Saturday 07 / February / 2026
Muscat: Highlighting the Sultanate of Oman’s growing contributions to digital innovation and smart mobility, Dr. Muhammad Zakarya, Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at Sohar University, has been named one of the winners of the 12th National Research Award organised by the Research and Innovation Authority.
His research paper, titled “ApMove: A Service Migration Technique for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles,” received the award in the Information and Communication Technologies field in the PhD category.
The research paper focuses on the future of intelligent transportation and smart cities.
As global cities move toward connected and autonomous vehicles, digital services that support these vehicles often need to operate seamlessly across multiple clouds and edge-computing systems.
Ensuring uninterrupted connectivity is essential to road safety, traffic efficiency, and user experience.
The research proposes ApMove, an intelligent technique that enables applications running in connected and autonomous vehicles to migrate smoothly between edge servers and remote clouds without service disruption.
This mobility-aware strategy significantly improves service reliability, reduces latency, optimizes energy consumption, and ensures the continuous execution of applications as vehicles move between different network zones.
Oman Vision 2040
According to Dr. Zakarya, the project directly supports the objectives of Oman Vision 2040 in the areas of smart mobility, digital infrastructure, innovation, and sustainable urban development.
Its potential impact includes safer roads, reduced congestion, and enhanced transportation services, contributing to the development of smart cities and a knowledge-based economy.
The study recommends the adoption of edge-based intelligent service-migration technologies in transportation systems, integration of artificial-intelligence-driven mobility platforms, and investment in smart city infrastructure to support large-scale deployment of connected vehicular services in Oman.
The research was published in the IEEE Internet of Things Journal. The research was carried out in collaboration with Dr. Lee Gillam (University of Surrey, UK), Dr. Ayaz Ali Khan (University of Lakki Marwat, Pakistan), Prof. Omer Rana (Cardiff University, UK), and Prof. Rajkumar Buyya (University of Melbourne, Australia), with Dr. Zakarya acting as the lead and corresponding author.
Speaking about his achievement, Dr. Muhammad Zakarya expressed that winning the National Research Award is a great honor and a strong motivation to continue producing impactful research aligned with national priorities.
He emphasized that the recognition affirms the relevance of his work to the Sultanate of Oman’s innovation and smart mobility agenda and strengthens his commitment to research that delivers tangible societal and economic benefits.
