Stanley F. Schmidt
Encyclopedia
Stanley F. Schmidt was born in Hollister, California
Hollister, California
Hollister is a city in and the county seat of San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 34,928 at the 2010 census. Hollister is primarily an agricultural town.-History:...

, on January 21, 1926. He received the B.E.E. degree from Marquette University
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...

 in 1946, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 in 1952 and 1959, respectively.

From 1946 to 1961, he was with NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center , is one of the United States of America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration 10 major field centers.The centre is located in Moffett Field in California's Silicon Valley, near the high-tech companies, entrepreneurial ventures, universities, and other...

, where he discovered the utility of the Kalman filter
Kalman filter
In statistics, the Kalman filter is a mathematical method named after Rudolf E. Kálmán. Its purpose is to use measurements observed over time, containing noise and other inaccuracies, and produce values that tend to be closer to the true values of the measurements and their associated calculated...

 as applied to data processing for the nonlinear navigation equations of the manned lunar mission. Also while at Ames, Dr. Schmidt developed piloted motion simulators, designed nonlinear compensation techniques for saturation effects in control systems, and served as Branch Chief in charge of all analog simulation work. During 1961 and 1962, Dr. Schmidt was with Lockheed Missiles & Space Company. There he applied filter theory and model identification techniques and developed digital computer programs for processing tracking data and giving postflight evaluation of launch vehicle guidance and propulsion systems.

From 1962 to 1966, Dr. Schmidt was a senior Staff Scientist with Philco
Philco
Philco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...

's Western Development Laboratory. There he directed studies of navigation and guidance systems for space vehicle systems and development of digital computer programs for analysis and design of space vehicle systems. Also at Philco, he conceived the fan beam navigation satellite technique and pursued studies to prove the feasibility and accuracy of this concept.

In 1966, Dr. Schmidt joined Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. where he was Vice President and Technical Director of their Western Division. At AMA, Dr. Schmidt developed a special Kalman filter formulation for a navigation system, applied control theory to improve NASA piloted flight simulators, and developed several on-board navigation systems which incorporate square-root formulations of the Kalman filter.

Dr. Schmidt is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA and is a member of the IEEE, Tau Beta Pi
Tau Beta Pi
The Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...

, and Eta Kappa Nu
Eta Kappa Nu
Eta Kappa Nu is the electrical and computer engineering honor society of the IEEE, founded in October 1904 by Maurice L. Carr at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The organization currently has around 200 student chapters and about 3,000,000 members and is headquartered in Chicago,...

. He has also served as lecturer at Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...

.
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