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U of M College of Engineering Control Seminar Series Sponsored by Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Whirlpool |
Vehicle Formation Control: Estimation,
Communication and Control
Professor Roy Smith
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California, Santa Barbara
Abstract:
Precisely controlled formations of spacecraft can realize science instruments with enormous capabilities. Optical interferometric imaging systems are one example: Free flying formations can resolve planets in other solar systems. The control of such systems motivates this work, although the results apply to a much wider range of cooperative control problems.
Several problems are studied in this context. The first is the use of measurement space redundancy to develop families of controllers that can switch asynchronously between subsets of the available measurements while maintaining optimal performance.
The second addresses the use of a formation estimator on-board each spacecraft. A separation theorem gives necessary and sufficient conditions for stability with parallel
estimators. Remarkably, the usual design methods do not necessarily give stable formations.
The stabilty problem can be alleviated by communication amongst the spacecraft and a graph theoretic based stability theorem is developed that allows the designer to regain the optimal performance supposedly provided by the standard optimal design methods.
Biosketch:
Roy Smith's current research interests are in the areas of: modeling and identification, robust control, semiconductor growth control, magnetic bearing systems, aeromanoeuvring spacecraft, spacecraft formation control, and model predictive control.
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.