What are the responsibilities and job description for the Sr./Principal UAS Guidance Navigation Control (GNC) Engineer position at Knightwerx?
Knightwerx is looking for a highly skilled and experienced Senior / Principal GNC Engineer to work on the development of a small unmanned electric aircraft. We operate in a fast-paced development environment that balances innovation and ingenuity with practicality and reliability. Youll be working and supported by a team of strong engineers and subject matter experts to develop an aircraft from the ground up and be involved in every step of the process.
Work Experience
Bachelor's or higher degree in relevant engineering discipline
Min. 5-10 years GNC experience developing software for embedded systems
Top to bottom, start to finish development of embedded system
Cross-discipline, hands-on experience with electrical, embedded, and software fields
Attributes
Innovative, hands-on, and practical
Multi-disciplined, problem solver, driven by engineering analysis
Goal driven, learns from mistakes, and closes the loop on the design process
Understands trades of scope for effort
Communicates well through discussion and documentation
Works well with others to develop plans and solve problems
Primary Duties
Focus on the adaptation and development of onboard flight control system for a small UAS
Works with cross-discipline engineers (AE, ME, EE, SW) to understand the system-level desired functionality and translates to software requirements
Works with aircraft designer to size and spatially configure control actuators; define and experimentally confirm control authority requirements
Architects, implements and tunes vehicle and component control loops, and state estimation algorithms
Work with SW team to build and implement 6-DOF software in the loop simulator
Work with AE team to build 6-DOF vehicle model for simulation
Aide in evaluating and defining tasking / effort to fit the schedule and scope of the project in conjunction with project management
Tasks
State estimation algorithm implementation and tuning
Architect / modify vehicle control loops
Verify / tune vehicle and component control loops
Develop vehicle and component-level models
Research, down-select, and source vehicle sensors and computational components
Help roadmap GPS-denied / VIO implementation into vehicle
Skills
Understanding of common state estimation algorithms and methods for assessing / tuning
Understanding of common control loops and methods for assessing / tuning
Embedded programming, with emphasis on C / C in a robotics and / or UAV setting. Experience with Python, C# (desired)
Basic understanding of low-level avionics hardware
Capable of hardware debugging and / or working with hardware engineers to troubleshoot avionics issues Includes following wiring diagrams and oscilloscope / analyzer use
Physics-based actuator / vehicle modeling
Experience with Ardupilot and / or PX4 code bases and compatible hardware (desired)
Requirements
Must have US citizenship
On-site, collaborative work environment
About Knightwerx
Knightwerx is a start-up company that was born to be game-changing. From its inception, Knightwerx has focused on solving real-world, mission-critical problems for the government and civilian sectors. Our approach is to seek top experts for every position who are not only willing to make a lasting impact but to drive innovation and enhance the companys direction. As such, we are not business leaders who build drones or drone builders running a business. We are both.