AUTONOMOUS CONTROLS ENGINEER

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Environmental and Information Systems (EIS) team at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington is hiring – see yourself at APL!

The Applied Physics Laboratory is a research unit at the University of Washington. Our research expertise is in ocean physics and engineering, ocean and medical acoustics, polar science, environmental remote sensing, and signal processing. We conduct research and development that is sponsored by a variety of federal and state agencies, and take great pride in our long-standing status as a US Navy-designated University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). Our work takes place not only on the University of Washington campus and medical centers, but in field locations around the world – at sea, in the air, and on polar ice caps. We apply rigorous scientific inquiry and engineering excellence in pursuit of solutions to important problems for the good of our region, nation, and world.

Diversity is a core value at University of Washington and the Applied Physics Laboratory shares this commitment. We are focused on building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable research environment for all students, staff, and collaborators. We believe every member on our team enriches our community by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions.

APL has an outstanding full time opportunity for a Autonomous Controls Engineer.

*The EIS team is looking to hire several Autonomous Controls Engineers from this recruitment.*

This Autonomous Controls Engineer will work closely with project leads to research, experiment and develop software for autonomous marine systems.  Specifically, the work will involve developing the flight control, sensor interfaces, system management, and communication software modules for an unmanned underwater buoyancy-driven vehicle.  Additionally, the position will be responsible for adapting an existing vehicle simulator to model the characteristics of a new vehicle under development.

The successful applicant must be able to apply control theoretic principles to develop a closed-loop controller to enable a submerged vehicle to track a set of reference signals using a limited set of input actuations.  The position will also assist in designing and implementing an interface to the vehicle controller, interfaces to sensors and actuators, and modifications to a command and control infrastructure.

The position may be required to accompany system field testing and deployments, working outdoors under occasionally challenging conditions, such as small boat operations.

The Autonomous Controls Engineer will be responsible for writing offboard diagnostic software for reading, plotting, and analyzing data generated by the onboard systems.  The position will be required to report and explain results to senior engineers and use these to work out solutions to anomalies or failures or to improve efficiency.  The incumbent will also be expected to adhere to accepted best coding practices and conventions and be versed in interface documentation techniques.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Control system development
Software development
Simulation and modeling
Offboard software development / analysis
Reporting and documenting
Field testing

*This recruitment will be used to hire several applicants, based on project need and funding.*

REQUIREMENTS: