Our Team
Dr. Samer Khanafseh is co-founder, Technical and Executive Manager of TruNav. He is also a Research Assistant Professor at Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He received his MS and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from IIT, in 2003 and 2008, respectively. Dr. Khanafseh has been involved in several aviation applications such as Autonomous Airborne Refueling (AAR) of unmanned air vehicles, autonomous shipboard landing for NUCAS and JPALS programs and Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS). He published 13 journal articles and more than 30 conference papers. His research interests are focused on high accuracy and high integrity navigation algorithms for close proximity applications, cycle ambiguity resolution, high integrity applications, fault monitoring and robust estimation techniques. He was the recipient of the 2011 Institute of Navigation Early Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to the integrity of carrier phase navigation systems.
Dr. Mathieu Joerger is Senior Research Scientist at TruNav. He is also Assistant Professor at Mechanical and Aerospace Department of University of Arizona. He obtained a Diplome d’Ingenieur in Mechatronics from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Strasbourg, France, in 2002, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), in 2002 and 2009, respectively. Dr. Joerger’s topics of research have included autonomous ground vehicle navigation and control, integration of carrier phase GPS with laser-scanner observations, and augmentation of GPS with low- earth-orbiting Iridium satellites. Dr. Joerger is currently working on multi-sensor integration, sequential fault-detection for multi-constellation navigation systems, and relative and differential receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM). Dr. Joerger is a member of IEEE, AIAA, and of the Institute of Navigation (ION). He is the 2009 recipient of the ION Bradford Parkinson Award, and the 2014 recipient of the ION Early Achievement Award.
Dr. Boris Pervan is co-founder and Lead Researcher at TruNav. He is also a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at IIT, where he conducts research on advanced navigation systems. Prior to joining the faculty at IIT, he was a spacecraft mission analyst at Hughes Aircraft Company (now Boeing) and a postdoctoral research associate at Stanford University. Prof. Pervan received his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame, M.S. from the California Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He was the recipient of the IIT Sigma Xi Excellence in University Research Award, Ralph Barnett Mechanical and Aerospace Dept. Outstanding Teaching Award, Mechanical and Aerospace Dept. Excellence in Research Award, IIT University Excellence in Teaching Award, IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society M. Barry Carlton Award, RTCA William E. Jackson Award, Guggenheim Fellowship (Caltech), and the Albert J. Zahm Prize in Aeronautics (Notre Dame). He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA, a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION), and Editor-in-Chief of the ION Journal Navigation.