Ethan Williams
Chief Technology Officer
Ethan Williams has extensive experience with autonomous vehicle safety and enabling trustworthy and certifiable autonomous systems for NASA, the DoD, and the FAA. His leadership philosophy prioritizes aircraft safety, overcoming technical challenges, and promoting a positive culture of growth to make a meaningful impact on the aerospace industry. While at NASA, Williams researched autonomous systems utilizing a wide array of research aircraft which included multiple sub and full scale uninhabited aircraft, general aviation aircraft and helicopters. Mr. Williams graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He spent over 10 years at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center as a Software Developer and Software Lead on cutting edge autonomy research projects.
-
Chief Technology Officer- Level 5 Autonomy Labs (2024 – Present)
CTO at Level 5 Autonomy labs. A company conducting leading edge research in runtime-assurance, which is a means to enable trustworthy and certifiable autonomous aircraft.
Founder and CEO- Aviatic Engineering LLC (2021 – Present)
Subject matter expert providing software development and consulting on multiple FAA research efforts focusing on bringing GCAS to general aviation both in the form of a pilot cued system and an automatic system. Subject matter expert on an Auto-GCAS NTSB panel meant to inform standards updates to update TAWs MOPS to reflect Auto-GCAS for CFR Part 25 Aircraft.
Software Lead- NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (2013 – 2024)
Successfully led software development teams to develop multiple key autonomy research systems from across NASA starting from the requirements phase to successful flight test across a wide array of flight test campaigns. Led a software development team to develop and mature the NASA Expandable Variable Autonomy Architecture (EVAA) in collaboration with OSD, US-SOUTHCOM and US-SOCOM which lead to an external release of the EVAA software to multiple military organizations and airframe program offices. Led a software development team to develop and implement a reference architecture of a Multi-Monitor Runtime Assurance system to inform ASTM Working Group 53403 that lead to developing the first standard for Safely Bounding Behavior of Aircraft Systems Containing Complex Functions Using Run-Time Assurance (ASTM F3269-21).
-
Run Time Assurance
Leading subject matter expert for the implementation of run time assurance in operational environments.
Autonomous Systems Development
Specializes in developing autonomous systems with extensive systems integration experience.
Composable Software Architecture
Specializes in composable software architectures for autonomous flight systems, utilizing modular, scalable, and resilient designs. Focuses on building flexible and reusable software components that enhance maintainability, upgradeability, and fault tolerance in critical environments.
-
Collier Trophy:
Recipient of the prestigious Collier Trophy as part of the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) Team in 2018. This award is reserved for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics.
NASA Awards
NASA Headquarters Group Achievement Award for the Advanced Air Mobility IAS-1 Research Flight Team
NASA Headquarters Group Achievement Award for the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System Team