I am a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford Aero/Astro pursuing a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics under the supervision of Professor Gao in the Navigation and Autonomous Vehicles (NAV) Lab.
As lunar and deep space exploration by small satellites is expected to rapidly increase its scale in the future, a major problem that arises is how to secure the means of navigation with limited ground station resources. My main research interests are in designing positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) algorithms for distributed space systems of satellites and rovers in the lunar region to support future lunar exploration. Currently, I am leading the Lunar PNT subgroup in the NAV Lab and mentoring several students.
Prior to Stanford, I received my B.E. and M.E. degree from the Aero/Astro Department of The University of Tokyo. At the Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory in UTokyo, I worked on the thermal design and on-board software development for EQUULEUS, a 6-U CubeSat targeting the EML2 Halo Orbit as one of the secondary payload of SLS1. Besides the development of EQUULEUS, I researched satellite configurations and autonomous operation strategies for Lunar Navigation Satellite System (LNSS) under the supervision of Prof.Funase.
I also had the honor to collaborate with Space Systems Optimization Group (SSOG) at Georgia Tech and Space Rendezvous Lab (SLAB) at Stanford University. At SSOG, I worked on developing deep reinforcement learning algorithms for landing site selection. At SLAB, I worked on multi-agent vision-based angles-only navigation in lunar orbit.
Please refer to my CV (last updated at October 2023) for the latest information.
Education
Ph.D. Student in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University
Research Topic: Lunar Navigation
2021.9 ~
M.E. in Aeronautics and Astronautics, The University of Tokyo
Thesis: System Design and Autonomous Orbit Determination Strategy for Lunar Navigation Satellite System
2021
B.E. in Aeronautics and Astronautics, The University of Tokyo
Thesis: Navigation Satellite Constellation and Monitoring Station Arrangement for Lunar Global Navigation Satellite System (LGNSS)
2019
Research Experience
NAV Lab
Duties included: Autonomous Lunar Navigation Using GPS Signals
Supervisor: Prof.Gao
2022.5 ~ Present
Space Rendezvous Lab
Duties included: Research on angles-only navigation
Supervisor: Prof.D’Amico
2021.9 ~ 2022.4
Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory
Duties included: Research on Lunar Navigation Satellite System, SmallSat development
Supervisor: Prof.Funase, Prof.Nakasuka
2018.4 ~ 2021.9
Space Systems Optimization Group
Duties included: Research on landing site selection algorithms during planetary descent
Supervisor: Prof.Ho
2020.1 ~ 2020.2
Please see here for further information.
Teaching Experience
Graduate TA of Junior-level Class 'Astrodynamics'
Duties included: Creating report assignments, grading, student support
Supervisor: Prof.Funase
2019.9 ~ 2020.3
Mentorship
Academic Appointments
Assistant Researcher
Duties included: EQUULEUS project
2019.4 ~ 2021.8
Fellowships & Awards
Student Registration Grant for ION ITM 2022
For the paper 'Autonomous Distributed Angles-Only Navigation and Timekeeping in Lunar Orbit'
2022.1
Stanford University Aero/Astro Department Fellowship
Sucess ratio ~11%, 1-year tuition and stipend
2021.9 ~ 2022.8
Nakajima Foundation Study Abroad Fellowship
Sucess ratio ~7%, 2-year tuition and stipend
2021.9 ~ 2023.8
WINGS CFS Program Fellowship
Sucess ratio unknown, 2-year stipend
2019.9 ~ 2021.8
32nd ISTS Student Paper Competition Finalist
2019.6
Overall Winner at ARLISS 2017
2017.9
Publications
Please see here
Contact
kiiyama{at}stanford.edu
Recent News
- Mar 11. Updated my publication page. Now you can see the Abstracts and BibTex.
- Mar.6 2024 Presented our paper “Contact Plan Optimization and Distributed State Estimation for Delay Tolerant Satellite Networks” in the IEEE Aeroconf! [Paper] [Slides]
- Feb.16 2024 Our paper “Precise Positioning and Timekeeping in a Lunar Orbit via Terrestrial GPS Time-Differenced Carrier-Phase Measurements” in now available in NAVIGATION! [Paper]
- Oct.16 2023 Updated the Research Project Page
- Oct.6 2023 Submitted our paper, ““Contact Plan Optimization and Distributed State Estimation for Delay Tolerant Satellite Networks” to the IEEE Aerospace Conference. [Paper]
- Sep.14,15 2023 Presented 3 papers at the ION GNSS+ 2023 Conference. Please see the publications page for details
- May 2023 Passed the Qualification Exam and became a Ph.D. Candidate!
- Oct.14 2022 Submitted our paper, “Terrestrial GPS Time-Differenced Carrier-Phase Positioning of Lunar Surface Users” to the IEEE Aerospace Conference. [Paper]
- Jan.26 2022 We presented our paper, “Autonomous Distributed Angles-Only Navigation and Timekeeping in Lunar Orbit” at the ION ITM conference. [Paper] [Slide] [Video]
- Oct.30 2021 Our paper, “Autonomous Distributed Angles-Only Navigation and Timekeeping in Lunar Orbit” was accepted for the ION ITM conference!
- Sep.24 2021 We presented our paper, “Autonomous and Decentralized Orbit Determination and Clock Offset Estimation of Lunar Navigation Satellites Using GPS Signals and Inter-satellite Ranging” at the ION GNSS+ 2021 Conference. [Paper] [Slide]
- Sep.20 2021 Started Ph.D. at Stanford Aero/Astro.