Edward F. Crawley

About

Edward F. Crawley is the Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT and a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research has focused on the architecture, design, and decision support and optimization in complex technical systems subject to economic and stakeholder constraints. His work ranges from the development of underlying theory to the development of approaches and tools, including a fundamental paper on the algebra of systems, the framing of system architecture as a decision graph, and the development of complex stakeholder network models to identify value creation. A particular focus of his work is on the identification of architectures for different missions with common elements, with applications including Moon–Mars human spaceflight systems, launch to low earth orbit, NASA and NOAA’s earth observing systems, and NASA’s Space Communications System.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Aerospace engineering
• Telecommunications
• Engineering
• Operating system
• Physics
• Business
• Real-time computing
• Finance
• Geography

Selected publications

• An Updated Comparison of Four Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation Systems to Provide Global Broadband

  2022 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops) · 2021 · 269 citations

  Twenty years of technological improvements have raised once again the question of the economic viability of offering Internet access from space using non-geostationary orbits (NGSO). Trying to answer this question, many established satellite operators (e.g., SES, Telesat) and newcomers (e.g., SpaceX, Amazon) have recently filed applications for these types of constellations, with SES currently operating a NGSO constellation in MEO. The new architectures rely on thousands of high-throughput satel…

  DOI

• Connecting the other half: Exploring options for the 50% of the population unconnected to the internet

  Telecommunications Policy · 2021 · 52 citations

  DOI

• Avoiding Self-Interference in Megaconstellations Through Cooperative Satellite Routing and Frequency Assignment

  IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications · 2024-07-22 · 16 citations

  article

  With the reduced distance between satellites in modern megaconstellations, the potential for self-interference has emerged as a critical challenge that demands strategic solutions from satellite operators. The goal of this paper is to propose a cooperative framework that combines the Satellite Routing (i.e., mapping of beams to satellites) and Frequency Assignment (i.e., mapping of frequency spectrum to beams) strategies to mitigate self-interference both within and between satellites. This appr…

  PublisherDOI

• Frequency Plan Design for Multibeam Satellite Constellations Using Integer Linear Programming

  IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications · 2023-08-28 · 16 citations

  article

  Upcoming large satellite constellations and the advent of tighter steerable beams will offer unprecedented flexibility. Consequently, this will require resource management strategies to be operated in high-dimensional and dynamic environments, as existing satellite operators are unaccustomed to operational flexibility and automation. Frequency assignment policies have the potential to drive constellations’ performance in this new context, but are no exception to scalability and fast operation re…

  PublisherDOI

• Model-Based System Architecting and Decision-Making

  2022-01-01 · 13 citations

  book-chapterOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Bruce Cameron

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  150 shared

• Doris R. Brodeur

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  44 shared

• Iñigo del Portillo

  American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

  37 shared

• Nils Pachler

  32 shared

• Yaniv Mordecai

  Amazon (United States)

  30 shared

• Olivier de Weck

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  30 shared

• Sören Östlund

  KTH Royal Institute of Technology

  29 shared

• Johan Malmqvist

  Chalmers University of Technology

  26 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1986

• M.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1981

• B.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  California Institute of Technology

  1979

Awards & honors

• Regional Soaring Champion (1991, 1995, and 2005)
• NASA Astronaut Finalist (1980)

Similar researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Luca Carloneh-60
• Hamsa Balakrishnanh-37