REU Site: Nonlinear Control and its Applications in UAVs and UGVs

University Of Texas At San Antonio, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

EEC-0649172 Yufang Jin This award for an REU site to the University of Texas at San Antonio will provide undergraduate students research experiences in nonlinear control and its applications in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (VGVs). The research projects will include trajectory planning, obstacle avoidance, advanced nonlinear controls of UAVs and UGVs, system simulation and performance analysis, validation of the algorithms with real UAV/UGV platform. The REU program will serve to enrich the research experiences of the participants by exposing the state-of-the-art developments in UAVs/UGVs and by integrating research into real world applications. Also, the program will enhance the undergraduate students' creative thinking and independent problem solving capability and will motivate students to continue graduate studies in science and engineering. Recruitment efforts will be targeted to underrepresented minorities, with a special emphasis placed on the Hispanic population. The research topics for the REU Site program are of interest to our national security and defense. This study will benefit the US border patrol team with long lasting autonomous inspection systems. It can also save time and personnel while exploring hostile areas.