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About

David Wagner is a systems engineer and researcher specializing in advanced control architectures for autonomous robotic and spacecraft systems. His work sits at the intersection of formal methods, goal-based control, and systems engineering, with a particular focus on developing rigorous frameworks for complex, safety-critical missions. Wagner's most influential contribution is his work on State Analysis, a methodology for architecting and documenting complex control systems originally conceived for robotic spacecraft and later extended to large ground-based telescopes. His 2012 formalization of State Analysis through ontological mapping to SysML has become a key reference in the field, accumulating 50 citations. Complementing this, his research on goal-based control architectures challenged the traditional time-based command sequencing paradigm in NASA missions, proposing more flexible event-driven and time-driven operational models. His 2007 work on safety verification of fault-tolerant autonomous systems demonstrated practical methods for validating the Mission Data System architecture developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Wagner further extended these principles to human-robotic collaboration during lunar surface missions, addressing the growing automation demands of deep-space exploration. His body of work reflects a sustained commitment to making autonomous systems both more capable and provably safe.