Prayag Sharma
Flight Control Engineer - 1 at NewSpace Research and Technologies- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Credentials
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Robotics: Computational Motion Planning
CourseraJun, 2020- Nov, 2024 -
Control of Mobile Robots
CourseraMay, 2020- Nov, 2024 -
Robotics: Aerial Robotics
CourseraApr, 2020- Nov, 2024
Experience
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NewSpace Research and Technologies
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India
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Aviation & Aerospace
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200 - 300 Employee
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Flight Control Engineer - 1
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Jul 2023 - Present
➜ Currently developing High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft to operate in the stratosphere for multiple days using solar energy. ➜ Responsible for developing energy-efficient trajectories that maximize the solar energy intake and minimize power loss to achieve perpetual flight. ➜ Generated 3-DOF trajectories with constraints using nonlinear trajectory optimization techniques. Currently formulating a complete 6-DOF trajectory optimization problem. ➜ Currently developing High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft to operate in the stratosphere for multiple days using solar energy. ➜ Responsible for developing energy-efficient trajectories that maximize the solar energy intake and minimize power loss to achieve perpetual flight. ➜ Generated 3-DOF trajectories with constraints using nonlinear trajectory optimization techniques. Currently formulating a complete 6-DOF trajectory optimization problem.
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Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
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India
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Research
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700 & Above Employee
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Project Associate -1 || Project: Guidance & Control for Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing
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Aug 2022 - Jun 2023
➜Research focuses on developing Computational Guidance and Control Algorithms for Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL).➜ 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞:➜ Delivered a Seminar talk along with Prof. Radhaknt Padhi on the prospects of Computational Guidance and its applications to future space exploration missions at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Headquarters in Bangalore.➜ Implemented the G-FOLD (Guidance for Fuel Optimal Large Divert) algorithm based on lossless convexification to solve the 3-DOF Mars Powered Descent Guidance Problem in MATLAB. Studied and reconstructed its proof using optimal control theory and Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle.➜ Tested a robust explicit guidance technique for the Mars Powered Descent Phase based on Minimum Jerk Guidance (MJG) with optimal time-to-go selection and algorithm to avoid altitude excursion.➜ Worked along with scientists from U.R.S.C ISRO, Bangalore in testing the Min. Jerk Guidance for the fine braking phase of ISRO’s Chandrayan-3 Moon Landing mission. Gained insights on essential mission requirements, constraints, and onboard testing. (Lander achieved a soft touchdown on the Moon’s South Pole on August 23, 2023.)➜ Guidance was found to be robust to initial as well as path perturbations of up to ±6σ for the Moon landing mission. Show less
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Research Intern || Project: Guidance & Control for Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing
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Jan 2022 - Jul 2022
➜𝐀𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞:➜Derived a Pseudo-Spectral Model Predictive Static Programming (PS-MPSP) guidance to account for a generalized cost function and path constraints. Applied to solve a free final time 3D non-linear constraint Mars Entry guidance problem. Simulated in MATLAB R2021a, PC: Intel i5@ 2.50GHz, 8 GB RAM➜Gained an understanding of optimal control, calculus of variations, and pseudo-spectral optimal control to derive the PS-MPSP.➜The average computational time of the algorithm per guidance cycle was under 0.3 seconds.➜Also proposed a discrete-time MPSP solution to the constraint 2D Mars Entry guidance problem with longitudinal dynamics integrating concepts of flexible Final time MPSP and Path constrained MPSP. (Refer to publication)➜Recipient of one of the three best student paper awards handed at the Proceedings of the 22nd IFAC International Symposium on Automatic Control in Aerospace 2022 held at IIT Bombay. Show less
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Research Intern || Project: Optimal Missile Guidance against Re-entry Targets
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Apr 2021 - Dec 2021
➜Developed a minimum drag unified missile guidance scheme accounting for both midcourse and terminal phases to intercept high-speed ballistic targets. (Refer to Publication- Accepted IEEE TAES Journal)➜Derived a Pseudo-Spectral MPSP (PS-MPSP) guidance to solve the minimum drag interception problem.➜Substantially improved guidance update time from 2.51 seconds (discrete time MPSP) to only 0.21 seconds (PS-MPSP) in the midcourse phase (12x gain) and from 40 ms (discrete time MPSP) to 20 ms (PS-MPSP) in the terminal phase (2x gain). (Testbed: MATLAB R2021a, running on a desktop with an Intel i5-2400S CPU @ 2.50GHz)➜ Performed closed-form Monte-Carlo analysis with “Handover Error” and aerodynamic parameter perturbation.➜ Additionally worked on developing an Impact Angle, Lead Angle, and Lateral Acceleration Constraint terminal phase missile guidance. [Refer to Publication] Show less
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Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
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Higher Education
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700 & Above Employee
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Research Intern || Indo-Korean Joint Network Center on Robotics
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Jun 2020 - Dec 2020
➜ Designed a Constrained Controller for Quadrotors Using Laguerre Functions Based Model Predictive Control (MPC) for accurate Reference Tracking. [Refer to Publication] ➜ Solved the resulting constrained Quadratic optimization problem using Hildreth’s quadratic programming technique ➜ The designed controller could follow 3D reference trajectories with a maximum inaccuracy of less than 1.5% in each axis. ➜ Worked on simulating a combined quadrotor with a 5-DOF manipulator in the Gazebo simulator using R.O.S (Robot Operating System), Moveit, and Python. Show less
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DIC Panjab University
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India
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Research Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Research Intern
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Jan 2019 - Aug 2019
➜ Built multiple quadrotors capable of operating Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) over the internet. ➜ Developed python scripts to control a couple of quadrotors simultaneously over the internet by integrating single-board computers such as Raspberry Pi with the Pixhawk flight controller (PX4). ➜ Built a high endurance quadrotor (63 min+) and performed PID gain tunning for desired flight characteristics. ➜ Presented work at the All India DIC meeting at IIT Delhi in November 2019. ➜ Won 1st prize in the university round of Smart India hackathon 2020 by adding additional object detection capabilities to drones using onboard Ultrasonic sensors and applying an object-detection algorithm (YOLO) on the drone camera feed. Show less
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Education
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2018 - 2022
Panjab University
Bachelor of Engineering - BE, electronics and communication engineering
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