People, Innovation, Excellence

Research Goal

Utilize the Theory-Computation-Experiment paradigm to research Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) with autonomy to establish trust, providing a game changing capability that transforms the way manned and unmanned air, space, and ground systems are designed, controlled, and operated to effectively accomplish missions and tasks. VSCL is thus focused on synergistic strategies for the analysis, control, validation & verification of complex autonomous vehicle and sensor systems operating in challenging environments.

The Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory is directed by Dr. John Valasek.

Graduate Research Assistant Positions Available

The Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory (VSCL) has multiple fully funded Ph.D. positions in Aerospace Engineering that are available. Interested students are encouraged to apply for research in the following areas:
– Autonomous and Nonlinear Control of Cyber-Physical Air, Space, and Ground Systems
– Vision Based Sensors and Navigation Systems
– Cybersecurity for Air and Space Vehicles
– Air and Space Vehicle Control and Management
– Advanced Cockpit/UAS Systems and Displays
– Control of Bio-Nano Materials and Structures
– Human-in-the-Loop Artificial Intelligence for Coordinated Autonomous Unmanned Air Systems

More information and details for applying can be found here.

UAS Research and Flight Testing by the Numbers

  • 21 Years of Fixed-Wing UAS Flight Testing under FAA Auspices
  • 26 Externally Funded UAS Research Programs (1999 – Present)
  • 400+ Flights with an operational tempo of 133 thermal IR and multi-spectral data collection flights in the field over 12 months (2015 – 2016)
  • 24 Certified UAS Flight Testers Currently on Staff
  • 3 Certified UAS Pilots Currently on Staff
  • 13 UAS Vehicles in Current Fleet

Research Project Spotlight

Project: System Identification for Unmanned Air Systems

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Autonomous Air Mobility & Sensing (CAAMS)

Purpose: System Identification is a process to develop a mathematical representation of the dynamics of a physical system from measured data. Accurate models enable prediction of performance and dynamics of a system.

Challenges: Models for sUAS are generally not available as manufacturers do not have models for commercial sUAS and models for military sUAS are not typically available. Modeling and control systems are often vehicle dependent and not easily portable across sUAS. Many commercial autopilots do not provide data needed for online system identification

Our Approach: Utilizing the Observer Kalman Filter Identification algorithm with the Developmental Flight Test Instrumentation 2 framework, full state space models can be identified in near-real time onboard the vehicle utilizing data from a variety of sensors.

Recent News

Texas A&M Says Howdy to the Army Futures Command

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General John M. Murray is talking to John Valasek, a resident A&M expert on unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
Courtesy of The Texas A&M University System

General John Murray and his staff recently got their first chance to size up the research possibilities in College Station.  As part of that visit, General Murray was shown the UAS flight testing activities of VSCL, during a research test flight on INS performance being conducted under the sponsorship of VectorNav Technologies, LLC.

The full article can be found on Texas Monthly, here.

Valasek elected chair of AIAA Intelligent Systems Technical Committee

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Dr. John Valasek, professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University and director of the Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory, has been elected the chair of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Intelligent Systems Technical Committee (ISTC).

The ISTC addresses the application of Intelligent System (IS) technologies and methods to aerospace systems, the verification and validation of these systems, and the education of the AIAA membership in the use of IS technologies in aerospace and other technical disciplines.

Please see the full announcement by Jan McHarg on the Texas A&M College of Engineering website, here: https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2019/01/valasek-elected-chair-of-aiaa-intelligent-systems-technical-committee.html 

Valasek, John

Dr. John Valasek

“A” Team wins MD5 A-Hack-of-the-Drones 2018

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On September 28th and 29th, members of the Vehicle Systems and Control Laboratory participated in the MD5 & Army Futures Command A-Hack-of-the-Drones event where developers were tasked with coming together to explore “non-traditional, innovative methods to counter sUAS.” There were four major areas of focus for the hackathon:

  • Detection – sUAS operating in a waypoint mode
  • Cyber Effects – undetected exploitation of sUAS systems and operators
  • Nullification – sUAS ability to perform a task without destroying the system
  • Elimination – eliminate a sUAS threat

We are proud to announce that the “A” Team, a multidisciplinary group of engineers from Texas A&M University and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), was one of three teams that won the A-Hack-of-the-Drones hackathon and were awarded $15,000 to continue developing their ideas in partnership with MD5.

As the Texas A&M University Aerospace Engineering Department reports in the official announcement by Jan McHarg, found here:

“The “A” Team’s inspiration came from the major concern shared by both the United States and its allies like South Korea that the growing ubiquity of low-cost sUAS allows anyone with one of these devices to enter regions of civil or military interest and wreak havoc in ways unimaginable. Their belief was that it was of prime importance for agencies engaged in national security to be capable of detecting and tracking these devices to better protect the interests of those they serve.”

Three graduate student VSCL team members participated on the “A” Team and contributed their unique skills and understanding of sUAS and machine learning to the development of the “A”-team’s computer vision target-tracking solution. The three team members are:

  • Emily Fojtik
  • Vinicius G. Goecks
  • Garrett Jares

We are very proud of all the VSCL team members who participated in the hackathon and the “A” Team as a whole. We look forward to hearing about the continued development of your solution in the future.

Valasek honored by University of Kansas for Unmanned Air Systems contributions

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Dr. John Valasek, professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University and director of the Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory, has been selected as the 2017-18 inductee into the University of Kansas Aerospace Engineering Honor Roll for his national contributions to Unmanned Air Systems (UAS). This award is given annually and recognizes alumni and other friends of the aerospace engineering department who have made major contributions to the aerospace engineering profession. Members of the honor roll serve in perpetuity as role models for aerospace engineering students and the public at large.

Please see the full announcement by Jan McHarg on the Texas A&M College of Engineering website, here: https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2018/08/valasek-honored-by-university-of-kansas-for-unmanned-air-systems-contributions.html

Goecks awarded graduate research fellowship by Army Research Laboratory

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Vinicius Guimaraes Goecks, a doctoral student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected for a fellowship award in the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (USARL) Research Associateship Program (RAP).
 
This award, funded by USARL and administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), is presented to a doctoral student interested in investigating novel forms of human-robot interaction to enable humans to train intelligent robotic agents in real-time to perform desired tasks. Vinicius previously completed a Summer internship at USARL in 2017 and 2018.
 
“Intelligent robotic agents have many disruptive applications. As research progresses towards augmenting autonomous systems with self-learning capabilities, it is essential to investigate how these intelligent agents should be better integrated into our society — especially, how humans can shape their behavior in real-time”, says Vinicius. “I would like to thank Dr. John Valasek for encouraging and supporting me to pursue this award and line of research and the Army Research Laboratory for welcoming me on its facilities, technical support, and funding this program”.
 
Vinicius is a Ph.D. student in the Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory, and has been working with his advisor, Dr. John Valasek, for three years. Vinicius earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Federal Univerisity of Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil) in 2013. He earned his master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University in 2015 advised by Dr. John Hurtado. Vinicius is currently a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Intelligent Systems Technical Committee. His main research interests are reinforcement learning, computer vision, and data-driven controllers applied to unmanned air systems.

Please see the official announcement by Jan McHarg on the Texas A&M Aerospace Engineering Department website, here: Goecks awarded graduate research fellowship by Army Research Laboratory

VSCL Students selected for Summer 2018 Internships

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Many students of the Texas A&M Vehicle Systems and Control Laboratory have been selected for offsite internships for the Summer of 2018. These internships show VSCL student representation at a variety of companies and institutions across the United States. Students which have been selected for internships in the Summer of 2018 include:

VSCL Graduate Research Assistant and Ph.D. Student Vinicius G. Goecks has been selected for a Summer 2018 internship at US Army Research Lab in Aberdeen, MD. Vinicius will be working as a Research Fellow on the US Army initiative to investigate how humans can shape the behavior of autonomous machines driven by learning algorithms. Vinicius has been an active member of VSCL since Spring 2016, focusing on human-machine interaction and the control of UAS with Machine Learning, and the Intelligent Motion Video Target Tracking for UAS.

VSCL Graduate Research Assistant and Master of Engineering Student Emily Fojtik has been selected for a Summer 2018 internship at  VectorNav Technologies, Dallas, TX. Emily will be working as a Test Engineer Intern, with a principal focus of automating and expediting the verification and validation of products at VectorNav.  Emily started working with VSCL in the Spring of 2016, with her major roles including managing the Texas A&M University Engineering Flight Simulator and developing a means for evaluating human factors aspects for Head Mounted Displays (HMD) for Enhanced Vision System technologies.

VSCL Undergraduate Research Assistant and B. S. Aerospace Engineering student Charles Noren has been selected for a Summer 2018 internship at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA. Charles will be working as a Technical Intern at the Autonomy Incubator. He will be performing research on guidance laws and motion planning for autonomous robots. Charles has been an active member of VSCL since Spring 2015, where he has worked on projects including the Shape Memory Alloy Actuator Replacement, the autonomous railroad scout vehicle, and the Intelligent Motion Video Target Tracking for UAS.

VSCL Undergraduate Research Assistant and B.S. Aerospace Engineering student Blake Krpec has been selected for a Summer 2018 internship at Air Tractor, in Olney, TX. Blake will be working as an Aerospace Engineering Intern, where he will be working on developing on board electronic flight systems for production aircraft as well as systems for R&D flights. Blake has been an active member of VSCL since Fall 2016, where he has supported VSCL flight test projects relating to sensor integration and aircraft performance.

VSCL Undergraduate Research Assistant and B.S. Aerospace Engineering student Hannah Lehman has been selected for a Summer 2018 internship at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, IA. Hannah will be working as a Technical Systems Engineer on the Advanced Concepts team in Commercial Systems. She will be a part a new initiative in the Research and Development of autonomous systems for commercial purposes. Hannah has been an active member of VSCL since Fall 2017, focusing on human-machine interaction and the control of UAS with Machine Learning.

VSCL Undergraduate Research Assistant and B.S. Aerospace Engineering Student Victoria Nagorski has been selected for a Summer 2018 internship at Northrop Grumman Corporation in Melbourne, FL. Victoria will be working as a Technical Intern to investigate how to write a flight test plan. Victoria has been an active member of VSCL since Fall 2017, where she supports a variety of VSCL UAS flight test projects from aircraft performance test to sensor evaluation.

VSCL Undergraduate Research Assistant and B.S. Aerospace Engineering Student Christopher A. Marcario has been selected for a position at the Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center for calendar year 2018. Chris will be working as an Undergraduate Researcher for the Cyber Spectrum Collaborative Research Environment, which is funded by Air Force Research Laboratory through Clarkson Aerospace, to identify vulnerabilities and demonstrate exploits on civilian unmanned aerial vehicles. Chris has been an active member of VSCL since Spring 2018, focusing on evaluating human factors aspects for head mounted displays for Enhanced Vision System technologies in the Texas A&M University Engineering Flight Simulator.

Congratulations to all who have been selected for internships!

VSCL graduate Joshua Harris recognized for research excellence at national and university levels

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Joshua Harris, a December 2017 graduate from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University and a graduate research assistant of the Texas A&M Vehicle Systems and Control Laboratory, has been awarded the 2018 Association of Former Students Distinguished Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research  in the Masters category. He defended his master’s thesis titled “Nonlinear Adaptive Inversion Control for Variable Stability Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems” in October 2017, and he is being recognized for his outstanding academic record and contributions in aerospace engineering by a distinguished committee of reviewers.

Please see the full announcement by Jan McHarg on the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station website, here: “Harris recognized for research excellence at national and university levels”

 

VSCL hosts Dr. Mary Cummings

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On Friday, 2 February VSCL hosted Dr. Mary (Missy) Cummings, Director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments at Duke University in the Engineering Flight Simulator (EFS).  Dr. Cummings flew the EFS and demonstrated Basic Fighter Maneuvers (BFM) using an A-4E Skyhawk Aggressor.  Pictured are Emily Fojtik, Dr. Cummings, Victoria Nagorski, Lexi Heinimann, Chris Marcario, and Dr. Valasek.

Intelligent Motion Video Target Tracking Flight Testing Presented by VSCL at 2018 AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference

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VSCL Undergraduate Research Assistant Chase Noren ’18 presented flight test results of an autonomous tracking intelligent agent at the AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference on 11 January at the 2018 AIAA SciTech Forum. The goal of this continuing project is to autonomously track fixed and moving user-selected targets with a non-gimbaled image capturing device mounted on a Small/micro fixed-wing UAS. The autonomous intelligent agent acts independently of human operators and the developed algorithm learns and operates without the need for prior information of road networks or terrain features.  The paper documenting this work is “Flight Testing of Intelligent Motion Video Guidance for Unmanned Air System Ground Target Surveillance,” AIAA-2018-1632.

Han-Hsun “Jack” Lu Defends MS Thesis on Tuesday, 5 December 2017

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Han-Hsun “Jack” Lu (M.S.  National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan) successfully defended his Master of Science Thesis titled “Online Near Real-Time System Identification on Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems”. Using automated control surface excitation, Lu proposed a method for both constructing a full dynamic system for an UAS and then representing that system in state space form. His method can be used to update the model in flight at the request of a human operator. Congratulations Jack! Thank you for all you have done in the lab. We look forward to hearing about your successes in the future!