April 30, 2010, 1100 Webb

This talk considers the considers the design of non-linear observers and deterministic filters for invariant kinematic systems posed on finite-dimensional connected Lie groups, and in particular on the group of rotations SO(3). Both the case of full-state measurements and partial-state measurements are considered with the measurement process modelled by a transitive group action acting on a homogeneous manifold. Concepts of synchrony (between observer and the plant) and invariant innovations are used to provide a structure theory for observer design. A detailed discussion of the case of observers for attitude estimation based on state or vector measurements is provided. The talk will also discuss some recent results on a deterministic minimum energy filter for the attitude estimation problem.

Robert Mahony is currently a reader (Associate Professor) in the Department of Engineering at the Australian National University. He received a PhD in 1995 (systems engineering) and a BSc in 1989 (applied mathematics and geology) both from the Australian National University. He worked as a marine seismic geophysicist and an industrial research scientist before completing a postdoctoral fellowship in France and a Logan Fellowship at Monash University in Australia. He has held his post at ANU since 2001. His research interests are in non-linear control theory with applications in robotics, geometric optimisation techniques and systems theory. His website is: http://engnet.anu.edu.au/DEpeople/Robert.Mahony/