Seminar: “Vahana”- Development of a self-piloted air taxi and its collision avoidance system

When:
2017-11-27 @ 14:00 – 15:00
2017-11-27T14:00:00-05:00
2017-11-27T15:00:00-05:00
Where:
5th Floor, Board Room 5084, School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE), University of Ottawa
800 King Edward Ave.
Ottawa
Cost:
Free

Seminar by IEEE Ottawa Section Joint Chapter of Robotics & Automation (RAS), and Control Systems Societies (CSS), and Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa

The IEEE Ottawa Section is inviting all interested IEEE members, students, and nonmembers to a seminar on:

“Vahana”- Development of a self-piloted air taxi and its collision avoidance system

By
Dr Cedric Cocaud
Sr. Perception Engineer
A3 – Airbus

PARKING: Please respect restricted parking areas around University of Ottawa.

Abstract

Vahana project started in early 2016 as one of the first projects at A3, the advanced projects outpost of Airbus in Silicon Valley. The VTOL aircraft is designed to be electrically powered, self-piloted, and able to automatically detect and avoid obstacles and other aircrafts. This new class of vehicle is meant to be the first certified self-piloted passenger aircraft enabling Airbus to provide a fully autonomous air transportation service for passengers in dense urban environments. The vehicle is designed to automatically detect and avoid obstacles and other aircrafts, while carrying a single passenger or cargo. This presentation discusses the key challenges to develop the autonomous systems of a self-piloted air taxi for operations in urban environments.

Biography

Cedric Cocaud received a B.A.S. and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and a M.S. at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, before working on the development of unmanned air vehicle navigation systems for the Department of Defense R&D Ottawa, as well as on multi-robot navigation systems at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Canada. Completed a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering at the University of Tokyo, working with the Japanese Space Agency on monocular simultaneous localization and mapping for autonomous landing on asteroids. Founded a startup in Paris developing an autonomous multi-drone security system for large industrial facilities. Joined A3, the advanced projects outpost of Airbus in Silicon Valley, in 2016 as the Senior Perception Engineer of the Sense & Avoid Group of the “Vahana” Project. Main research interests include deep learning, autonomous vehicles, guidance navigation and control, and computer vision.

Admission: Free
Information: Professor J.Z. Sasiadek, Carleton University, email: Jurek.Sasiadek@carleton.ca

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