Engineer Mechanical

ANANDRAO BIRADAR

917-***-**** ** Columbia St Apt 1, Cambridge MA 02139 ********@***.***

SUMMARY

Mechanical/Aerospace Engineer with experience working on aircraft design, flight controls, autonomy, avionics, embedded development, simulations, mechanical design, manufacturing, testing of Robotics, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Spacecraft. Proven leadership experience in full lifecycle development and robust system architecture of autonomous systems. Passionate about UAVs and Space Systems with competency in:

● Flight controls and Avionics ● Aerial vehicle design, testing ● Spacecraft design, ADCS, and Thermal Systems

● Autonomous systems development ● FAA Part 107 licensed experienced UAV test pilot ● FEA, CFD analysis EDUCATION

Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering, (Controls and Fluids) Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona May 2014

MS Thesis: Wind estimation and effects of wind on waypoint navigation of UAVs Bachelor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,

Modern Education Society’s College of Engineering, Pune, India May 2011 Skills

Languages: C, C++, Python

Simulation Frameworks: ROS, Gazebo, MATLAB, ANSYS

Technical: Proficiency in Python, C++, ROS, SolidWorks, ANSYS (Fluent and ICEM), MATLAB, Labview (NI), Fortran95, AGI-STK, Vorlax, XFLR5, Gambit. Origin.

Embedded Systems: Serial protocols(I2C, SPI, UART), RTOS(NuttX), Linux based development, Firmware development, PID tuning, lower level MCU programming, real time systems, extensive debugging experience of complex hardware-software integrated systems.

Electrical:Circuit design, PCBs from design to production, smd soldering. Manufacturing: Working with contract manufacturers,Machining (CNC, Lathe, Milling), Carbon fiber 3D printing, hands on tools PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Top Flight Technologies Inc, Malden, Greater Boston Area From March 2016 Senior Systems Engineer - Embedded, Flight Controls and Lead Avionics Designer

● Summary:Designed, prototyped and delivered flight tested systems which involved complex hardware and software systems. Key highlights include software development for engine control unit, flight control, scripts for autonomy of payload and mission computers, circuit boards for high power low power systems, noise filtering application, micro controller integration.

● Worked on state machine architecture to implement state locks and multithreading functionalities for mission autonomy software

(python) as well as engine control unit software (C++). While also performing code optimization to reduce computational load.

● Proven leadership in design, prototyping of distributed avionics system for hybrid-electric multirotor system for engine control, integrated flight control, payload system control. Successfully deployed three vehicle generations of avionics to client products.

● Led vehicle subsystems integration, cross-communicated with different teams (mechanical, electrical, software, manufacturing technicians).

● Managed and led a team of engineers and technicians for full life cycle development to delivery of vehicle subsystems integration which includes conceptual design, optimizing based on cost-time effective combination of in-house and outsourcing manufacturing

(build vs buy trades based on development cycle).

● Planned-executed vehicle design, manufacturing, testing, and customer delivery cycles. Managed budget, and timely delivery of subsystems.

● Wrote acceptance flight test plans, managed on-field flight tests, analyzed risk based on flight testing goals vs ongoing technical challenges. Decision making to maximize flight testing and progressing overall test goals while managing critical risks.

● Guidance, navigation, and control flight software development for large multirotors. In-depth understanding of the PX4 flight stack with extensive customization experience.

● Onboard mission autonomy software development for mission execution, failure scenario mitigation, and cooperative autonomy with autonomous airport landing manager.

● Systems architecture for payload integration (software and hardware) for image capturing, inspection application. Written ROS nodes to integrate thermal, RGB cameras and working on mission software to handle payload actuation, managing data flow.

● Led in-house development of complete autopilot systems for hybrid-electric vehicles with the latest IMUs.

● Engineering Lead for flight training in Japan for two different deployments, package delivery, and inspection applications.

● Test pilot for large hybrid-electric multirotor. Planned acceptance flight tests after design improvements and for new designs, planned, executed customer flight demos.

Mechanical Engineer – Avionics and Flight Controls

● Deployable Multirotor Systems for MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lead-Phase 1, with successful flight demonstration and exceeding flight time requirements. US Patent was granted in July 2018.

● Worked on Engine Control Unit software, which maintains hybrid-electric power unit operation and responds to real-time power demands, implemented robust upgrades to prevent in-air engine shutdowns.

● Flight testing with controller (PID) tuning for large UAV platforms, post-flight analysis for control response improvements.

● Designed and built a large propeller thrust stand to test up to 45” propellers with 10KW power input, used National Instruments hardware and LabVIEW software to control the test setup and log all critical data i.e. RPM, current, thrust, temperature, etc. Skycatch Inc, San Francisco

Aeronautical Engineer May 2015 - March 2016

● Propulsion system design, simulation, testing for an industrial UAV platform, derived optimal motor-prop-battery combination.

● Mechanical design, rapid prototyping, integration of subassemblies, worked with vendors for low volume production.

● Performed extensive field testing and validation for flight performance, RF performance-evaluating radios, and GPS performance.

● Worked on the battery testing system, wrote python scripts for charge-discharge cycles for lithium polymer batteries. Planet Labs, San Francisco Sep 2014 - Jan 2015

Spacecraft Engineering Intern, Spacecraft Group, DSP-5 License/Security clearance

● Designed a Python simulation for power budget scenarios of satellites. The simulation used real-time TLEs, orbit propagator data and included the power modes of various subsystems. It helped to predict and improve satellite operational windows.

● Thermal Modelling of spacecraft to understand and reduce the solar panel temperatures. This impacted to incorporate some design changes and incorporated into production. Also, characterized the solar cell coatings and developed absorptivity measurement setup.

● Worked on characterization and modeling of sensors used in Attitude Determination Control System for the Kalman filter model. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University Oct 2013 - May 2014 Graduate Research Assistant,

● Path planning and optimization of a fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) towards a master’s thesis, based on Wind estimation and correction. Involves Software in the Loop Simulation using Ardupilot (an open Source UAV platform).

● Development, system integration and testing of various UAV platforms including fixed wings and multirotors. The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University Jan 2013 - Sep 2013 Graduate Research Aide, designing various NIH mobile healthcare devices using SolidWorks. Manufacturing using CNC Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India Jul 2011 - Jul 2012 Research Assistant, Controls laboratory, Aerospace Department, IIT-Bombay worked on UAV and MAV related projects.

● Designed, fabricated and tested Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) achieved the challenge of 200mm span, 22 gm payload flight time of 6 min 30s using rectangular planform. Designed, and tested finless flying wing aircraft without the use of artificial stability systems.

● Autonomous cooperative flying of 3 aircraft over a target. Designed a robust platform that could take multiple high-speed crashes, easy to fabricate, repair and maintain. Member of the flight team that piloted and tuned the aircraft over a period of 3 months. Indian Navy: Volunteer Consultant Mar 2012- Jul 2012

● Delivered a complete Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System for the Indian Navy with capabilities such as live video surveillance and data transmission up to 2 km, Waypoint navigation. Projects

● Systems Engineer for NASA Unmanned Aerial Systems Aircraft Operations Challenge, integrated COTS autopilot for 10 kg payload capacity fixed-wing UAV, worked on flight testing towards reliable and safe operation in commercial Airspace.

● Engineering Team Lead for MarsTrac, an open-source ecology-based Mars tractor for analog simulations in MDRS field testing.

● NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition, Designing a robot to mine in the Artificial Lunar Environment at NASA KSFC.

● SEDS-US High Powered Rocketry Challenge manufactured and integrated different systems to launch a Rocket over 10,000 feet.

● Final Year Bachelor of Engineering Project at M.E.S. College of Engineering Jul 2011- May 2012

“Optimization of Aerofoil for vertical axis wind turbine” Designed manufactured and tested Compact Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. Designed using SolidWorks followed by Simulation on CFD tools; ANSYS Fluent, ICEM. Publication

1. Anandrao Biradar, Luan Duang, Paul DeBitetto, Long Phan, Sanjay Sarma. Hybrid-electric powered aerospace systems and the battery energy density revolution. IEEE Aeroconf 2018. Patent

1. Long Phan, Anandrao Biradar, Luong H. Duong, Samir Neyfeh. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Multiple Configurations. US Patent - Granted # 10,065,726.

Invited Talks and Panels

1. CubeSats : a summary from concept - launch - operations. Lightning Talk, SEDS SpaceVision 2015 Conference. 2. Professional Development Workshop. Anand Biradar, Nicholas Day, Kristine Ramos, Patrick Gray, Joel Vinas. SEDS SpaceVision 2017 Conference.

Additional Skills: Aeromodelling, UAV Test pilot

● Built and tested more than 50 UAVs in the last 10 years. Including the IC engine beginner model (Ace 40), Delta wing, Electric trainers, Aerobatics and sports models,Vertical Flying Object. Experienced in flying multirotors. Honors

● Won 1st prize at SAE Aero Design West 2014 challenge, pilot and control system team lead for ASU Aero team.

● Represented college Robotics and UAV teams for more than 30 national, International competitions. Successfully led to winning positions in more than 6 competitions. Includes ROBOCON ’10, Techfest (IIT Bombay), Shaastra (IIT Madras) Extra-Curricular Activities and Achievements

● Rocket Devils/ Icarus Rocketry, Vehicle Airframes Structures Lead, Arizona State University based rocketry group, aiming to be the first student group to reach 100,000 feet.

● Team member of the planning and organizing committee of SpaceVision 2013,a national space conference by SEDS-USA.

● Currently serving as Director of Development for SEDS-USA, leading growth and chapter expansion for the largest non-profit to promote student space exploration.

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