Research Website

Why is Nonlinearly Stable Estimation and Control Important? See video below for an eye-opener!

Research Interests:

Dynamics & Vibrations, Robotics & Controls

Google Scholar
Research Gate

Nonlinear control and dynamics, geometric mechanics, nonlinear estimation, aerospace control, mobile robots

Recent Publications

  1. M. Bhatt, A. Sanyal, and S. Sukumar, “Asymptotically Stable Optimal Multi-rate Rigid Body Attitude Estimation based on Lagrange-d’Alembert Principle,” Journal of Geometric Mechanics, vol. 15(1), pp. 73-97, 2023.
  2. H. Eslamiat, N. Wang, R. Hamrah, and A. K. Sanyal, “Geometric Integral Attitude Control on SO(3),” Electronics, vol. 11(18), pn. 2821, 2022
  3. P. Cruz, P. Batista, and A. Sanyal, “Design and analysis of attitude observers based on the Lagrange-d’Alembert principle applied to constrained three-vehicle formations,” Advances in Space Research, vol. 69 (11), pp. 4001-4012, 2022.
  4. M. Bhatt, S. Sukumar, and A. K. Sanyal, “Discrete-Time Rigid Body Pose Estimation Based on Lagrange–d’Alembert Principle,” Journal of Nonlinear Science, vol. 32, pn. 86, 2022.
  5. C.-H. Chang, J. Casas, A. K. Sanyal, and V. Duenas, “Motorized FES-cycling and closed-loop nonlinear control for power tracking using a finite-time stable torque algorithm,” Frontiers in Control Engineering, vol. 3, 2022, doi: 10.3389/fcteg.2022.910126.
  6. R. Hamrah, R. R. Warier, and A. K. Sanyal, “Finite-time stable estimator for attitude motion in the presence of bias in angular velocity measurements,” Automatica, vol. 132(10), online, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.automatica.2021.109815. Publication Final
  7. A. K. Sanyal, “Data-Driven Discrete-time Control with H¨older-Continuous Real-time Learning,” In- ternational Journal of Control, published online: March 19, 2021, doi: 10.1080/00207179.2021.1901993; arXiv version available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.05288. Publication Final
  8. R. Hamrah and A. K. Sanyal, “Finite-time Stable Tracking Control for an Underactuated System in SE(3) in Discrete Time,” International Journal of Control, published online: Nov 9, 2020, doi: 10.1080/00207179.2020.1841299. Publication Final
  9. X. Li, A. K. Sanyal, R. R. Warier, and D. Qiao, “Landing of hopping rovers on Irregularly-shaped small bodies using attitude control,” Advances in Space Research, vol. 65(11), pp. 2674-2691, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2020.02.029.
  10. R. R. Warier, A. K. Sanyal, and S. P. Viswanathan, “Finite Time Stable Attitude Estimation of Rigid Bodies With Unknown Dynamics,” Asian Journal of Control, vol. 21(4), pp. 1522-1530, 2019, doi: 10.1002/asjc.2089.
  11. X. Li, R. R. Warier, A. K. Sanyal, and D. Qiao, “Trajectory Tracking Near Small Bodies Using Only Attitude Control and Orbit-Attitude Coupling,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, published online, doi: 10.2514/1.G003653. JGCD-G003653_online
  12. S. P. Viswanathan and A. K. Sanyal, “Adaptive Singularity-free Control Moment Gyroscopes,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, 2018, doi: 10.2514/1.G003545. ASCMG-JGCD-final
  13. S. P. Viswanathan, A. K. Sanyal and E. Samiei, “Integrated Guidance and Feedback Control of Underactuated Robotics System in SE(3),” Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, vol. 89, pp. 251-263, 2018, doi: 10.1007/s10846-017-0547-0.JIRS-FinalPub-Print
  14. A. Siravuru, S. P. Viswanathan, K. Sreenath and A. K. Sanyal, “The Reaction Mass Biped: Geometric Mechanics and Control,” Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, vol. 89, pp. 155-173, 2018.JIRS-RMB
  15. A. K. Sanyal and M. Izadi, “Stable Estimation of Rigid Body Motion Based on the Lagrange- d’Alembert Principle,” Multisensor Attitude Estimation: Fundamental Concepts and Applications, pp. 57-76, 2016, ed.: H. Fourati, CRC Press (Taylor and Francis), FL.K26956_C004
  16. M. Izadi and A. K. Sanyal, “Rigid Body Pose Estimation based on the Lagrange-d’Alembert Prin- ciple,” Automatica, vol. 71(9), pp. 78-88, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.automatica.2016.04.028. IzSa-VPE-FinalPub
  17. S. Br ́as, M. Izadi, C. Silvestre, A. Sanyal and P. Oliveira, “Nonlinear Observer for 3D Rigid Body Motion Estimation using Doppler Measurements”, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 61(11), pp. 3580-3585, 2016, doi: 10.1109/TAC.2016.2526671.
  18. M. Nazari, E. A. Butcher, T. Yucelen and A. K. Sanyal, “Decentralized Consensus Control of a Rigid Body Spacecraft Formation with Communication Delay,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol. 39, pp. 838-851, 2016, doi: 10.2514/1.G001396.
  19. G. Misra, M. Izadi, A. Sanyal and D. Scheeres, “Coupled Orbit-Attitude Dynamics of Spacecraft and Relative State Estimation During Exploration of Small Solar System Bodies,” Advances in Space Research, vol. 57(8), pp. 1747-1761, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2015.05.023.
  20. J. Bohn and A. K. Sanyal, “Almost global finite-time stabilization of rigid body attitude dynamics using rotation matrices,” International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 2015, doi: 10.1002/rnc.3399.
  21. S. P. Viswanathan, A. K. Sanyal, F. Leve and N. H. McClamroch, “Dynamics and Control of Spacecraft with a Generalized Model of Variable Speed Control Moment Gyroscopes,” ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, vol. 137(7), paper 071003, 2015, doi: 10.1115/1.4029626.
  22. D. Lee, A. Sanyal and E. Butcher, “Asymptotic Tracking Control for Spacecraft Formation Flying with Decentralized Collision Avoidance,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol. 38(4), pp. 587-600, 2015.
  23. A. K. Sanyal and J. Bohn, “Finite Time Stabilization of Simple Mechanical Systems using Continuous Feedback,” International Journal of Control, 88(4), pp. 783-791, 2015.
  24. D. Lee, A. Sanyal, E. Butcher and D. Scheeres, “Finite-Time Control for Spacecraft Body-Fixed Hovering over an Asteroid”, IEEE Transactions in Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 51(1), pp. 506-520, 2015, doi: 10.1109/TAES.2014.140197.
  25. D. Lee, E. A. Butcher and A. K. Sanyal, “Optimal interior Earth-Moon Lagrange point transfer trajectories using mixed impulsive and continuous thrust,” Aerospace Science and Technology, vol. 39, pp. 281-292, 2014.
  26. D. Lee, A. Sanyal, E. Butcher and D. Scheeres, “Almost Global Asymptotic Tracking Control for Spacecraft Body-Fixed Hovering near an Asteroid,” Aerospace Science and Technology, vol. 38, pp. 105-115, 2014.
  27. M. Izadi and A. K. Sanyal, “Rigid Body Attitude Estimation Based on the Lagrange-d’Alembert Principle,” Automatica, vol. 50(10), pp. 2570-2577, 2014.
  28. D. Lee, H. Bang, A. Sanyal and E. Butcher, “Nonlinear Output Tracking and Disturbance Rejection for Autonomous Close Range Rendezvous and Docking of Spacecraft,” Transactions of Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, vol. 57(4), pp. 225-237, 2014.
  29. A. K. Sanyal and A. Goswami, “Dynamics and Balance Control of the Reaction Mass Pendulum (RMP): A 3D Multibody Pendulum with Variable Body Inertia,” ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, vol. 136(2), 2014, paper 021002.
  30. A. Weiss, I. Kolmanovsky, D. S. Bernstein, and A. Sanyal, “Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control Using Reaction Wheels,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol. 36(5), pp. 1425-1439, 2013.
  31. M. C. Sorgenfrei, S. S. Joshi, and A. K. Sanyal, “Controller Gain-Tuning for a Small Spacecraft Attitude Tracking Maneuver Using a Genetic Algorithm,” Journal of Small Satellites, vol. 2(1), pp. 105-118, 2013.
  32. A. K. Sanyal and N. Nordkvist, “Attitude State Estimation with Multi-Rate Measurements for Almost Global Attitude Feedback Tracking,” AIAA J. Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol. 35(3), pp. 868- 880, 2012.
  33. A. M. Bloch, P. E. Crouch, N. Nordkvist, and A. K. Sanyal, “Embedded Geodesic Problems and Optimal Control for Matrix Lie Groups,” Journal of Geometric Mechanics, vol. 3(2), pp. 197-223, 2011.
  34. N. A. Chaturvedi, A. K. Sanyal and N. H. McClamroch, “Rigid Body Attitude Control: Using rotation matrices for continuous, singularity-free control laws”, IEEE Control Systems Magazine, vol. 31(3), pp. 30-51, 2011.
  35. A. K. Sanyal, N. Nordkvist and M. Chyba, “An Almost Global Tracking Control Scheme for Maneuverable Autonomous Vehicles and its Discretization,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 56(2), pp. 457-462, 2011.
  36. A. K. Sanyal, A. Fosbury, N. A. Chaturvedi, and D. S. Bernstein, “Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Tracking with Disturbance Rejection and Almost Global Stabilization,” AIAA J. Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol 32(4), pp. 1167-1178, 2009.
  37. A. K. Sanyal, C. Moseley, and A. M. Bloch, “Analytical and Numerical Solution of a Sub- Riemannian Optimal Control Problem with Applications to Quantum Spin Systems,” Comm. Information and Systems, special issue dedicated to Roger Brockett, vol 9(1), pp. 59-76, 2009.
  38. A. M. Bloch, I. I. Hussein, M. Leok, and A. K. Sanyal, “Geometric structure-preserving Optimal Control of the Rigid Body,” Journal of Dynamical and Control Systems, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 307-330, 2009.
  39. A. K. Sanyal, A. M. Bloch, P. E. Crouch, and J. E. Marsden, “Optimal Control and Geodesics on Quadratic Matrix Lie Groups,” Foundations of Computational Mathematics, vol 8(4), pp. 469-500, 2008.
  40. A. K. Sanyal, T. Lee, M. Leok, and N. H. McClamroch, “Global Optimal Attitude Estimation using Uncertainty Ellipsoids,” Systems and Control Letters, vol 57(3), pp. 236-245, 2008.

Recent Conference Papers

  1. A. K. Sanyal (2021) Discrete-time data-driven control with Hölder-continuous real-time learning, International Journal of Control, DOI: 10.1080/00207179.2021.1901993
  2. N. Wang, R. Hamrah, and A. K. Sanyal, \A Finite-Time Stable Observer for Relative Attitude
    Estimation,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Nice, France, Dec 2019.
  3. R. Hamrah, A. K. Sanyal, and S. P. Viswanathan, \Discrete Finite-time Stable Position Tracking
    Control of Unmanned Vehicles,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Nice, France, Dec
    2019.
  4. Y. Li, H. Li, Z. Li, H. Fang, A. K. Sanyal, Y. Wang, and Q. Qiu,\Fast and Accurate Trajectory
    Tracking for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles based on Deep Reinforcement Learning,” IEEE Interna-
    tional Conference on Embedded and Real-Time Computing Systems and Applications, Hangzhou,
    China, Aug 2019.
  5. M. H. Dhullipalla, R. Hamrah, R. R. Warier, and A. K. Sanyal, \Trajectory Generation on SE(3)
    for an Underactuated Vehicle with Pointing Direction Constraints,” American Control Conference,
    Philadelphia, PA, pp. 1930-1935, July 2019.
  6. A. K. Sanyal, R. R. Warier, and R. Hamrah, \Finite Time Stable Attitude and Angular Velocity
    Bias Estimation for Rigid Bodies With Unknown Dynamics,” European Control Conference, Naples,
    Italy, pp. 4047-4052, June 2019.
  7. X. Li, A. K. Sanyal, R. R.Warier and D. Qiao, “Dynamics Analysis of Hopping Rovers on Irregularly Shaped Small Bodies,” 2018 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Snowbird, UT, Aug 2018.
  8. M. H. Dhulliplalla, R. Hamrah and A. K. Sanyal, “Trajectory Generation on SE(3) with Applications to
    a Class of Underactuated Aerial Vehicles”, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Melbourne,
    Australia, pp. 2557-2562, December 2017.
  9. S.P. Viswanathan, A. K. Sanyal and R. R. Warier, “Finite-Time Stable Tracking Control for a Class of
    Underactuated Aerial Vehicles in SE(3)”, American Control Conference, Seattle, WA, pp. 3926-3931,
    May 2017.
  10. R. R. Warier, A. K. Sanyal, S. Sukumar, and S.P. Viswanathan, “Feedback Tracking Control Schemes
    for a Class of Underactuated Aerial Vehicles in SE(3)”, American Control Conference, Seattle, WA, pp.
    899-904, May 2017.
  11. S. P. Viswanathan, A. K. Sanyal and M. Izadi, “Integrated Guidance and Nonlinear Feedback Control
    of Underactuated Vehicles in SE(3)”, AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, AIAA
    SciTech Forum, AIAA 2017-1044, January 2017.
  12. J. Bohn, A. K. Sanyal, and E. A. Butcher, “Unscented State Estimation for Rigid Body Attitude Motion
    with a Finite-time Stable Observer,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Las Vegas, NV,
    pp. 4698-4703, December 2016.
  13. S. P. Viswanathan, A. K. Sanyal, and G. Misra, “Controllability Analysis of Spacecraft with Only
    Attitude Actuation Near Small Solar System Bodies,” IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems,
    Moneterey, CA, August 2016.
  14. M. Izadi, S. P. Viswanathan, A. K. Sanyal, C. Silvestre and P. Oliveira, “The Variational Attitude
    Estimator in the Presence of Bias in Angular Velocity Measurements,” American Control
    Conference, Boston, MA, pp. 4065-4070, July 2016.
  15. S. P. Viswanathan and A. K. Sanyal, “Design of an Adaptive Singularity-free Control Moment Gyroscope Cluster for Spacecraft Attitude Control,” Indian Control Conference, Hyderabad, India, January 2016.
  16. M. Izadi, A. K. Sanyal, S. P. Viswanathan, E. J. Barany, ”Rigid Body Motion Estimation Based on the Lagrange-d’Alembert Principle,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Osaka, Japan, pp. 3699-3704, December 2015.
  17. M. Izadi, A. K. Sanyal, R. W. Beard, H. Bai, ”GPS-Denied Relative Motion Estimation for Fixed- Wing UAV Using the Variational Pose Estimator,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Osaka, Japan, pp. 2152-2157, December 2015.
  18. S. P. Viswanathan and A. K. Sanyal, “Design of an Adaptive Singularity-Free Control Moment Gyroscope (ASCMG) cluster for Spacecraft Attitude Control”, ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Columbus, OH, paper DSCC2015-9818, October 2015.
  19. M. Izadi, A. K. Sanyal, E. Samiei and S. P. Viswanathan, “Discrete-time Rigid Body Attitude State Estimation based on the Discrete Lagrange-d’Alembert Principle”, American Control Conference, Chicago, IL, pp. 3392-3397, July 2015.
  20. K. Sreenath and A. K. Sanyal, “The Reaction Mass Biped: Equations of Motion, Hybrid Model for Walking and Trajectory Tracking Control,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seattle, WA, pp. 5741-5746, May 2015.
  21. E. Samiei, M. Izadi, S. P. Viswanathan, A. K. Sanyal, and E. A. Butcher, “Robust Stabilization of Rigid Body Attitude Motion in the Presence of a Stochastic Input Torque,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seattle, WA, pp. 2848-2853, May 2015.
  22. M. Izadi, E. Samiei, A. K. Sanyal and V. Kumar, “Comparison of an Attitude Estimator based on the Lagrange-dAlembert Principle with some State-of-the-Art Filters,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seattle, WA, pp. 428-433, May 2015.
  23. G. Misra, A. Sanyal and E. Samiei, “Asteroid Landing Guidance Design in the Framework of Coupled Orbit-Attitude Spacecraft Dynamics,” AIAA/AAS Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Williamsburg, VA, January 2015.
  24. E. Samiei, A. K. Sanyal, and E. A. Butcher“Asymptotic Stabilization of Rigid Body Attitude Motion in the Presence of Unknown Time Delay in Feedback”, Indian Control Conference, Chennai, India, January 2015.
  25. S. P. Viswanathan, A. Sanyal and M. Izadi  “Mechatronics Architecture of Smartphone-Based Spacecraft ADCS using VSCMG Actuators”, Indian Control Conference, Chennai, India, January 2015.
  26. A. K. Sanyal, M. Izadi and J. Bohn, “An Observer for Rigid Body Motion with Almost Global Finite-time Convergence”, ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, San Antonio, TX, October 2014.
  27. A. Sanyal, M. Izadi, G. Misra, E. Samiei and D. Scheeres, “Estimation of Dynamics of Space Objects from Visual Feedback during Proximity Operations”, SPACE 2014, San Diego, CA, August 2014.
  28. A. Sanyal, E. Butcher and M. Izadi, “Determination of Relative Motion of a Space Object from Simultaneous Measurements of Range and Range Rate,” American Control Conference, Portland, OR, pp. 1607-1612, June 2014.
  29. J. Bohn and A. Sanyal, “Almost Global Finite-Time Stable Observer for Rigid Body Attitude Dynamics,” American Control Conference, Portland, OR, pp. 4949-4954, June 2014.
  30. D. Lee, A. K. Sanyal, E. A. Butcher, and D. J. Scheeres, “Finite-time Control for Body-fixed Hovering of Rigid Spacecraft over an Asteroid,” AIAA/AAS Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, Jan 2014.
  31. D. Lee, A. K. Sanyal, E. A. Butcher, and D. J. Scheeres, “Finite-time Observer for Rigid Spacecraft Motion over an Asteroid,” AIAA/AAS Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, Jan 2014.
  32.  S. Prabhakaran, A. K. Sanyal and F. Leve, “A General Dynamics Model for Spacecraft with Variable Speed Control Moment Gyroscopes,” AIAA/AAS Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, Jan 2014.

Videos of recent research results are available here.

Current and Past Projects

  • Collaborative Research: NRI: Integration of Autonomous UAS in Wildland Fire Management, 1/1/2022 to 12/31/2025, PI, $536,983.
  • OSU Resaearchers Launch Autonomous Drones to Study Wildfires – DRONELIFE 
    Researchers with The Ohio State University are using autonomous drones to help prevent and mitigate wildfires. As witnessed by the ongoing blazes across the U.S., wildfires are difficult to predict an
    dronelife.com
  • Researchers with The Ohio State University are using autonomous drones to help prevent and mitigate wildfires. As witnessed by the ongoing blazes across the U.S., wildfires are difficult to predict an
    dronelife.com
  • A Platform-Independent Flight Management Unit for Small UAS, Akrobotix LLC ( ow through
    from NSF SBIR Phase 1), 2/1/2020 to 12/31/2020, PI, $31,981.
  • Reliable Perception and Control for UAV Navigation in 3D Space, Semiconductor Research Corporation,
    2/1/2019 to 1/31/2022, Co-PI, $299,638.
  • Enabling Multimodal Sensing, Real-Time Onboard Detection and Adaptive Control for Fully Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems, NSF CPS, $400,000, Oct. 1, 2017 to Sept. 30,2019, Co-PI.
  • Guidance and Control of Low-Altitude Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in GPS-Denied Environments, Syracuse University Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering, $50,000,
    Mar. 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017, PI.
  • Towards Full Onboard Autonomy for Unmanned Vehicles in GPS-denied Environments, Gryphon Sensors and Syracuse University Office of VPR (from New York State Department of Economic Development), $40,000, Nov. 1, 2016 to May 15, 2017, PI.
  • Adaptive Singularity-Free Variable Speed Control Moment Gyroscope, AFRL, $50,000, Mar. 1, 2015 – Dec. 31, 2015, Co-PI.

My complete CV is available here: CVw-nr