High Precision Satellite Formation Flying using Advanced Control Design Techniques

Abstract

An emerging trend across the globe is to have missions involving many small, distributed and inexpensive satellites flying in formation to achieve common objectives. It offers several advantages such a lower cost of launch, on-orbit re-configuration, higher redundancy etc. Satellite formation flying finds applications in remote sensing, geomagnetic study of earth, solar observatory, deep space observatories etc. Many such missions, however, demand that the formation flying should be maintained with high precision for overall success of the mission, despite the presence of disturbance effects. Moreover, since onboard the propulsion of individual satellites is limited, such orbital corrections must be done in an efficient manner. This seminar talk will expose the audience about a few optimal, nonlinear and adaptive control philosophies and their utility for ensuring efficient high-precision satellite formation flying in a leader-follower framework.

Biography

Dr. Radhakant Padhi joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2003 and is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Aerospace engineering. He did his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology (MST)–Rolla, USA.

Dr. Padhi’s main research interest is on synthesis algorithms in optimal and nonlinear control as well as state estimation. He works on diverse application areas such as control and guidance of aerospace vehicles, mechanical systems, distributed parameter systems, biomedical systems and industrial process control. He has over 240 publications in international journals and conferences and has received many awards and honours for his research contributions.

Dr. Padhi is an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a Senior Member of IEEE and a Council member of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). He is also a member of Technical Committee on Aerospace in IFAC. He is a founding member and past president of the Automatic Control and Dynamic Optimization Society (ACDOS), which is a National Member Organization of IFAC in India. He is a life member of Aeronautical Society of India, Systems Society of India and Soft Computing Research Society. He is also a steering committee member of Asian Control Association.