Umer Irfan

Umer Irfan

Applied ML Systems Researcher | Full-Stack & Embedded Engineer

Based in: Lahore, PakistanMost recently: Research Assistant, SYSNET LabExperience: 1 year

Hire me

Researcher and engineer specializing in hardware-software co-design, Edge AI, and secure systems. Proven track record in developing high-efficiency neural compression (PixelPacker), custom CPU architectures (RIZZ-8), and secure firmware. Experienced in full-stack development and academic research with multiple publications in IEEE and PerCom.

Experience

Research Assistant

SYSNET Labwork

Summary

Researching nRF52 wristbands and thermal codecs for edge systems.

Results

  • Developed thermal codec for low-power wristbands.
  • Researched nRF52 wristband integration for edge systems.

Teaching Assistant (5x)

LUMSpart time

Summary

Teaching Assistant for 5 courses including Operating Systems, AI on the Edge, and Digital Health.

What I did

  • Designed Digital Health course curriculum.
  • Led labs for Operating Systems and AI on Edge.

Research Assistant

work
Research on pacemaker security and FPGA datapaths.

Skills

Technical

JavaScriptJavaScript
TypeScriptTypeScript
PythonPython
ESP32
REST
WebSockets
PostgreSQLPostgreSQL
ReactReact
React NativeReact Native
Node.jsNode.js
Whisper
WebRTC VAD
FirebaseFirebase
Docker ComposeDocker Compose
GitHub ActionsGitHub Actions
MQTT
INT8 Quantization
ExpressExpress
MySQLMySQL
RedisRedis
C++C++
EC2
BLE
Next.jsNext.js
OTA Updates
PyTorchPyTorch
CC
Model Distillation
NGINXNGINX
Retrieval
TVM
Java
Qwen 3.5 2B
GLINER
GRPO

Projects

KeySiphon

personal
Research into RSA side-channel firmware attacks and mitigation.
CybersecurityFirmware
View the code

Wellness Lamp

Developerpersonal
Built a React Native control app for lighting themes, sound, BLE control and mood-based palettes. Synchronized ESP32 nodes so one app controlled multiple lamps.
React NativeESP32BLE
View the code

Fintelligent

Developerprofessional
Built a responsive public site in Next.js, React and TypeScript so prospective clients could find financing services and contact the firm.
Next.jsReactTypeScript

Makers Lab Dashboard

Developerpersonal
Built a React, Express and PostgreSQL dashboard that brought equipment, staff, tasks and activity into one lab workspace. Added role-based sessions and Docker Compose packaging.
ReactExpressPostgreSQLDocker Compose
View the code

Violet Peer Tutoring

Developerpersonal
Built Android/Firebase scheduling screens and prototyped an AI study assistant and generated flashcards to support students between tutoring sessions.
AndroidFirebaseAI

Redis Cache

Developerpersonal
Added Redis caching to a PostgreSQL-backed TypeScript service. Measured sub-10 ms cached reads for faster repeated user queries in a local experiment.
RedisPostgreSQLTypeScript
View the code

Cardy

personal
Hardware-software co-design platform for system modeling.

PITM Firmware Research

personal
Research on firmware-level man-in-the-middle attacks.

Kernel Driver

academic
View the code

PixelPacker

Developerpersonal
Background-Aware Neural Image Compression for Wildlife Edge Systems.
SystemVerilogArtix-7INT8CNN

RIZZ-8

personal
Handmade 8-bit CPU architecture built from the ground up.
Hardware Design
View the code

Atari Breakout

academic
View the code

Buggy-V

academic
View the code

IMD Security

academic
View the code

JPEG Codec

academic
View the code

Smart Gloves

academic
View the code

Media

Education

BSc Computer Science

Lahore University of Management SciencesComputer Science (Minor: Computer Engineering)GPA 3.71 / 4Sep 2023 – Jul 2027

Coursework

Minor in Computer Engineering

Recognition

Awards

1st Place, Pakistan Semiconductor Summit Hackathon 2026

Pakistan Semiconductor Summit Hackathon 20262026

RISC-V RTL verification.

Best in Category

Teknofest2020

Gaziantep, Turkey.

Best Project

Intel ISEF Pakistan2019

Team Pakistan, Young Physicists Tournament

Young Physicists Tournament2018

Represented Pakistan in Beijing (2018).

Dean's Honour List

LUMS

Three semesters.

Patents & publications

PARDA | Audio Privacy for Smart Glasses

publication2027

SEAL-style redaction for audio privacy on smart glasses. Distilled a 2B model using 717 conversations. Reduced privacy leakage from 0.502 to 0.378 while increasing utility.

Read it

Kissan-Dost | Urdu Conversational Agriculture

publication2026

Urdu conversational AI interface for farmers over WhatsApp. Built a multi-hop ESP-NOW sensing mesh and ESP32 gateway. Two 45-day deployments informed irrigation decisions.

Read it

LLM-Enhanced Wearables | Health Guidance

publication2026

Developed a $12.72 screenless wearable and plain-language WhatsApp feedback. In a 20-person, 96-hour study, mean self-rated comprehension rose from 3.05 to 3.60 out of 5.

Read it

WatchTower | Network Anomaly Detection

research paper2025

Transformer detector with 28 packet features and PROSER open-set recognition. Optimized INT8 inference with TVM on Raspberry Pi 5.

Read it

PixelPacker: Background-Aware Neural Image Compression for Wildlife Edge Systems

research paper

What drives the work

Motivations

  • Building the intersection of hardware security and Edge AI
  • Designing high-performance embedded systems for resource-constrained environments
  • Advancing firmware security and computer architecture research
Hire UmerReach out about a role, a contract or a conversation.For recruiters

Umer's twin is AI, it can make mistakes.

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