Tristan Schuler

I received my Master's of Science in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Arizona in 2020 and was a member of the Space Terrestrial Robotics and Exploration (SpaceTREx) Laboratory led by Jekan Thangavelautham. As part of my degree requirements, I also defended my Master's Thesis entitled "Solar Balloons - An Aerial Platform for Planetary Exploration." I also received my Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science from George Mason University in 2019. I am currently a Karle's Fellow Research Scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory within the Distributed Autonomous Systems Group (DASG). My research interests and projects include solar balloons, lighter than air vehicles, and autonomous platform development. Previously, I interned with NASA, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Outside of work I am active in the outdoor community: hiking, skiing, and camping. I’m also an avid adventure photographer, travel blogger, and have 2 albums on Spotify.

My personal websites for my music, photography, and travel blogging are www.tristanschuler.com and www.trizzletravels.com

J. Gibson, T. Schuler, L. McGuire D. Lofaro, and D. Sofge, “Swarm and Multi-agent Time-based Path Planning for LTA3 Systems,” in World Scientific: Unmanned Systems, 2019, pp. 1–8 – Impact Factor: 0.760 (actual page numbers TBD)

T. Schuler, K. Kukkala, V. Vilvanathan, and J. Thangavelautham, “CubeSat System Design for Mars Exploratory Balloon (MEB),” i-SAIRAS, 2020
T. Schuler, S. Shkarayev, and J. Thangavelautham, “Altitude Control of a Solar Balloon for Mars Exploration,” AAS Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC), 2020
T. Schuler, D. Lofaro, L. McGuire, A. Schroer, T. Lin, and D. Sofge, “A Study of Robotic Swarms and Emergent Behaviors using 25+ Real-World Lighter-Than-Air Autonomous Agents (LTA 3),” in SWARM 2019: The 3rd International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics, 2019
J. Gibson, T. Schuler, L. McGuire D. Lofaro, and D. Sofge, “Multi-agent Time-based A* Path Planning on Lighter-Than-Air Autonomous Agents,” in IEEE International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems, and Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics (CIS-RAM), 2019
D. Srivastava, D. Lofaro, T. Schuler, and D. Sofge, “Gesture-Based Interface for Multi-Agent and Swarm Formation Control,” in SWARM 2019: The 3rd International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics, 2019
A. Bouskela, A.Kling. A. Chandra, T. Schuler, S. Shkarayev, and J. Thangavelautham, “Planetary Exploration Using CubeSat Deployed Sailplanes,” in International Astronautical Congress (IAC), 2019

T. Schuler , D. Lofaro, A. Maxseiner, D. Bhawandi, D. Sofge, “Wall Climbing Blimp Swarm via Sensor Driven Emergence,” ICRA – Swarms in the Real World, 2021. In Progress.
T. Schuler , D. Bowman, “Long Duration Flights in Venus’ Atmosphere Using Passive Solar Hot Air Balloons,” Acta Astronautica, 2021. In Progress.
R. Nallapu, Y. Xu, T. Schuler , J. Thangavelautham, “Development of a Hardware Demonstration Platform for Multi-Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Small Bodies.” IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems. In Progress.
A. Bouskela, A. Kling, T. Schuler , S. Shkarayev, J. Thanavelautham, “Mars Exploration Using Sailplanes,” Advances in Space Research. 2021. In Progress
J. Thangavelautham, T. Schuler , M. Debbins, K. Kukkala, V. Vilvanathan, C. Bukowski, H. Kalita, “Tethered Robotic Explorer for Accessing Cliffs, Canyons, Craters on the Surface of Mars.” AAS Advances in Astronautical Sciences, 2021. In Progress.