UA Engineers Study Birds and Bees to Design Robust Unmanned Vehicles
University of Arizona aerospace and mechanical engineers are studying bird and bee flight to develop unmanned vehicles that stay aloft longer and cope with sudden and severe changes in airflow.
The UA College of Engineering's Hybrid Dynamics and Control Laboratory is developing mathematical analysis and design methods that could radically advance the capabilities of unmanned aircraft and ground vehicles, as well as many other systems that rely on autonomous decision making.
Researchers in the lab design computer control systems that may one day allow robotic surveillance aircraft to stay aloft indefinitely. These systems also might be used to safely guide aircraft and automobiles through small openings as they enter buildings. Or they could help airplanes and ground vehicles navigate in cluttered environments without colliding.
In addition, the research can be applied to multiple programmable devices aboard vehicles or in stationary locations, allowing them to communicate in the presence of adversaries.
Models of the World
The lab's research focuses on mathematical analysis and design of control systems that have applications in robotics, biology and aerospace engineering.
"What we do here in our lab is mainly theory," said Ricardo Sanfelice, an assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, who directs the lab. "We model dynamical systems, analyze them mathematically, devise ways to control them, test them in simulations and, when possible, validate them in our test bed.
"But, because of the complexity of movement in some systems that can include sudden transitions in speed or direction, we have to be very careful to be sure computer simulations reflect the real world, and that's where the experimental lab provides a place for us to check our results."