Related papers: An Investigation into Active Control for Accessibl…
This MS thesis outlines my contributions to the closed loop control and system integration of two robotic platforms: 1) Aerobat, a flapping wing robot stabilized by air jets, and 2) Harpy, a bipedal robot equipped with dual thrusters. Both…
In this paper we present a maneuver regulation scheme for Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) micro aerial vehicles (MAV). Differently from standard trajectory tracking, maneuver regulation has an intrinsic robustness due to the fact that…
This paper presents a strategy for control of a spacecraft docking with a non-maneuvering target in the presence of safety constraints and bounded disturbances. The presence of disturbances prevents convergence to a unique docking state, so…
During the last decades the industry has seen the number of Earth orbiting satellites rise, mostly due to the need to monitor Earth as well as to establish global communication networks. Nano, micro, and small satellites have been a prime…
The growing number of noncooperative flying objects has prompted interest in sample-return and space debris removal missions. Current solutions are both costly and largely dependent on specific object identification and capture methods. In…
The use of electric low-thrust propulsion systems for orbit maneuvers is becoming a popular choice among satellite manufacturers due to their inherent merits over their chemical counterparts. Many designers choose to incorporate multiple of…
Sloshing Platform for In-Orbit Controller Experimentation is an ambitious, student run mission to design and fly a cubesat to study fluid sloshing in spacecraft. The project will examine zero-g propellant sloshing from an experimental…
Rocket technology, originally developed for military applications, has provided a low-cost observing platform to carry critical and rapid-response scientific investigations for over 70 years. Even with the development of launch vehicles…
Recent advances in miniaturization and commercial availability of critical satellite subsystems and detector technology have made small satellites (SmallSats, including CubeSats) an attractive, low-cost potential solution for space weather…
Small satellites have proven to be viable Earth observation platforms. These satellites operate in regimes of increased trajectory uncertainty where traditional planning approaches can lead to sub-optimal task plans, limiting science…
This paper addresses the computation of Delta-V-optimal, safe, relative orbit reconfigurations for satellite formations in a centralized fashion. The formations under consideration comprise an uncontrolled chief spacecraft flying with an…
The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) is a 3 Unit (3U) CubeSat designed for a 3-month mission to study solar soft X-ray spectral irradiance. The first of the two flight models was deployed from the International Space Station in…
This paper proposes an integrated architecture for Thrust Vector Control (TVC) and state estimation for low-cost small-scale launchers, naturally unstable, and propelled by a solid motor. The architecture is based on a non-linear,…
A control design approach to achieve fully autonomous take-off and flight maneuvers with a tethered aircraft is presented and demonstrated in real-world flight tests with a small-scale prototype. A ground station equipped with a controlled…
In the last decade, autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles have become increasingly important as they lower mission costs thanks to their re-usability. However, their development is complex, rendering even the basic…
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research requires the integration of cutting-edge technology into existing autopilot frameworks. This process can be arduous, requiring extensive resources, time, and detailed knowledge of the existing system.…
Satellites face a multitude of security risks that set them apart from hardware on Earth. Small satellites may face additional challenges, as they are often developed on a budget and by amateur organizations or universities that do not…
The recent development of novel aerial vehicles capable of physically interacting with the environment leads to new applications such as contact-based inspection. These tasks require the robotic system to exchange forces with…
Airborne platforms, such as drones, balloons, and aerostats, have recently gained considerable interest in the communication sector. Free-space optical communication (FSOC) systems can deliver information wirelessly at high data rates…
The main motivation of this work is to propose a simulation approach for a specific task within the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) field, i.e., the visual detection and tracking of arbitrary moving objects. In particular, it is described…