J. David Powell

John David Powell, (known as J. David Powell or David Powell), is an American aerospace engineer and professor emeritus of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University.

His research focused on control systems for aerospace vehicles, automotive engine control, and GPS-aided attitude determination, and the benefits of GPS navigation. He is best known as co-author of widely used textbooks on feedback control.

Early life and education Powell earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He received an M.S. in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1970, both in aeronautics and astronautics, from Stanford University.

Career Powell joined the Stanford faculty in 1971 with joint appointments in the Departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Mechanical Engineering. He served until 1998, when he became professor emeritus, and has continued research activities as emeritus faculty.

His contributions related to GPS augmentation, the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), provided enhanced aviation safety through improved pilot displays, improved flight inspection of landing systems, and safer use of closely-spaced parallel runways.

Later work advanced low-cost GPS/inertial attitude determination for general aviation glass cockpits and drone navigation systems.

Selected publications Books Digital Control of Dynamic Systems (1st ed. with Gene F. Franklin, Addison-Wesley, 1980; later eds. with Michael L. Workman).

Selected papers Chang, C.F.; Fekete, N.P.; Amstutz, A.; Powell, J.D. (1995). "Air-fuel ratio control in spark-ignition engines using estimation theory". IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. 3 (1): 22-31. . He, X.; Powell, J.D. (1990). "Tether damping in space". Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. 13 (1): 104-112. . Powell, J.D.; Fekete, N.P.; Chang, C.F. (1998). "Observer-based air-fuel ratio control". IEEE Control Systems Magazine. 18 (5): 72-83. . Carlson, C.R.; Gerdes, J.C.; Powell, J.D. (2004). "Error Sources When Land Vehicle Dead Reckoning with Differential Wheelspeeds". NAVIGATION. 51 (1): 13. (Co-recipient of the 2004 Dr. Samuel M. Burka Award).

Honors and awards Vincent Bendix Automotive Electronics Engineering Award, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), 1991. Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), 1995. Arch T. Colwell Merit Award, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), 1996. Vincent Bendix Automotive Electronics Engineering Award, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), 1998. Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 1999. Dr. Samuel M. Burka Award, Institute of Navigation, 2004 (shared with Christopher R. Carlson and J. Christian Gerdes for their co-authored paper).