Travis Moleski

Dr. Moleski is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Instruction in Mechanical Engineering at Ohio University. His research has focused on autonomous systems, navigation, guidance, and control, with particular emphasis on localization in GNSS-denied environments and trajectory optimization and tracking for aircraft. Originally from Nelsonville, Ohio, Dr. Moleski was a first-generation college student that earned his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Systems Engineering from Ohio University. His teaching interests include mechatronics, controls, and autonomous systems. His teaching emphasizes hands-on engineering, computational tools, and the application of fundamental mechanical engineering principles to practical design and experimentation.

Publications

Journal Articles

T. W. Moleski and J. P. Wilhelm, “Explicit Quadratic Bézier Curves for Gradient Vector Field Trajectory Following,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, pp. 1–12, Nov. 2025. DOI: 10.2514/1.G009220.

M. A. Tonkovich, T. W. Moleski, S. Fayez, A. Wallace, P. Choudhary, and J. P. Wilhelm, “Automated Driving System Challenges in Rural Appalachia,” IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 6, pp. 1121–1132, 2025. DOI: 10.1109/OJITS.2025.3600966.

M. R. Variny, T. W. Moleski, and J. P. Wilhelm, “Variable Aircraft Spacing Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning for Cascading Delay Mitigation,” Aerospace, vol. 12, no. 5, p. 382, 2025. DOI: 10.3390/aerospace12050382.

T. W. Moleski and J. P. Wilhelm, “Trilateration Positioning Using Hybrid Camera–LiDAR System with Spherical Landmark Surface Fitting,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol. 45, no. 7, pp. 1213–1228, 2022. DOI: 10.2514/1.G006248.

Conference Proceedings

T. W. Moleski and J. Wilhelm, “Integrity Aware Hybrid Camera-LiDAR Trilateration,” in AIAA SCITECH 2026 Forum, 2026. Orlando, FL, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2026-0856.

T. W. Moleski and J. Wilhelm, “Fourier Series Quadratic Bézier Approximation for Gradient Vector Field Trajectory Following,” in AIAA SCITECH 2026 Forum, 2026. Orlando, FL, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2026-1864.

T. W. Moleski and J. P. Wilhelm, “Enhanced Camera-LiDAR Trilateration Using YOLO Detection and RANSAC Ranging,” in Proceedings of the 38th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2025), pp. 1964–1974, 2025. Baltimore, MD, USA. DOI: 10.33012/2025.20445. m-private.ion.org

T. W. Moleski and J. Wilhelm, “Polynomial Quadratic Bézier Approximation for Gradient Vector Field Trajectory Following,” in AIAA SciTech 2025 Forum, p. 1936, 2025. Orlando, FL, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2025-1936.

M. Variny, T. W. Moleski, and J. Wilhelm, “Cascading Delay Mitigation with Quadratic Bézier Curve Trajectory Planning,” in AIAA SciTech 2025 Forum, p. 1545, 2025. Orlando, FL, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2025-1545.

T. W. Moleski and J. P. Wilhelm, “Hybrid Camera-LiDAR Trilateration with Lens Distortion Correction,” in Proceedings of the 37th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2024), pp. 1853–1863, 2024. Baltimore, MD, USA. DOI: 10.33012/2024.19875. Institute of Navigation

M. Variny, T. W. Moleski, and J. Wilhelm, “Adaptive Cruise Control for Small UAS Leader-Follower Formation Flight,” in 2024 Regional Student Conferences, Region I – North East, 2024. DOI: 10.2514/6.2024-83971. ResearchGate

M. Variny, T. W. Moleski, and J. Wilhelm, “Adaptive Cruise Control for Small UAS Leader-Follower Formation Flight,” in AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum, 2024. DOI: 10.2514/6.2024-0986. ResearchGate

T. W. Moleski, T. Tuttle, and J. Wilhelm, “Effects of Intercept Point Placement on Clothoid Path Recovery Time After Collision Avoidance,” in AIAA SciTech 2023 Forum, p. 2671, 2023. National Harbor, MD, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2023-2671.

R. J. Geng, T. W. Moleski, and J. Wilhelm, “Artificial Neural Network Cooperative Localization for Autonomous Systems,” in AIAA SciTech 2023 Forum, p. 0109, 2023. National Harbor, MD, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2023-0109.

J. P. Browne, C. Neuhart, T. W. Moleski, and J. Wilhelm, “Minimal Deviation from Mission Path After Automated Collision Avoidance for Small Fixed-Wing UAVs,” in AIAA SciTech 2022 Forum, p. 0275, 2022. San Diego, CA, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2022-0275.

T. W. Moleski and J. Wilhelm, “Effects of Velocity and Known Pose Injection Rate on Scan Matching 2D SLAM Accuracy,” in AIAA SciTech 2021 Forum, p. 1582, 2021. Virtual Conference. DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-1582.

T. Tuttle, T. W. Moleski, and J. Wilhelm, “Multi-Rotor Path-Following Performance Using Vector Field Guidance and Velocity Control,” in AIAA SciTech 2021 Forum, p. 0782, 2021. Virtual Conference. DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0782.

T. W. Moleski and J. Wilhelm, “Trilateration Positioning Using Hybrid Camera-LiDAR System,” in AIAA SciTech 2020 Forum, p. 0393, 2020. Orlando, FL, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2020-0393.

Y. Zhu, T. Moleski, and J. Wilhelm, “Evaluation of Decay Functions for Vector Field Based Obstacle Avoidance,” in AIAA SciTech 2019 Forum, p. 1058, 2019. San Diego, CA, USA. DOI: 10.2514/6.2019-1058.

Patents

J. P. Wilhelm and T. W. Moleski, “Determining position using computer vision, lidar, and trilateration,” May 2025. Patent Number: US12315196B2.