Aeroflightdynamics: USRA Senior Software Engineer Recognized by U.S. Army Colonel for his Technical Contributions

January 31, 2024

USRA/NAMS Senior Software Engineer Nathan Mielcarek was presented with a Commander’s Coin from COL Justin Highley of the U.S. Army Technology Development Directorate (TDD) at the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC) during his visit to Ames on January 23 in recognition of his excellent hardware and software technical support work. Nathan serves as the Task Lead for the Human Systems Software Development program under the NAMS Aeroflightdynamics Technical Area, in support of U.S. Army TDD’s research and development in the area of human-machine interface and human-autonomy interaction for advanced rotary-wing vehicle aviators and unmanned aerial systems ground control station operators. 

Nathan is recognized for his excellent technical contributions to several key Army research programs: “(1) ) Holistic Situational Awareness - Decision Making (HSA-DM) system development and buildup for the Operator State Monitoring (OSM-DC) project, data reduction assistance to the Principal Investigators, development of flight simulation computer generated imagery (CGI) with the new Unreal Engine; (2) Moving map and ICE primary flight display development that supports the Mission Adaptive Autonomy (MAA) human/pilot-machine interface; (3) Sling load model integration support to the Principal Investigator into the high-fidelity blade element math model of the UH-60 Black Hawk simulation (GenHel) to support the MAA Sling Load demonstration at an upcoming Flight Technology Demonstration; (4) Serving as an EH-60L onboard research systems operator in conjunction with other Army researchers during the autonomous sling load build-up at Moffett Field and Fort Irwin; Nathan provides critical technical assistance remotely to the Fort Eustis RIFL team in the development and maintenance of the Fort Eustis RIFL EH-60L System Integration Laboratory (SIL); and (5) Support of the Survivability Against Integrated Networked Threats (SAINT) vendor algorithm insertion into the EH-60L SIL that integrates with the HSI Branch-developed ICE primary flight display (PFD) and moving map displays and pathway-in-the-sky with advanced obstacle and threat warning cueing displays.”