side by side figures in two column format on top of page

Question

I have tried this code below and got images on a document like image 2 (the colorful one). I want to place quite visible side by side images like picture 1 (black and white image) on top of the page in double-column format. how can i achieve this? anyone here to help?

 \begin{figure}%
\centering
\subfloat[]{{\includegraphics[width=3cm]{aq.PNG} }}%
\qquad
\subfloat[]{{\includegraphics[width=3cm]{aq.PNG} }}%
\caption{zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz}%
\label{fig:example}%
 \end{figure}
 \begin{figure}%
\centering
\subfloat[]{{\includegraphics[width=3cm]{aq.PNG} }}%
\qquad
\subfloat[]{{\includegraphics[width=3cm]{aq.PNG} }}%
\caption{xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx}%
\label{fig:example}%
 \end{figure}

I followed this Two figures side by side but its not working in my case as I am using 2 column format IEEE template

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{mwe}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \begin{minipage}{0.45\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{c.PNG} % first figure itself
        \caption{first figure}
    \end{minipage}\hfill
    \begin{minipage}{0.45\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{h.PNG} % second figure itself
        \caption{second figure}
    \end{minipage}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

Answer 1

I guess, that you looking for the following:

\documentclass{ieeetran}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{mwe}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[t]
    \centering
    \begin{minipage}{0.48\linewidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{example-image-duck}%{c.PNG} % first figure itself
        \caption{first figure}
    \end{minipage}\hfill
    \begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{example-image-duck}%{h.PNG} % second figure itself
        \caption{second figure}
    \end{minipage}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[2-7]
\end{document}

Result of MWE is:

(red lines indicate page layout)

As you can see from comparison of above code with yours, I replace \textwidth in with \linewidth, which consider width of columns. This enable to put figures in one column. You also can use \columnwidth in defining minipages' widths.

Edit: Using \textwidth make width of your images almost equal to width of column. Consequently, in ieeetran document class it can not be fit in one column. In the case, that you really like to have so wide images (appearing on the top of the next page from point of their inserting into document), than you need replace in above MWE (Minimal Working Example) figure with figure*. In this case you will get:

(red lines indicate page layout)

Addendum: From OP comment below answer I conclude, that (s)he is interested for send case, where in each minipage are two images:

\documentclass{ieeetran}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{mwe}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[t]
    \centering
    \begin{minipage}{\columnwidth}
    \includegraphics[width=0.48\linewidth]{example-image-duck}
\hfill
    \includegraphics[width=0.48\linewidth]{example-image-duck}
        \caption{first figure}
    \end{minipage}\hfill
    \begin{minipage}{\columnwidth}
    \includegraphics[width=0.48\linewidth]{example-image-duck}
\hfill
    \includegraphics[width=0.48\linewidth]{example-image-duck}
        \caption{second figure}
    \end{minipage}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[2-20]
\end{document}