George Zogopoulos

I am an Electrical Engineer by training, with a diploma by the Technical University of Athens. I never developped a taste for power transmission networks and large mains motors, though. I preferred computer science, microelectronics and control theory. And I was lucky enough to get exposure in RC flight before my life got busy. I loved it.

I wanted to dive deeper into control theory and aerial robotics, so I pursued a PhD on the field of fault diagnosis and compensation for Uncrewed Aircraft. For the following 7 years I was riding the cutting edge of research on automated methods for exploiting information redundancy, constructing diagnostic signals and constructing alternative navigation and control algorithms.

Writing my own software, soldering my own electronics, building my own testbeds and flying the experiments. It was tough work, but I wouldn’t exchange it for anything. 10 publications later, I was content and ready to do something else in my life.

Following an academic track didn’t hold an appeal to me. Instead I opted to migrate to the industrial sector and get a closer look at the UAS industry. Employed by a major Dutch UAS manufacturer, I got first-hand experience with the challenges of designing and producing a new UAS, testing it, getting it through the CAA authorization procedures and finally supporting it after release. It was very educational and fortified by belief that good tooling (software and hardware) pays dividents very quickly.

Still, I felt somewhat limited by the circumstances; I wanted to be exposed to more flying platforms, more software, more projects. This is the reason I started Controlled Ascent, a UAS controls and compliance engineering consultancy: to share my joy, knowledge and experience on flying robots with other people and companies.

Looking forward to meet you!