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Reg Willson

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 198-219

Pasadena, CA 91109
FORMER MEMBER

Dr. Reg Willson

Member of Technical Staff

Biography

Reg Willson is a systems engineer in the Autonomous Systems Division at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was the lead system engineer for the Mars 2020 (Perseverance) next generation rover engineering cameras and was the initial instrument engineer for the Mars 2020 SuperCam and SHERLOC instruments. On the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) he was the instrument engineer for the Mastcam, MAHLI and MARDI science cameras and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer. He was also the hardware lead for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) Descent Image Motion Estimation System camera.
Dr. Willson received his bachelors degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo and his masters and PhD degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Education

Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, dissertation: Modeling and Calibration of Automated Zoom Lenses, advisors: Professors Steven A. Shafer and Takeo Kanade.
M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, project: A Control Separation Approach to the Specification and Analysis of Discrete State Systems and Controllers, advisor: Professor Bruce H. Krogh.
B.A.Sc. Electrical Engineering (Computer Engineering option), University of Waterloo.

Professional Experience

MEMBER OF TECHNICAL STAFF
JPL Aerial and Orbital Image Analysis, Flight Instrument Detectors and Camera Systems, Instrument System Engineering, and Computer Vision groups,
Pasadena California
SENIOR RESEARCH ENGINEER / SPECIALIST RESEARCH ENGINEER
3M Engineering Systems Technology Center, St. Paul Minnesota
MEMBER OF SCIENTIFIC STAFF
Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa Ontario, Canada

Research Interests

Instrument systems engineering, camera modeling and calibration, and computer vision.

Publications

2022
  1. K. Hand, C. Phillips, A. Murray, et al., "Science Goals and Mission Architecture of the Europa Lander Mission Concept," The Planetary Science Journal, vol. 3, iss. 1, 26 January 2022.
2021
  1. J. Bowkett, J. Nash, D. Inkyu Kim, S. Kim, R. Thakker, A. Brinkman, Y. Cheng, R. Wilson, C. Lim, A. Gaut, A. Jain, M. Gildner, B. Emanuel, P. Backes, "Functional Autonomy Challenges in Sampling for an Europa Lander Mission," 2021 IEEE Aerospace Conference (50100), Big Sky, MT, USA, pp. 1-8, 06 March 2021.
2020
  1. J.N. Maki, D. Gruel, C. McKinney, M.A. Ravine, M. Morales, D. Lee, R. Willson, D. Copley-Woods, M. Valvo, T. Goodsall, J. McGuire, R.G. Sellar, J.A. Schaffner, M.A. Caplinger, J.M. Shamah, A.E. Johnson, H. Ansari, K. Singh, T. Litwin, R. Deen, A. Culver, N. Ruoff, D. Petrizzo, D. Kessler, C. Basset, T. Estlin, F. Alibay, A. Nelessen, S. Algermissen, "The Mars 2020 Engineering Cameras and Microphone on the Perseverance Rover: A Next-Generation Imaging System for Mars Exploration," Space Science Reviews Volume 216 Article 137 (2020), 24 November 2020.
2012
  1. K.S. Edgett, et al, "Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) Investigation," Springer Space Science Reviews, 01 July 2012.
2010
  1. M.C. Malin, et al, "The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mast-mounted cameras (Mastcams) Flight Instruments," 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Abstract 1123, 01 March 2010.
2009
  1. M.C. Malin, et al, "The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) flight instrument," 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Abstract 1199, 01 February 2009.
  2. K.S. Edgett, et al, "The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) flight instrument," 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Abstract 1197, 01 February 2009.
2007
  1. L. Matthies, et. al,, "Computer Vision on Mars," Intl. Journal of Computer Vision, Oct. 2007, vol. 75, No. 1, pp. 67-92., 01 October 2007.
  2. A. Johnson, R. Willson, Y. Cheng, J. Goguen, C. Leger, M. San Martin and L. Matthies, "Design Through Operation of an Image-Based Velocity Estimation System for Mars Landing," International Journal of Computer Vision, Volume 74, Number 3, 319-341, 01 September 2007.
  3. L. Matthies, M. Maimone, Y. Cheng, A. Johnson, R. Willson, "Computer vision in the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission," Computational Vision in Neural and Machine Systems, L. R. Harris and M. R. M. Jenkin (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 01 January 2007.
2005
  1. Reg G. Willson, Mark W. Maimone, Andrew E. Johnson, Larry M. Scherr, "An Optical Model for Image Artifacts Produced by Dust Particles on Lenses," International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation for Space (i-SAIRAS) Proceedings, Munich, Germany, 5-9 Sept 2005, 05 September 2005.
  2. R. Willson, A. Johnson and J. Goguen, "MOC2DIMES: A Camera Simulator for the Mars Exploration Rover Descent Image Motion Estimation System," 8th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (i-SAIRAS), 01 September 2005.
  3. Andrew Johnson, Reg Willson, Jay Goguen, James Alexander and David Meller, "Field Testing of the Mars Exploration Rovers Descent Image Motion Estimation System," IEEE Int'l Conf. Robotics & Automation, 01 January 2005.
2004
  1. Invited paper and plenary talk, "Autonomous Navigation Results from the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission," International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, Singapore, 01 June 2004.
  2. C.C. Liebe, L. Scherr, R. Willson, "Sun-induced veiling glare in dusty camera optics," Optical Engineering, Vol. 43 No. 2, 493-499, 01 February 2004.
  3. Y. Cheng, J. Goguen, A. Johnson, C. Leger, L. Matthies, M. San Martin, R. Willson, "The Mars Exploration Rovers Descent Image Motion Estimation System," IEEE Intelligent Systems Magazine, 01 January 2004.
2001
  1. Eisenman, Liebe, Maimone, Schwochert, and Willson, "Mars Exploration Rover Engineering Cameras," Sept 2001 SPIE Remote Sensing conference proceedings, Toulouse, France., 01 September 2001.
  2. R. Willson and S. Shafer, "Modeling and Calibration of Variable-Parameter Camera Systems," Calibration and Orientation of Cameras in Computer Vision, A. Gruen and T.S. Huang Editors, Springer Series in Information Sciences, Vol. 34, pp.137-161, 01 July 2001.
1994
  1. R. Willson and S. Shafer, "What is the Center of the Image?," Journal of the Optical Society of America A, pp.2946-2955, 01 November 1994.
  2. R. Willson, "Modeling and Calibration of Automated Zoom Lenses," Proceedings of the SPIE #2350:Videometrics III, pp.170-186, 01 October 1994.