October 01, 2021, zoom

This talk will start with a short overview of control flexible aircraft. The motivation is that more fuel efficient aircraft designs lead to increased flexibility. Active feedback control can be used to damp the effects of this increased flexibility. The approach is model-based and relies on standard methods for design and analysis. This motivates the trend toward non-traditional control architectures including neural networks, real-time optimization, and adaptive control. Some initial results will be given for these problems. For example, existing robust control methods can be used to assess stability and robustness of feedback loops that use neural networks. Possible extensions to other non-traditional control architectures will also be discussed.

Dr. Seiler is an Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. His research emphasizes robust control theory with applications to wind energy, uninhabited aerial systems, and flexible aircraft. Dr Seiler previously worked at the Honeywell Research Labs from 2004-2008 on various aerospace and automotive projects. This included work on the redundancy management system for the Boeing 787 and sensor fusion algorithms for automotive active safety systems. Dr. Seiler is the recipient of the O. Hugo Schuck Award in 2003 and an NSF CAREER award in 2013.