Both projects listed here were completed as a part of the introduction to control systems course at the University of Illinois. These are two of the four total projects that were worked on, and both were completed with a partner (whose name is listed at the top of the specific project). Both projects were simulated within the simulation environment created specifically for the course. On a personal note, I enjoyed this course so much that I became a course assistant for it one semester after I took it, and I helped grade papers as well as gave advice to students on their work.
This project consisted of creating a linear-state feedback controller that controls a flying wing glider such that it consistently lands on a runway in the distance. This controller must work for various initial orientations and speeds. The simulated flights using our controller can be seen in the video above. One thing that I’m specifically proud of contributing is the 3D plot of 500 flight trajectories, as well as the animated plot of 500 trajectories shown in the video. It took a good bit of coding and run time to get it to work, but I thought that it was a really unique way to show the results of our testing process. I did all of the editing for the final video. The final report for this project can be accessed here.
This was our final project in the class and involved implementing both a controller and observer that allowed the quadcopter to complete a course of rings at randomized heights. In order to make this happen, we implemented reference tracking for our controller as well as a function that uses artificial potential fields to output a desired position based on the current position of the drone. This causes the drone to naturally be attracted to a point just on the other side of the next ring. This attraction point can be imagined as the low point on a topographical map, with the actual rings and other drones being modeled as peaks on the map. Our drone then takes the path of least resistance downward to its goal, and the goal shifts to the next ring after it is attained. I’m again proud of my visualizations in this project, especially the top down “mini map” located in the bottom corner of the video that shows the current positions of both drones as well as their respective speeds. I also id all of the editing for this video. The final report for this project can be accessed here.