The Anatomy of Autonomy: Perspectives on the Development and Operations of Autonomous Aerospace Systems

Dr. Michael Francis has been a pioneer in the development of uncrewed and autonomous systems, having initiated the precursor to DARPA’s original Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Program in the mid-1990s. He joined DARPA while still on active duty as an Air Force Colonel to lead the award-winning US–German X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability (EFM) demonstrator program through its flight test and demonstration phase. During that same period, Colonel Francis initiated DARPA’s original Micro Air Vehicle program. He also led the government-contractor team that created DARPA’s unmanned tactical aircraft (UTA) concept―the precursor to UCAV. A decade later and following his military retirement, Francis returned to DARPA as the civilian Director of the $4.5B DARPA–USAF–Navy Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program―the successor to UCAV. Dr. Francis also served in executive roles at Aurora Flight Sciences, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, General Atomics, and the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC). Francis holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado. He is a Fellow of the AIAA and a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. He earned his private pilot license in 1964.

Professor Ella Atkins is the Fred D. Durham Chair of the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She is a foremost authority on autonomous aerospace systems with research contributions to both aeronautical and space domains. She serves as the editor-in-chief of the AIAA Journal of Aerospace Information Systems. Before joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Atkins was a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she also served as the Director of the Autonomous Aerospace Systems Laboratory, as well as the Associate Director of the University of Michigan Robotics Institute. She began her academic career as an assistant professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Atkins holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. She earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. Atkins is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 2022, she received the AIAA Intelligent Systems Award.

Since his first flying lesson at age 12, C. E. “Noah” Flood has devoted decades to his love of aviation, flying a variety of aircraft including Cessnas, military fighters, and airliners. Noah shares insights from experiences as a Civil Air Patrol cadet, Fighter Weapons School graduate, and Chief Pilot and Line Check Airman at a major American airline to demonstrate the applicability of autonomy to the aerospace realm. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Noah’s diverse practical experience ranges from conducting test and evaluation of the high-speed anti-radiation missile (HARM) to negotiating a multi-billion-dollar labor contract. He is a member of both the District of Columbia Bar and Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). He served on the National Research Council, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board’s Committee on Autonomy Research for Civil Aviation. Noah has presented at AIAA’s SciTech and Aviation Forums and serves on the Institute’s Advanced Air Mobility Certification Task Force. As an amateur astronomer, Noah focuses his energy on the wonders of our Universe and its current exploration.