Story Behind the Success: Student Research Competition at DASC 2022

I am delighted to have my work selected as one of the top student papers at the Digital Avionics Systems Conference 2022. I am currently studying my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU). My research area is guidance, navigation, and control with an emphasis on high-performance computing for sensing and state estimation. Specifically, with the evolving multi-sensor perception technologies for autonomy, edge computing i.e., computing at the edges of network infrastructure, is important for reducing response times. Moreover, efforts on hardware miniaturization and specialization for modern sensing frameworks underscore the need for effective hardware test beds such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Leveraging the hardware acceleration capabilities of FPGAs, I focus on high-speed sensing and state estimation schemes for navigation. Our paper “An FPGA framework for Interferometric Vision-Based Navigation (iVisNav)” outlines a hardware/software codesign for state estimation using a new vision-based sensor system. With further developments, I hope to contribute to the library of embedded solutions on signal processing and estimation.

I must thank my advisor Prof. Manoranjan Majji, the members of the Land, Air, and Space Robotics (LASR) lab as well as the AERO dept (TAMU) for their unwavering support. I feel fortunate to have access to resources, help, and exposure through AESS & AIAA programs. 

At Digital Avionics System Conference 2022, I am honored to have my paper selected as one of the three winners of the Student Research Competition and to have the opportunity to share my experience with the AESS community. I am very grateful to my supervisors, Dr. Alessandro Gardi, Prof. Roberto Sabatini, and Dr. Man Liang. This article would not be complete without their guidance. I am also grateful to my colleague, Nichakorn Pongsakornsathien, the Astra team member at RMIT University. Her support was indispensable.

I was a national athlete, a graphic designer for a magazine, a programmer, and a restaurant owner. But I can't forget the free shuttle between high-rise buildings in the sci-fi world. Therefore, I left my original job and life to pursue a master’s degree and a Ph.D. degree. At that time, I met the guides of my research career, my mentors, Dr. Alessandro Gardi and Prof. Roberto Sabatini. It was they who discovered my abilities and gave me the opportunity to realize my dreams. I will always remember their invitation and guidance to me.

My Ph.D. project aims to research and develop suitable UTM systems for future UAM operations, focusing on enabling fully automated decision-making and strategic adjustment. At present, the content of this paper is only a subsystem. The difficulty of this research is getting the system's performance, energy efficiency, safety, security, and integrity to a state where it can be deployed but without any data available for AI model training. Thanks to the experts at DASC for acknowledging my work. I hope my research can be the cornerstone of a better life in the future.