Trevor J. Foster
COO, Member of the Board, Co-Founder
Trevor Foster is a founding partner and COO for Empirical Systems Aerospace, Inc.
Mr. Foster is a founding partner and COO for Empirical Systems Aerospace, Inc. Mr. Foster’s responsibilities within the company have him wearing many hats ranging from detailed design, fabrication, and project management to the expansion and growth of new facilities including the establishment of scalable cost-effective manufacturing capabilities. He additionally has provided technical business development support for UAV payload selection and performance. Including the development of a cloud-based interactive database.
Mr. Foster has also had experience organizing and managing projects at Empirical Systems Aerospace. He was the project manager for a team working in conjunction with Lockheed Martin ADP on a sub-scale VTOL flight demonstrator program. He has been manager for a program building small UAS and support equipment for Lockheed Martin MFC. Including maintaining a near JIT inventory system.
Mr. Foster was the PI for ESAero on the NASA HEIST ‘LeapTech’ Wing being conducted under Empirical System’s PhaseIII SBIR, Design and Fabrication of a Hybrid Electric Integrated System Testbed (HEIST). This project has evolved into one of his current major roles as again PI for ESAero, as Prime, on the development and integration of the most recent NASA X-Plane (X-57), ‘Maxwell’.
Also in work is the design and fabrication of a test-stand for multiple 5,200kw electric motors for the purposes of investigating failures modes for feedback into a prognostics and health management tool. From these programs, Mr. Foster has generated an extensive knowledge in the area of instrumentation, electric motor/motor controller, traction power systems, and battery systems. Mr. Foster is a member of AIAA, AFA, GAMA, and Tripoli. He additionally holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering, from the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo.