Professor Yang Gao

Professor of Space Autonomous Systems

Qualifications: BEng (1st Hons), PhD, SMIEEE, COPSAR Associate

Email:
Phone: Work: 01483 68 3446
Room no: BA U21

Further information

Biography

Professor Yang Gao heads the AI  & Autonomy Group within SSC which specializes in robotic vision, computational intelligence and biomimetics with applications to space systems and robots alike. She brings over ten years of research experience in developing autonomous system technologies, in which she has been a principle investigator, co-investigator, technical lead, and project manager of over ten internationally teamed projects funded by European Commission, European Space Agency, UK Research Councils and Royal Academies, as well as industrial companies such as EADS Astrium, BAE Systems and SSTL, etc. Yang is also actively involved in space mission design and promoting the Surrey 'low-cost' space engineering approach within missions like ExoMars, MoonLITE, Moonraker, LunarEX/NET, and Marco Polo-R, etc. Dr. Gao has been named by the Times Higher Education as one of ten young leading academics in the UK who are making a very significant contribution to their disciplines.

In her research field, Yang has co-authored one book, five book chapters, over eighty technical papers in internationally refereed journals and conference proceedings. She is the Chair of IEEE CIS Task Force on Intelligent Space Systems and Operations, a Guest Editor of International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, a member of the IEEE RAS and CIS Technical Committees, the Royal Society Newton International Fellowship Committee, as well the International Programme Committee of various conferences such as ICACI2012, ICONIP2012, IWACI2011, etc . She has also been the invited session chair, speaker and lecturer at various international conferences and summer schools such as IEEE CDC, iSAIRAS, AMSAT Symposium, UK Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration Meeting Series, COSPAR summer school on Planetary and Space Science, etc.

Prior to joining SSC in 2004, Yang was an awardee of the prestigious Singapore Millennium Foundation Fellowship and worked on intelligent and autonomous vehicles. She gained the B.Eng. (First Class Honors) degree and Ph.D. degree from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2000 and 2003 respectively.

Research Interests

Yang's research interests are motivated by promoting AI techniques in space (incl. machine learning, computer vision and biomimetics) and low-cost engineering design for space systems & missions to the Moon, Mars and Europa etc. The following research topics have been undertaken since 2004 within this group by research staff, PhD, master and undergraduate project students. New PhD applications are still welcome to develop the relevant technologies to the next step. More information about the Group can be found in the Autonomy & AI Group page.

Vision-Based Sensing & Autonomous Navigation

This research is to investigate vision processing and behavior-based navigation algorithms to achieve autonomous localization, mapping (e.g. SLAM), and terrain assessment for planetary rovers and/or high precision landers. Existing projects include STFC-funded study on planetary rover technologies, ExoMars PanCam payload study, EU FP7 project on Planetary Robotics Vision Ground Processing (PROVISG), joint project with BJUT on lunar rover GNC for Chang’E mission, and SSTL Magnolia-1 project on precision lander autonomy.

Multi-agent Reasoning for Reconfigurable Autonomy

This research is to study learning and reasoning strategies (such as rule-based method, reinforcement/Q learning) to achieve autonomous agents. There is a growing interest of applying multi-agents in future space missions such as sensor network, formation flying, mobile agents as well as astronaut support robotic agents. This research can help to address issues like decision-making, task planning and scheduling for multi-agent systems and to support future manned and unmanned space missions. Existing projects include EU FP7 project on Forward Acquisition of Soil Terrain using Exploration Rovers (FASTER), and EPSRC-funded collaborative project on Reconfigurable Autonomy lasting from 2012 to 2016.

Bio-Inspired Planetary Explorer

This project is to develop a drilling instrument for subsurface sampling and conducting scientific experiments (such as thermal conductivity, water and organics detection) for future planetary missions. The instrument implements a novel cost-efficient drilling mechanism, inspired by nature where insects such as female wood wasps and female locusts use their ovipositor valves to drill into trees or soil to lay eggs. ESA has been funding us to develop the theoretical model and engineering prototypes.

Micro Space Vehicles: Rovers, Penetrators...

This research aims to design and develop low mass, low volume and low power space systems for low-cost planetary missions, which should provide excellent platforms for space autonomy. Development of a micro-rover would include chassis design, autonomous navigation and locomotion control. Existing studies include ESA-funded study RCET on chassis design covered traction analysis using Bekker theory, mean free path analysis based on rock distribution and rover mobility evaluation software (incl. 3D simulation). In terms of developing micro-penetrators, our group is a major partner of UK penetrator consortium consisting of over 15 partners globally such as UCL/MSSL, QinetiQ, Open University, and Imperial College, etc. EADS Astrium is now funding the group to investigate low-cost attitude control means for planetary penetrators.

UK Lunar Missions

MoonLITE & Moonraker were proposed by SSTL/SSC under a Pre-phase A study of low-cost UK lunar mission concepts funded by STFC. The study provides a comprehensive mission rationale, mission profile design from launch, landing to mission operation, as well as system-level definition for propulsion, AOCS, communication, power, and science payload. The MoonLITE is to commerce the Phase A study in early 2009.

Research Collaborations

  • Space Agencies: NASA (JPL/Ames), ESA (ESTEC/ESOC), CNSA (CAST/SAST), DLR (Berlin/Bremen)
  • Industrial Companies: EADS Astrium (UK), SSTL, BAE 
  • Universities and Institutes: UK (UCL, Liverpool, Southampton, AU Wales), France (ISAE), Germeny (TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt, DFKI), Austria (JR),  USA (Ohio SU, MSU), China (HIT, BJUT, Beihang)

Publications

Highlights

  • Gouache TP, Brunskill C, Scott GP, Gao Y, Coste P, Gourinat Y. (2010) 'Regolith simulant preparation methods for hardware testing'. PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE, 58 (14-15), pp. 1977-1984.
    doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2010.09.021
  • Gao Y, Phipps A, Taylor M, Crawford IA, Ball AJ, Wilson L, Parker D, Sweeting M, Curiel ADS, Davies P, Baker A, Pike WT, Smith A, Gowen R. (2008) 'Lunar science with affordable small spacecraft technologies: MoonLITE and Moonraker'. PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE, 56 (3-4), pp. 368-377.
    doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2007.11.005
  • Gao Y, Ellery A, Jaddou M, Vincent J, Eckersley S. (2007) 'Planetary micro-penetrator concept study with biomimetric drill and sampler design'. IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, 43 (3), pp. 875-885.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2005) 'NARMAX time series model prediction: feedforward and recurrent fuzzy neural network approaches'. ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV FUZZY SET SYST, 150 (2), pp. 331-350.
    doi: 10.1016/j.fss.2004.09.015
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2005) 'An intelligent adaptive control scheme for postsurgical blood pressure regulation.'. IEEE Trans Neural Netw, United States: 16 (2), pp. 475-483.
    doi: 10.1109/TNN.2004.841798

Journal articles

  • Raus R, Gao Y, Wu Y, Watt M. (2012) 'Analysis of state-of-the-art single-thruster attitude control techniques for spinning penetrator'. Acta Astronautica, 76, pp. 60-78.
    doi: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.02.014
  • Wu Y-H, Gao Y, Raus R, Watt M. (2012) 'Tradeoff Analysis of Attitude-Control Slew Algorithms for Prolate Spinner'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF GUIDANCE CONTROL AND DYNAMICS, 35 (4), pp. 1143-1157.
    doi: 10.2514/1.55619
  • Gao Y, Samperio R, Shala K, Cheng Y. (2012) 'Modular Design for Planetary Rover Autonomous Navigation Software using ROS'. European Space Agency Acta Futura, (5) Article number 1 , pp. 9-16.
    doi: 10.2420/AF05.2012.9
  • Wu Y, Gao Y, Raus R, Watt M. (2012) 'Single thruster attitude control software simulator for spinning spacecraft'. IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings,
    doi: 10.1109/AERO.2012.6187256
  • Smith A, Crawford IA, Gowen RA, Ambrosi R, Anand M, Banerdt B, Bannister N, Bowles N, Braithwaite C, Brown P, Chela-Flores J, Cholinser T, Church P, Coates AJ, Colaprete T, Collins G, Collinson G, Cook T, Elphic R, Fraser G, Gao Y, Gibson E, Glotch T, Grande M, Griffiths A, Grygorczuk J, Gudipati M, Hagermann A, Heldmann J, Hood LL, Jones AP, Joy KH, Khavroshkin OB, Klingelhoefer G, Knapmeyer M, Kramer G, Lawrence D, Marczewski W, McKenna-Lawlor S, Miljkovic K, Narendranath S, Palomba E, Phipps A, Pike WT, Pullan D, Rask J, Richard DT, Seweryn K, Sheridan S, Sims M, Sweeting M, Swindle T, Talboys D, Taylor L, Teanby N, Tong V, Ulamec S, Wawrzaszek R, Wieczorek M, Wilson L, Wright I. (2012) 'Lunar Net-a proposal in response to an ESA M3 call in 2010 for a medium sized mission'. Springer Experimental Astronomy, 33 (2-3), pp. 587-644.
    doi: 10.1007/s10686-011-9250-5
  • Gowen RA, Smith A, Fortes AD, Barber S, Brown P, Church P, Collinson G, Coates AJ, Collins G, Crawford IA, Dehant V, Chela-Flores J, Griffiths AD, Grindrod PM, Gurvits LI, Hagermann A, Hussmann H, Jaumann R, Jones AP, Joy KH, Karatekin O, Miljkovic K, Palomba E, Pike WT, Prieto-Ballesteros O, Raulin F, Sephton MA, Sheridan S, Sims M, Storrie-Lombardi MC, Ambrosi R, Fielding J, Fraser G, Gao Y, Jones GH, Kargl G, Karl WJ, MacAgnano A, Mukherjee A, Muller JP, Phipps A, Pullan D, Richter L, Sohl F, Snape J, Sykes J, Wells N. (2011) 'Penetrators for in situ subsurface investigations of Europa'. Advances in Space Research, 48 (4), pp. 725-742.
    doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2010.06.026
  • Gouache TP, Gao Y, Coste P, Gourinat Y. (2011) 'First experimental investigation of dual-reciprocating drilling in planetary regoliths: Proposition of penetration mechanics'. PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE, 59 (13), pp. 1529-1541.
    doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2011.06.019
  • Sancho-Pradel DL, Gao Y. (2010) 'A survey on terrain assessment techniques for autonomous operation of planetary robots'. JBIS - Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 63 (5-6), pp. 206-217.
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/721940/

    Abstract

    A key challenge in autonomous planetary surface exploration is the extraction of meaningful information from sensor data, which would allow a good interpretation of the nearby terrain, and a reasonable assessment of more distant areas. In the last decade, the desire to increase the autonomy of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), particularly in terms of off-road navigation, has significantly increased the interest in the field of automated terrain classification. Although the field is relatively new, its advances and goals are scattered across different robotic platforms and applications. The objective of this paper is to present a survey of the field from a planetary exploration perspective, bringing together the underlying techniques, existing approaches and relevant applications under a common framework. The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview to the newcomer in the field, and a structured reference for the practitioners.

  • Gouache TP, Brunskill C, Scott GP, Gao Y, Coste P, Gourinat Y. (2010) 'Regolith simulant preparation methods for hardware testing'. PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE, 58 (14-15), pp. 1977-1984.
    doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2010.09.021
  • Pham M-T, Gao Y, Hoang V-DD, Cham T-J. (2010) 'Fast polygonal integration and its application in extending haar-like features to improve object detection'. Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, , pp. 942-949.
    doi: 10.1109/CVPR.2010.5540117
  • Smith A, Crawford IA, Gowen RA, Ball AJ, Barber SJ, Church P, Coates AJ, Gao Y, Griffiths AD, Hagermann A, Joy KH, Phipps A, Pike WT, Scott R, Sheridan S, Sweeting M, Talboys D, Tong V, Wells N, Biele J, Chela-Flores J, Dabrowski B, Flannagan J, Grande M, Grygorczuk J, Kargl G, Khavroshkin OB, Klingelhoefer G, Knapmeyer M, Marczewski W, McKenna-Lawlor S, Richter L, Rothery DA, Seweryn K, Ulamec S, Wawrzaszek R, Wieczorek M, Wright IP, Sims M. (2009) 'LunarEX-a proposal to cosmic vision'. SPRINGER EXPERIMENTAL ASTRONOMY, 23 (3), pp. 711-740.
    doi: 10.1007/s10686-008-9109-6
  • Gouache T, Gao Y, Coste P, Gourinat Y. (2009) 'Experimental study of dual-reciprocating-drilling mechanism using design of experiment approach'. European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP, 670 SP
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/199690/

    Abstract

    Y. Gao et al. proved the feasibility of designing a woodwasp (Sirex Noctilio) inspired drill for Earth and extraterrestrial drilling and boring activities [1]. But before an optimised dual reciprocating drill design can be proposed, it is necessary to better understand the driving factors and the important parameters that influence this mechanism’s performance and, power and force requirements. Indeed the insect’s ovipositor is "optimised", through natural selection, for wood; but the dual reciprocating drill will bore into much different substrates. Here, the numerous parameters that could influence the studied mechanism’s performance are identified and the test bench to

  • Komle NI, Hutter ES, Kargl G, Ju H, Gao Y, Grygorczuk J. (2008) 'Development Of Thermal, Sensors And Drilling Systems, For Application On Lunar Lander Missions'. Springer Verlag Earth, Moon and Planets, 103, pp. 119-141.
    doi: 10.1007/s11038-008-9240-4
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/199691/

    Abstract

    The upcoming lunar lander missions, for example Chang’e 2 from CNSA and several mission proposals and studies currently under consideration at NASA (e.g. Neal et al., ROSES 2006 Proposal to NASA, 2006), ESA (e.g. Hufenbach, European Workshop on Lunar Landers, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 2005; Foing, EPSC Abstracts, vol 2, EPSC2007-A-00422, European Planetary Science Congress, Potsdam, Germany, 2007) and JAXA, Japan (Matsumoto et al., Acta Astronautica, 59:68–76, 2006) offer new possibilities to measure the thermal properties of the lunar regolith and to determine the global lunar heat flow more accurately than it is hitherto known. Both properties are of high importance for the understanding of the lunar structure and the evolution of the Moon–Earth system. In this paper we present some work on new thermal sensors to be used for in situ investigations of the lunar soil in combination with novel drilling techniques applicable for the lunar regolith. Such systems may preferably be mounted on mobile stations like the lunar rover currently built for the Chinese Chang’e 2 mission. A general description of a presently tested prototype of the lunar rover is given and mounting possibilities for a drilling system and thermal sensors are shown. Then we discuss some options for thermal sensors and drills and how they could be combined into one compact instrument. Subsequently a tube-like sensor suitable for measuring the thermal conductivity of the material surrounding a borehole is described in more detail. Finally the performance of such a tube-shaped sensor when applied in a lunar borehole is investigated by thermal modelling and compared with the behaviour of a more conventional needle-shaped sensor.

  • Kömle NI, Kaufmann E, Kargl G, Gao Y, Rui X. (2008) 'Development of thermal sensors and drilling systems for lunar and planetary regoliths'. Advances in Space Research, 42 (2), pp. 363-368.
    doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2007.02.088
  • Gao Y, Phipps A, Taylor M, Crawford IA, Ball AJ, Wilson L, Parker D, Sweeting M, Curiel ADS, Davies P, Baker A, Pike WT, Smith A, Gowen R. (2008) 'Lunar science with affordable small spacecraft technologies: MoonLITE and Moonraker'. PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE, 56 (3-4), pp. 368-377.
    doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2007.11.005
  • Gao Y, Ellery A, Jaddou M, Vincent J, Eckersley S. (2007) 'Planetary micro-penetrator concept study with biomimetric drill and sampler design'. IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, 43 (3), pp. 875-885.
  • Gao Y, Ellery A, Sweeting MN. (2007) 'Bioinspired drill for planetary sampling: Literature survey, conceptual design, and feasibility study'. AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT JOURNAL OF SPACECRAFT AND ROCKETS, Big Sky, MT: 44 (3), pp. 703-709.
    doi: 10.2514/1.23025
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/199696/
  • Gao Y, Phipps A, Taylor M, Sweeting M, Da Silva Curiel A, Davies P, Crawford IA, Ball AJ, Wilson L, Smith A, Parker D. (2007) 'Concepts and instruments of UK moonlite & moonraker missions'. International Astronautical Federation - 58th International Astronautical Congress 2007, 2, pp. 1037-1045.
  • Gao Y, Ellery A, Jaddou M, Vincent J. (2006) 'Bio-inspired drill for planetary subsurface sampling: Literature survey, conceptual design and feasibility study'. Proceedings of AISB'06: Adaptation in Artificial and Biological Systems, 2, pp. 71-77.
  • Menon C, Lan N, Bilhaut L, Ellery A, Gao Y, Zangani D, Carosio S, Manning C, Vincent JFV, Jaddou M, Eckersley S. (2006) 'Bio-inspired micro-drills for future planetary exploration'. Proceedings of MNT for Aerospace Applications, CANEUS2006, 2006
  • Baker AM, Phipps A, Sweeting M, Ellery A, Yang G. (2006) 'Challenges and options for an affordable small lunar sample-return mission'. AIAA 57th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2006, 3, pp. 1862-1870.
  • Gao Y, Ellery A, Jaddou M, Vincent J. (2006) 'Bio-inspired drill for planetary subsurface sampling: Literature survey, conceptual design and feasibility study'. Proceedings of AISB'06: Adaptation in Artificial and Biological Systems, 2, pp. 71-77.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2005) 'An intelligent adaptive control scheme for postsurgical blood pressure regulation.'. IEEE Trans Neural Netw, United States: 16 (2), pp. 475-483.
    doi: 10.1109/TNN.2004.841798
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2005) 'NARMAX time series model prediction: feedforward and recurrent fuzzy neural network approaches'. ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV FUZZY SET SYST, 150 (2), pp. 331-350.
    doi: 10.1016/j.fss.2004.09.015
  • Gao Y, Ellery A, Jaddou M, Vincent J, Eckersley S. (2005) 'A novel penetration system for in situ astrobiological studies'. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2 (4), pp. 281-286.
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/199698/

    Abstract

    Due to ultraviolet flux in the surface layers of most solar bodies, future astrobiological research is increasingly seeking to conduct subsurface penetration and drilling to detect chemical signature for extant or extinct life. To address this issue, we present a micro-penetrator concept (mass < 10 kg) that is suited for extraterrestrial planetary deployment and in situ investigation of chemical and physical properties. The instrumentation in this concept is a bio-inspired drill to access material beneath sterile surface layer for biomarker detection. The proposed drill represents a novel concept of two-valve-reciprocating motion, inspired by the working mechanism of wood wasp ovipositors. It is lightweight (0.5 kg), driven at low power (3 W), and able to drill deep (1-2 m). Tests have shown that the reciprocating drill is feasible and has potential of improving drill efficiency without using any external force. The overall penetration system provides a small, light and energy efficient solution to in situ astrobiological studies, which is crucial for space engineering. Such a micro-penetrator can be used for exploration of terrestrial-type planets or other small bodies of the solar system with the minimum of modifications.

  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2003) 'Online adaptive fuzzy neural identification and control of a class of MIMO nonlinear systems'. IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON FUZZY SYSTEMS, 11 (4), pp. 462-477.
    doi: 10.1109/TFUZZ.2003.814833
  • Er MJ, Gao Y. (2003) 'Robust adaptive control of robot manipulators using generalized fuzzy neural networks'. IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, 50 (3), pp. 620-628.
    doi: 10.1109/TIE.2003.812454
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2003) 'Modelling, control, and stability analysis of non-linear systems using generalized fuzzy neural networks'. TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS SCIENCE, 34 (6), pp. 427-438.
    doi: 10.1080/00207720310001612855
  • Gao Y, Er MJ, Yang S. (2001) 'Adaptive control of robot manipulators using fuzzy neural networks'. IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, 48 (6), pp. 1274-1278.
  • Wu SQ, Er MJ, Gao Y. (2001) 'A fast approach for automatic generation of fuzzy rules by generalized dynamic fuzzy neural networks'. IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON FUZZY SYSTEMS, 9 (4), pp. 578-594.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2001) 'Adaptive fuzzy neural control of multiple-link robot manipulators'. International Journal of Robotics and Automation, 16 (4), pp. 172-182.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2001) 'Robust adaptive fuzzy neural control of robot manipulators'. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, 3, pp. 2188-2193.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ, Mastorakis N, Leithead WE, Leith DJ. (2000) 'Trajectory tracking of robot manipulators using adaptive fuzzy neural control'. System and Control: Theory and Applications, , pp. 71-78.

Conference papers

  • Gouache T, Gao Y, Frame T, Coste P, Gourinat Y. 'IDENTIFICATION OF THE FORCES BETWEEN REGOLITH AND A RECIPROCATING DRILL-HEAD: PERSPECTIVES FOR THE EXPLORATION OF MARTIAN REGOLITH'. International Astronautical Federation Proceedings of the 62nd International Astronautical Congress, Cape Town, South Africa: 62nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC-11-A3.3B.5)
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/209785/

    Abstract

    The large success of Mars exploration missions, such as the NASA Mars Exploration Rovers, Pathfinder and Viking I and II, have allowed a widespread access to the top layer of Martian regolith. However, no exploration deeper than the few centimetres allowed by the scoop of Phoenix has been conducted on Mars. The potential discoveries that will follow from access to the Martian sub-surface (for example, the presence or absence of extinct life forms and of resources for future human exploration; a better understanding of Martian and Solar System history) require the development of new tools and a better understanding of their interaction with regolith to increase their performance and reliability. A promising new drilling methodology, dual reciprocating drilling (DRD), was tested in regolith and showed higher penetration than static penetration. DRD is conducted by two half-cone drillheads, with back-ward facing teeth, moved back and forth in opposition one to another (no rotation). To gain a better understanding of the forces acting on each half-drill-bit and the influence of slippage on drilling performance, a mono-block drill-head, with the same shape as the DRD drill-head, was tested in static and alternating penetration in two different regolith simulants. The forces acting on it were measured. These novel experimental observations allowed to revise the penetration model of DRD in regoliths and to illustrate the importance of lateral forces in the drilling process. To complement the experimental campaign and to gain a better insight on the regolith kinematics around the reciprocating drill-head, numerical simulations were developed. The discrete element method was chosen to simulate the complex behaviour of regolith. It was implemented within the commercial software Impetus-AFEA. The advantage of using this platform is its ability to use the power of graphical processing units (GPU) to cope with a very large number of elements within reasonable computation times. These numerical simulations allowed to confirm the importance of the lateral forces in DRD. They are also one of the first DEM simulations with more than one million particles on a single desktop computer and pave the way to highly efficient numerical simulations.

  • Delfa JM, Gao Y, Policella N, Donati A. 'A Domain-Independent Pattern Recognition System to Support Space Mission Planning'. Proceedings of 11th Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in, Noodwijk, Netherlands: Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation – ASTRA 2011
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/761685/
  • Wu YH, Gao Y, Raus R , Watt M. 'Single Thruster Attitude Control Software Simulator for Spinning Spacecraft'. Big Sky, USA: IEEE Aerospace Conference
  • Delfa JM, Policella N, Gao Y, Stryk O. 'Design Concepts for a new Temporal Planning Paradigm'. Sao Paulo, Brazil: Int. Conf. Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS) – Workshop on Planning and Scheduling with Timelines
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/761682/
  • Fame T, Gao Y. 'EVOLUTION OF A NEW PLANETARY DRILL DESIGN USING BIOINSPIRED DUAL RECIPROCATING DRILLING TECHNIQUE'. Naples, Italy: 63rd Int. Astronautical Congress
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/761681/
  • Delfa JM, Policella N, Gallant M, Stryk O, Donati A, Gao Y. 'Metrics for Planetary Rover Planning & Scheduling Algorithms'. ACM Proceedings of the Workshop on Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems, Maryland, USA: Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems (PerMIS), pp. 47-52.
    doi: 10.1145/2393091.2393101
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/761683/

    Abstract

    In addition to its utility in terrestrial-based applications, Automated Planning and Scheduling (P&S) has had a growing impact on space exploration. Such applications require an influx of new technologies to improve performance while not comprimising safety. As a result, a reliable method to rapidly assess the effectiveness of new P&S algorithms would be desirable to ensure the fulfillment of of all software requirements. This paper introduces RoBen, a mission-independent benchmarking tool that provides a standard framework for the evaluation and comparison of P&S algorithms. RoBen considers metrics derived from the model (the system on which the P&S algorithm will operate) as well as user input (e.g., desired problem complexity) to automatically generate relevant problems for quality assessment. A thorough description of the algorithms and metrics used in RoBen is provided, along with the preliminary test results of a P&S algorithm solving RoBen-generated problems.

  • Kandiyil R, Gao Y. 'A Generic Domain Configurable Planner Using Htn For Autonomous Multi-Agent Space System'. Turin, Italy: International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/761620/

    Abstract

    Automated planning has been applied to numerous fields such as computer games, industrial robotics and even highprofile missions like planning and scheduling activities for Martian rovers. A current trend among the researchers is to apply automated planning in multiple space systems that work together in a coordinated fashion so as to attain highly complex mission goals. Even though automated planning and scheduling algorithms are mature in industrial scenarios and robotics, little consideration has been given to multiple-agent space applications. In this paper, we describe the development of a domain configurable planner which can be used for different space mission comprising of multiple systems i.e. satellites or rovers. The multiagent planning systems uses agent based modeling techniques, hierarchical task network (HTN) planning and a mixed approach from centralized and distributed planning. The initial results from the prototype planner are also discussed.

  • Samperio R, Shala K, Cheng Y, Gao Y. (2012) 'Design and Implementation of Autonomous Software for Planetary Rovers using ROS'. Barcelona, Spain: International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence – Workshop on AI in Space
  • Raus R, Gao Y, Wu Y, Watt M. (2012) 'Robustness Analyses Of Attitude Slew Manoeuvres For Spinning Penetrator Spacecraft'. Naples, Italy: 63rd Int. Astronautical Congress
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/761621/
  • Shala K, Gao Y. (2010) 'Review and analysis of localization and mapping techniques for planetary rovers'. European Space Agency Proceedings of iSAIRAS, Japan: The 10th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (i-SAIRAS)
  • Rau R, Gao Y, Watt M. (2010) 'Review and Analysis of Single-Thruster Attitude Control Algorithms for Spinning Spacecraft'. International Astronautical Federation Proc. 60th IAC, Prague, Czeck Republic: International Astronautical Congress (IAC-10.C1.3.7)
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/199704/
  • Yu C-Q, Ju H-H, Gao Y, Cui P-Y. (2009) 'A bilateral teleoperation system for planetary rovers'. Proceedings of International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Software Engineering, Wuhan, China: CiSE 2009
    doi: 10.1109/CISE.2009.5363354
  • Gouache T, Gao Y, Coste P, Gourinat Y. (2009) 'Experimental Parametric Evaluation of Dual-reciprocating Drilling Mechanism Performance'. European Space Agency ESA SP, Toulouse ,France: European Conference on Spacecraft Structures, Materials and Mechanical Testing
  • Isarabhakdee P, Gao Y. (2009) 'Cooperative Control of a Multi-tier Multi-agent Robotic System for Planetary Exploration'. European Space Agency ESA SP, Pasadena, California, USA: International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence - Workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Space
  • Yu C-Q, Ju H-H, Gao Y. (2009) '3D virtual reality simulator for planetary rover operation and testing'. Proceedings of International Conference on Virtual Environments, Human-Computer Interfaces, and Measurements Systems, Hong Kong: VECIMS '09, pp. 101-106.
    doi: 10.1109/VECIMS.2009.5068874
  • Makhlouta M, Gao Y, Shala K. (2008) 'A Vision and Behaviour Based Approach for Short-Range Autonomous Navigation of Planetary Rovers'. European Space Agency ESA SP, Noordwijk, Netherlands: ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation – ASTRA
  • Gowen R, Smith A, Winter B, Theobald C, Rees K, Ball AJ, Hagermann A, Sheridan S, Brown P, Oddy T, Dougherty M, Church P, Gao Y, Jones A, Joy KH, Crawford I, Pike T, Kumar S, Hopf T, Wells N, Green K, Ryden K. (2008) 'An update on MoonLITE'. International Astronautical Federation Proceedings of 59th International Astronautical Congress, Glasgow, UK: 59th International Astronautical Congress 7, pp. 4359-4369.
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/199694/

    Abstract

    MoonLITE is a proposed, UK led lunar science mission involving 4 scientific penetrators that will make in situ measurements at widely separated locations on the Moon. MoonLITE will create the first global lunar network with nodes near and far-side, and in permanently shaded crater(s). With such a network MoonLITE will be able to determine much about the interior of the Moon, including characterisation of its core. Penetrator(s) at the poles will seek and characterise frozen volatiles, possibly of cometary origin and of great importance both to human exploration and to astrobiology. MoonLITE penetrators will reach the Moon at ~300 m/s and so must be able to stand the forces associated with this impact. As part of a programme aimed to establish reliable penetrator technologies the first full-scale impact trials have been conducted and are described here.

  • Wild A, Gao Y, Sweeting M. (2008) 'Sensing and Autonomous High Precision Planetary Landers'. European Space Agency ESA SP, Ireland: European Space Agency Int. Conf. GNC
  • Gao Y. (2008) 'Optical flow based techniques for ExoMars rover autonomous navigation'. European Space Agency Proceedings of iSAIRAS, LA, USA: Int. Symp. Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS)
  • Davies P, Phipps A, Taylor M, Curiel ADS, Baker A, Gao Y, Sweeting M, Parker D, Crawford IA, Ball AJ, Wilson L. (2007) 'Uk lunar science missions: Moonlite & moonraker'. IEEE 2007 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT ADVANCES IN SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, VOLS 1 AND 2, Istanbul, TURKEY: 3rd International Conference on Recent Advances in Space Technologies, pp. 774-779.
    doi: 10.1109/RAST.2007.4284097
    Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/2000/
  • Gao Y, Ellery A, Jaddou M, Vincent J. (2006) 'Deployable wood wasp drill for planetary subsurface sampling'. IEEE 2006 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Vols 1-9, Big Sky, MT: 2006 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 405-411.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ, Du J, Ruan D, DHondt P, DeCock M, Nachtegael M, Kerre EE. (2004) 'Narmax-model-based time series prediction: feedforward and recurrent fuzzy neural network approaches'. WORLD SCIENTIFIC PUBL CO PTE LTD APPLIED COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, Blankenberge, BELGIUM: 6th International Conference on Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Technologies in Nuclear Science, pp. 537-542.
    doi: 10.1142/9789812702661_0097
  • Li ZG, Er MJ, Gao Y. (2003) 'An adaptive RBFN-based filter for adaptive noise cancellation'. IEEE 42ND IEEE CONFERENCE ON DECISION AND CONTROL, VOLS 1-6, PROCEEDINGS, Maui, HI: 42nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 6175-6180.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2003) 'Adaptive fuzzy neural modeling and control scheme for mean arterial pressure regulation'. IEEE IROS 2003: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2003 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS, VOLS 1-4, LAS VEGAS, NV: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 1198-1203.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2003) 'Adaptive fuzzy neural control of mean arterial pressure through sodium nitroprusside infusion'. IEEE 42ND IEEE CONFERENCE ON DECISION AND CONTROL, VOLS 1-6, PROCEEDINGS, Maui, HI: 42nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 2198-2203.
  • Jiang H, Er MJ, Gao Y. (2003) 'Feature extraction using wavelet packets strategy'. IEEE 42ND IEEE CONFERENCE ON DECISION AND CONTROL, VOLS 1-6, PROCEEDINGS, Maui, HI: 42nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 4517-4520.
  • Er MJ, Gao Y. (2003) 'Adaptive control strategy for blood pressure regulation using a fuzzy neural network'. IEEE 2003 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYSTEMS, MAN AND CYBERNETICS, VOLS 1-5, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, WASHINGTON, D.C.: IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC 03), pp. 2120-2125.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2002) 'Adaptive intelligent control of MIMO nonlinear systems based on generalized fuzzy neural network'. IEEE PROCEEDING OF THE 2002 INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE ON NEURAL NETWORKS, VOLS 1-3, HONOLULU, HI: International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 02), pp. 2333-2338.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2002) 'Nonlinear identification and control using a generalized fuzzy neural network'. IEEE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 41ST IEEE CONFERENCE ON DECISION AND CONTROL, VOLS 1-4, LAS VEGAS, NV: 41st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 1363-1368.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ, Deng C, Ruan D, Dhondt P, Kerre EE. (2002) 'Adaptive fuzzy neural control of nonlinear systems'. WORLD SCIENTIFIC PUBL CO PTE LTD COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS FOR APPLIED RESEARCH, GHENT, BELGIUM: 5th International Conference on Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Technologies in Nuclear Science, pp. 461-468.
    doi: 10.1142/9789812777102_0056
  • Yang S, Er MJ, Gao Y. (2001) 'A high performance neural-networks-based speech recognition system'. IEEE IJCNN'01: INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE ON NEURAL NETWORKS, VOLS 1-4, PROCEEDINGS, WASHINGTON, D.C.: International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 01), pp. 1527-1531.
  • Gao Y, Er MJ, Leithead WE, Leith DJ. (2001) 'On-line adaptive control of robot manipulators using dynamic fuzzy neural networks'. IEEE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2001 AMERICAN CONTROL CONFERENCE, VOLS 1-6, ARLINGTON, VA: American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 4828-4833.

Books

  • Er MJ, Wu S, Gao Y. (2003) Dynamic Fuzzy Neural Networks: Architectures, Algorithms and Applications. Singapore : McGraw-Hill

Book chapters

  • Gouache T, Gao Y, Gourinat Y, Coste P. (2010) 'Wood Wasp Inspired Space and Earth Drill'. in (ed.) Biomimetics, Learning from Nature INTECH
  • Gao Y, Sweeting M, Eckersley S, Vincent JFV. (2009) 'A “micro” concept for a planetary penetrator & drill package'. in Kargl G, Komle NI, Ball AJ, Lorenz RD (eds.) Penetrometry in the solar system II Vienna, Austria : Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
  • Gowen RA, Smith A, Coates AJ, Crawford IA, Scott RF, Church PD, Gao Y, Pike WT, Flanagan J. (2009) 'Development of kinetic penetrators for exploration of airless solar system bodies'. in Kargl G, Komle N, Ball AJ, Lorenz RD (eds.) Penetrometry in the solar system II
  • Gao Y, Er MJ. (2004) 'Adaptive Modeling and Control of Drug Delivery Systems Using Generalized Fuzzy Neural Networks'. in Ruan D, Zeng X (eds.) Intelligent sensory evaluation Springer Verlag
  • Er MJ, Gao Y. (2003) 'Online Adaptive Fuzzy Neural Identification and Control of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems'. in Zhou C, Maravall D, Ruan D (eds.) Autonomous robotic systems Physica Verlag , pp. 373-402.

Teaching

  • EEE2043 Space Engineering and Mission Design
  • EEE2036/2037 Lab, Design and Professional Studies
  • EEEM029 Space Robotics
  • Invited Lecturer at:
    • COSPAR Summer School on Lunar and Planetary Surface Science, Harbin, 6-19 September 2009
    • National Graduates Summer School on Space Technology, Changsha, 18-31 July 2011 
    • EU FP7 Planetary Vision Summer School, Berlin, 12-16 Sept 2011

Departmental Duties

  • Member of FEPS Faculty International Relations Committee (2011-now)
  • Member of EE Department Student Liaison Committee (2008-now)
  • Year 1 & 2 Exam Officer of EE Department (2008-now)
  • Member of FEPS Faculty Marketing Committee (2010-2012)

Grants and Awards

  • Research Grants: EPSRC (2012-2016); EU FP7 (2008-2012; 2011-2014); MILES (2012-2013); EADS Astrium (2009-2012); RAEng (2008-2009; 2011-2012); ESA (2008-2011); STFC (2006-2007); SSTL (2007-2008); GOF (2007-2008); SMF (2002-2004)
  • Royal Academy of Engineering Research Exchange Major Awards (2008-2009; 2011-2012)
  • Fellowships & Scholarships: University of Surrey SCEPTrE Fellowship (2010-2011); SMF Fellowship (2002-2004); NTU Research Scholarship (2000-2002); Ministry of Education Singapore Scholarship (1996-2000)
  • First Prize of IEEE Asia-Pacific Postgraduate Paper Contest (2002)
  • Motorola Book Prize on Robotics and Automation (2000)

Publicity & Media Interviews

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