People - Avishai Weiss | Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories

Biography

Avishai's doctoral research was on spacecraft orbital and attitude control. Prior to the University of Michigan, he studied at Stanford University, where he received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics. Avishai's interests are in constrained control, model predictive control, and time-varying systems.
Recent News & Events
- NEWS MERL's On-Orbit 3D Printing Technology Featured in Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Press Release
  Date: May 17, 2022
  Where: Tokyo, Japan
  MERL Contacts: Avishai Weiss; William S. Yerazunis
  Research Areas: Applied Physics, Communications
  Brief
  - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that the company has developed an on-orbit additive-manufacturing technology that uses photosensitive resin and solar ultraviolet light for the freeform printing of satellite antennas in the vacuum of outer space.
    
    The novel technology makes use of a newly developed liquid resin that was custom formulated for stability in vacuum. The resin enables structures to be fabricated in space using a low-power process that utilizes the sun’s ultraviolet rays for photopolymerization. The technology specifically addresses the challenge of equipping small, inexpensive spacecraft buses with large structures, such as high-gain antenna reflectors, and enables on-orbit fabrication of structures that greatly exceed the dimensions of launch vehicle fairings. Resin-based on-orbit manufacturing is expected to enable spacecraft structures to be made thinner and lighter than conventional designs, which must survive the stresses of launch and orbital insertion, thereby reducing both total satellite weight and launch costs.
    
    Mitsubishi Electric’s resin-based on-orbit manufacturing enables small satellites to have large satellite capability, which reduces launch costs and allows for satellite technology to be used more than ever in applications such as communication and Earth observation. The technology is based on recent research by MERL's Control for Autonomy and Data Analytics groups.
    
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    Links:
    
    Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Press Release
    SatMagazine: UV In The Sky With Resin: A novel, on-orbit manufacturing technique
- NEWS MERL researchers presented 10 papers at American Control Conference (ACC)
  Date: July 1, 2020 - July 3, 2020
  Where: Denver, Colorado (virtual)
  MERL Contacts: Mouhacine Benosman; Karl Berntorp; Ankush Chakrabarty; Stefano Di Cairano; Saleh Nabi; Rien Quirynen; Yebin Wang; Avishai Weiss
  Research Areas: Control, Machine Learning, Optimization
  Brief
  - At the American Control Conference, MERL presented 10 papers on subjects including autonomous-vehicle decision making and motion planning, nonlinear estimation for thermal-fluid models and GNSS positioning, learning-based reference governors and reference governors for railway vehicles, and fail-safe rendezvous control.
See All News & Events for Avishai
MERL Publications
- Yerazunis, W.S., Weiss, A., "UV In The Sky With Resin: A novel, on-orbit manufacturing technique", SatMagazine, April 2022.
  BibTeX SatMagazine
  - @article{Yerazunis2022apr,
  - author = {Yerazunis, William S. and Weiss, Avishai},
  - title = {UV In The Sky With Resin: A novel, on-orbit manufacturing technique},
  - journal = {SatMagazine},
  - year = 2022,
  - edition = {April 2022},
  - month = apr,
  - url = {http://www.satmagazine.com/story.php?number=774406935}
  - }
- Vinod, A.P., Weiss, A., Di Cairano, S., "Abort-safe spacecraft rendezvous under stochastic actuation and navigation uncertainty", IEEE Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), DOI: 10.1109/CDC45484.2021.9683322, December 2021, pp. 6620-6625.
  BibTeX TR2021-148 PDF
  - @inproceedings{Vinod2021dec,
  - author = {Vinod, Abraham P. and Weiss, Avishai and Di Cairano, Stefano},
  - title = {Abort-safe spacecraft rendezvous under stochastic actuation and navigation uncertainty},
  - booktitle = {IEEE Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)},
  - year = 2021,
  - pages = {6620--6625},
  - month = dec,
  - doi = {10.1109/CDC45484.2021.9683322},
  - url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-148}
  - }
- Aguilar Marsillach, D., Di Cairano, S., Kalabic, U., Weiss, A., "Fail-Safe Spacecraft Rendezvous on Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbits", American Control Conference (ACC), DOI: 10.23919/ACC50511.2021.9483328, May 2021, pp. 2980-2985.
  BibTeX TR2021-054 PDF
  - @inproceedings{AguilarMarsillach2021may,
  - author = {Aguilar Marsillach, Daniel and Di Cairano, Stefano and Kalabic, Uros and Weiss, Avishai},
  - title = {Fail-Safe Spacecraft Rendezvous on Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbits},
  - booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
  - year = 2021,
  - pages = {2980--2985},
  - month = may,
  - publisher = {IEEE},
  - doi = {10.23919/ACC50511.2021.9483328},
  - issn = {2378-5861},
  - isbn = {978-1-6654-4197-1},
  - url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-054}
  - }
- Kalabic, U., Weiss, A., Chiu, M., "Orbit Verification of Small Sat Constellations", IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC), DOI: 10.1109/ICBC51069.2021.9461065, May 2021.
  BibTeX TR2021-040 PDF
  - @inproceedings{Kalabic2021may,
  - author = {Kalabic, Uros and Weiss, Avishai and Chiu, Michael},
  - title = {Orbit Verification of Small Sat Constellations},
  - booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC)},
  - year = 2021,
  - month = may,
  - doi = {10.1109/ICBC51069.2021.9461065},
  - url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-040}
  - }
- Kalabic, U., Weiss, A., Chiu, M., "Distributed Small Sat Location Verification", Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance (ICNS) Conference, DOI: 10.1109/ICNS52807.2021.9441603, April 2021.
  BibTeX TR2021-033 PDF
  - @inproceedings{Kalabic2021apr,
  - author = {Kalabic, Uros and Weiss, Avishai and Chiu, Michael},
  - title = {Distributed Small Sat Location Verification},
  - booktitle = {Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance (ICNS) Conference},
  - year = 2021,
  - month = apr,
  - doi = {10.1109/ICNS52807.2021.9441603},
  - url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-033}
  - }
See All Publications for Avishai
Other Publications
- Avishai Weiss, Ilya Kolmanovsky, Dennis S. Bernstein and Amit Sanyal, "Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control Using Reaction Wheels", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1425-1439, 2013.
  BibTeX
  - @Article{Weiss2013,
  - author = {Weiss, Avishai and Kolmanovsky, Ilya and Bernstein, Dennis S. and Sanyal, Amit},
  - title = {Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control Using Reaction Wheels},
  - journal = {Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics},
  - year = 2013,
  - volume = 36,
  - number = 5,
  - pages = {1425--1439},
  - publisher = {American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics}
  - }
- A. Weiss, M. Baldwin, C. Petersen, R. S. Erwin and I. Kolmanovsky, "Spacecraft Constrained Maneuver Planning for Moving Debris Avoidance Using Positively Invariant Constraint Admissible Sets", Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 2013.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{weissDebris2013,
  - author = {Weiss, A. and Baldwin, M. and Petersen, C. and Erwin, R. S. and Kolmanovsky, I.},
  - title = {Spacecraft Constrained Maneuver Planning for Moving Debris Avoidance Using Positively Invariant Constraint Admissible Sets},
  - booktitle = {Proceedings of the American Control Conference},
  - year = 2013,
  - address = {Washington, DC},
  - month = jun
  - }
- K. Agarwal, A. Weiss, I. Kolmanovsky and D. S. Bernstein, "Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control with Control-Moment-Gyro Actuation", Proc. AIAA Guid. Nav. Contr. Conf., August 2012, pp. AIAA-2012-5003-282.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{CMGGNC2012,
  - author = {Agarwal, K. and Weiss, A. and Kolmanovsky, I. and Bernstein, D. S.},
  - title = {Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control with Control-Moment-Gyro Actuation},
  - booktitle = {Proc. AIAA Guid. Nav. Contr. Conf.},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {AIAA--2012--5003--282},
  - address = {Minneapolis, MN},
  - month = aug,
  - note = {AIAA-2012-5003-282}
  - }
- A. Weiss, G. Cruz, K. Agarwal, Y. Rahman, M. Medikeri, A. Xie, M. Camblor, I. Kolmanovsky and D. S. Bernstein, "Inertia-Free Attitude Control Laws Based on Rotation Matrices for Spacecraft with Torquers, Thrusters, and Wheels", Proc. Itzhack Y. Bar-Itzhack Memorial Symposium on Estimation, Navigation, and Spacecraft Control, October 2012, pp. 322-391.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{Weiss2012,
  - author = {Weiss, A. and Cruz, G. and Agarwal, K. and Rahman, Y. and Medikeri, M. and Xie, A. and Camblor, M. and Kolmanovsky, I. and Bernstein, D. S.},
  - title = {Inertia-Free Attitude Control Laws Based on Rotation Matrices for Spacecraft with Torquers, Thrusters, and Wheels},
  - booktitle = {Proc. Itzhack Y. Bar-Itzhack Memorial Symposium on Estimation, Navigation, and Spacecraft Control},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {322--391},
  - address = {Haifa, Israel},
  - month = oct
  - }
- Avishai Weiss, Ilya Kolmanovsky and Dennis S. Bernstein, "Forward-Integration Riccati-Based Feedback Control of Magnetically Actuated Spacecraft", AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, 2012, pp. AIAA-2012-5042-137.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{firmag,
  - author = {Weiss, Avishai and Kolmanovsky, Ilya and Bernstein, Dennis S.},
  - title = {Forward-Integration Riccati-Based Feedback Control of Magnetically Actuated Spacecraft},
  - booktitle = {AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {AIAA--2012--5042--137}
  - }
- Avishai Weiss, Ilya Kolmanovsky, Morgan Baldwin, R. Scott Erwin and Dennis S. Bernstein, "Forward-Integration Riccati-Based Feedback Control for Spacecraft Rendezvous Maneuvers on Elliptic Orbits", Proc. Conf. Dec. Contr, December 2012, pp. 1752 - 1757.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{forriccdc,
  - author = {Weiss, Avishai and Kolmanovsky, Ilya and Baldwin, Morgan and Erwin, R. Scott and Bernstein, Dennis S.},
  - title = {Forward-Integration Riccati-Based Feedback Control for Spacecraft Rendezvous Maneuvers on Elliptic Orbits},
  - booktitle = {Proc. Conf. Dec. Contr},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {1752 -- 1757},
  - address = {Maui, HI},
  - month = dec
  - }
- M. Baldwin, A. Weiss, I. Kolmanovsky and R. S. Erwin, "Spacecraft Debris Avoidance using Positively Invariant Constraint Admissible Sets", Proceedings of AAS Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, 2012, pp. Paper AAS 12-250.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{ref:baldwin,
  - author = {Baldwin, M. and Weiss, A. and Kolmanovsky, I. and Erwin, R. S.},
  - title = {Spacecraft Debris Avoidance using Positively Invariant Constraint Admissible Sets},
  - booktitle = {Proceedings of AAS Space Flight Mechanics Meeting},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {Paper AAS 12--250},
  - address = {Charleston, South Carolina}
  - }
- A. Weiss, M. Baldwin, R. S. Erwin and I. Kolmanovsky, "Spacecraft Constrained Maneuver Planning using Positively Invariant Constraint Admissible Sets", Proc. Itzhack Y. Bar-Itzhack Memorial Symposium on Estimation, Navigation, and Spacecraft Control, October 2012.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{ref:debrisBarSym,
  - author = {Weiss, A. and Baldwin, M. and Erwin, R. S. and Kolmanovsky, I.},
  - title = {Spacecraft Constrained Maneuver Planning using Positively Invariant Constraint Admissible Sets},
  - booktitle = {Proc. Itzhack Y. Bar-Itzhack Memorial Symposium on Estimation, Navigation, and Spacecraft Control},
  - year = 2012,
  - address = {Haifa, Israel},
  - month = oct
  - }
- A. Weiss, I. Kolmanovsky, M. Baldwin and R. S. Erwin, "Model Predictive Control of Three Dimensional Spacecraft Relative Motion", Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 2012, pp. 173-178.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{weisserwin,
  - author = {Weiss, A. and Kolmanovsky, I. and Baldwin, M. and Erwin, R. S.},
  - title = {Model Predictive Control of Three Dimensional Spacecraft Relative Motion},
  - booktitle = {Proceedings of the American Control Conference},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {173--178},
  - address = {Montreal, Canada},
  - month = jun
  - }
- A. Weiss, I. Kolmanovsky and D. S. Bernstein, "Forward-Integration Riccati-Based Output-Feedback Control of Linear Time-Varying Systems", Proc. Amer. Conf. Contr, June 2012, pp. 6708-6714.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{weisskolmbern,
  - author = {Weiss, A. and Kolmanovsky, I. and Bernstein, D. S.},
  - title = {Forward-Integration Riccati-Based Output-Feedback Control of Linear Time-Varying Systems},
  - booktitle = {Proc. Amer. Conf. Contr},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {6708--6714},
  - address = {Montreal, Canada},
  - month = jun
  - }
- Avishai Weiss, Frederick Leve, Ilya Kolmanovsky and Moriba Jah, "Reaction Wheel Parameter Identification and Control through Receding Horizon-Based Null Motion Excitation", Proc. Itzhack Y. Bar-Itzhack Memorial Symposium on Estimation, Navigation, and Spacecraft Control, October 2012.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{weissreaction,
  - author = {Weiss, Avishai and Leve, Frederick and Kolmanovsky, Ilya and Jah, Moriba},
  - title = {Reaction Wheel Parameter Identification and Control through Receding Horizon-Based Null Motion Excitation},
  - booktitle = {Proc. Itzhack Y. Bar-Itzhack Memorial Symposium on Estimation, Navigation, and Spacecraft Control},
  - year = 2012,
  - address = {Haifa, Israel},
  - month = oct
  - }
- A. Weiss, I. Kolmanovsky and D. S. Bernstein, "Inertia-Free Attitude Control of Spacecraft with Unknown Time-Varying Mass Distribution", Proc. 62nd IAC, October 2011, pp. IAC-11-C1.5.9.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{AviTVinertiaIAC2011,
  - author = {Weiss, A. and Kolmanovsky, I. and Bernstein, D. S.},
  - title = {Inertia-Free Attitude Control of Spacecraft with Unknown Time-Varying Mass Distribution},
  - booktitle = {Proc. 62nd IAC},
  - year = 2011,
  - pages = {IAC--11--C1.5.9},
  - address = {Cape Town, South Africa},
  - month = oct,
  - note = {IAC-11-C1.5.9}
  - }
- Gerardo Cruz, Xuebo Yang, Avishai Weiss, Ilya Kolmanovsky and Dennis S. Bernstein, "Torque-saturated, inertia-free spacecraft attitude control", AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, 2011, pp. AIAA-2011-6507-816.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{cruz2011torque,
  - author = {Cruz, Gerardo and Yang, Xuebo and Weiss, Avishai and Kolmanovsky, Ilya and Bernstein, Dennis S.},
  - title = {Torque-saturated, inertia-free spacecraft attitude control},
  - booktitle = {AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference},
  - year = 2011,
  - pages = {AIAA--2011--6507--816}
  - }
- Avishai Weiss, Ilya Kolmanovsky and Walter Merrill, "Incorporating Risk into Control Design for Emergency Operation of Turbo-Fan Engines", Proc. AIAA Infotech@Aerospace, 2011, pp. AIAA-2011-1591.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{weiss2011incorporating,
  - author = {Weiss, Avishai and Kolmanovsky, Ilya and Merrill, Walter},
  - title = {Incorporating Risk into Control Design for Emergency Operation of Turbo-Fan Engines},
  - booktitle = {Proc. AIAA Infotech@Aerospace},
  - year = 2011,
  - pages = {AIAA--2011--1591}
  - }
- A. Weiss, X. Yang, I. Kolmanovsky and D. S. Bernstein, "Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control with Reaction-Wheel Actuation", AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, 2010, pp. AIAA-2010-8297.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{weiss,
  - author = {Weiss, A. and Yang, X. and Kolmanovsky, I. and Bernstein, D. S.},
  - title = {Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control with Reaction-Wheel Actuation},
  - booktitle = {AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference},
  - year = 2010,
  - pages = {AIAA--2010--8297}
  - }
Videos
MERL Issued Patents
- Title: "Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of Coupled Celestial System"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Di Cairano, Stefano; Malladi, BharaniPrabha
  Patent No.: 11,292,618
  Issue Date: Apr 5, 2022
- Title: "On-Orbit Additive Manufacturing of Parabolic Reflectors via Solar Photopolymerization"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Yerazunis, William S.; Cottrell, Richard
  Patent No.: 11,155,723
  Issue Date: Oct 26, 2021
- Title: "System and Method for Controlling Lateral Motion of Vehicle"
  Inventors: Berntorp, Karl; Weiss, Avishai; Danielson, Claus; Di Cairano, Stefano
  Patent No.: 10,994,729
  Issue Date: May 4, 2021
- Title: "System and Method for GNSS Ambiguity Resolution"
  Inventors: Berntorp, Karl; Weiss, Avishai; Di Cairano, Stefano
  Patent No.: 10,976,444
  Issue Date: Apr 13, 2021
- Title: "MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF SPACECRAFT"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Zlotnik, David; Di Cairano, Stefano
  Patent No.: 10,967,991
  Issue Date: Apr 6, 2021
- Title: "Model Predictive Control of Spacecraft"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Di Cairano, Stefano; Caverly, Ryan
  Patent No.: 10,934,025
  Issue Date: Mar 2, 2021
- Title: "Systems and Methods for On-Orbit Fabrication of Structures by 3D Printing"
  Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Weiss, Avishai; Wang, Bingnan
  Patent No.: 10,906,290
  Issue Date: Feb 2, 2021
- Title: "Loose Optical Fiber Tethering Of Multiple Satellites"
  Inventors: Parsons, Kieran; Weiss, Avishai; Orlik, Philip V.; Di Cairano, Stefano
  Patent No.: 10,892,826
  Issue Date: Jan 12, 2021
- Title: "MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF SPACECRAFT"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Zlotnik, David; Di Cairano, Stefano
  Patent No.: 10,875,669
  Issue Date: Dec 29, 2020
- Title: "Concurrent Station Keeping, Attitude Control, and Momentum Management of Spacecraft"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Di Cairano, Stefano; Walsh, Alex
  Patent No.: 10,180,686
  Issue Date: Jan 15, 2019
- Title: "Methods and Systems for Path Planning Using a Network of Safe-Sets"
  Inventors: Danielson, Claus; Weiss, Avishai; Berntorp, Karl; Di Cairano, Stefano
  Patent No.: 10,012,988
  Issue Date: Jul 3, 2018
- Title: "System and Method for Controlling Vehicle using Neural Network"
  Inventors: Berntorp, Karl; Liu, Ming-Yu; Weiss, Avishai
  Patent No.: 9,989,964
  Issue Date: Jun 5, 2018
- Title: "Model Predictive Control with Uncertainties"
  Inventors: Di Cairano, Stefano; Weiss, Avishai
  Patent No.: 9,983,554
  Issue Date: May 29, 2018
- Title: "Model Predictive Control of Spacecraft"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Di Cairano, Stefano; Kalabic, Uros
  Patent No.: 9,874,879
  Issue Date: Jan 23, 2018
- Title: "Model Predictive Control of Spacecraft"
  Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Di Cairano, Stefano; Kalabic, Uros
  Patent No.: 9,764,858
  Issue Date: Sep 19, 2017
See All Patents for MERL

Mitsubishi Electric | Changes for the Better MERL - Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories

Avishai Weiss

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MERL Issued Patents

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On-orbit 3D Printing Technology for Fabrication of Satellite Antennas

Electric Satellite Station Keeping, Attitude Control, and Momentum Management by MPC

MERL Celebrates 25 Years of Innovation

MPC for Satellites