About the role#
This internship focuses on the safety of runway incursion alerts for aircraft landings. You will investigate how imperfect machine learning perception impacts overall system behavior. The project uses formal specifications to guide the testing of a pipeline that includes object detection, tracking, and alerting modules. This is a full-time, on-site position at the Ames Research Center.
What you'll do#
- Identify semantic conditions that lead to false or missed detections.
- Create temporal and semantic diagnostic specifications to guide system testing.
- Test the detector-tracker-alert pipeline against these specifications.
- Analyze execution logs and violation traces to find recurring failure patterns.
- Determine how perception errors propagate to affect system-level behavior.
- Investigate model-checking methods to characterize system failures.
What you'll need#
- Strong programming skills in Python and machine learning packages.
- Knowledge of deep neural networks and vision models.
- Understanding of formal methods, including automata theory, formal temporal reasoning, declarative languages, model checking, and SAT/SMT solving.
- Familiarity with computer vision algorithms.
- Knowledge of systems engineering, particularly within aviation.
- Enrollment as an undergraduate senior, master's student, doctoral student, or post-doctoral researcher.
- US citizenship.
Location & details#
- Location: Moffett Field, California.
- Term: Summer 2027 (June 7, 2027 to August 13, 2027).
- Modality: On-site.
- Note: This position is unpaid.
About NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is a government agency founded in 1958. It conducts research and development in aeronautics, space exploration, and science. The organization operates from various locations across the United States, including its headquarters in Washington, DC. With over 53,000 employees, it manages missions involving rockets, spacecraft, and Earth observation.
How to get in at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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