I'm an experienced UAV engineer, team lead, and project manager, with focus on vehicle engineering, control system design and analysis and software engineering. I love making improbable vehicles fly. I love building and growing engineering teams, and guiding product development to enhance customer amazement.

Project Executive @ Building the future of flight. From September 2015 to Present (4 months) Flight Controls and Software Engineer @ Architecture and implementation of a platform for commercial drone deployment. Designed airframe-agnostic guidance, navigation, and control software for UAVs. Implemented OS-level and Application-level embedded software for commercial drones. API design and implementation. From February 2014 to September 2015 (1 year 8 months) Lead Engineer for Flight Software and Simulation @ Single-handedly developed and implemented a comprehensive 6-DOF simulation of aircraft dynamics for unconventional, open-loop unstable aircraft. Developed models of vehicle dynamics, rotor and motor dynamics, servos, sensors. Designed and implemented control algorithms from inner stabilization loops to high-level 3D navigation, using state-space modeling, LQR design methods, optimization, and various gain-scheduling techniques. Developed MATLAB tools for rapid design and analysis of controller performance and robustness. Developed a multi-tiered actuator allocation strategy for optimal utilization of redundant actuators with graceful saturation handling. Led wind tunnel testing efforts, data reduction, and vehicle modeling. Led the development of additional flight software, e.g. sensor management systems and serial drivers. Designed embedded flight computers, sensors, redundant avionics architectures. Successfully demonstrated the above in fully autonomous flights. Led a team of seven engineers in further developing and maintaining all of the above. Developed and managed comprehensive project schedules with minimal loss of sanity or technical competence. Supported extensive flight-testing. From June 2010 to February 2014 (3 years 9 months) Senior Navigation and Controls Engineer @ Chief engineer for control system design on several UAV programs including the AAI Shadow and GA Predator. Constructed comprehensive vehicle models in MATLAB and in 6-DOF software simulation environments. Designed complete sets of vehicle autopilots, including auto-takeoff and autoland. Successfully demonstrated in flight. Designed and led the development of a MATLAB toolbox for automation of vehicle modeling and control system design and analysis. Implemented innovative design methods to dramatically reduce development time and cost. Cambridge, MA August 2004 June 2002 Developed, implemented, and demonstrated model-reference adaptive control algorithms for recovery of control system performance after airframe damage. Developed and analyzed redundant system architectures for the engine control unit on the Rotax 912iSc certified engine. Performed component-level reliability analysis, fault tree analysis; developed functional hazard assessments, system safety assessments. From April 2008 to July 2010 (2 years 4 months) Controls Engineer @ Worked as a lead controls engineer on unmanned aerial vehicles including the AAI Shadow, Alenia Sky-X UCAV, NASA Mars Flyer Demonstrator and the SkunkWorks Morphing UAV. As part of a winning SBIR proposal, developed a simulation of watercraft dynamics with sea level modeling. Developed algorithms for autonomous navigation, following, and docking onto larger vessels in various sea levels; demonstrated in simulation. Developed a basic visualization environment using OpenGL. Designed, implemented, and demonstrated in flight multivariable feedback control systems for unmanned vehicles, from inner loop attitude control to high-level guidance algorithms, automated landing systems and ground controllers. Developed flight software and hardware and led system integration. Developed comprehensive models of aircraft dynamics using MATLAB. Developed full 6-DOF software and hardware-in-the-loop simulations. Led the automation of an avionics manufacturing/testing facility, increasing production capacity tenfold. Developed compliance standards and qualification test procedures for flight hardware. Authored technical papers, documentation, and winning business proposals. From September 2004 to April 2008 (3 years 8 months) Research Assistant @ Developed and implemented aggressive guidance and control algorithms for an autonomous aerobatic helicopter. Developed and maintained flight vehicle hardware and software. Developed hardware-in-the-loop simulations. Led development team and managed flight operations. Led all aspects of system design, development, and integration. From June 2002 to August 2004 (2 years 3 months)

M.S., Aeronautical Engineering @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology From 2002 to 2004 B.S., Aeronautical Engineering @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology From 1998 to 2002 Rodin Lyasoff is skilled in: Linux, Matlab, Embedded Systems, Perl, ClearCase, Control Systems Design, Flight Simulation, Flight Dynamics, Flight Test Engineering, Technical Writing, Creative Writing, OpenGL, OpenGL ES, iOS development, Databases