Ali Asgar Husaini Lokhandwala

Embedded Software Engineer working across secure systems, cybersecurity and autonomous technology.

I build and optimise systems across software, networking, embedded firmware, electronics and physical hardware.

Currently at ANGOKA in Belfast; previously BT Group and the BT Ireland Innovation Centre.

View my work Contact

About

I'm an engineer who likes understanding systems below the surface. That curiosity has taken me from building electronics and software independently, through production engineering at BT Group and applied cybersecurity research at the BT Ireland Innovation Centre (BTIIC), to embedded and secure systems development at ANGOKA.

My work increasingly sits where software meets the physical world: operating systems, networking, firmware, electronics, cybersecurity and autonomous systems. I particularly enjoy problems where the obvious symptom is not the real cause and solving them requires moving across multiple engineering layers.

Away from work, I cycle, travel and tinker with hardware.

Working across

  • Embedded software & firmware
  • Operating systems & performance
  • Networking & secure communications
  • Cybersecurity
  • Electronics & hardware integration
  • Autonomous systems
  • Applied research & production software

Experience

  1. Jul 2026 — Present Belfast, UK

    Embedded Software Engineer

    ANGOKA (opens in a new tab)

    • Independently traced a major performance bottleneck in ANGOKA's patented core software stack to a shared operating-system abstraction layer and implemented the corrective mechanism, reducing CPU utilisation from 25.9% to 3.7% in like-for-like testing.
    • Developed the operator-facing Ground Control System and custom physical-controller subsystem for a secure drone command-and-control prototype, spanning software, firmware, controller electronics, enclosure design and system integration.
    • Work across embedded systems, secure communications, networking, performance engineering and autonomous platforms.
  2. Sep 2025 — Jul 2026 Belfast, UK

    Visiting Researcher

    BT Ireland Innovation Centre · Ulster University

    • Designed and implemented behavioural device-fingerprinting and adaptive network-security research capable of re-identifying devices despite MAC-address randomisation.
    • Developed work across cybersecurity, networking, blockchain-enabled identity and privacy-preserving authentication.
    • Demonstrated research to senior BT leadership, including BT Group CEO Allison Kirkby, and to industry and research partners.
  3. Sep 2024 — Aug 2025

    Industrial Placement — SRE / Software Engineering

    BT Group

    • Built production engineering and automation tools across reliability, QA and internal platforms.
    • Developed a custom Robot Framework reporting solution approximately 6× faster than the previous Allure-based workflow and adopted by the team.
    • Built the frontend for Guardian, an AIOps/revenue-protection platform, alongside dashboards and operational tooling used within BT.
    • Developed a blockchain-enabled digital identity prototype selected for demonstration at BT's London innovation showcase.
  4. Oct 2021 — Nov 2022

    Software Engineering Intern

    Visionary Services

    • Delivered full-stack systems, APIs, e-commerce and inventory platforms.
    • Built cloud infrastructure supporting an event with 15,000+ concurrent users.

Selected work

Embedded / Autonomous Systems ANGOKA

Secure Drone Command & Control

Developed the operator-facing Ground Control System and custom physical controller for a secure drone command-and-control prototype, integrating flight control, telemetry, live video, mapping, gimbal control, firmware, electronics and physical hardware.

  • Ground control software
  • Embedded firmware
  • Controller electronics
  • Enclosure design
  • System integration
Systems / Performance ANGOKA

Core Software Performance Engineering

Investigated a performance bottleneck in a shared low-level software layer, traced the root cause through OS and scheduler behaviour, and implemented a fix that reduced measured CPU utilisation from 25.9% to 3.7% under equivalent workload.

CPU utilisation 25.9% → 3.7%

  • Linux
  • POSIX
  • C/C++
  • Profiling
  • Operating systems
Cybersecurity / Research BT Ireland Innovation Centre

Behavioural Device Fingerprinting

A network-security prototype designed to maintain device identity despite MAC-address randomisation. It combines evidence across network layers and behavioural characteristics, supports confidence-based identification and can preserve security policy when a device reconnects under a different private address.

  • Wi-Fi / 802.11
  • Networking
  • Device profiling
  • Behavioural fingerprinting
Blockchain / Digital Identity Prototype

SeatLease — Privacy-Preserving Digital Identity

A prototype exploring how subscription services can enforce simultaneous-use limits without unnecessarily identifying the user. SeatLease uses anonymous cryptographic 'seats' as the unit of entitlement rather than directly making personal identity the unit of enforcement. The contribution is in the system design, built on established cryptographic and distributed-ledger techniques.

  • Digital identity
  • Distributed ledgers
  • Verifiable credentials
  • Privacy
University / Embedded Systems Final-year project

Distributed Edge Computing

My final-year engineering project explored decentralised discovery, resource sharing and computation across low-powered edge devices, allowing constrained devices to cooperate rather than depend entirely on centralised infrastructure.

Final-year project result: 87%

Developer Tooling / Automation BT Group

BT Test Reporting Platform

A lightweight reporting system built around Robot Framework outputs to generate self-contained interactive reports, including filtering, screenshots and structured diagnostic information. It replaced a slower Allure-based workflow within the team.

~6× faster than the Allure workflow

  • Robot Framework
  • Bash
  • Test automation

Earlier projects

  • IoT Challenge An ESP32-based system with a companion mobile app. First place among 10+ teams at the University of Huddersfield.
  • Independent electronics RF remote controls built with shift registers, and IoT sensor systems.

Education

University of Huddersfield

BEng (Hons) Computer Systems Engineering · IET-accredited

Sep 2022 — Jul 2026

A cross-disciplinary degree spanning electronics, embedded systems, software engineering and distributed computing.

  • Final-year project: Distributed Edge Computing with Low-Powered Devices (87%)
  • Industrial placement year at BT Group

First Class Honours

89.75% Final-year average

Recognition

  • 2026 · University of Huddersfield

    The IET Prize 2026

    Best Student on the Undergraduate Electronic Engineering Programme

    Official Institution of Engineering and Technology recognition.

    IET 2026 winners list (opens in a new tab)

  • November 2025 · The IET

    IET Future Talent Award — Boost Scholarship

    Supported by The RAF Charitable Trust.

  • 2026 · University of Huddersfield

    First Class Honours

    BEng (Hons) Computer Systems Engineering.

  • Chartered Management Institute

    CMI Level 5 Award in Leadership & Management

    Foundation Chartered Manager (fCMgr).

Leadership & community

  • Twice elected Chair of the University Engineering Team, leading peers in engineering competitions, including a first-place finish.
  • Represented BT at SistersIN, speaking with young women about careers in technology.

Recommendation

I have had the pleasure of working with Ali on two key projects: a blockchain-based identity management system and the development of device profiling for a smart hub. Throughout these projects, Ali consistently demonstrated strong technical skills, a proactive attitude, and an impressive ability to learn and adapt quickly.

… I am confident that Ali will be an asset to any organisation, and I highly recommend him for future opportunities.

Mamun Abu-Tair Research Fellow, BT Ireland Innovation Centre · Direct manager

Skills

Systems & Embedded

  • C/C++
  • Linux
  • POSIX
  • Performance profiling
  • ESP32
  • Arduino
  • PIC
  • Octavo
  • OP-TEE

Networking & Security

  • Wi-Fi / 802.11
  • TCP/IP
  • DNS/TLS
  • hostapd / dnsmasq
  • Device fingerprinting
  • OIDC
  • Digital identity
  • Hyperledger Fabric

Software

  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • TypeScript
  • Bash
  • SQL
  • React
  • Next.js
  • Node.js

Cloud & Engineering

  • AWS
  • Docker
  • Git
  • CI/CD
  • Robot Framework
  • Playwright
  • Selenium

Autonomous / Hardware

  • MAVLink
  • Embedded firmware
  • Controller electronics
  • Hardware/software integration

Contact

I'm happy to talk about embedded systems, secure communications, networking or research. Email is the best way to reach me.

hi@aliasgar.dev

Belfast, United Kingdom