An introduction to differentially flat systems | Jean Levine

Lecture: An introduction to deferentially flat systems, with applications to robotics and guidance and control of aircrafts. Speaker: Jean Levine, Fondation Sciences Mathematiques de Paris, Institut Henri Poincaré, France. Bio: Jean Lévine obtained his "Doctorat d' État" in Mathematics in 1984 for which he was awarded the "Best Thesis" AFCET prize, section "Theory", in 1985. He has been a Director of Research with MINES-ParisTech, PSL Research University since 2006 and in charge of the Maths and Systems Doctoral Studies section of the Doctoral School entitled "Sciences et Métiers de l'Ingénieur" (Engineering Sciences and Practice). He is presently an Emeritus Director of Research. His research topics are in Automatic Control, first in Differential Games, and then in finite dimensional nonlinear systems, for which he contributed to many theoretic aspects, including the notion of "differential flatness", and a number of industrial applications, in particular in the domains of aeronautics and aerospace, chemical and biotechnological processes, automotive industries and electro-mechanical and electronic systems. He joined the "Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris" (FSMP) of the "Institut Henri Poincaré" in 2015 as a Math-Industries special adviser. Abstract: The notion of differentially flat (or shortly flat) system concerns a particular class of nonlinear systems often encountered in practice. It has been introduced in the early 90's by Michel Fliess, Philippe Martin, Pierre Rouchon and the author, and has shown to be most useful in motion planning and tracking of nonlinear systems. In this presentation, we recall the basics of this theory and show that aircraft dynamics, controlled as usual by thrust and ailerons, elevator and rudder angles, are flat, giving rise to an autopilot design that is different and much simpler than the traditional AFCS's. We also present an application to robotics and the control of vertical take off and landing aircraft and to relative guidance.