We work at the intersection of engineering, biology and computer science to study and translate the fundamental scientific properties of biological flight to engineered flight. We use theoretical and computational tools to produce agility and situational awareness capabilities that are demonstrated in biology but not yet realized in engineered systems and to leverage engineering tools for biological system inquiries.

We study birds, bats, fish and insects as examples of precise sensing machines moving with agility in dynamic environments. At the most basic level, these creatures move at varying speeds, altitudes, and orientations while avoiding collisions. We develop analytical control and estimation methods to study basic biological principles and produce next generation high performance aerospace systems.

We apply our research of biological systems to advance agile, high-performance networked autonomous systems for air, space, land and water environments. These nonlinear systems integrate sensing and actuation, stability and robustness in switched systems with delay, and operational constraints such as communication delays in control of multi-vehicle systems.

Applications extend to both traditional autonomous vehicle systems such as fixed-wing aircraft, underwater gliders and space launch vehicles as well as novel systems including bio-inspired underwater propulsion, bio-inspired agile flight, human decision making and neural engineering.

Recent News

Hawkmoth research yields lessons in agile flight

A&A research of the biological sensing mechanisms of the hawkmoth informs the advancement of aerospace systems.
UW Aero & Astro News