Advances in robust control methods and application to flying discs
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Abstract
This project advances linear and nonlinear robust control methods (particularly H-infinity methods) in the following three theoretical directions to produce design paradigms that are easier and less conservative to use in practice: (a) Weight optimisation and synthesis - i.e. techniques that assist in the selection of optimal weighting functions; (b) Analysis and synthesis tools for nonlinear systems with counter-clockwise input-output dynamics and for linear systems with negative imaginary frequency response; and (c) Non-conservative model embedding and corresponding distance metrics.Experimental applicability studies will also be undertaken on powered flight of spinning discs (i.e. powered Frisbee-like flight). Such flying discs are attractive because they can in the future lead to reliable and effective Miniature Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) which are important in a vast number of applications, including surveillance, reconnaissance and increased border security. Instrumented test-rigs will be constructed during the course of this project to study the control problems pertaining to powered flight of spinning discs.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Alexander Lanzon (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Alli-Oke R
(2012)
A Robust Kalman Conjecture For First-Order Plants
in IFAC Proceedings Volumes
Anderson B
(2009)
Quantitative effects of weight adjustments in H? 8 control
in Optimal Control Applications and Methods
Carrasco J
(2011)
Factorization of multipliers in passivity and IQC analysis
Carrasco J
(2012)
Comments on "On the Existence of Stable, Causal Multipliers for Systems With Slope-Restricted Nonlinearities"
in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
Carrasco J
(2014)
On multipliers for bounded and monotone nonlinearities
in Systems & Control Letters
Carrasco J
(2013)
On multipliers for bounded and monotone nonlinearities
Carrasco J
(2013)
Equivalence between classes of multipliers for slope-restricted nonlinearities
in Automatica
Carrasco J
(2012)
Factorization of multipliers in passivity and IQC analysis
in Automatica
Carrasco J
(2014)
LMI searches for anticausal and noncausal rational Zames-Falb multipliers
in Systems & Control Letters
| Description | This project advances linear and nonlinear robust control methods (particularly H-infinity methods) in the following three theoretical directions to produce design paradigms that are easier and less conservative to use in practice: (a) Weight optimisation and synthesis - i.e. techniques that assist in the selection of optimal weighting functions; (b) Analysis and synthesis tools for negative imaginary systems; and (c) Non-conservative model embedding and corresponding distance metrics. Experimental applicability studies have also be undertaken on a powered tri-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Such Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are important in applications such as surveillance, reconnaissance and increased border security. Different instrumented test-rigs were constructed during the course of this project and the above theoretic developments were applied on the instrumented UAV test-rigs. |
| Exploitation Route | The negative imaginary systems results developed during this grant have significant potential use in nanotechnology and the developed methods are currently being investigated in nanopositioning control of scanning probe microscopes, such as atomic force microscopes, using piezo-electric actuators/transducers and piezotubes. Studies are also currently underway in applying the negative imaginary results developed in this research to 2- or 3-mirror optical cavities for cavity ring down spectroscopy and also in adaptive optics. The weight optimisation results for H-infinity loopshaping developed during this grant have underpinned a new Matlab routine that facilitates robust control systems design and this is now available with standard Matlab releases. The distance measures work has potential use in model validation and non-conservative model embedding and as such is expected to open up new application domains in distributed control, decentralised model order reduction (critical in complex networks), sensor networks and co-operative control. The experimental work has resulted in the development of a new trirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) concept that has full 6 degrees-of-freedom and exploits vehicle gyroscopics for added robust stability. The robust control strategies developed for this trirotor UAV during this grant have enabled the design of fault tolerant control methods that retain full flight control of unmanned quadrotor vehicles in the case of a rotor loss or failure. This considerably increases the safety of these popular unmanned aerial vehicles and hence brings Autonomous Systems technologies a step closer to being used in civilian everyday scenarios. The work done in this grant was split up into 4 work packages, the first three work packages where theoretical research in nonlinear and linear robust control theory. The results of these three work packages were published in the peer-reviewed literature in 24 journal articles and a separate 25 conference papers. The work done in the fourth experimental work package resulted in the construction of an experimental trirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) test rig. Exploitation routes for the work done during this grant include: (a) using the negative imaginary systems methods developed during this grant in nanotechnology and nanodevices/nanorobotics; (b) using the weight optimisation work for robust control in developing fast numerical algorithms that facilitate robust control systems design; (c) using the distance metrics work in non-conservative model embedding, in model validation, in sensor networks and in large-scale complex networks; and (d) using the experimental insights developed on the trirotor UAV test rig built during this project to further develop autonomous systems capabilities at high levels of sophistication. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| URL | http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/Alexander.Lanzon/ |
| Description | The negative imaginary systems results developed during this grant have significant potential use in nanotechnology and the developed methods are currently being investigated in nanopositioning control of scanning probe microscopes, such as atomic force microscopes, using piezo-electric actuators/transducers and piezotubes. Studies are also currently underway in applying the negative imaginary results developed in this research to 2- or 3-mirror optical cavities for cavity ring down spectroscopy and also in adaptive optics. The weight optimisation results for H-infinity loopshaping developed during this grant have underpinned a new Matlab routine that facilitates robust control systems design and this is now available with standard Matlab releases. The distance measures work has potential use in model validation and non-conservative model embedding and as such is expected to open up new application domains in distributed control, decentralised model order reduction (critical in complex networks), sensor networks and co-operative control. The experimental work has resulted in the development of a new trirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) concept that has full 6 degrees-of-freedom and exploits vehicle gyroscopics for added robust stability. The robust control strategies developed for this trirotor UAV during this grant have enabled the design of fault tolerant control methods that retain full flight control of unmanned quadrotor vehicles in the case of a rotor loss or failure. This considerably increases the safety of these popular unmanned aerial vehicles and hence brings Autonomous Systems technologies a step closer to being used in civilian everyday scenarios. The work done in this grant was split up into 4 work packages, the first three work packages where theoretical research in nonlinear and linear robust control theory. The results of these three work packages were published in the peer-reviewed literature in 24 journal articles and a separate 25 conference papers. The work done in the fourth experimental work package resulted in the construction of an experimental trirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) test rig. Exploitation routes for the work done during this grant include: (a) using the negative imaginary systems methods developed during this grant in nanotechnology and nanodevices/nanorobotics; (b) using the weight optimisation work for robust control in developing fast numerical algorithms that facilitate robust control systems design; (c) using the distance metrics work in non-conservative model embedding, in model validation, in sensor networks and in large-scale complex networks; and (d) using the experimental insights developed on the trirotor UAV test rig built during this project to further develop autonomous systems capabilities at high levels of sophistication. Research on one UAV prototype funding by this grant was reported in the Flight International Magazine. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic |
| Description | AVL Powertrain UK Ltd. |
| Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AVL Powertrain UK Ltd |
| Organisation | AVL |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | Austria |
| Start | 01/2009 |
| End | 08/2009 |
| Description | EPSRC |
| Amount | £496,966 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/H016600/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2010 |
| End | 03/2014 |
| Description | Sellafield Ltd |
| Amount | £3,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Sellafield Remote Technology Ltd. |
| Organisation | Sellafield Ltd |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2009 |
| End | 04/2009 |
| Description | UK Government |
| Amount | £4,422,259 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Regional Growth Fund, Department for BIS |
| Organisation | Government of the UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2012 |
| End | 10/2015 |
| Description | UMIP Ltd. Intellectual Property Premier Fund |
| Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Premier Fund |
| Organisation | UMIP Premier Fund Ltd |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2011 |
| End | 11/2011 |
| Description | UMIP Ltd. Proof-of-Principle Fund |
| Amount | £90,137 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Proof-of-Principle Fund |
| Organisation | UMIP Premier Fund Ltd |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2009 |
| End | 02/2010 |
| Description | University of Manchester |
| Amount | £62,600 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Faculty Strategic Funds (competitive) |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2011 |
| End | 07/2012 |
| Description | University of Manchester |
| Amount | £17,330 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Faculty Strategic Funds (competitive) |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2011 |
| End | 07/2012 |