Sebastiano Chiodini is Research Associate in Mechanical and Thermal Measurements at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Padova, Italy. He previously was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre of Studies and Activities for Space “G. Colombo”, University of Padova. In 2017, he obtained a Ph.D. degree in Space Sciences, Technologies and Measurements from the University of Padova, having completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the same university and the École centrale de Lyon under the T.I.M.E. double degree program in 2013. During the JPL Visiting Student Researchers Program (JVSRP) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA in 2016, he worked on a collaborative visual localization method for rovers designed to hop and tumble across the surface of comets and asteroids. Sebastiano has contributed to the development and qualification of the COver Mechanism (COM) of the JANUS telescope and has collaborated with ALTEC SpA, Turin, Italy, on the development of localization algorithms for ESA ExoMars rover. His research interests include the design and development of machine vision-based measurement systems for drones and rovers, LiDAR-based measurement systems for robotics and autonomous navigation, and the design and testing of mechanisms for space applications.

https://www.research.unipd.it/cris/rp/rp08719

Some topics for thesis proposals:

(1) Development and testing of sensor fusion techniques based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems for accurate Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT).
(2) Development of instrumentation for rovers aimed at planetary exploration, reconstruction of their trajectory through onboard sensors, and development of algorithms for their control.
(3) Realization of subsystems for space applications, their mechanical and thermal characterization in thermo-vacuum conditions, and vibration qualification.

For additional information, send an e-mail to sebastiano.chiodini@unipd.it