Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Faisal Mohamad Ayob

Naval Architecture, Ocean Engineering & Marine Autonomous Vehicles

Innovative researcher and educator specializing in high-speed craft design, autonomous underwater robotics, and digital twin technology.

Founder & Managing Director of VSG Labs Sdn Bhd, a digital and oil & gas engineering solutions company.

Contact Me View Project Portfolio
Dr. Ahmad Faisal Mohamad Ayob

About

Ahmad Faisal Bin Mohamad Ayob earned his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Universiti Malaya in 2006 and completed his PhD in High-Speed Craft Design at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2011.

Promoted to Associate Professor in January 2019, Dr. Faisal has graduated 1 PhD and 3 Master's students. He is currently the primary supervisor for 8 PhD and 2 master's students.

Within Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, his research priorities include simulation software development, autonomous underwater robotics, high-speed autonomous crafts, and Digital Twin technology.

Beyond academia, Dr. Faisal showcased his entrepreneurial prowess by founding VSG Labs Sdn Bhd in 2021, an engineering firm affiliated with UMT. His exemplary service was recognized when he was awarded the Anugerah Perkhidmatan Cemerlang for four consecutive years (2016-2019).

75+ Published Papers
12 H-Index (Scopus)
13 H-Index (Google Scholar)
10+ Research Grants
10+ PhD Students

Professional Experience

2021 - Present

Founder/Managing Director

VSG Labs Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia

2019 - Present

Associate Professor

Faculty of Ocean Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu

2016 - 2022

Director of International Centre

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu

Led a tenfold surge in international student enrollment.

2011 - 2018

Senior Lecturer

School of Ocean Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu

2007 - 2008

R&D Engineer

Panasonic H. A. Air Condition Research and Development (M) Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia

2006 - 2007

Vibration Engineer Consultant

Mechanical Engineer, Monitoring and Diagnostics Technology Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia

Portfolio of Projects (As Lead)

Industrial-grade solutions project secured and delivered.

P-MET Weather Metocean System 2025

Funding: PETRONAS Project Delivery and Technology

Role: Principal Consultant, Project Manager, Lead Programmer

Year: 2025-2026

Amount: RM 165,000.00

Metocean Foresight System

Funding: PETRONAS Research

Role: Principal Consultant, Project Manager

Year: 2025-2026

Amount: RM 1,140,000.00

P-MET Weather Metocean System 2024

Funding: PETRONAS Project Delivery and Technology

Role: Principal Consultant, Project Manager, Lead Programmer

Year: 2024-2025

Amount: RM 229,000.00

Underwater Robot Simulator

Funding: PETRONAS Carigali

Role: Principal Consultant, Project Manager, Lead Programmer

Year: 2023-2024

Amount: RM 128,800.00

P-MET iOS/Android App Development 2022

Funding: PETRONAS Project Delivery and Technology

Role: Principal Consultant, Project Manager, Lead Programmer

Year: 2022

Amount: RM 80,000.00

Ship Simulator Development

Funding: Ministry of Higher Education (PRGS)

Role: Lead Researcher

Year: 2020-2023

Amount: RM 184,700.00

Novel AUV Designs within Genetic Algorithm Framework

Funding: Ministry of Higher Education

Role: Lead Researcher

Year: 2014-2017

Amount: RM 81,200.00

Web of Science Publications

Journals

Ship structure corrosion detection using advanced image processing, active contour algorithm, and parallel processing

Imran, MMH; Jamaludin, S; (...); Afrizal, NB

Ocean Engineering 341, 2025

Development of a Vision-Based Mobile Robot with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) for Classification of Tomato Ripeness

Patria, L; Makhtar, M; (...); Chuan, OY

Engineering Letters 33(6), 2025

A critical analysis of machine learning in ship, offshore, and oil & gas corrosion research, part I: Corrosion detection and classification (Correction)

Imran, MH; Khan, MI; (...); Ahmad, SZAB

Ocean Engineering 313, 2024

A critical analysis of machine learning in ship, offshore, and oil & gas corrosion research, part I: Corrosion detection and classification

Imran, MH; Khan, MI; (...); Ahmad, SZAB

Ocean Engineering 313, 2024

A critical review of machine learning algorithms in maritime, offshore, and oil & gas corrosion research: A comprehensive analysis of ANN and RF models

Imran, MMH; Jamaludin, S and Ayob, AFM

Ocean Engineering 295, 2024

Computer Vision and Image Processing Approaches for Corrosion Detection

Ali, AAIM; Jamaludin, S; (...); Ramli, MR

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 11(10), 2023

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Marine Corrosion Prediction and Detection

Imran, MMH; Jamaludin, S; (...); Mohamed, SB

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 11(2), 2023

Investigation of chaotic behavior and adaptive type-2 fuzzy controller approach for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) wind turbine system

Sambas, A; Mohammadzadeh, A; (...); Nawi, MAA

AIMS Mathematics 8(3), 2023

Efficient, accurate and fast pupil segmentation for pupillary boundary in iris recognition

Jamaludin, S; Ayob, AFM; (...); Mohamed, SB

Advances in Engineering Software 175, 2023

Adaptive Initial Contour and Partly-Normalization Algorithm for Iris Segmentation of Blurry Iris Images

Jamaludin, S; Ayob, AFM; (...); Mohamed, SB

Journal of Information and Communication Technology-Malaysia 21(3), 2022

Applications of artificial intelligence in ship berthing: A review

Imran, MMH; Ayob, AF and Jamaludin, S

Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences 50(11), 2021

COVID-19 exit strategy: Transitioning towards a new normal

Jamaludin, S; Azmir, NA; (...); Zainal, N

Annals of Medicine and Surgery 59, 2020

Investigating pectoral shapes and locomotive strategies for conceptual designing bio-inspired robotic fish

Mainong, AI; Ayob, AF and Arshad, MR

Journal of Engineering Science and Technology 12(1), 2017

An efficient memetic algorithm for 3D shape matching problems

Khan, MS; Ayob, AFM and Ray, T

Engineering Optimization 46(5), 2014

A Hydrodynamic Preliminary Design Optimization Framework for High Speed Planing Craft

Ayob, AFM; Ray, T and Smith, W

Journal of Ship Research 56(1), 2012

A smart repair embedded memetic algorithm for 2D shape matching problems

Khan, MS; Ayob, AFM; (...); Ray, T

Engineering Optimization 44(10), 2012

Beyond Hydrodynamic Design Optimization of Planing Craft

Ayob, AFM; Ray, T and Smith, WF

Journal of Ship Production and Design 27(1), 2011

Uncovering secrets behind low-resistance planing craft hull forms through optimization

Ayob, AFM; Ray, T and Smith, AF

Engineering Optimization 43(11), 2011

Proceedings

A Brief Review of Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Human-Machine Interaction

Ayob, AF; Arshad, MR; (...); Ahmad, SZAS

IEEE 9th International Conference on Underwater System Technology - Theory and Applications (USYS), 2022

Iris Segmentation Based on an Adaptive Initial Contour and Partly-Normalization

Jamaludin, S; Zainal, N; (...); Ayob, AFM

6th International Conference on Soft Computing in Data Science (SCDS), 2021

Obstacles Avoidance Control for Autonomous Mobile Robot Based on Fuzzy Logic Controller

Ismail, ZH; Naim, S; (...); Mahyuddin, MN

3rd International Conference on Education (ICOED), 2018

Dynamic Responses of Moored Installation Vessel During Lifting Operation Due to Environmental Load

Ashirin, MFZ and Ayob, AFM

IEEE International Conference on Underwater System Technology - Theory and Applications (USYS), 2017

Rheology Study of Plant Oil for Marine Application

Nik, WBW; Zulkifli, F; (...); Warikh, ARM

Malaysian International Tribology Conference (MITC), 2013

The Design of High Speed Planing Craft Using an Optimization Framework

Smith, WF; Ayob, AFM and Ray, T

ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, 2013

Hull Surface Information Retrieval and Optimization of High Speed Planing Craft

Ayob, AF; Nik, WBW; (...); Smith, WF

1st International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER), 2012

Scenario-based Hydrodynamic Design Optimization of High Speed Planing Craft for Coastal Surveillance

Ayob, AFM; Ray, T and Smith, WF

IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), 2011

A Novel Evolutionary Approach for 2D Shape Matching Based on B-Spline Modeling

Khan, MS; Ayob, AFM; (...); Ray, T

IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), 2011

View All Publications

Research Collaborations

Prof. Dr. Kenjiro T. Miura

Japan

Shizuoka University, Japan

Research focus: B-spline surface representation and autonomous vehicle development

Prof. Dr. Tapabrata Ray

Australia

University of New South Wales, Australia

Research focus: Optimization algorithms and computational design

Dr. Mujiarto

Indonesia

Universitas Tasik Malaya, Indonesia

Research focus: Regional maritime technology development

Dr. Nur Afande Ali Hussain

Malaysia

Science and Technology Research and Development (STRIDE), Ministry of Defense, Malaysia

Research focus: Defense applications of autonomous systems

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zulkifli Zainal

Malaysia

Center for Autonomous Vehicle, IIUM, Malaysia

Research focus: Autonomous vehicle development

Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Rizal Arshad

Malaysia

Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

Research focus: Academic Mentorship

Contact Me

Email

[email protected]

Address

Faculty of Ocean Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu

Academic Profiles