Syed.
“My work involves two major items, and both are invisible yet present everywhere.”
The first is the satellite signals that surround us, beaming down from space. The second is the forces and rotation rates that everything on Earth experiences during motion.
“The wow factor comes from the fact that integrated navigation—with the help of sensors—measures these satellite signals, forces, and rotation rates, then uses math and physics to turn that information into something you can see as a blue dot on a map, and use it to find your way,” she explains.
Though her work (for now!) is confined to planet Earth, integrated navigation has no bounds. Things that were impossible just few years ago are now becoming preferred practices in tracking and navigation.
“We have already seen a successful Mars landing, not possible without integrated navigation. As the future is unfolding, we are seeing new opportunities for old methods and a need to develop new methods for the emerging navigation needs of society.”
This growing need drives her work forward as a professional engineer.
“It’s surreal that something we designed is helping millions of people around the world in their daily lives. That’s what I love about my job, and it motivates me to continue finding solutions and designing new products that will make our lives easier and better.”
As a professional member of APEGA—the association that regulates engineering and geoscience in Alberta—Syed knows that no matter what the future brings for geomatics engineering, public safety will be at the forefront of all innovations.
“Engineering is a vast area, and professionals understand the requirements for public safety in every single project and every step within the project,” she explains.
“By putting the responsibility back on the experts, the public can be certain that the work is safe and all ethical standards are met. It is a privilege that must be taken seriously by professionals, and this is what we ensure in every step of our design and development process.”