Special Seminar: Biologically-Derived Flight Control Strategies for Unmanned Aerial Systems

This seminar introduces a framework for deriving design principles to enable insect-based flight control approaches on unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

The work begins with posing flight dynamics models of dipteran flapping wing insects, combining automated high speed videography measurements of freely flying insects, experimental aerodynamics results, rigid body dynamics, and system identification techniques to distill high fidelity flight dynamics models into computationally-tractable models applicable to flight control analysis.  Methods to extract models of the closed loop controllers implemented on insects from free flight trajectories are discussed.  Linear matrix inequalities are applied to interpret the controllers into design principles that can translate the extracted controllers into those appropriate for other vehicles, such as larger scale vehicles.  Control-theoretic definitions of reachability are applied to the aerodynamic mechanisms involved in insect flight control and gust response, leading to a theoretic framework for the gust response properties of closed loop flight control and the engineered design of gust-aware flight controllers.

About the Speaker

Imraan Faruque’s research interests include reduced-order models of complex systems, biologically inspired locomotion and control systems, unmanned systems, and flight dynamics and control.  Dr. Faruque’s specialization is in dynamic models of flying insects, and in reduced order flight dynamics models that can concisely capture the dynamic properties of insect flight control, where his work has led to over 38 publications, including numerous best paper awards and patents.

Dr. Faruque is currently an Assistant Research Professor in the University of Maryland’s Department of Aerospace Engineering.  He is a Commonwealth Scholar alumnus of Virginia Tech, and received his MS in 2010 and PhD in Aerospace Engineering in 2011 from the University of Maryland. He has previously held research positions at both the Army Research Lab and the Air Force Research Lab, and at General Electric Aircraft Engines.

Hosted by Professor Jim Gregory.