Rudi Gaum Email & Phone Number

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Design of precision GNSS Positioning and Inertial Navigation systems and software for safety-critical applications in the automotive industry.Design of a functionally safe high-accuracy GNSS/INS positioning engine:• Safety‑critical software development in C++ according to the processes of ASPICE & ISO 26262• Implementation of Precise Point Positioning (PPP) algorithms using SSR (State Space Representation) corrections• Computation of positioning Protection Levels (PL) using solution separation• Participated in process audits leading to successful ASPICE & ISO 26262 certification• Co‑authored a paper published for ION demonstrating the capabilities of Hexagon’s functionally safe positioning engine

Somerset West Area, South Africa

Systems design for two commercial aircraft automation projects. Conversion of these aircraft into Optionally Piloted Vehicles (OPVs) through integration of custom Automation, Navigation and Communications systems onto these vehicles.

United Arab Emirates

Specialist in the integration of Hardware and Software building blocks together with Control and Navigation algorithms to create automation solutions for various unmanned platforms.Flight automation of a large-scale commercial rotary-wing aircraft:• Technical lead for Guidance, Navigation and Flight Control (GNC) algorithm design facilitating autonomous mission-based flight• Aerodynamic modelling and dynamic simulation in Simulink as well as on a real-time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulator (HILS)• Software implementation of the Flight control system (FCS) and supporting software modules using C code on a Real-time Operating System (RTOS) based flight computer• Redundant avionics architecture design: Power, Sensors, Control and Actuation• Software verification and system validation through HIL simulation and flight testingOther activities:• Data-link encryption and authentication• Sub-contractor interaction and technical feedback

Somerset West Area, South Africa

Principal/Lead Development Engineer in the field of Autonomous Systems with main focus area being Flight Control Systems (FCS) and Safety-critical Real-time Software development for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Facilitating the implementation of system engineering processes and plans. Taking responsibility for the engineering development outputs of a project, including all design documentation and verification artefacts.• Design of a dual redundant Flight Control System (FCS) for a tactical class unmanned helicopter featuring Autonomous Take-off and Landing (ATOL) and High-speed Waypoint Navigation flight• Design of stability and guidance controllers using MATLAB analysis tools• Software implementation of flight control algorithms following the standards of DO-178B for safety-critical software development in C• Real-time software design and implementation using VxWorks RTOS• Validation of the software and controller design using real-time Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation (HILS)• Model-based design using Simulink and Stateflow• Aerodynamic modelling using Athena Vortex Lattice (AVL)• Inertial Navigation and Estimation algorithm designs• Embedded Firmware development for avionics sensor sub-systems

Somerset West Area, South Africa

Development Engineer specializing in embedded software, simulation and flight control. Responsible for detailed design and implementation of algorithms and software for simulation and automation systems.• Design of dynamic models for a real-time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulator (HILS) for an unmanned helicopter to simulate aerodynamics, propulsion, environment, sensors and sub-systems• Software implementation of the HIL simulator system and dynamic models in a Real-time Operating System (RTOS) environment using C• RTOS (QNX Neutrino) software design including multi-threading, priority-based scheduling, IPC (message queues & mutexes) and system timing analysis • Validation of the Simulator through low-level unit testing and high-level functional tests• Simulator Interface GUI development using C++ and Qt libraries

South Africa

Further development of the Unmanned Systems research group’s projects as well as collaboration with industry partners (SAAB, IMT, ARMSCOR & CSIR) to develop various Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs). The focus of my work was flight control systems design, embedded avionics hardware and firmware development, system integration and flight testing.• Embedded firmware development of high-level Guidance, Control and Navigation (GNC) software and low-level sensor and actuator interfaces (e.g. CAN, SPI, UART, PWM)• Design, simulation and validation of flight automation systems for small Rotary-wing and Multi-rotor UAV platforms• Controller design and simulation using MATLAB / Simulink and validation through HIL simulation• Avionics hardware development using Altium Designer for PCB schematics and routing• Electronics design of boards for: Embedded flight control, Power systems, Sensor interfaces (e.g. GPS, IMU) and Actuator control

South Africa

Rapid development (3 months) of a Flight Control System (FCS) for a 4 m wing-span unmanned aircraft using embedded microcontroller-based avionics including MEMS gyroscopes & accelerometers, pressure sensors, GPS and a magnetometer.• Embedded Flight Control and Sensor Interface Firmware development (embedded C)• Flight Control System design and simulation using MATLAB / Simulink and validation though HILS• Successful demonstration of autonomous waypoint navigation flight during a flight test

Master Of Science In Electronic Engineering (Msceng), Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical Engineering, Cum Laude

• Master's degree with specialisations in: Aerospace, Aerodynamics, Flight Control, Inertial Navigation, Guidance, Embedded Firmware &.

Bachelor Of Engineering (Beng), Electrical And Electronic Engineering, Cum Laude

• Broad degree in the field of Electrical and Electronic engineering with a foundation of mathematics and engineering sciences.