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Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
Systems and Control
- Endogenous Growth and Non-Anticipated Ecological Policy
- Optimal Control for Air Combat
- Autopilot Analysis and Adaptation in Icing Conditions
- Remote and Distributed Control over Networks
^ Endogenous Growth and Non-Anticipated Ecological Policy
B. A. Conway,* K. R. Schenk-Hoppe* (Zurich)
University of Illinois; University of Zurich
Researchers study the impact of ecological policy on economic growth in an endogenous growth model having production and research sectors. The model assumes complete mobility of capital and relative immobility of labor. At a certain point in time, government regulations for environmental protection cause a sharp decrease in returns of production. Optimal control theory and numerical optimization are used to determine the time history of the system for the case in which the imposition of the government regulations is anticipated and for the case in which it is not anticipated.
^ Optimal Control for Air Combat
B. A. Conway*
University of Illinois; Japan Defense Agency
In this work, two highly maneuverable (F-16 type) airplanes are engaged in combat. The problem can be formulated as a problem in differential games, a so-called minimax problem. In this problem, the pursuer airplane is trying to minimize the time required to intercept the evader airplane, while the evader airplane is trying to maximize this same time (and make it infinite if possible). This is a very complicated optimal control problem since the optimal trajectory for each aircraft depends on what the other aircraft does. It is solved using a newly-developed variation of the method of collocation with nonlinear programming.
^ Autopilot Analysis and Adaptation in Icing Conditions
P. G. Voulgaris,* V. Sharma, R. Deters
NASA Glenn Research Center
Icing during flight can cause significant degradation in the performance of the flight control system, even to the point of generating catastrophic failures. In this project, researchers analyze the behavior of the autopilot functions and their safety characteristics. The team investigates techniques to adapt autopilot parameters based on information about the icing state of the aircraft. Researchers also study the performance limitations of the flight control system based on saturation constraints on the control surface deflections and models of icing dynamics. Envelope protection algorithms are also developed based on this approach.
^ Remote and Distributed Control over Networks
P. G. Voulgaris*
National Science Foundation
Remote and distributed control over networks is a powerful concept that exploits the capabilities of the Internet (or any network) in order to remotely control critical tasks and complex dynamical interactions over long distances. The strategy of remote and distributed control also carries the great potential to lead to the development and deployment of new applications and technologies that can be very significant for the scientific and commercial worlds. Driven by the need for a systematic study of this concept, the research here aims at designing and developing novel algorithms, software, middleware, and prototypes for remote, real-time control of interacting complex systems over heterogeneous hierarchical networks, built around the Internet backbone. A particular problem that is studied is the effect of decentralization and delayed information sharing in a networked system to the overall system performance.
