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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://aero.iisc.ac.in
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Department of Aerospace Engineering
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TZID:Asia/Kolkata
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TZOFFSETFROM:+0530
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DTSTART:20260101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260709T150000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260709T170000
DTSTAMP:20260817T083243
CREATED:20260707T091903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T062534Z
UID:10000135-1783609200-1783616400@aero.iisc.ac.in
SUMMARY:Characterizing Dynamic Response of Structures and Materials under Extreme Loading Environments
DESCRIPTION:Protective structures and vessels used in marine and defense applications are increasingly required to withstand extreme dynamic loading caused by explosions in air and underwater. Designing lightweight yet resilient structures demands a fundamental understanding of shock-wave interactions with materials\, structural geometry\, and the surrounding medium. This seminar presents a series of experimental investigations that progressively examine these aspects using advanced diagnostics.\nThe seminar begins with a comparative study of circular composite plates subjected to planar shock loading in air and underwater. The experiments reveal how the loading medium governs structural deformation\, vibration characteristics\, and cavitation-induced secondary loading\, providing insights into shock–structure interaction.\nNext\, the influence of structural geometry is examined through blast experiments on curved polymeric sandwich composite panels. The effects of curvature and boundary conditions on structural response are investigated\, demonstrating that geometric tailoring can significantly enhance blast resistance and modify damage mechanisms.\nThe seminar concludes by exploring the complex interaction between near-field underwater explosions and sandwich composite structures. Experimental observations capture the coupled effects of shock waves\, gas-bubble oscillations\, surface cavitation\, and structural deformation. The results highlight the influence of explosive stand-off distance and core density on impulse transfer\, cavitation dynamics\, and failure mechanisms\, providing valuable insights into fluid–structure interaction under extreme underwater loading.\nTogether\, these experimental studies advance the understanding of the dynamic response of composite structures under extreme loading and provide guidance for the design of resilient lightweight structures for naval\, offshore\, and protective engineering applications.\n\nSpeaker: Dr. Akshay Pandey\n\nBiography:\nDr. Akash Pandey is currently working as a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. He previously worked at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island. His research focuses on the dynamic response of structures and materials subjected to extreme loading conditions\, including blast and impact
URL:https://aero.iisc.ac.in/event/characterizing-dynamic-response-of-structures-and-materials-under-extreme-loading-environments/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:AE Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://aero.iisc.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dr.-Akshay-Pandey.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260716T150000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260716T170000
DTSTAMP:20260817T083243
CREATED:20260708T083450Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T064148Z
UID:10000136-1784214000-1784221200@aero.iisc.ac.in
SUMMARY:FROM MOTION PLANNING TO MULTI-ROBOT AUTONOMY IN CONSTRAINED AND DISCONNECTED ENVIRONMENTS
DESCRIPTION:Autonomous robots operating in challenging environments must make reliable decisions under geometric\, dynamic\, and environmental constraints. In such settings\, motion planning plays a central role in enabling robots to move safely and efficiently through cluttered\, narrow\, disconnected or uncertain spaces\, while balancing feasibility\, robustness\, and computational efficiency. \nThis talk will focus on motion planning for quadrotors flight through constrained regions such as narrow windows and cluttered spaces. In the later part of the talk\, I will briefly broaden the discussion to autonomy problems beyond single-robot flight\, including hierarchical coverage path planning in disconnected regions and terrain-aware balanced area allocation for heterogeneous multi-robot systems. Together\, these works highlight how planning methods must scale from vehicle-level motion generation to higher-level coordination and task allocation in challenging operational environments. \nSpeaker: Dr. Saurabh Upadhyay \nBiography: \nSaurabh Upadhyay received B.E. degree from SSGMCE\, Shegaon in 2009\, M.Tech. degree from IIT Guwahati in 2012\, and Ph.D. degree from IISc Bengaluru in 2018. He is a Lecturer in Space Engineering at Cranfield University\, UK. His research interests lie in mobile robots for extreme environments\, with special focus on low onboard resources decision making and ISRU-enabled robot design. He has received A.K. Rao best PhD thesis medal 2018 in Aerospace Engineering at IISc Bengaluru\, and he is endorsed as a potential leader/exceptional promise by Royal Academy of Engineering in 2021. He is an IEEE senior member\, lifetime AIAA Senior member\, and fellow of HEA.
URL:https://aero.iisc.ac.in/event/from-motion-planning-to-multi-robot-autonomy-in-constrained-and-disconnected-environments/
LOCATION:Auditorium (AE 005)\, Department of Aerospace Engineering
CATEGORIES:AE Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://aero.iisc.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Saurabh-Upadhyay-Talk.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260731T120000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260731T130000
DTSTAMP:20260817T083243
CREATED:20260724T101000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260802T104845Z
UID:10000140-1785499200-1785502800@aero.iisc.ac.in
SUMMARY:AstroNav: Autonomy for Navigating Deep Space and Beyond
DESCRIPTION:Autonomous navigation is becoming a critical capability for modern deep space exploration\, planetary defense\, and commercial space ventures. Traditional spacecraft navigation relies heavily on ground-based radio contact to collect two-way radiometric Doppler and range measurements. However\, this structural dependency introduces significant communication latency and places a heavy burden on oversubscribed ground antenna networks. For cutting-edge applications—such as navigating through the active plumes of Enceladus or executing precise planetary defense maneuvers like ion beam deflection and gravity tractoring—the turnaround time of ground-based loops is simply too slow. Furthermore\, legacy onboard solutions present severe limitations in modularity or applicability.\n\nThis talk addresses these challenges by highlighting the critical need for autonomous navigation within the rapidly expanding modern space economy. We begin with a historical review of autonomous deep space navigation\, tracking its evolution from the pioneering AutoNav software developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for Deep Space 1 through its critical successes on the Stardust and Deep Impact comet missions. The presentation then provides a comprehensive overview of AstroNav\, the next-generation successor designed to overcome legacy limitations. We will detail the specific architectural and algorithmic augmentations that advance AstroNav far beyond past technologies\, including its modular\, plug-and-play capability to ingest multi-source data. Finally\, we will present the concept of operations for AstroNav’s upcoming flight technology demonstration payload integrated onto the CAPSTONE-2 spacecraft\, scheduled for launch in mid-2027.\n\nSpeaker : Dr Swati Mohan\n\nBiography:\nDr Swati Mohan was born in Bengaluru\, India\, and emigrated to the United States of America with her parents when she was one year old. Dr. Mohan attended Cornell University and received her B.S. in 2004 in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.  After a brief stint working at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Cassini mission\, in 2004-2005\, she went on to graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Aeronautics/Astronautics department.  She rejoined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2010 in the Guidance\, Navigation\, and Controls section.  Since then\, Swati has worked on a number of missions\, such as GRAIL\, OCO-3\, Mars 2020 Perseverance\, and Psyche. She is best known for being the voice of Entry\, Descent\, and Landing for Perseverance’s landing on February 18\, 2021.  She was the GNC lead and a Chief Engineer for the Psyche mission\, which launched on October 13\, 2023.  After launching Psyche\, Swati has transitioned to the Mars Sample Return mission.  She first served as Chief Engineer for the Mars Launch System\, then later as the Descent Command and Control Lead.  She is currently the Project Manager for AstroNav\, an autonomous celestial navigation payload.
URL:https://aero.iisc.ac.in/event/astronav-autonomy-for-navigating-deep-space-and-beyond/
LOCATION:STC Seminar Hall\, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering
CATEGORIES:AE Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://aero.iisc.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Swati.jpg
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