Generalised Energy Based Robust and Nonlinear Control Systems. This project aims to develop new energy-based theories of robust stability analysis and controller design for both linear and nonlinear systems, building on passivity and negative imaginary system theories and their physical interpretations along with stochastic optimal control theory. These control theories would allow for a wide range of plant dynamics in the design of high-performance robust control systems, enabling advances in e ....Generalised Energy Based Robust and Nonlinear Control Systems. This project aims to develop new energy-based theories of robust stability analysis and controller design for both linear and nonlinear systems, building on passivity and negative imaginary system theories and their physical interpretations along with stochastic optimal control theory. These control theories would allow for a wide range of plant dynamics in the design of high-performance robust control systems, enabling advances in emerging technologies including nanopositioning, micro-electromechanical systems and opto-mechatronics. The project plans to combine these theoretical advances with numerical methods involving advanced optimisation tools and the experimental implementation of nanopositioning control systems in atomic force microscopy.Read moreRead less
Information consensus and coordination of multiagent systems. Revolutions in information and communication technologies create a complex 'network of everything'. This project will develop advanced control techniques for such networks, to make the nation's power systems safer, to fly formations of unmanned airborne vehicles, and to extract key information from networks of environmental monitoring sensors.
Sensing a complex world: Infinite dimensional observer theory for robots. This project aims to develop the foundational theory and design paradigms to support the new generation of sensor systems crucial to enabling widespread robotic automation in unstructured environments such as mining, agriculture and urban transport. Modern dense robotic sensor modalities such as CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensors, LIDAR and dense acoustic arrays are best modelled as a fine grid of measu ....Sensing a complex world: Infinite dimensional observer theory for robots. This project aims to develop the foundational theory and design paradigms to support the new generation of sensor systems crucial to enabling widespread robotic automation in unstructured environments such as mining, agriculture and urban transport. Modern dense robotic sensor modalities such as CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensors, LIDAR and dense acoustic arrays are best modelled as a fine grid of measurements from an infinite dimensional dynamical system. The project plans to develop infinite dimensional invariant observer theory to formulate implementable algorithms that run in real-time on embedded hardware, providing detailed information that enables robots to undertake tasks that are presently impossible with state-of-the-art sparse sensing paradigms.Read moreRead less
Geometric observer theory for mechanical control systems. The safety and performance of mechatronic systems such as autonomous drone aircraft and submersibles crucially depends on the algorithms controlling the system. By developing novel observer algorithms that are more stable and more robust this project will contribute to the competitiveness of Australian high-tech companies with mechatronic products.