David Sastre Albella

Experience

• 

  Indra

  Mar 2015 - Aug 2017

  UAV test pilot

  Development of Unmanned Aerial Systems, and occasionally test pilot, in the projects Mantis and Pelícano of Indra Systems.Researching improvements for the available UAVs in this company, I've taken part in a wide range of fields on these projects like mechanics, aerodynamics, control engineering, electronics, embedded systems...I started working here as test pilot, manually recovering the UAVs during development in case of system failure, so I am used to manually fly and recover all kind of UAVs in uncomfortable conditions.Soon after starting on this company, I took part on UAV development besides my job as test pilot, as there were just a few flights each week, and I could help in the development on my free time. So I started to take part on composite building at first, then I got involved in the development of traditional helicopter UAV airframes and I learnt a lot about the dynamics of traditional helicopters, as well as mechanics and the relationship between these and the control engineering involved in autopilots, spending a lot of time with the autopilot software team. As I had a good understanding of the dynamics of the airframes due to my hobby and my work as test pilot, and also some knowledge of control and software due to the bachelor degree I was studying, I served pretty well as a "bridge" between the software and the physics of these projects.I finally found my place on embedded systems design around UAVs. I took part on payloads design, integration of new sensors and payloads in the existing systems, integration of rf systems on the existing airframes including antennas design and integration, software development for this embedded systems on C, C++ and some VHDL, among other tasks. Even though I spent most of the time on these tasks by that moment, I still kept occasionally serving as test pilot. Show less

• 

  Freelance, self-employed

  Aug 2017 - Aug 2021

  UAV/UAS Specialist, Software developer

  During this time I've worked with several companies in the UAV industry helping them with all kind of challenges related to UAV systems. The main service I've been providing to those companies is software development, although sometimes the projects also require additional disciplines besides software, like:- UAV set up and tuning, flight tests, operations, etc- Mechanical design, simulations, manufacturing, etc I am fluent using Solidworks and I am familiarized with composite manufacturing, additive manufacturing, etc- Team management, team instruction.Now, regarding software development which is the main task I've performed as freelance:- Autopilot development. I work over Ardupilot and PX4 open source firmwares. C/C++- GCS development. I work with QGroundControl, also an open source proyect based on Qt framework used by a huge percentage of the UAV industry right now. C++, QML, Qt- General GUI development. I am very familiarized with Qt and I've made standalone applications based on Qt as well, for payload management, system setup/testing, etc. C++, QML, Qt- Embedded linux. Having an onboard embedded linux computer in UAVs is becoming almost mandatory during past years. I have experience working over them for video stream management, telemetry management, vision processing tasks, precision landing, artificial intelligence tasks, advance communications ( satellite, etc ). Linux, C/C++, Python, Nvidia Jetson, OpenCV, OpenVX, etc Show less

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  Quaternium

  Dec 2018 - Jul 2019

  Freelance, Head of Software Development

  Quaternium is a company designing and manufacturing a hybrid multirrotor with several endurance world records. My job there was head of software development. Along with my team I developed several projects:-Integration of new sensors: Driver on the main autopilot in C/C++, integration on companion computers and datalinks (embedded linux) of the new telemetry fields and integration on the Ground Control Station software, both Linux and windows, for visualizing the information from the new sensors and taking actions if needed.-Payload development: We developed a gimballed dual sensor IR/EO payload from the ground up. This required me to design the arquitecture of the sensors, control boards, power management, etc. Also I developed the software of this system in C/C++ and embedded linux as well as the driver in the main autopilot.-Data link/companion computer development: Manage video and data streams coming from several modules in the system and deliver them where needed, sometimes requiring change in format, logging, etc. Embedded linux.-General system architecture: I also took part in the design and planing of the architecture of the whole system, not only software, regarding modularity, future updates, compatibility with current standards, etc. Show less

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  Lince Systems

  Aug 2021 - now

  Lead Developer