ISAE-SUPAERO


A Guidance, Navigation and Control Research Program at the Department of Aerospace Vehicles Design and Control (DCAS) at ISAE-SUPAERO. We are part of the Decision and Control Research Group, and we develop methodologies to tackle complex control problems by tightly coupling subsystems through an interdisciplinary lens.

The IONLAB default project execution pipeline (i.e., professor-driven problem definition, student design proposal, technical reviews from SUPAERO technical teams, and student-driven hands-on implementation in Fablab) promotes the integration of students, professors, engineers, and technicians in novel ways. Finally, the hands-on dimension of the IONLAB projects aims to break the white-collar-blue-collar structure commonly seen in companies and promotes passionate craftsmanship.

Team

Director
Dr. Leandro Lustosa
Dr. Leandro Lustosa
Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace Vehicles Design and Control
Phd candidates
Francisco Pedrosa-Reis
Francisco Pedrosa Reis
Thesis : Nonlinear Control of High Aspect Ratio Aircraft using Nonlinear Deformation Formulations [HALION]
Graduate students
Rohan Dhansoia
Rohan Dhansoia
Systems and Control
Omar Rodriguez
Omar Rodriguez
Systems and Control
Lynn Daher
Lynn Daher
Systems and Control
Shreyank Jois
Shreyank Jois
Embedded Systems
Lanna Kuba
Lanna Kuba
Systems and Control
Yacine Belkacem
Yacine Belkacem
Embedded Systems
Deeksha Kota
Deeksha Kota
Systems and Control
Umer Khan
Umer Khan
Embedded Systems
Aditya Menon
Aditya Menon
Embedded Systems
Shafeequr Rehman
Shafeequr Rehman
Systems and Control
Drone Competition Team
Open Position
Open Position
Systems and Control
Open Position
Open Position
Systems and Control
Open Position
Open Position
Embedded Systems
Open Position
Open Position
Embedded Systems

Research



Towards satisfying strict power requirements in solar energy high-altitude pseudo-satellite aircraft, there’s an increasing trend to optimize aerodynamic performance by increasing aspect ratio and to reduce weight by minimizing structure. Both solutions lead to increasingly flexible aircraft. Such potentially fragile systems call for protective control laws for managing load distribution during gusts and assure dynamic structural stability. The Halion Project intends to study such control laws.





This research task aims to study partially controllable systems (either by design or due to failure yielding degraded mode operation). A great example of such a problem is the automatic landing of non-throttleable rockets. While underactuated and not controllable, previous research in our group showed that landing is still possible in degraded mode at the expense of not choosing a precise touchdown location. Since partial controllability and the presence of strong non-linearities preclude linear control theory, the Fusion Project pursues Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) as a solution.





This study sets out to establish tractable models for tail-sitting vehicles in view of control design and qualitative dynamics analysis. Our proposed framework not only yields numerically advantageous models but also extends our comprehension of tail-sitting vehicles. The proposed models are globally non-singular, polynomial-like and bypass the use of aerodynamic angles of attack and sideslip (both free-stream and propwash-induced !). Nevertheless, even if mathematically elegant, a mathematical model has practical use only if consistent with reality. This work shows this is the case by means of wind tunnel data and flight experiments.




Controllers and Observers are two sides of the same coin. The Pilion Project delivers tailormade embedded system design for the above real-time tasks with artisan-like love and care.



Publications

Journal Papers
Book Chapters
Conferences
PhD Theses

Awards

ICUAS 2022
ICUAS Drone Competition 2022
Placed 5th out of 53 teams from 22 countries
Cohoma 2022
CoHoMa 2022
Best Guidance, Navigation, and Control team (in collaboration with ISAE/ONERA/ENAC)
AIAA Aerospace Cybersecurity Capture the Flag 2021
AIAA Aerospace Cybersecurity Competition 2021
Placed 4th (in collaboration with the University of Michigan)

Open Positions

Open positions in our group are posted and updated here in real-time! This means that if a rolling-basis position is available here, it has not yet been filled. To apply for any of these positions, please email Leandro Lustosa with the required application. Please follow the application instructions to the letter to be considered. For MSc student projects, you must already be admitted to a Master Program at ISAE-SUPAERO to be considered.

Open PhD Position
April 19, 2022

We are looking for talented Ph.D. candidates in Control Systems! Our group is prototyping an exciting and challenging new avionics concept for high-altitude pseudo-satellite aircraft. Want to help us out? More info here: .

Open Postdoc Position
April 18, 2022

We are looking for talented Postdocs in Control Systems! Our group is prototyping an exciting and challenging new avionics concept for high-altitude pseudo-satellite aircraft. Want to help us out? More info here: .

Contact

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ISAE-SUPAERO
10 Avenue Edouard Belin
Toulouse 31400

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+33 (0)5 61 33 81 60

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