Curriculum Vitae

Education

2018 – 2021 Postdoctoral research at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

2014 – 2018 PhD in Maritime Engineering at the Australian Maritime College (AMC), University of Tasmania (UTAS), Australia.

2010 – 2013 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Naval Architecture (Ships and Underwater Vehicles) from the AMC, UTAS, Australia.

Employment History

Research Scientist at MechE, MIT (June 2018 – August 2021)

  • Conduct research and develop improved algorithms and hardware systems that can push the boundariesin the field of marine robotics. Produce review reports and peer-reviewed publications on the findings
  • Mentoring interns, undergraduate students, graduate students and post-docs
  • Developing, maintaining and improving internal and open-source software projects, as well as marinerobotics platforms.
  • Writing and submitting grant proposals in collaboration with MIT faculty as well as industry partners, and representing the group for funding agency reviews, workshops, and other meetings.
  • Contribute to leadership of the group

Postdoctoral Research Associate at MechE, MIT (June 2018 – August 2021)

  • Conduct research and develop improved algorithms and hardware systems that can push the boundariesin the field of marine robotics. Produce review reports and peer-reviewed publications on the findings

  • Mentoring undergraduate students to provide them valuable experience while utilizing their skill sets forresearch projects, and supporting and assisting graduate students in their research work.

  • Writing grant proposals under the guidance of the faculty adviser, and representing the group for fundingagency reviews, workshops, and other meetings.

Instructor at AMC Search Ltd (May 2017 – June 2017)

  • Co-developing and co-delivering the AUV Operator Training Course for the Royal Australian Navy

Casual Lecturer at AMC, UTAS (2014 – 2018)

  • Supervision of BEng final year research projects for the Naval Architecture, Ocean Engineering and Marine and Offshore Engineering degrees

  • Coordinated and delivered the third-year course Underwater Vehicle Technology (BEng Naval Architecture)

  • Teaching Assistant and laboratory supervisor for the third-year course Seakeeping and Manoeuvring, (BEng Naval Architecture)

  • Teaching Assistant for Engineering Design and Presentation (Bachelor of Applied Science in Marine Engineering)

  • Supervision of third-year BEng Ocean Engineering students during the five day educational voyage aboard AMC’s training vessel FTV Bluefin

 

Recent research projects and major research expeditions

  • Morpheus AUV (on-going) – Redesign of the EMATT AUV (Lockheed-Martin’s expendable mobile anti-submarine warfare training target vehicle) by utilizing an optimized nosecone, tail-section, and a set of retractable morphing fins that emulate the abilities of tunas to enhance their manoeuverability while preserving high speed. Project includes development of vehicle software including sensor drivers, low-level control, navigation, frontseat-backseat interface, autonomy, safety management, and etc. The long-term goal of this work is to provide decentralized collaborative marine autonomy to EMATT platform.

  • Submarine towed array positioning (on-going) – developing a system to determine the headline position of a submarine towed-array relative to the vehicle without utilizing active acoustics.

  • Ice Exercise 2020 (Beaufort Sea, Arctic, 2020) – developed a novel under-ice AUV navigation system named HydroMAN, and an integrated comunication and navigation network (ICNN), which provided high resolution acoustic navigation aiding to HydroMAN using the travel-times of acoustic datagrams. The HydroMAN-ICNN framework was demonstrated in the Arctic Beaufort Sea during the 2020 US Navy Ice Exercise experiment.

  • Antarctic research fieldwork (2018) – Participated in a six-week joint research field works conducted in the Ross Sea, West Antarctica aboard the Research Vessel Araon. Fieldwork included launch and recovery of moorings, servicing and data download of the oceanographic instruments, obtaining CTD casts and water samples around the Nansen ice shelf. The long-term goal of this work is to develop a Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS) for the Ross Sea.

  • Autonomous Systems Boot Camp (University of Delaware, 2016) – Participated in an intensive hands-on workshop regarding the development and application of autonomous field robotic systems in the service of marine and environmental science hosted by the Robotic Discovery Laboratories of University of Delaware. My primary role involved in producing a water column velocity distribution map of the survey site using the WVAM technique (a non-acoustic method to determine water column velocities using the motion response of AUVs), which was developed as a part of my PhD.

  • Environmental monitoring studies (2016) – Involved in the field experiments of a joint environmental monitoring study to investigate the potential short-term impact of low-frequency sound from seismic operations on benthic communities and fish in the Gippsland Basin, Australia funded by the Geoscience Australia. An Iver II class AUV was utilised to capture the high-resolution images of the seafloor.

  • Maritime RobotX Challenge 2014, Singapore – Participated in the Maritime RobotX Challenge 2014 held in Singapore. I was part of the AMC and Flinders University joint team and my primary role was development and identification of a mathematical model of the vessel for low-level control, navigation and simulation purposes.

 

Awards and Honours

  • Battelle/MIT postdoctoral fellowship

  • Special award - Maritime RobotX Challenge (Singapore, 2014) – using the wave adaptive modular vessel for teaching hydrodynamics and sandbar research

  • Principal’s Roll of Excellence (2013) – in recognition of the high academic standards attained at the AMC, UTAS (the Principal’s Roll of Excellence was established to honour those students who attain the very highest academic achievements)

  • Minor award – Australian & New Zealand Universities CAD & CAE Competition (Leap Australia, 2013) – for showcasing the CAD & CAE work done by engineering undergraduate students during their final-year projects using cutting-edge design and simulation technology

  • Tasmanian International Scholarship (2012 & 2013) – for outstanding prior studies by the AMC, UTAS

Training Certificates

  • Elementary Shipboard Safety (ESS), including basic survival at sea, firefighting and first aid (2012).

Recent Publications

Randeni P., S. A. T., Schmidt, H. and Schneider, T. (in progress). A high-resolution AUV navigation framework with integrated communication and tracking for under-ice deployments.

Randeni P., S. A. T., Schneider, T. and Schmidt, H. (accepted for publication). Construction of a high-resolution under-ice AUV navigation framework using a multidisciplinary virtual environment. 2020 IEEE OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium.

Schneider, T., Schmidt, H. and Randeni P., S. A. T. (accepted for publication). Self-Adapting Under-Ice Integrated Communications and Navigation Network. 2020 Underwater Communications and Networking Conference (UComms).

Randeni, S., N. R., Fischell, E. M. and Schmidt, H. (Under Review). An AUV dynamic model, based on the conservation of energy, for underwater navigation aiding. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

Randeni P., S. A.T., Rypkema, N. R., Fischell, E. M., Forrest, A. L., Benjamin, M. R. and Schmidt, H. 2018. Implementation of a Hydrodynamic Model-Based Navigation System for a Low-Cost AUV Fleet. 2018 IEEE OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium.

Randeni P., S. A.T., Forrest, A.L., Cossu, R., Leong, Z.Q., Ranmuthugala, D., and Schmidt, V., 2017. Nonlinear model identification – Replicating the motion response of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for dynamic environments. Non-linear Dynamics.

Randeni P., S. A.T., Leong, Z.Q., Ranmuthugala, D., Forrest, A.L. and Duffy, J., 2015. Numerical investigation of the hydrodynamic interaction between two underwater bodies in relative motion. Applied Ocean Research, 51, pp.14-24.

Randeni P., S. A.T., Forrest, A.L., Cossu, R., Leong, Z.Q. and Ranmuthugala, D., 2017. Determining the Horizontal and Vertical Water Velocity Components of a Turbulent Water Column Using the Motion Response of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

Randeni P., S. A.T., Forrest, A.L., Cossu, R., Leong, Z.Q., King, P.D. and Ranmuthugala, D., 2016. Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Motion Response: A Nonacoustic Tool for Blue Water Navigation. Marine Technology Society Journal, 50(2), pp.17-26.

Randeni P., S. A.T., Forrest, A.L., Cossu, R., Leong, Z.Q. and Ranmuthugala, D., 2015, October. Estimating flow velocities of the water column using the motion response of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). In OCEANS 2015-MTS/IEEE Washington (pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Choi, B., Randeni P., S. A.T., Fan, S. and Forrest, A., 2018. A model-aided inertial navigation system with a low acoustic signature for localization of surveillance AUVs. Journal of Ocean Technology, 13(3).

Keane, J. R., Duffy, J., Haze, M., Randeni P., S. A. T., Hubbert, H. R., Kent, R. L., Forrest, A. L., Summut, K., Lammas, A., Wheare, J. and Battle, D. Preparing a wave adaptive modular vessel for automation. Royal Institution of Naval Architects Transactions Part B-International Journal of Small Craft Technology.

Tran, M.Q., Randeni P., S. A.T., Nguyen, H.D., Binns, J., Chai, S. and Forrest, A.L., 2016. Least Squares Optimisation Algorithm Based System Identification of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. PROCEEDING of Publishing House for Science and Technology, 1(1).

Plenary Sessions in Conferences

Mills, R., Rhen, C., Randeni P, S. A. T., Phillips, A., Brito, M., Schillai, S., Peach, A. “Enhancing Industry-Academic Collaboration on Development and Scientific Use of Unmanned Robotic Platforms in Aquatic Environments” Plenary panel discussion at 2020 IEEE OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium, St. John’s, NL, Canada. 2020 (virtual)

Conference and Workshop Presentations

“Construction of a high-resolution under-ice AUV navigation framework using a multidisciplinary virtual environment” At 2020 IEEE OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium, St. John’s, NL, Canada. 2020 (virtual)

“Towards a universal hydrodynamic model-aided AUV navigation toolbox” a guest presentation at The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. 2019

“Implementation of a Hydrodynamic Model-Based Navigation System for a Low-Cost AUV Fleet.” At 2018 IEEE OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium, Porto, Portugal. 2018

“Identification of non-linear AUV dynamics” a guest presentation at University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA. 2016

“WVAM method – a non-acoustic technique to measure water column velocities” a guest presentation at University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA. 2015

“Inertial Based estimation of turbulent water velocities – addressing the blanking region” at 2015 IEEE/MTS Oceans Conference, Washington, DC, USA. 2015

“Estimating flow velocities of the water column using the motion response of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)” at Teledyne Marine Technology Workshop (TMTW), San Diego, USA. 2015