The Professor who doesn't let you get lost.
By
Khuswant Singh
Dr. Mohinder Grewal
Dr. Mohinder Grewal
“Control systems are all math,” he said. “And I had all the qualifications required. A major in control systems, a minor in computers, and another minor in Applied Math,” he added, this time the smile a tad wider than the earlier one. He was so enthused while discussing his stellar education that, like a little boy, he removed the image of the ranch and focused the camera on the wall behind. On it was a display of Prof. Mohinder Grewal’s hard work and toil, representing his academic prowess, followed by his impact on systems identification, guidance, navigation, and control.
“Companies were looking for me because my specialty was in something called the Kalman filtering technique, which is a sub-set of the control system and called the random control system or the stochastic control system. “For example, when the pilot says wear your seat belts and the airplane takes off, the airplane is confronted with external forces like wind hitting against it. At that point, the airplane needs to be controlled and stabilized, and it is through random control that it gets stabilized. The same is applicable to cars, ships, drones, etc.”
Developed by one Rudolf Emil Kalman, it is used to control a vast array
of consumer, health, commercial, and defense products. In the 1960s, the Kalman filter was applied to navigation for the Apollo Project, which required estimates of the trajectories of manned spacecraft going to the Moon and back.
New Strides
Offers for jobs were pouring in, and making the right decision was always going to be tough. Citizenship, a very sought-after status by emigrants, had by now fallen into the professor’s lap, thus clearing all obstacles to pursue the American dream.
On the personal front, Mohinder had met his ladylove at Michigan during the course of his Ph.D. and got married. Sonja was a Master in music, and the symphony of math and music proved well for the newlywed couple as they made decisions to take life forward.
Another aerospace company, Northrop Grumman, after finding out his qualifications, offered him a job immediately. Yet another company by the name Analytical Sciences Corporation (TASC, Inc.) also offered him a job with a salary of $30,000 and a lakeside house. Based out of Boston, Massachusetts, TASC, Inc. provided the U.S. government with modeling, simulation, analysis, and evaluation of integrated navigation and guidance systems for programs including the Trident submarine, Minuteman Missile, and the Space Shuttle. TASC, Inc was keen to have him in their employment since it had also published a book on Kalman theory, which was Mohinder’s specialty. Amidst all this, McDonnell Douglas was not willing to leave him, and they tried to persuade him by explaining his growth chart if he were to remain in their employment.
However, as teaching was what Mohinder always wanted to pursue, he had applied for teaching jobs as well, and one of the offers that stood out was from California State University, Fullerton, a small town close to Disneyland, California.
Now, with an intact job and three other offers in hand, the most lucrative was from TASC, Inc, so was their persuasiveness. “Anytime the telephone would ring, it was from Boston asking me whether I was ready. They wanted to send the moving van promptly to shift my home.” The decision was hard, but finally, I said no to TASC Inc. because my wife and I felt it would be very cold in Boston. Also, Northrop offered me the flexibility to teach and do consulting work at my leisure, which was a great thing, said Prof. Mohinder Grewal, while explaining the beginnings of his career.” He took the offer and joined California State University, Fullerton campus as an Assistant Professor. This paved his way to do pioneering work in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and modernize America’s Global Positioning System (GPS), developed by the United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DOD) under its Navstar program. The United States launched its first GPS satellite in 1978, and the system was declared with a final operational capability (FOC) in April 1995.
Interestingly, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that tracks trains, guides planes, and makes the world a smaller, more functional planet, currently has four Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) operating or being developed. The first one is the global positioning system (GPS) developed by the United States (U.S.) mentioned above. The second GNSS configuration developed is the Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), placed in orbit by the Soviet Union and now maintained by the Russian Republic. The first satellite was launched in 1982, and GLONASS was declared an operational system in September 1993. The European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA) are developing the Galileo system, the third GNSS. The first two operational satellites were launched in October 2011, preceded by two Galileo in-orbit validation elements (GIOVE A and B) launched in 2005 and 2008. China’s Compass, or BeiDou (Big Dipper), is the fourth GNSS, initially developed in 2000–2003. In December 2012, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System provided fully operational regional service. In a latest development, India’s ISRO on May 29, 2023, successfully launched India’s version of the GPS with the next-generation navigational satellite NVS-01 to provide real-time positioning and timing services over India and a region approximately 1,500 km around the mainland.
Modernizing the Global Positioning System
Mohinder Grewal was at a very interesting phase of life. While he taught at California State University, Fullerton, as an assistant professor, where he had joined in 1975, at the same time, he got the opportunity to use his expertise in developing a top-secret project of the United States, a missile program, as a consultant. “I got my permissions and clearances to work on a secret project.” Called ‘Floating Ball Navigation System,’ this missile program was officially called ‘Peacekeeper.’ As per Britannica, the Peacekeeper missile, also called MX intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), was part of the United States’ strategic nuclear arsenal from 1986 to 2005.
