• Integrated LiDAR-based mapping with RRT-based path planner for autonomous flying of UAV through a maze to reach its target in Gazebo environment. Stitched point clouds generated by Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR using iterative closest point algorithm for mapping and obstacle detection. Generated smooth paths to target using RRT-based algorithm and applied carrot-chasing method for path following.• Developed a novel advancing boundary method for optimal UAV path planning and trajectory optimization. Determined optimal sequence of waypoints distributed randomly and computed minimum-time optimal path using Legendre pseudospectral method.• Designed an adaptive sliding mode observer for robust attitude control of quadcopter. Customized Ardupilot code to integrate the observer with onboard flight controller and carried out flight tests for experimental demonstration.• Designed a vision-based autonomous landing system for a quadcopter flying in Gazebo environment. Designed sliding-mode-based guidance system for determining velocity commands in MATLAB and interfaced with Ardupilot SITL and Gazebo through ROS for autonomous landing.• Designed a vision-based Digital Surface Model matching framework for route mapping and blockage detection. Integrated Gazebo, Ardupilot SITL and Matlab and used stereo camera for obtaining point cloud data and compared with reference DSM for blockage detection.• Designed a model predictive control-based guidance system for near-optimal path following by UAV. Used UAV’s position histories to determine optimal velocity commands.• Designed a vision-based water detection method. Implemented Lucas-Kanade method in OpenCV for particle tracking and chaotic water motion detection.• Optimized minimum-time aircraft spin recovery trajectories using direct multiple shooting method. Investigated optimal spin recovery characteristics in the case of partial and total control failures. Shown feasibility of spin recovery in the case of total aileron failure.

• Designed an Extended Kalman filter for attitude estimation of a phone using inbuilt sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer.• Developed a trajectory optimization app for UAV path planning in an Android phone. Implemented Legendre pseudospectral method for computing optimal UAV trajectory for a moderate number of waypoints in real-time.• Custom-compiled IPOPT solver for enabling large-scale nonlinear constrained optimization and trajectory optimization capabilities for Android phones.

• Designed a vision-based navigation system for perching aircraft.• Developed a multibody dynamics model for a stratospheric balloon with hybrid maneuvering system comprising balloon, payload, and a sail suspended by an ultra long tether of several kilometres length for exploiting wind gradients and generate differential drag.• Designed an adaptive controller for station keeping and trajectory control of the stratospheric balloon in the presence of unknown winds at very high altitudes.• Carried out wind tunnel experiments for aerodynamics modeling of a morphing aircraft.

• Developed a grey-box type thermal model using simulated temperature data obtained from computational fluid dynamics simulations.• Designed Extended Kalman Filter for real-time estimation of thermal model parameters.• Designed stochastic optimizer for optimal load scheduling for peak load reduction.

• Enhanced performance of conformal meshing algorithm in C language for TGrid software.• Created API functions for TGrid’s library for making its meshing features available to other softwares, like Fluent and Ansys.• Designed new graphical user interface elements for new meshing features.• Fixed bugs in the software.