Official Job Title
Professor Emeritus
Job Title(s)
Emeritus Length of Service
1984-2007
Email Address
Office Building
VL
Office Room Number
E392
Technical Interest Group(s)
Biography

Dr. Vachtsevanos directs the Intelligent Control Systems Laboratory at Georgia Tech where faculty and students are conducting interdisciplinary research in intelligent control, fault diagnosis and failure prognosis of complex dynamical systems with emphasis on rotorcraft, and hierarchical/intelligent control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. His work in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles dates back to 1994 with major projects funded by the U.S. Army and DARPA. He has served as the Co-PI for DARPA's Software Enabled Control program over the past six years and directed the development and flight testing of novel fault-tolerant control algorithms for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. He is currently representing Georgia Tech at DARPA's HURT program where multiple UAVs are performing surveillance, reconnaissance, and tracking missions in an urban environment. Under Army Research Office sponsorship, his research team is developing game theoretic notions for adversarial reasoning.

His research in fault diagnosis and prognosis for Condition Based Maintenance began in 1984 with innovative fault detection and control technologies for the space station program. Under Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsorship, he developed fault detection and fault-tolerant control systems for a turbojet engine. Jointly with Honeywell, he designed diagnostic and prognostic algorithms for shipboard machinery under ONR sponsorship. More recently, he has been an active participant in DARPA's Prognosis Program, the Aging Aircraft Program, an Advanced Diagnostics Program for U.S. Army vehicles, a U.S. Navy program on Prognostic Enhancements to Diagnostic Systems, an Air Force Space Command Program for CBM Design of Ground Satellite Stations, and other industrial programs. He administers at Georgia Tech and on-site an intensive 4-day short course on "Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis for Engineering Systems." He has published over 250 technical papers and is the recipient of the 2002-2003 Georgia Tech School of ECE Distinguished Professor Award and the 2003-2004 Georgia Institute of Technology Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activities Award. He is the lead author of the book, Intelligent Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis for Engineering Systems, published by Wiley in 2006.

Research
  • Hierarchical/Intelligent control of large-scale industrial processes
  • Fault-tolerant and mode transitioning control of unmanned aerial vehicles
  • Vision and IR based inspection technologies for textile, glass and other industrial products
  • Analysis of EEG signals for detection and prediction of epileptic seizures
  • Sensor fusion techniques for classification and control
Distinctions & Awards
  • Awarded six U.S. patents in the areas of biomedical instrumentation, robotics and inspection of industrial products
  • Dissertation Fellowship and Scholarship awards for undergraduate and graduate study
  • Civic Congress of Staten Island Achievement Award
  • 1998 Publication Award of the International Test and Evaluation Association
  • Chairman, Society of Manufacturing Engineers Association for Electronics Manufacturing Board of Advisors, 1997-1998
  • Associate Editor, International Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems
  • Member, National Energy Council of Greece, 1979-1981