Gary F. Giger

Short Biography

        I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with my Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science in April 1997. I began my career working as a software engineer for various companies in the State College, Pennsylvania area including Raytheon. In Fall of 2004 I decided to return to graduate school here at The Pennsylvania State University ("Penn State") to pursue my Masters Degree in the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) program. Shortly after returning to school I was presented with the opportunity to pursue my Ph.D. in this same program. Currently I am a part of the Micro Design Lab in the CSE department at Penn State and I plan to graduate in the Spring 2010.

Research Interests

        My research to date has focused mainly on three different areas. First, I was involved with adding enhancements an existing high-level mission programming language (MPL) used to control an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV). Improvements included the addition of looping and conditional logic constructs as well as a new "parallel region" construct that allows operators to easily create missions involving multiple UUVs. Second, I developed a graphical mission planning tool to allow operators to easily and quickly plan missions for multiple UUV while eliminating the need to manually write any source code for the vehicles. A translation utility was also developed that converted the graphical representation of the mission into the corresponding source code representation. Third, I was responsible for creating high level mission planning routines that would read the generated source code of a mission involving multiple UUVs and would automatically "split-up" this mission into a set of parallel sub-missions (one sub mission is generated for each vehicle involved). The initial mission planning routines involve the use of both greedy and ILP based approaches. Currently I am exploring the use of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) for both single and multi-objective optimizations regarding the tasking of these vehicles with specific mission objectives. The goal of my research is to create a more robust method of mission specification for one or more UUVs by reducing (and possibly eliminating) potential "bugs" often found in hand written missions, thus reducing potential errors and lend towards the mission's success. After graduation, I would like to continue my research in one or more of the following areas:

Journal Publications

G. Giger, M. Kandemir and J. Dzielski, "Graphical Mission Specification and Partitioning for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles," Journal of Software (JSW), vol. 3, issue 7, 2008, pp. 42-54.

Conference Proceedings

2009

M. Kandemir, S. Srikantaiah, G. Giger, S. Tangirala, and J. Dzielski, "Automated Mission Code Translation across Different UMV Types," AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America, August 2009.

2008

G. Giger, M. Kandemir, and J. Dzielski, "A Graphical Mission Planning Tool for use in Mine Counter Measure (MCM) Operations, " OCEANS 2008, September 2008. PDF

G. Giger, M. Kandemir, and J. Dzielski, "Reliable Mission Execution Using Unreliable UUVs," AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America, June 2008.

S. Erkan, M. Kandemir, and G. Giger, "Advanced Task Assignment for Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles Targeting Cost Efficiency and Survivability," 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, January 2008.

2007

G. Giger, M. Kandemir, S. D. Lovell, J. Dzielski, and S. Tangirala "Automated Mission Parallelization for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles," AAAI RIDIS, November 2007. PDF

S. Erkan, M. Kandemir, G. Giger, and S. D. Lovell, "Energy-Optimal Data Collection and Communication Using a Group of UUVs," AAAI RIDIS, November 2007. PDF

G. Giger, M. Kandemir, and J. Dzielski, "A Graphical Mission Specification and Partitioning Tool for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles," OCEANS 2007, October 2007. PDF

G. Giger, M. Kandemir, S. D. Lovell, and J. Dzielski, "Automated Mission Parallelization for a Group of UUVs," Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology, August 2007. PDF

S. Erkan, M. Kandemir, and G. Giger, "Dynamic Fault Tolerant Mission Re-Planning Algorithms for a Group of UUVs," Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Unmanned Unthethered Submersible Technology, August 2007.

2006

G. Giger, L. Xue, S. Tangirala, and M. Kandemir, "High-Level Mission Programming Support for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles," AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America, August 2006. PDF

Hobbies/Extracurricular Activities

Penn State Robotics Club (Fall 2005 to Present)

        I have been an active member in the PSU robotics club since September 2005. During my time with the club, I have been working with the other members to expand the club in many different areas. Some of these areas include research and development with many different microcontrollers including the Basic Stamp, PIC16F and 18F series, Propeller Chip, and the ET-ARM Stamp module. I have also participated in recruiting efforts for the club to increase member enrollment. Right now we have about 40+ members. Our goal is to attract new members and provide them with the knowledge and experience of building robots so they can in turn pass this information onto the next new group of members who join.

Alpha Fire Company (February 2005 to October 2008)

        I served as a Fire Police Officer for the Alpha Fire Company. Some of my duties include securing the outer perimeter of the Fire Ground to ensure the safety of the other Fire Fighters on scene, providing traffic and crowd control, and from time to time helping the police department with security for certain incidents until their investigations are completed. Alpha Fire Company is a volunteer organization that has served the State College Area since 1899.