BYU PRISM

Journal Publications

1. Sun, L., Castagno, J., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., Parameter Estimation for Towed Cable Systems Using Moving Horizon Estimation, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 51, No. 2, April 2015. Preprint, Article

Conference Proceedings

1. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems, Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 37, Issue 2, pp. 525-539, 2014. Preprint Article

1. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems, Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, pp. 1-15, 2014. Preprint Article

• Journal Publications

1. Sun, L., Castagno, J., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., "Real-Time Parameter Estimation for Towed Cable Systems Using Moving Horizon Estimation", IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, in review. Preprint

• Google Site

  Lab Coordinator

   Lab Coordinator

• Email: solbuaa@gmail.com
• https://sites.google.com/site/solbuaa/home-1

1. Sun, L., Castagno, J., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., "Real-Time Parameter Estimation for Towed Cable Systems Using Moving Horizon Estimation", IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, in review. Preprint
2. Nichols, J. W., Sun, L., Beard, R. W., and McLain, T. W. "Aerial Rendezvous of Small Unmanned Aircraft Using a Passive Towed Cable System", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, accepted. Preprint
3. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., "Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, accepted. Preprint

• Academy Center for UAS Research, US Air Force Academy, CO, Apr 2013 - present
• USL Lab, UTSA San Antonio, TX, Apr 2013 - present
  Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Developed a nonlinear control strategy for systems with unmodifiable modules such as autopilot.
  • Developed a decentralized consensus-based cooperative control strategy for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles.
  • Wrote a white paper for “Aerial Launch and Recovery for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”.
  • Writing white papers for “Virtual Target Tracking for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” and “Cooperative Localization and Tracking for Unmanned Aerial and Ground Vehicles”.

Lab Coordinator

• Directed lab and research meetings.
• Instructed a tutorial of 3D animation simulation in MATLAB.
• Interviewed Master and Ph.D. student candidates.

=============================================

• MAGICC Lab, BYU, Provo, UT, Sep 2007 -- Apr 2013

1. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., "Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, under revision. Preprint

• MAGICC Lab, BYU, Provo, UT, Sep 2007 -- Present

• Technical Support Engineer, Beijing Teamsun Technology Co., LTD, Beijing, China, May 2007 – Aug 2007

• Research Assistant, Automation Academy, Beihang University, Beijing, China, Sep 2004 – May 2007

  Research Assistant and Team Leader

• MAGICC Lab, BYU Provo, UT Sep 2007 -- Present Research Assistant and Team Leader,

  Teaching Assistant (Fall 2009 & Fall 2012)

• Teaching Assistant (Fall 2009 & Fall 2012)
  • Delivered lectures for professors in the senior class, Feedback control of Dynamic Systems (60 students).
  • Supervised lab assignments using a three degree-of-freedom helicopter equipped with encoders, IMU and camera.
  • Answered questions, graded exams and homework, and prepared course materials.
  • Received high evaluation in the feedback survey of the TA work.

Experience

• MAGICC Lab, Research Assistant and Team Leader, BYU Provo, UT Sep 2007 -- Present
  • Led the project of “Autonomous Aerial Recovery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” for Phase I and II.
  • Dedicated to dynamic modeling, motion planning and control, simulation and flight testing.
  • Developed 3D animation simulation using Simulink/MATLAB and OpenGL/C++.
  • Outperformed other research teams (M.I.T. and Georgia Tech) and achieved the contract for phase II project.
  • Implemented 60+ flights trails totaling 100+ hours of flight time.
  • Conducted the team meetings biweekly, wrote proposals and reports and presented to the clients.
  • Published two journal papers and presented and published six conference papers.
• Technical Support Engineer, Beijing Teamsun Technology Co., LTD Beijing, China May 2007 – Aug 2007
  • Professional trained for UNIX system and Solaris server operation.
  • Solved client’s problem on-site by trouble shooting frozen servers and replacing malfunctioned components.
• Research Assistant, Automation Academy, Beihang University Beijing, China Sep 2004 – May 2007
  • Developed hardware-in-the-loop real-time flight control simulation system using four computers and rudder machines connecting via the optical fiber and the reflective memory cards.
  • Developed autonomous identification of the position of the runway using image processing during self-landing.

1. Nichols, J. W., Sun, L., Beard, R. W., and McLain, T. W. "Aerial Rendezvous of Small Unmanned Aircraft Using a Passive Towed Cable System", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, in review. Preprint
2. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., "Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, in review. Preprint

1. Nichols, J. W., Sun, L., Beard, R. W., and McLain, T. W. "Aerial Rendezvous of Small Unmanned Aircraft Using a Passive Towed Cable System", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, in review. Preprint Δ
2. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., "Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, in review. Preprint Δ

• Class president (360 students)

• MAGICClab

• Led the project of “Autonomous Aerial Recovery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” for Phase I and II.

• Published two journal papers and presented and published six conference papers.

Experience

• MAGICC Lab, Research Assistant and Team Leader, BYU Provo, UT Sep 2007 -- Present
  • Led the project of “Autonomous Aerial Recovery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)” using a large towplane with a cable connecting to a recovery drogue controlled to match the flight pattern of the UAV.
  • Dedicated to dynamic modeling, motion planning and control, simulation and flight testing.
  • Developed 3D animation simulation using Simulink/MATLAB and OpenGL/C++.
  • Outperformed other research teams (M.I.T. and Georgia Tech) and achieved the contract for phase II project.
  • Implemented 60+ flights trails totaling 100+ hours of flight time.
  • Conducted the team meetings biweekly, wrote proposals and reports and presented to the clients.
  • Published one journal paper and presented and published four conference papers.
• Technical Support Engineer, Beijing Teamsun Technology Co., LTD Beijing, China May 2007 – Aug 2007
  • Professional trained for UNIX system and Solaris server operation.
  • Solved client’s problem on-site by trouble shooting frozen servers and replacing malfunctioned components.
• Research Assistant, Automation Academy, Beihang University Beijing, China Sep 2004 – May 2007
  • Developed hardware-in-the-loop real-time flight control simulation system using four computers and rudder machines connecting via the optical fiber and the reflective memory cards.
  • Developed autonomous identification of the position of the runway using image processing during self-landing.

Education

• PHD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University (BYU) Dec 2012
  • President of Chinese Student and Scholar Association 2009-2010 at BYU
  • Conducted events, e.g., “Chinese Spring Festival Celebration” (500 ptcs.), “Moon Festival Celebration” (200 ptcs.)
  • Cooperatively conducted events, e.g., “Utah China 60th Anniversary Celebration” (600 ptcs.), and “BYU World Festival Expo”.
• M.S. and B.S. Electrical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University (BUAA), China, Apr 2007
  • “Best Graduates” reward ( top 12 in 360 students)
  • Scholarship and awards for “Triple-A” student (2001-2003)
  • Class president (360 students)

1. Nichols, J. and Sun, L., "Autonomous Aerial Rendezvous of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems using A Towed Cable System", 43rd Annual Society of Flight Test Engineers Symposium, Fort Walton Beach, FL, USA, October 2012. PDF

1. Nichols, J. and Sun, L., "Autonomous Aerial Rendezvous of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems using A Towed Cable System", 43rd Annual Society of Flight Test Engineers Symposium, Fort Walton Beach, FL, USA, October, 2012. PDF

1. Sun, L. and Beard, R. W., "Trajectory Tracking for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Autopilot in the Loop", American Control Conference, 2013, in review. Preprint

1. Colton, M. B., Sun, L., Carlson, D. C., and Beard, R. W., "Multi-vehicle Dynamics and Control for Aerial Recovery of Micro Air Vehicles", Int. J. Vehicle Autonomous Systems, Vol. 9, 2011, pp. 78-107. PDF

1. Sun, L. and Beard, R. W., "Trajectory Tracking for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Autopilot in the Loop", American Control Conference, 2013, in review. Preprint Δ
2. Sun, L. and Beard, R. W., "Towed-body Trajectory Tracking in Aerial Recovery of Micro Air Vehicle in the presence of Wind", American Control Conference, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2011, pp. 3209-3214. PDF
3. Sun, L., Beard, R. W., and Colton, M. B., "Motion Planning and Control for Mothership-cable-drogue Systems in Aerial Recovery of Micro Air Vehicles", American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD, USA, 2010, pp. 2101-2106. PDF
4. Sun, L. and Beard, R. W., "Towed Body Altitude Stabilization and States Estimation in Aerial Recovery of Micro Air Vehicles", AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Toronto, Ontario Canada, August 2010. PDF
5. Sun, L., Beard, R. W., and Colton, M. B., McLain, T. W., “Dynamics and Control of Cable-drogue System in Aerial Recovery of Micro Air Vehicles Based on Gauss’s Principle.” St. Louis, MO, USA: American Control Conference, June 2009, pp. 4729–4734. PDF

• PHD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University (BYU) Dec 2012

1. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., "Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013, in review. Preprint
2. Colton, M., Sun, L., Carlson, D., and Beard, R., "Multi-vehicle dynamics and control for aerial recovery of Miro Air Vehicles", Int. J. Vehicle Autonomous Systems, Vol. 9, 2011, pp. 78-107. PDF

1. Sun, L., Beard, R. W., "Trajectory Tracking for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Autopilot in the Loop", American Control Conference, 2013, in review. Preprint Δ
2. Sun, L. and Beard, R. W., Towed-body Trajectory Tracking in Aerial Recovery of Miro Air Vehicle in the presence of Wind, American Control Conference, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2011, pp. 3209-3214. PDF
3. Sun, L., Beard, R. W., and Colton, M. B., "Motion planning and control for mothership-cable-drogue systems in Aerial Recovery of Miro Air Vehicles", American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD, USA, 2010, pp. 2101-2106. PDF
4. Sun, L. and Beard, R. W., "Towed Body Altitude Stabilization and States Estimation in Aerial Recovery of Miro Air Vehicles", AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Toronto, Ontario Canada, August 2010. PDF
5. Sun, L. and Beard, R. W., Colton, M. B., McLain, T. W., “Dynamics and control of cable-drogue system in aerial recovery of micro air vehicles based on Gauss’s principle.” St. Louis, MO, USA: American Control Conference, June 2009, pp. 4729–4734. PDF

• Experience: Autonomous system, Control systems, Optimal control, Motion planning, MATLAB, Simulink, C++, Solaris, UNIX, JAVA, OpenGL, Image processing, Computer vision, Simulation, UAV, UAS

1. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems, Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2013. Preprint

• LinkedIn

1. L. Sun and R. W. Beard, “Towed-body trajectory tracking in aerial recovery of micro air vehicle in the presence of wind”, (San Francisco, CA, USA), pp. 3209-3214, American Control Conference (ACC), 2011.
2. L. Sun and R. W. Beard, “Towed body altitude stabilization and states estimation in aerial recovery of micro air vehicles.” Toronto, Ontario Canada: AIAA, Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, August 2010.
3. L. Sun, R. W. Beard, and M. B. Colton, “Motion planning and control for mothership-cable-drogue systems in aerial recovery of micro air vehicles.” Baltimore, MD, USA: American Control Conference (ACC), 2010, pp. 2101 – 2106.

• Experience: Autonomous system, Control systems, Optimal control, Motion planning, MATLAB, Simulink, C++, Solaris, UNIX, JAVA, OpenGL, Image processing, Computer vision, Simulation, UAV, UAS

• Journal Publication

1. Colton, M.B., Sun, L., Carlson, D.C. and Beard, R.W. (2011) “Multi-vehicle dynamics and control for aerial recovery of micro air vehicles”, Int. J. Vehicle Autonomous Systems, Vol. 9, Nos. 1/2, pp.78–107.

• Conference Proceedings

1. L. Sun, R. W. Beard, M. B. Colton, and T. W. McLain., “Dynamics and control of cable-drogue system in aerial recovery of micro air vehicles based on gauss’s principle.” St. Louis, MO, USA: 2009 American Control Conference, June 2009, pp. 4729–4734.
2. L. Sun, R. W. Beard, and M. B. Colton, “Motion planning and control for mothership-cable-drogue systems in aerial recovery of micro air vehicles.” Baltimore, MD, USA: American Control Conference (ACC), 2010, pp. 2101 – 2106.
3. L. Sun and R. W. Beard, “Towed body altitude stabilization and states estimation in aerial recovery of micro air vehicles.” Toronto, Ontario Canada: AIAA, Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, August 2010.
4. L. Sun and R. W. Beard, “Towed-body trajectory tracking in aerial recovery of micro air vehicle in the presence of wind”, (San Francisco, CA, USA), pp. 3209-3214, American Control Conference (ACC), 2011.

1. Publication 1
2. Publication 2

• Developed hardware-in-the-loop real-time flight control simulation system using four computers and rudder machines connecting via the optical fiber and the reflective memory cards.

• Experience: project management, autonomous system, control systems, optimal control, motion planning, MATLAB, Simulink, C++, Solaris, UNIX, JAVA, OpenGL, image processing, computer vision, simulation, UAV, UAS

Liang (Solomon) Sun

Contact Information

• Email: sun.liang709@gmail.com
• LinkedIn

Education

• PHD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University (BYU) Aug 2012
  • President of Chinese Student and Scholar Association 2009-2010 at BYU
  • Conducted events, e.g., “Chinese Spring Festival Celebration” (500 ptcs.), “Moon Festival Celebration” (200 ptcs.)
  • Cooperatively conducted events, e.g., “Utah China 60th Anniversary Celebration” (600 ptcs.), and “BYU World Festival Expo”.
• M.S. and B.S. Electrical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University (BUAA), China, Apr 2007
  • “Best Graduates” reward ( top 12 in 360 students)
  • Scholarship and awards for “Triple-A” student (2001-2003)
  • Class president (360 students)

Research Interests

• Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • 7-year research experience in navigation, guidance and control of UAS
  • 7-year experience in MATLAB; 5-year experience in C++
  • Strong leadership skills: President of Chinese student association and Leader of academic teams
  • Strong analytical and inter-personal skills

Publications

Coming soon...

Experience

• MAGICC Lab, Research Assistant and Team Leader, BYU Provo, UT Sep 2007 -- Present
  • Led the project of “Autonomous Aerial Recovery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)” using a large towplane with a cable connecting to a recovery drogue controlled to match the flight pattern of the UAV.
  • Dedicated to dynamic modeling, motion planning and control, simulation and flight testing.
  • Developed 3D animation simulation using Simulink/MATLAB and OpenGL/C++.
  • Outperformed other research teams (M.I.T. and Georgia Tech) and achieved the contract for phase II project.
  • Implemented 60+ flights trails totaling 100+ hours of flight time.
  • Conducted the team meetings biweekly, wrote proposals and reports and presented to the clients.
  • Published one journal paper and presented and published four conference papers.
• Technical Support Engineer, Beijing Teamsun Technology Co., LTD Beijing, China May 2007 – Aug 2007
  • Professional trained for UNIX system and Solaris server operation.
  • Solved client’s problem on-site by trouble shooting frozen servers and replacing malfunctioned components.
• Research Assistant, Automation Academy, Beihang University Beijing, China Sep 2004 – May 2007
  • Developed hardware-in-the-loop real-time flight control simulation system using four computers and rudder

machines connecting via the optical fiber and the reflective memory cards.

• Developed autonomous identification of the position of the runway using image processing during self-landing.

Interests and Awards

• Native speaker of Chinese (Mandarin); proficient in English
• Experience: project management, autonomous system, control systems, optimal control, motion planning,

MATLAB, Simulink, C++, Solaris, UNIX, JAVA, OpenGL, image processing, computer vision, simulation, UAV, UAS