Shashi Ranjan Kumar

Dr. Shashi Ranjan Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, where he leads the Intelligent Systems and Control (ISaC) Laboratory. His research group works at the exciting interface of guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) - the core technologies that make autonomous systems think, decide, and act. At ISaC Lab, students explore how intelligent algorithms can enable vehicles to operate autonomously in complex and uncertain environments. The group focuses on designing simple yet powerful guidance and control techniques that allow autonomous systems to achieve mission goals efficiently and reliably. These solutions are applicable across a wide spectrum of vehicles from fixed-wing aircraft, drones (UAVs), and ground robots (UGVs) to spacecraft and satellites. Research in the lab spans diverse and high-impact applications such as autonomous pursuit and evasion, cooperative target capture, delivery and logistics systems, surveillance and environmental monitoring, and autonomous exploration. For students, this translates into opportunities to work on problems that combine theoretical elegance with real-world relevance, often involving simulation, optimization, and experimental validations. The lab also delves into the dynamics and control of space systems, addressing challenges like orbit maintenance, attitude control and synchronization, autonomous rendezvous and docking, and space robotic manipulation. Students working in this area gain exposure to cutting-edge research that aligns closely with the growing national and international interest in space autonomy and robotics. At ISaC Lab, students are encouraged to think independently, collaborate creatively, and innovate fearlessly. The lab offers a stimulating environment that nurtures both academic excellence and practical insight, preparing students to contribute meaningfully to the next generation of intelligent aerospace and robotic systems. Phone: 022 - 2576 7108 Email: srk@aero.iitb.ac.in; srkumar@iitb.ac.in Google Scholar, Irins, Researchgate, Orcid, Scopus

Education

 —  PhD, Aerospace Engineering, 2015, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

• Advisor: Debasish Ghose

• Thesis: Sliding Mode Control based Guidance Strategies with Terminal Constraints

 —  ME, Aerospace Engineering, 2010, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

• Advisor: Debasish Ghose

• Thesis: Sliding Mode Guidance for All-Aspect Interceptors with Terminal Constraints

• Other Project: Design and Fabrication of a Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

 —  BTech, Electronics and Communication Engineering, 2008, MIT Muzaffarpur, [Presently affiliated to Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU)]

• Thesis: Design, Testing, and Validation of Transceiver Circuits for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

• Other Project: Very High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) Implementation of 16-bit Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

Appointments

• Associate Professor, June 2023 - Present, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

• Assistant Professor, July 2017 - June 2023, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

• Postdoctoral Researcher, November 2015 - July 2017, Cooperative Autonomous Systems Laboratory, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel (Sponsor: Tal Shima)

• IISc Junior Research Associate, June 2015 - October 2015, Guidance, Control, and Decision Systems Laboratory, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Recognitions & Awards

• C1973 Research Excellence Award, 2024, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

• Hotchand and Jamunabai Lala award for Excellence in Teaching in year 2022, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

• Excellent Reviewer Award in AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2021-22, 2023-24.

• One of the papers listed as "Highly cited paper in the field" in ISI Web of Science and also ranked 1 in Google Scholar Metrics in the last five years (during 2013-2017, 2014-2018, and 2015-2019) appearing in AIAA-Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics.

• Two of the papers among “Highly Cited Articles (3rd and 6th ranking)” in Google Scholar Metrics in the last five years (2012-2016) appearing in AIAA-Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics.

• Two of the papers listed as 16th and 23rd most cited articles in AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics for the all-time, in November 2020.

• Two of the papers listed in “Highly Cited Articles” in Web of Science, and “99%ile” and one in 98%ile of Citations in Scopus.

• Field citation ratios (FCR) for some of the papers: 70, 38, 37, 15, 9.31.

• Four of the papers having "Field-Weighted Citation Impact" of more than 9 (with the scores of 14.78,11.82.10.23,9.61) in Scopus.

• Three of the papers appeared in “5 Most Read Articles” of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics.

• Young Faculty Award, IIT Bombay (2017).

• ACC Student Travel Award (2013, 2014).

• DST International Travel Support, Science and Engineering Research Board (2013).