Washington Yotto Ochieng is a Kenyan academic who is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. Previously, he was Head of the Centre for Transport Studies and Co-Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology(ISST) together with Deeph Chana. Ochieng is a Senior Security Science Fellow in ISST. He also serves as Director of the Engineering

Geomatics Geomatics is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as the " discipline concerned with the collection, distribution, storage, analysis, processing, presentation of geographic data or geographic information". Under another definition, it ...

Group and Chair of Positioning and Navigation Systems.

Early life and education

He earned his BSc (First Class) in Engineering from the

University of Nairobi , mottoeng = In unity and work , image = Uon emblem.gif , image_size = 210px , caption = Coat of Arms of the University , type = Public , endowment ...

in 1988, before moving to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

where he studied for an MSc (distinction) at the University of Nottingham. He went on to a study for a PhD in

Differential GPS Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPSs) supplement and enhance the positional data available from global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). A DGPS for GPS can increase accuracy by about a thousandfold, from approximately to . DGPSs c ...

(DGPS) and fiducial network design.

Research and career

Ochieng remained at Nottingham as a

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

research associate after his PhD, before joining

Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' ...

as a navigation engineer. Ochieng joined

in 1997. He works on the design and application of navigation systems, and hopes to achieve a truly global position, navigation and timing (PNT) system. Professor Ochieng works in the area of intelligent traffic control especially Smart Intermodal User-Centric Mobility and how it can be used in security and to regulate traffic in congested streets and railways, as well as in

air traffic management 334x334px, Air traffic management (ATM) is an aviation term encompassing all systems that assist aircraft to depart from an aerodrome, transit airspace, and land at a destination aerodrome, consisting of air traffic services (ATS) including air tr ...

and maritime management. He has been involved with several international projects, including

European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) developed by the European Space Agency and EUROCONTROL on behalf of the European Commission. Currently, it supplements the GPS by repor ...

(EGNOS),

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

global navigation satellite system A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pre ...

(GNSS) and the

Single European Sky ATM Research Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) is a collaborative project to completely overhaul European airspace and its air traffic management (ATM). The actual program is managed by the SESAR Joint Undertaking as a public–private partnership (PPP ...

(SESAR) joint undertaking. For the

GNSS A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pre ...

system, Ochieng worked on sensing, modelling of errors in the positional accuracy and

ultra-wideband Ultra-wideband (UWB, ultra wideband, ultra-wide band and ultraband) is a radio technology that can use a very low energy level for short-range, high-bandwidth communications over a large portion of the radio spectrum. UWB has traditional applicati ...

radio systems. He has been involved with the transformation of London's transport system and introduction of the London

Congestion Charge Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, tele ...

. He was promoted to a Chair in Positioning and Navigation Systems in 2007. In 2021, he became the Vice President of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN). His focussed research is into the development of tools that help to shape the thinking of societies in the design and building of infrastructure resilience and security; smart user-centric intermodal mobility and; Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems. At Imperial College London, Ochieng is part of the

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...

(EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Civil Engineering. He has advised on algorithms that can support the navigation of satellites. In 2021, Ochieng was an expert witness on UK space strategy and UK satellite infrastructure at the Parliamentary select committee on science and technology.

Awards and honours

*1994 Nottingham, United Kingdom, The Leica Award for the Best Postgraduate Student in Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy, United States. Recipient Best Session paper, United States Institute Navigation, *1994 Best Paper – Airborne Detection of Calibration Errors in DME Navigation Aids, awarded by the Institute of Navigation, *2004 Best Paper – Integrated positioning algorithms for Transport Telematics Applications, Awarded by Institute of Navigation *2005 Imperial College London, Rector's Merit Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, Professional Contribution and Administration *2005 Best Poster Presentations at the 57th Annual Conference of the Aeronautical Society of India, Dr Abdul KAlam award – Best research presentation on aviation target safety outcomes, Awarded by the Aeronautical Society of India *2005 Baltimore, USA, Best Paper – The factors affecting airspace capacity in Europe: A framework methodology based on cross-sectional time-series analysis Awarded at the 6th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management (ATM) Research & Development Seminar *2006 Imperial College London, Excellence in Teaching Award *2007 The Michael Richey Medal for Best Paper in the Journal of Navigation Awarded by The Royal Institute of Navigation, UK *2009 GPS World Magazine global GNSS Leaders to watch *2019 Harold Spencer Jones Gold Medal, the highest award from the Royal Institute of Navigation. In 2013, Ochieng was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...

(FREng) He is also a Fellow of the UK Institutions of Civil Engineers, Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation, RIN and Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ochieng, Washington Yotto Kenyan academics British Kenya people Kenyan civil engineers Transport engineers Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Academics of Imperial College London University of Nairobi alumni Alumni of the University of Nottingham 1964 births Living people