Catalyzing Computing

Catalyzing Computing


Autonomous Flight and Landing on Mars with Behçet Açikmeşe (Part 2)

March 08, 2021

Khari Douglas interviews Dr. Behçet Açikmeşe. Behçet was a technologist and a senior member of the Guidance and Control (G&C) Analysis Group at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 2003 to 2012 where he developed guidance, control, and estimation algorithms for formation-flying spacecraft and distributed networked systems, proximity operations around asteroids and comets, and planetary landing. He is currently a Professor in Aeronautics & Astronautics, as well as Electrical & Computer Engineering, at the University of Washington and a member of their Autonomous Controls Lab. In this episode, Dr. Acikmese discusses control theory and the University of Washington Autonomous Controls Lab.

Timestamps to jump to certain topics below:
Intro - (00:00)
Control Systems and Spaceflight - (01:31)
Convex vs. Non-convex Optimization - (10:25)
Markov Decision Process - (14:02)
Model Predictive Control - (19:43)
Lossless Convexification - (21:04)
University of Washington Autonomous Controls Lab - (25:00)
Assured Autonomy - (31:15)
Outro - (36:50)