BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Memento EPFL// BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:H∞boys and INDIans: Can they work together for flight control? DTSTART:20261007T110000 DTEND:20261007T120000 DTSTAMP:20260922T151307Z UID:71806d37c5106f5f1bc3f682d8910de9203fec5f294cf30a2c53db34 CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars DESCRIPTION:Dr. Spilios Theodoulis\, associate professor in the Aerospace GNC cluster within the Control & Simulation (C&S) section\, at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering (AE) of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)\, Netherlands\nAbstract\nSince the early days of aircraft autopilot s\, flight control law design has been dominated by gain scheduling: a fam ily of linear controllers designed at trim points across the flight envelo pe and interpolated as the aerospace vehicle's operating condition changes . The approach is reliable and well understood\, but it is also labor-inte nsive\, requiring extensive linearization\, controller interpolation\, and lengthy re-tuning whenever the airframe or mission profile changes while its classical stability and performance guarantees hold only under restric tive assumptions.\n\n(Incremental) Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion — (I)NDI — emerged as an attractive alternative\, first as full-state NDI in the 1980s–90s and later\, in its incremental form\, replacing much (though n ot all) of the reliance on an accurate onboard model with direct sensor fe edback of angular acceleration. The result is a simple\, largely envelope- independent control structure that (almost) eliminates the scheduling and interpolation burden. The price\, however\, is the loss of the a priori ro bustness guarantees that gain-scheduled designs\, however cumbersome\, wer e built to provide. Robust control theory\, born in the same timeframe as NDI\, offers exactly those guarantees\, but has traditionally lived in a s eparate\, frequency-domain world from INDI's incremental\, time-domain phi losophy.\n\nThis talk shows how the two could be brought closer or even wo rk together. We present hybrid INDI architectures combining a sensor-based and a model-based inversion core and paired with an outer loop tuned via structured  synthesis therefore combining the advantages of both worlds. We then generalize this bridge through a formal duality between (I)NDI and quasi-LPV control\, unifying robust analysis and synthesis across both wo rlds and clarifying exactly where INDI's modularity is paid for in achieva ble robustness. These results are validated across various aerospace appli cations such as aircraft\, space launchers and drones.\n\nBiography\n\nDr. Spilios Theodoulis is an associate professor in the Aerospace GNC cluster within the Control & Simulation (C&S) section\, at the Faculty of Aerospa ce Engineering (AE) of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). Befo re joining TU Delft\, he spent fourteen years at the French-German Researc h Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL)\, where he was Deputy Head of the GNC dep artment. He is the founder of the Aerospace dynamics and RObust Control (A EROCON) research group along with its advanced projects branch—the ∞-L ab\,  and also an adjunct professor at the University of Strasbourg\, Uni versity of Paris-Saclay and Cranfield University teaching tensor-based fli ght dynamics and automatic (flight) control. He has been involved in the r esearch and development of both civilian and defense projects with EU gove rnment agencies\, industry and academia in the field of GNC for more than 20 years.\n\nHis research interests focus on two complementary fields. Fir st\, modeling and flight dynamics of complex aerospace systems\, includ ing uncertainty modeling and linear/nonlinear-parameter-varying dynamics. Second\, (multivariable) stability and control systems spanning from ro bust/nonlinear control and analysis to control theory-inspired guidance al gorithms. The algorithms developed are showcased in several classes of sys tems (including the facilities of the AE C&S section such as SIMONA\, PH-L AB\, etc.) such as civil and fighter aircraft\, rotorcraft\, drones\, hype rsonic vehicles\, space launchers\, as well as guided systems.  He mainta ins active collaborations with leading research institutes\, including ONE RA\, DLR\, NLR\, TNO\, NASA\, and ESA-ESTEC\; academic partners such as IS AE-SUPAERO\, Cranfield University\, and NYU Abu Dhabi\; and industrial par tners including Dassault Aviation\, Airbus Defence & Space\, MBDA\, Indra Deimos\, PLD Space\, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works\, and others.\n\nHe is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautic s (Class of 2023)\, co-recipient of both 1-Star and 2-Star Innovation A wards (2019) from MBDA\, and his students have received (some) distinctio ns\, including the best PhD award in the area of systems and control from the University of Strasbourg (2017). He also serves on various technical c ommittees (AIAA GNC\, IFAC Aerospace\, CEAS GNC) as well as on the organiz ing and program conference committees related to the field of GNC (AIAA Sc iTech\, IFAC WC/ACA\, EuroGNC\, etc.).\n\nHis most daunting challenge to d ate though\, remains the robust stabilization of his two young daughters I ris and Hera\, who are constantly reminding him that nature is neither lin ear nor time-invariant.\n\n\n  LOCATION:ME C2 405 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==ME%20C2%20405 STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR