Hi, my name is
Robert Briggs.
I’m an aerospace engineer specializing in autonomous systems with a specific focus on safe and reliable integration of Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) into the national airspace.
About Me
Hi, my name is Robert Briggs and I am an aerospace engineer that has been working is autonomous/uncrewed systems for 17+ years. I got involved in autonomous systems as an undergraduate and graduate researcher at Virginia Tech, specifically working with uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).
After graduate school I worked at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division as an uncrewed systems test engineer. Currently I am the chief engineer at Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP), an FAA-designated UAS test site and the lead of Virginia’s team in the BEYOND program. At MAAP, I lead the engineering efforts including research in detect and avoid, UAS traffic management, and other enabling technologies for widespread UAS operations.
Experience
- Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership
- Naval Surface Warfare Center
- Graduate School
- Insitu
- Undergraduate School
Chief Engineer @ Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership
April 2018 – Present
- Lead engineering team at MAAP, an FAA-designated UAS test site.
- Led test planning and execution of various large scale UAS tests, including all phases of the FAA UAS Traffic Management testing.
- Led and authored the Virginia Tech Means of Compliance (MOC) for Operations Over People (OOP). The VT MOC was the first FAA accepted MOC for OOP and led to the first drone approved for OOP.
- Managed various UAS projects, including FAA, NASA and industry projects.
Unmanned Systems Test Engineer @ Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division
January 2011 – April 2018
- Served as test engineer and test director for various unmanned system testing, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs)
- Served as UAS pilot (Certified FAA Remote Pilot-in-Command, ScanEagle UAS pilot, Puma SUAS pilot and Raven SUAS pilot)
Graduate Research Assistant @ Virginia Tech
August 2008 – December 2011
- Thesis: Mechanical Design of a Self-Mooring Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
- Led mechanical design of a new self-mooring autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for long duration missions. Was responsible for mechanical design and construction of vehicles.
- Planned and executed AUV testing, including lab and field testing.
- Graduate Teaching Assistant for several Aerospace Engineering courses.
Advanced Development Intern @ Insitu, Inc.
May 2008 – August 2008
- Developed a stand-alone simulation for physics modeling in Matlab and Simulink
- Assisted with instrumentation and execution for UAV ground and flight testing.
Undergraduate Research Assistant @ Virginia Tech
January 2006 – May 2008
- Worked on construction and testing of UAVs, including test planning and RC pilot responsibilities.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Specialties
- UAS Integration – Development of operational concepts and safety cases for Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS), including what is needed for approvals for advanced operations (BVLOS, OOP, etc.)
- Testing – Test Engineering for a variety of unmanned systems, including uncrewed aerial, surface and underwater vehicles. Well versed in all stages of testing from requirements definition, planning, execution, data processing and final reporting. FAA Remote Pilot-in-Command certified and trained on several uncrewed aerial systems.
- Data Processing and Reporting – In depth processing of test data and creation of reports. Proficient in Python, Excel and other data processing tools.
Contact
Please reach out with any questions or requests!