Principal Engineer: Control Systems at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Principal Engineer: Control Systems in the Aeronautics Systems Impact Area within the Defence and Security cluster. The incumbent will be responsible to develop hardware and software solutions towards the autonomous flight of unmanned aircraft. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the specification, design, development, integration, and test of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Guidance navigation and control (GNC) systems;
• Design and develop customized systems for fully autonomous flying platforms;
• Integrate hardware for fixed-wing and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL platforms;
• Optimize control algorithms for robust autonomous flight;
• Prepare and present analysis and testing results to support formal and informal design reviews;
• Develop firmware in support of autonomous flight;
• Perform flight testing of aerial platforms;
• Collaborate and interact with a multidisciplinary team (systems, structural, aeromechanics, payload, etc.);
• Assist program manager in developing program plans;
• Provide mentorship to junior staff and supervise technical work;
• Develop and lead the development of simulation software tools supporting autonomous flight;
• Perform software in the loop and hardware in the loop (SIL & HIL) testing and simulation;
• Implement systems engineering and systems thinking practices;
• Communicate with relevant stakeholders (PMs, line management, senior management).

Qualifications, skills and experience:

A Master’s degree in robotics, mechatronics, aerospace, mechanical engineering or related fields with at least eight years’ experience in the design and development environment, of which three years’ should be in each of the following:

• Programming using C, C++ or Matlab;
• Object-orientated software engineering;
• Robotics Research and Development (R&D) or a related field; 
• A Doctoral degree in mechatronics, mechanical, aerospace engineering, robotics, or computer science will be advantageous;
• Excellent communication, presentation, and writing skills, including the publication of technical outputs;

Knowledge and/or experience in the following will be advantageous:

• Good understanding of the sensors, actuators, and algorithms contributing to aerial autonomy;
• Ability to fuse multiple sensor data and real-time control with state estimation methods (e.g. Extended Kalman Filters);
• Previous experience in closed-loop control, computer vision, and state estimation
• Experience in conducting research and a publication record;
• Software development in the field of robotics;
• Understanding of communication protocols: MAVLINK, MAVROS, UDP, UART, USB, I2C, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF, CAN;
• Applied knowledge of using Pixhawk flight controller, PX4 / ardupilot firmware, mission planner or similar.