arXiv subjects

Kamesh Subbarao

Publications and source records attributed to Kamesh Subbarao.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Set-Based Reachability for Low-Thrust Spacecraft in Two-Body and Cislunar Dynamical Systems

This paper investigates the application of zonotope-based reachability analysis to low-thrust spacecraft in both two-body and cislunar environments. Reachable sets are generated under two-body and circular restricted three-body (CR3BP) dynamics using set-based methods that approximate nonlinear systems via Taylor expansions. A state-dependent coefficient (SDC) parameterization is also explored to represent nonlinear dynamics in a pseudo-linear form, enabling efficient matrix based propagation of reachable sets. Applications include Earth-Mars transfer and cislunar scenarios such as L1 and L2 Halo orbits and Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHOs). The resulting reachable sets are used for safe trajectory generation and tracking, with comparisons drawn between model predictive control (MPC) and LQR-based station-keeping. The proposed approach provides a scalable framework for analyzing spacecraft behavior under complex dynamics and control constraints.

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arXiv2026

Optimal Thruster Configuration for 6-DOF Control of a Small Satellite

With the growing deployment of small satellites (such as CubeSats, Nanosats, Picosats, and Femtosats) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for targeted applications like imaging, communication, data storage, and rendezvous-docking mission, there is increasing attention on orbit maintenance and attitude control. A common approach for active orbit control involves the use of multiple thrusters, which, when properly arranged, can also generate the required torque for attitude control. Starting from a 24-thruster configuration, this paper presents a set of thruster configurations (referred to as a viable configuration group) that enable full six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) control. Further, configuration group that requires minimum total thrust to achieve 6-DOF commands are found among the viable configuration group. One configuration from each of these groups is further evaluated for its attitude control performance through a representative rendezvous-docking mission, demonstrating that even with a reduced thruster count, sufficient maneuverability can be achieved.

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arXiv2026

Modeling and Simulation of Virtual Rigid Body Formations and Their Applications Using Multiple Air Vehicles

This paper presents thorough mathematical modeling, control law development, and simulation of virtual structure formations which are inspired by the characteristics of rigid bodies. The stable constraint forces that establish the rigidity in the formation are synthesized by utilizing d'Alembert's principle of virtual work, constraint sensitivities (Lagrange multipliers) and constraint stabilization using Baumgarte stabilization. The governing equations of motion of a multiagent system are derived via Newton's and Euler's equations to include these constraint forces and to enable inputs regarding the formation as if it were an independent rigid body. The performance of this framework is evaluated under multiple cases including waypoint following missions, and using different number of agents.

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arXiv2026

Three Dimensional Hydrodynamic Flow-Based Collision Avoidance for UAV Formations Facing Emergent Dynamic Obstacles

This paper presents a three-dimensional, hydrodynamics-inspired collision avoidance framework for uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) formations operating in dynamic environments. When moving obstacles enter a UAV's sensing region, they are modeled as three dimensional doublets or ellipsoids that generate local velocity fields, guiding nearby UAVs to execute smooth, collision-free maneuvers without trajectory discontinuities or explicit trajectory replanning. This flow-based approach enables real-time operation and interpretable behavior by leveraging the nature of fluid flow around obstacles via the harmonic properties of Laplace's equation, inherently avoiding local minima common in traditional potential field methods. To establish and maintain coordination among the UAVs, a Virtual Rigid Body (VRB) formation strategy is integrated, ensuring that formation geometry and trajectory tracking are preserved. Simulation results demonstrate the feasibility and scalability of the method for both individual and multi-UAV scenarios with multiple formation geometries encountering moving obstacles. The proposed approach achieves safe, smooth, and computationally efficient avoidance maneuvers suitable for real-time and practical applications.

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arXiv2024

Nonlinear Reachable Set Computation and Model Predictive Control for Safe Hypersonic Re-entry of Atmospheric Vehicles

This paper investigates the application of reachability analysis to the re-entry problem faced by vehicles entering Earth's atmosphere. The study delves into the time evolution of reachable sets for the system, particularly when subject to nonlinear implicit controls, given the potential damage from the intense heat generated during hypersonic re-entry. Our proposed methodology leverages zonotopes and constrained zonotopes to ensure compliance with safety specifications. Furthermore, we utilize Model Predictive Control for detailed trajectory planning. To substantiate our methodology, we provide detailed simulations that not only tackle nonlinear re-entry scenarios but also illustrate trajectory planning using MPC.

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arXiv2022

Distributed $H_{\infty}$ Edge Weight Synthesis for Cooperative Systems

This paper studies distributed edge weight synthesis of a cooperative system for a fixed topology to improve $H_{\infty}$ performance, considering that disturbances are injected at interconnection channels. This problem is cast into a linear matrix inequality problem by replacing original cooperative system with an equivalent ideal cooperative system. Derivations of the method relies on dissipative system framework. Proposed method provides an upper bound for the induced $\mathcal{L}_{2}$ norm of the original lumped cooperative system while reducing the computation time. A comparison for computation time illustrates the advantage of the proposed method against the lumped counterpart.

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arXiv2021

Sensor Placement with Optimal Precision for Temperature Estimation of Battery Systems

The temperature distribution in the battery significantly impacts the short-term and long-term performance of battery systems. Therefore, efficient, safe, and reliable battery system operation requires an accurate estimation of the temperature field. The current industry standard for sensors to battery cell ratio is quite frugal. Thus, the problem of sensor placement for accurate temperature estimation becomes non-trivial, especially for large-scale systems. In this paper, we explore a greedy approach for sensor placement suitable for large-scale battery systems. An observer to estimate the thermal field is designed in an $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ framework while simultaneously minimizing the sensor precisions, thus lowering the overall thermal management system's economic cost.

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arXiv2020

Set-Membership Filtering-Based Leader-Follower Synchronization of Discrete-time Linear Multi-Agent Systems

In this paper, a set-membership filtering-based leader-follower synchronization protocol for discrete-time linear multi-agent systems is proposed wherein the aim is to make the agents synchronize with a leader. The agents, governed by identical high-order discrete-time linear dynamics, are subject to unknown-but-bounded input disturbances. In terms of its own state information, each agent only has access to measured outputs that are corrupted with unknown-but-bounded output disturbances. Also, the initial states of the agents are unknown. To deal with all these unknowns (or uncertainties), a set-membership filter (or state estimator), having the `correction-prediction' form of a standard Kalman filter, is formulated. We consider each agent to be equipped with this filter that estimates the state of the agent and consider the agents to be able to share the state estimate information with the neighbors locally. The corrected state estimates of the agents are utilized in the local control law design for synchronization. Under appropriate conditions, the global disagreement error between the agents and the leader is shown to be bounded. An upper bound on the norm of the global disagreement error is calculated and shown to be monotonically decreasing. Finally, two simulation examples are included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed set-membership filter and the proposed leader-follower synchronization protocol.

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arXiv2020

Consensus Control of Linear Multi-Agent Systems with Non-uniform Time-varying Communication Delays

This paper is concerned with the consensus problem for multi-agent systems subject to communication delays between the neighboring agents. We consider a scenario where each agent is characterized by a general high-order linear system and the communication delays between the agents are non-uniform and time-varying. We design a distributed control protocol for the agents and provide an equivalent stability problem to be solved that guarantees the state consensus in the group of agents. Moreover, a delay-dependent stability criterion is provided by combining the Lyapunov-Krasovskii method with the linear matrix inequality approach.

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arXiv2020

Extremum Seeking Control with Attenuated Steady-State Oscillations

We propose two perturbation-based extremum seeking control (ESC) schemes for general single input single output nonlinear dynamical systems, having structures similar to that of the classical ESC scheme. We propose novel adaptation laws for the excitation signal amplitudes in each scheme that drive the amplitudes to zero. The rates of decay for both the laws are governed by the gradient measures of the unknown reference-to-output equilibrium map. We show that the proposed ESC schemes achieve practical asymptotic convergence to the extremum with a proper tuning of the parameters in the proposed schemes. As the extremum is reached, and the magnitudes of the gradient measures become small, the excitation signal amplitudes converge to zero. Thus, the proposed schemes ensure that the excitation signal is attenuated as the system output converges to a neighborhood of the extremum and the steady-state oscillations about the extremum, typically observed for the classical ESC schemes, are attenuated. Simulation examples are included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

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arXiv2020

On the Stability Margin and Input Delay Margin of Linear Multi-agent systems

This paper provides a framework to characterize the gain margin, phase margin, and maximum input delay margin of a linear time-invariant multi-agent system where the interaction topology is described by a graph with a directed spanning tree. The stability analysis of the multi-agent system based on the generalized Nyquist theorem is converted to finding a minimum gain positive definite Hermitian perturbation and minimum phase unitary perturbation in the feedback path of the loop transfer function. Specifically, two constrained minimization problems are solved to calculate the gain, phase, and input delay margins of the multi-agent system. We further state necessary and sufficient conditions concerning stability of the multi-agent system independent of gain and phase perturbations, and input delay.

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arXiv2020

Set-Membership Filter for Discrete-Time Nonlinear Systems Using State Dependent Coefficient Parameterization

In this technical note, a recursive set-membership filtering algorithm for discrete-time nonlinear dynamical systems subject to unknown but bounded process and measurement noises is proposed. The nonlinear dynamics is represented in a pseudo-linear form using the state dependent coefficient (SDC) parameterization. Matrix Taylor expansions are utilized to expand the state dependent matrices about the state estimates. Upper bounds on the norms of remainders in the matrix Taylor expansions are calculated on-line using a non-adaptive random search algorithm at each time step. Utilizing these upper bounds and the ellipsoidal set description of the uncertainties, a two-step filter is derived that utilizes the `correction-prediction' structure of the standard Kalman Filter variants. At each time step, correction and prediction ellipsoids are constructed that contain the true state of the system by solving the corresponding semi-definite programs (SDPs). Finally, a simulation example is included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

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arXiv2019

Uncertainty Quantification And Analysis Of Dynamical Systems With Invariants

This paper considers uncertainty quantification in systems perturbed by stochastic disturbances, in particular, Gaussian white noise. The main focus of this work is on describing the time evolution of statistical moments of certain invariants (for instance total energy and magnitude of angular momentum) for such systems. A first case study for the attitude dynamics of a rigid body is presented where it is shown that these techniques offer a closed form representation of the evolution of the first and second moments of the kinetic energy of the resulting stochastic dynamical system. A second case study of a two body problem is presented in which bounds on the first and second moments of the angular momentum are presented.

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arXiv2017

Attitude Control of Spacecraft Formations Subject To Distributed Communication Delays

This paper considers the problem of achieving attitude consensus in spacecraft formations with bounded, time-varying communication delays between spacecraft connected as specified by a strongly connected topology. A state feedback con- troller is proposed and investigated using a time domain approach (via LMIs) and a frequency domain approach (via the small-gain theorem) to obtain delay depen- dent stability criteria to achieve the desired consensus. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the application of the strategy in a specific scenario.

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