News
February, 2022:
The underwater kite team successfully completes its second round of open-water testing in Lake Norman!
January, 2022:
Both papers submitted by the CORE Lab to the American Control Conference have been accepted!
December, 2021:
Chris Vermillion wins the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering research award!
November, 2021:
The underwater kite team successfully completes its first round of open-water testing in Lake Norman!
John Borek’s journal paper, entitled “Optimal Control of Heavy-duty Trucks through Signalized Intersections with Non-Deterministic Signal Timing,” is accepted!
October, 2021:
John Borek successfully defends his dissertation!
Zak Leonard successfully completes his Master’s defense!
September, 2021:
Ben Haydon’s journal paper, entitled “Generalized Empirical Regret Bounds for Control of Renewable Energy Systems in Spatiotemporally Varying Environments,” is accepted!
August, 2021:
Ben Groelke’s journal paper, entitled “A Predictive Command Governor-Based Adaptive Cruise Controller with Collision Avoidance for Non-Cooporative Vehicle Following,” is accepted!
April, 2021:
Chris Vermillion publishes a survey paper entitled “Electricity in the Air: Insights from Two Decades of Advanced Control Research and Experimental Flight Testing of Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” which catalogs the incredible work of the airborne wind energy field over the past two decades.
January, 2021:
All three of the CORE Lab’s papers submitted to ACC 2021 have been accepted!
August, 2020:
Christian Earnhardt successfully defends his dissertation, marking the end of a very busy summer of dissertation defenses!
Christian Earnhardt’s journal paper, entitled “A Multi-Rate, Multi-Scale Economic Model Predictive Control Approach for Velocity Trajectory Optimization of a Heavy-Duty Truck,” is accepted to the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control!
Andrew Abney joins the CORE Lab as a new Ph.D. student. Welcome!
Kirti Mishra joins (unofficially until all paperwork is complete 🙂 the CORE Lab as a new Postdoctoral Research Associate. Welcome!
July, 2020:
Joe Deese’s journal paper, entitled “Recursive Gaussian Process-Based Adaptive Control, with Application to a Lighter-Than-Air Wind Energy System,” is accepted to IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology!
June, 2020:
Ben Groelke and Mitchell Cobb successfully defend their dissertations (on the same day)!
Vermillion receives a new NSF award, entitled “Persistent Mission Planning and Control for Renewably Powered Robotic Systems.”
April, 2020:
Joe Deese successfully defends his dissertation!
James Reed receives the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
February, 2020:
Both papers submitted by the CORE Lab to the IFAC World Congress (first-authored by James Reed and Josh Daniels) are accepted!
January, 2020:
All three papers submitted by the CORE Lab to the American Control Conference (plus another paper first-authored by CORE Lab by alumnus Ali Baheri) are accepted!
November, 2019:
John Borek is selected as a finalist in the UNC-Charlotte Three-Minute Thesis competition.
October, 2019:
Mitchell Cobb’s JDSMC paper, entitled “Lab-Scale Experimental Characterization and Dynamic Scaling Assessment for Closed-Loop Crosswind Flight of Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is the winner of the 2019 Rudolf Kalman Best Paper Award!
July, 2019:
Mitchell Cobb’s CDC paper, entitled “Flexible-Time Economic Iterative Learning Control: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy,” is accepted!
June, 2019:
Christian Earnhardt’s DSCC paper, entitled “Fused Model Predictive Control Techniques for Strategic Platooning Amongst Heterogeneous Pairs of Heavy-Duty Trucks,” is accepted!
Ben Groelke’s DSCC paper, entitled “Analysis of a Novel Command Governor-Based Adaptive Cruise Controller for Non-Cooperative Vehicle Following,” is accepted!
Ben Haydon’s DSCC paper, entitled “Empirical Regret Bounds for Control in Spatiotemporally Varying Environments: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy,” is accepted!
Ayaz Siddiqui’s DSCC paper, entitled “Flight Dynamics and Control of a Farm of Tethered Energy Systems in a Turbulent Field,” is accepted!
May, 2019:
The CORE Lab welcomes James Reed and Josh Daniels, both undergraduate seniors (in mechanical and aerospace engineering, respectively) to the lab!
Mitchell Cobb’s IEEE TCST paper, entitled “Iterative Learning-Based Path Optimization for Repetitive Path Planning, with Application to 3D Crosswind Flight of Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is accepted!
February, 2019:
Joe Deese’s CCTA paper, entitled “Recursive Gaussian Process-Based Adaptive Control: Theoretical Framework and Application to Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is accepted!
Shamir Bin-Karim’s CCTA paper, entitled “Centralized Position Optimization of Multiple Agents in Spatiotemporally-Varying Environments: A Case Study with Relocatable Energy-Harvesting Autonomous Underwater Vehicles in the Gulf Stream,” is accepted!
January, 2019:
The CORE Lab’s marine hydrokinetic energy proposal (in collaboration with Co-PIs Mazzoleni and Granlund of NC State, Fathy of Penn State, Muglia of the UNC Coastal Studies Institute, and Alsenas of Florida Atlantic University) is selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for award negotiations! See this link for more details…additional details to follow upon completion of award negotiations.
Mitchell Cobb’s ACC paper, entitled “An Iterative Learning Approach for Online Flight Path Optimization for Tethered Energy Systems Undergoing Cyclic Spooling Motion,” is accepted!
John Borek’s ACC paper, entitled “Economic Optimal Control of Heavy-duty Trucks in Urban Environments through Fused Model Predictive Control and Adaptive Cruise Control,” is accepted!
The CORE Lab welcomes Ben Haydon and Jack Cole, both undergraduates in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering program, into the lab.
November, 2018:
Joe Deese successfully completes his proposal defense!
Shamir Bin-Karim successfully completes his proposal defense!
October, 2018:
Nihar Deodhar’s ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control paper, entitled “Convergence Analysis and Experimental Validation of a Fused Numerical/Experimental Active System Optimization Framework,” is accepted!
June, 2018:
Nihar Deodhar successfully defends his dissertation!
Joe Deese’s DSCC paper, entitled “Fused Closed-Loop Flight Dynamics and Wake Interaction Modeling of Tethered Energy Systems,” is accepted!
May, 2018:
Chris Vermillion officially accepts his new Associate Professor position at NC State!
Ali Baheri successfully defends his dissertation!
April, 2018:
Alireza Bafandeh successfully defends his dissertation! Congratulations on being the first student to receive his PhD from the CORE Lab!
Ben Groelke’s AVEC paper, entitled “A Cascaded Multi-Rate Model Predictive Control and Reference Governor Approach for Real-Time Velocity Optimization in the Presence of Traffic,” is accepted!
Christian Earnhardt’s AVEC paper, entitled “Fused Global-Local Economic Model Predictive Control for Real-Time Eco-Optimal Control of a Heavy Duty Truck,” is accepted!
The UNC-Charlotte Rocketry team receives second place in the NASA Student Launch competition!
March, 2018:
Joe Deese’s ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control paper, entitled “Nested Plant/Controller Co-Design Using G-Optimal Design and Continuous-Time Adaptation Laws: Theoretical Framework and Application to Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is accepted!
February, 2018:
Ali Baheri’s Renewable Energy journal paper, entitled “Iterative 3D Layout Optimization and Parametric Trade Study for a Reconfigurable Ocean Current Turbine Array Using Bayesian Optimization,” is accepted!
Alireza Bafandeh’s European Control Conference paper, entitled “Optimal Control of Integrated Airborne Wind-Battery-Generator Systems with Globalized Lyapunov-Based Switched Extremum Seeking,” is accepted!
January, 2018:
Ben Groelke, John Borek, and Christian Earnhardt’s ACC paper, entitled “A Comparative Assessment of Economic Model Predictive Control Strategies for Fuel Economy Optimization of Heavy-Duty Trucks,” is accepted!
Shamir Bin-Karim’s ACC paper, entitled “Control of a Relocatable Energy-Harvesting Autonomous Underwater Vehicle in a Spatiotemporally-Varying Gulf Stream Resource,” is accepted!
December, 2017:
John Borek and Mitchell Cobb receive first and second place (respectively) in the 2017 Mechanical Engineering Graduate Research Symposium! Check out this link for more details.
November, 2017:
Check out this link for a short video describing some of the work we do in the CORE Lab (for the time being, the CORE Lab video is the first one on the page).
Shamir Bin-Karim’s IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology journal paper, entitled “Spatiotemporal Optimization Through Gaussian Process Based Model Predictive Control: Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy,” is accepted!
October, 2017:
Mitchell Cobb’s ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control (JDSMC) paper, entitled “Lab-Scale Experimental Characterization and Dynamic Scaling Assessment for Closed-Loop Crosswind Flight of Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is accepted!
September, 2017:
Chris Vermillion receives an NSF collaborative research grant with the University of California – Berkeley for the proposal entitled “Multi-Scale, Multi-Rate Spatiotemporal Optimal Control with Application to Airborne Wind Energy Systems.” Check out this link for more details.
August, 2017:
Ali Baheri’s Control Engineering Practice journal paper, entitled “Real-Time Control Using Bayesian Optimization: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is accepted!
July, 2017:
Mitchell Cobb’s CDC paper, entitled “Iterative Learning-Based Waypoint Optimization for Repetitive Path Planning, with Application to Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is accepted!
Chris Vermillion receives an NSF collaborative research grant with the University of Michigan for the proposal entitled “Collaborative Research: An Economic Iterative Learning Control Framework with Application to Airborne Wind Energy Harvesting.” Check out this link for more details.
June, 2017:
Chris Vermillion wins the College of Engineering Award for Teaching Excellence!
Ali Baheri’s DSCC papers, entitled “Iterative In-Situ 3D Layout Optimization of a Reconfigurable Ocean Current Turbine Array Using Bayesian Optimization” and “Combined Plant and Controller Design Using Bayesian Optimization: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” are accepted!
May, 2017:
The UNC-Charlotte 49er Rocketry Team wins 5th place out of 50 university teams at the 2017 NASA Student Launch Competition! Congratulations to my new Ph.D. student, John Borek, for leading this effort, and to the entire team for their hard work and dedication! Check out the news release at this link for more details.
Alireza Bafandeh’s CCTA paper, entitled “Fused Local-Global Control of Spatiotemporally-Varying Systems: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy,” is accepted!
April, 2017:
The multi-university NEXTCAR project (sponsored by ARPA-E) has officially began! See this link for an internal news release.
Nihar Deodhar’s ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control paper, entitled “Experimentally Infused Plant and Controller Optimization Using Iterative Design of Experiments – Theoretical Framework and Airborne Wind Energy Case Study,” is accepted!
February, 2017:
Nihar Deodhar successfully defends his dissertation proposal. Congratulations!
Nihar Deodhar’s AIAA Journal paper, entitled “Lab-Scale Light Characterization of a Multi-Tethered Aerostat for Wind Energy Generation,” is accepted!
Joe Deese’s IFAC paper, entitled, “Nested Plant/Controller Co-Design Using G-Optimal Design and Extremum Seeking: Theoretical Framework and Application to an Airborne Wind Energy System,” is accepted!
January, 2017:
Ali Baheri’s ACC paper, entitled “Altitude Optimization of Airborne Wind Energy Systems: A Bayesian Optimization Approach,” is accepted!
Michelle Kehs’s and Mitchell Cobb’s collaborative ACC paper (first author: Michelle Kehs of Penn State), entitled “Insights from an Experimental Study on the Crosswind Flight of a Lab-Scale Buoyant Air Turbine,” is accepted! Congratulations to Michelle and Mitchell!
December, 2016:
Mitchell Cobb ties for second place out of 21 presentations in the UNC-Charlotte Mechanical Engineering Research Symposium. Mitchell was the only student outside of our department’s formidable Center for Precision Metrology to receive an award. Congratulations!
Together will collaborators from Penn State, MIT, and Volvo Group North America, the CORE Lab wins a $3 million ARPA-E grant from ARPA-E’s NEXTCAR program!
November, 2016:
Alireza Bafandeh’s journal paper, “Altitude Optimization of Airborne Wind Energy Systems via Switched Extremum Seeking – Design, Analysis, and Economic Assessment,” is accepted to IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology!
September, 2016:
Alireza Bafandeh successfully defends his dissertation proposal. Congratulations!
Jared Sielaff joins the CORE Lab. Welcome!
Joe Deese and Mitchell Cobb join the Ph.D. program at UNC-Charotte. Welcome!
August, 2016:
Chris Vermillion receives two research grants from the UNC Coastal Studies Institute in the area of marine hydrokinetic energy systems.
July, 2016:
Shamir Bin-Karim’s CDC paper, “Spatio-Temporal Optimization Through Model Predictive Control: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy,” is accepted!
May, 2016:
Shay Marceau, Lazar Trifunovic, Hannah Brooks, Dale Gaddis, and Ashley Martin join the CORE Lab for the summer as part of an NSF Research Experience for Teachers. Welcome!
April, 2016:
Nihar Deodhar’s ASME Design Automation Conference paper, “A Framework for Fused Experimental/Numerical Plant and Control System Optimization Using Iterative G-Optimal Design of Experiments,” is accepted!
Linus Jacobs receives 4th place and an honorable mention at the State Science Fair!
February, 2015:
Linus Jacobs, a high school lab participant, wins second place at the UNC Charlotte NC Regional Science and Engineering Fair, thereby advancing to the state competition in April!
January, 2016:
Alireza Bafandeh’s ACC paper, “Real-Time Altitude Optimization of Airborne Wind Energy Systems Using Lyapunov-Based Switched Extremum Seeking Control,” is accepted!
Parvin NikpoorParizi’s ACC paper, “Combined Plant and Controller Performance Analysis and Optimization for an Energy-Harvesting Tethered Wing,” is accepted!
August, 2015:
Ali Baheri and Mitchell Cobb join the research lab. Welcome!
July, 2015:
Chris Vermillion receives an NSF collaborative research grant with Penn State for the research proposal entitled “Collaborative Research: Self-Adjusting Periodic Optimal Control with Application to Energy-Harvesting Flight.”
May, 2015:
Linus Jacobs, a high school student in Charlotte, joins the research group as a volunteer in order to further his scientific endeavors. Welcome!
Brian Smith joins the research group for the summer. Welcome!
April, 2015:
Check out this article that discusses the airborne wind energy research that is happening in the Vermillion Lab!
March, 2015:
Chris DiMarco’s NAMRC paper, “Exponential and Sigmoid-Interpolated Machining Strategies,” is selected as one of eight Outstanding Papers at NAMRC 2015.
January, 2015:
Chris DiMarco’s NAMRC paper, “Exponential and Sigmoid-Interpolated Machining Strategies,” is accepted!
Nihar Deodhar’s ACC paper, “A Case Study in Experimentally-Infused Plant and Controller Optimization for Airborne Wind Energy Systems,” is accepted!
Chris Vermillion wins the NSF CAREER Award for his proposal entitled “Efficient Experimental Optimization for High-Performance Airborne Wind Energy Systems”! Learn more about it here.
Shamir Bin-Karim joins the research group. Welcome!
September, 2014:
Alireza Bafandeh and Parvin Nikpoorparizi join the research group. Welcome!
July, 2014:
Chris Vermillion receives an NSF research grant for his research proposal entitled “Altitude Control for Optimal Performance of Tethered Wind Energy Systems.”
June, 2014:
Chris Vermillion’s DSCC paper, written in collaboration with Altaeros Energies, is accepted!
May, 2014:
Joe Deese and Tim Muyimbwa join the research lab for the summer. Welcome!
Chris DiMarco joins the research group. Welcome!
February, 2014:
Nihar Deodhar joins the research lab. Welcome!