Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Career Change - It's Official

I signed my first academic contract today, accepting an offer from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU)- Worldwide. I have been appointed to the rank of Assistant Professor of Aeronautics, a full-time, tenure track position with the University. My area of specialization will be in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), specifically course development, instruction, and research. I'm very excited to start this new career path working for one of the nations "Great Colleges to Work For," as identified by The Chronicle of Higher Education (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 2012). The Chronicle also provided ERAU with an Honor Roll designation for their performance in the following six employer categories:
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Compensation and Benefits
  • Respect and Appreciation
  • Work/Life Balance
  • Facilities, Workspace and Security
  • Professional/Career Development Programs (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 2012).
REFERENCES
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. (2012). The Chronicle of Higher Education again names Embry-Riddle a "Great College to Work For": Three other rankings honor Emry-Riddle as a top employer [News Release]. Retrieved from
http://news.erau.edu/top-news/find-news-releases/2012/great-colleges.html

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

My Dissertation Available for Purchase

My Ph.D. Dissertation Manuscript, Examining Effects of Visual Interaction Methods on Unmanned Aircraft Operators Situational Awareness, is now available for purchase from ProQuest/UMI:

ID: 3516061 EXAMINING EFFECTS OF VISUAL INTERACTION METHODS ON UNMANNED AIRCRAFT OPERATOR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
 Author:Terwilliger, Brent Andrew   |  No. of pages:   302

To order a copy, please click here...

PDF (immediate download): $37
Unbound: $39
Softcover: $54
Hardcover: $70
Microfilm: $46
Microfiche: $51

The manuscript is free to all Northcentral University (NCU) learners (currently enrolled), alumni, faculty, and staff on the following page...

APA 6th ed. reference:

Terwilliger, B. (2012). Examining Effects of Visual Interaction Methods on Unmanned Aircraft Operators Situational Awareness (Doctoral Dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI No. 3516061)

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

New Camera Actuator Technology Simulates Ocular Movement

A new camera motion control system developed by Ph.D. candidate Joshua Schultz from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, replicates ocular movement using piezoelectric cellular actuators (Goodwin, 2012; Rennals, 2012; Robotic camera mimics eye movement, 2012). This technology could lead to the development of more intuitive human-machine-interfaces (HMI)s between remote devices and controllers (Goodwin, 2012).  The use of piezoelectric materials facilitates finer camera movement and reduced power, which cannot be replicated using bulky servos (Cain, 2012; Robotic camera mimics eye movement, 2012). The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF; NSF, 2012), was recently presented at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE; IEEE, 2012) International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics in Rome, Italy (Goodwin, 2012).

I would be interested in examining this technology for inclusion in future teleoperation or unmanned vehicle interaction research. Specifically, what the implications might be when combined with a pan and tilt gimbal or servo base, a head tracker, and an eye tracker. An ocular camera motion base system might provide additional perception fidelity for a system to establish enhanced visual interaction (i.e., telepresence) to further replicate data capture that more accurately replicates head and eye movements of a remote operator.

REFERENCES
Cain, P. (2012, August). Robotic cameras get human-like eye muscle.Wired.com. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/08/robotic-cameras-get-human-like-eye-muscle/

Goodwin, S.E. (2012, July). Robot vision: Muscle-like action allows camera to mimic human eye movement. Atlanta, GA: Research News & Publications Office, Georgia Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/muscle-like-action-mimics-human-eye-movement/

IEEE. (2012). IEEE.org [website]. Retrieved from http://www.ieee.org/index.html

NSF. (2012). National Science Foundation [website]. Retrieved from http://www.nsf.gov/

Rennals, L. (2012, July). History of robots could change with more life-like eyeball. RedOrbit.com. Retrieved from http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112651445/history-of-robots-could-change-with-more-life-like-eyeball/

Robotic camera mimics eye movement. (2012, July). Photonics.com. Retrieved from http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=51344

Wired. (2012). Schwartz.jpg [image file]. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/rawfile/2012/08/schwartz.jpg