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Department of Aerospace Engineering Phone: (301) 405-1142 | E-mail: jishnuk (at) umd.edu
Fluid structure interaction, optimal estimation and control, bio-inspired sensing and control Dissertation Title: Modeling and Analysis of Insect Trichoid Hair Array Sensors Using Wide-Field Integration Methods Abstract: Insects are known to use a multitude of sensors in flight control and stability; the visuomotor system (compound eye) and the mechanosensory system (halteres) are among the most prominent and have been the subject of extensive study. The trichoid hair sensillae, found extensively on the surface of the head, wings and the thorax of most insects, are used to sense the nature of air flow past the body. However, their contribution to flight control and stability has not been widely studied. The dissertation is concerned with the development of model from a control-theoretic viewpoint that is consistent with previous studies of the sensorimotor architecture and employs the technique of wide-field spatial integration for information extraction from patterns of wind deflection. When fused with inputs from the visuomotor system, their impact on flight dynamics and stability of miniature flying platforms in the presence of exogenous disturbances (wind gusts) is investigated by employing small perturbation techniques.
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J. Sean Humbert, Ph.D. |
Jishnu Keshavan
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