Mark L. Psiaki

Mark L. Psiaki

Professor Emeritus
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
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Biography

After completing his undergraduate studies in physics, Prof. Psiaki worked for three years for RCA Astro-Electronics doing mechanical design and testing. While a graduate student at Princeton, he was a National Science Foundation Fellow, a Guggenheim Honorary Fellow, and a Lothrop Honorific Fellow. Professor Psiaki joined the Cornell faculty in 1986. In 1994 and 2001 he received Lady Davis fellowships, and under these awards he spent two sabbatical leaves with the aerospace engineering faculty at the Technion in Haifa, Israel. He served on the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control technical committee from 1992 to 1995, and he was an associate editor of the Journal of Guidance, Control, & Dynamics from 2001 to 2005.

Prof. Psiaki contributed filtering/estimation algorithms or hardware to the following spacecraft: the Los Alamos satellite ALEXIS, the NASA satellites AURA and AQUA, the NASA sounding rockets SIERRA, CASCADES/ CASCADES-2, ROPA, RENU/RENU-2, and MICA, and the Cornell Satellite CUSat. He developed algorithms for the NASA NAVIGATOR GPS receiver that acquires main-lobe and side-lobe signals on board spacecraft which fly above the GPS constellation. He led the Cornell team that developed a sequence of real-time GNSS software receivers culminating in the dual-frequency CASES space weather monitor. Prof. Psiaki has authored or co-authored more than 60 refereed journal articles, over 50 additional conference proceeding and trade magazine papers, and holds four patents.

Research Interests

Professor Psiaki's interests encompass development of new aerospace sensing systems and performance enhancement of existing systems through the use of estimation & filtering theory, optimization, and system modeling. Theoretical research is being conducted to develop new solution algorithms for state and parameter estimation problems. The applied component of Psiaki's research involves the use of advanced techniques to solve state-estimation, parameter-estimation, and system-identification problems for specific systems. Applications of interest include GPS/GNSS software radio receivers, GPS/GNSS security and integrity, GPS/GNSS position, velocity, attitude, and time determination, Alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing methods, GPS/GNSS remote sensing of the upper atmosphere, spacecraft navigation/orbit determination, and spacecraft attitude determination & control.

Teaching Interests

Psiaki's teaching interests lie in the dynamics and control area, with emphasis on system dynamics and GPS at the undergraduate level and on model-base estimation and GPS at the graduate level.

Selected Publications

  • O'Hanlon, B. W., M.L. Psiaki, J. A. Bhatti, D. P. Shepard, T. E. Humphreys.  2013. "Real-Time GPS Spoofing Detection via Correlation of Encrypted Signals."  Navigation 60 (4): 267-278.
  • Hinks, Joanna C., M.L. Psiaki.  2013. "Generalized Square-Root Information Consider Covariance Analysis for Filters and Smoothers."Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics 36 (4): 1105-1118.
  • Psiaki, M.L.  2013. "The Blind Tricyclist Problem and a Comparative Study of Nonlinear Filters."  IEEE Control Systems Magazine 33 (3): 40-54.
  • Psiaki, M.L., J. C. Hinks.  2012. "Numerical Solution of a Generalized Wahba Problem for a Spinning Spacecraft."  Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics 35 (3): 764-773.
  • Hinks, J C., M.L. Psiaki.  2011. "Solution Strategies for an Extension of Wahba's Problem to a Spinning Spacecraft."  Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics 34 (6): 1734-1745.

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Selected Awards and Honors

  • Fellow of the Institute of Navigation, 2014-present
  • Tycho Brahe Award (Institute of Navigation) 2013
  • Burka Award, Institute of Navigation 2005
  • Best Paper Awards, Four AIAA Guidance Navigation & Control Conferences, 1997, 2005, 2007, & 2009
  • Best Paper Awards, Two AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conferences, 1998 & 2002

Education

  • B.A. (Physics), Princeton University, 1979
  • M.A. (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), Princeton University, 1984
  • Ph.D. (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), Princeton University, 1987