Lecture / Discussion:AE Defense: Advances in Constrained Spacecraft Relative Motion Planning
2018-05-30 09:30 - 11:30 (America/Detroit) | Lurie Robert H. Engin. Ctr - GM Conference Hall (4th floor)
This dissertation considers Spacecraft Relative Motion Planning (SRMP), where spacecraft operate in close proximity to obstacles or to each other. SRMP techniques must accommodate non-convex constraints, be robust to disturbances, and be implementable on-board spacecraft with limited computational capabilities. Three novel SRMP techniques are developed, and simulations illustrate implementations of each method.

Firstly, an invariance-based SRMP technique is proposed. Planned maneuvers transition a spacecraft between specified Natural Motion Trajectories (NMTs) while avoiding obstacles and accommodating control constraints. The method is based on a graph search applied to a “virtual net” with nodes corresponding to NMTs, and adjacency rules based on safe positively invariant tubes built around each NMT.

Secondly, a SRMP technique is developed for satellite inspection. An information collection model is developed and used to construct a control law based on the local gradient of the information rate. This control law drives the spacecraft on a path along which the rate of information collection is strictly increasing.

Finally, a SRMP strategy is proposed to generate a formation containing an arbitrary number of vehicles. This strategy is based on an add-on predictive control mechanism, known as a Parameter Governor, which modifies parameters in a nominal closed-loop system to enforce constraints.

Dissertation Committee Names:

Professor Ilya V. Kolmanovsky (co-chair)
Associate Professor Anouck R. Girard (co-chair)
Cognate Member: Professor Aaron J. Ridley
Members: Dr. Christopher D. Petersen, Air Force Research Laboratory and Dr. Frederick A. Leve, Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Journal Publications

Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Constrained spacecraft relative motion planning exploiting periodic natural motion trajectories and invariance,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 40, No. 12 (2017), pp. 3100-3115.

Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Emanuele Garone, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Parameter governors for coordinated control of n-spacecraft formations,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 40, No. 11 (2017), pp. 3020-3025.

Conference Proceedings

Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Anouck R. Girard, and Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, “Invariance-based spacecraft relative motion planning incorporating bounded disturbances and minimum thrust constraints,” American Control Conference, 2018, Accepted.

Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Incorporating periodic and non-periodic natural motion trajectories into constrained invariance-based spacecraft relative motion planning,” 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, IEEE, Kohala Coast, HI, 2017, pp. 1811-1816.

Ran Tian, Hao Chen, Gregory Frey, Bingqing Zu, Anouck Girard, and Ilya Kolmanovsky, “Path planning for information collection in contested environments using marsupial systems,” 2017 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Miami, FL, 2017, pp. 706-715.

Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Anouck R. Girard, and Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, “Safe relative motion trajectory planning for satellite inspection,” 27th Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, AIAA/AAS, San Antonio, TX, 2017, AAS Paper 17-411.

Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Emanuele Garone, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Time shift governor for coordinated control of two spacecraft formations,” 10th IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems, IFAC, Monterrey, CA, 2016, pp. 296-301.

Exhibition:Quaker Oats Makes a Movie: A Scrumdiddlyumptious Wonka Adventure
2018-05-30 10:00 - 17:00 | Hatcher Graduate Library - Special Collections, 6th Floor
​Quaker Oats forged a new path in the entertainment industry by jointly marketing consumer packaged goods and a major motion picture in 1971, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Having never made a motion picture before, their foray into the filmmaking industry was unexpected and unprecedented. The company saw this film as an opportunity to essentially make a feature-length commercial for their new line of Wonka candy products.

Students in Matthew Solomon's class, SAC 355: Authorship and the Archive, culled though hundreds of production documents related to the film to curate an exhibit that tells a little known behind-the-scenes story about one of the most beloved films.

Exhibition:Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection
2018-05-30 11:00 - 17:00 | Museum of Art - A. Alfred Taubman Gallery
Gallery hours are 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday and 12–5 p.m. Sunday; galleries are closed on Mondays.

This exhibition celebrates Gertrude Kasle (1917–2016), a key figure in the formation of Detroit’s contemporary art community in the 1960s and 70s. A pioneering female gallerist, Kasle provided midwest audiences with a venue in which to experience avant-garde art from centers like New York City, while also supporting and exhibiting regional artists. Featuring a collection of paintings, works on paper, and sculptures from the height of the Abstract Expressionist movement through the early twenty-first century, 'Exercising the Eye' speaks to the relationships Kasle fostered with local, national, and international artists and her appreciation for artistic expression and experimentation. Critical voices from the last fifty years include Philip Guston, Jane Hammond, Grace Hartigan, Jasper Johns, Michele Oka Doner, and Robert Rauschenberg. The exhibition offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore a dynamic moment in Detroit’s cultural history and insight into Kasle’s love of looking and learning.

Lead support for 'Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection' is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Michigan Medicine, and the University of Michigan CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.

Exhibition:Humanize the Numbers Exhibit at Detroit Street Filling Station
2018-05-30 11:00 - 21:00 | Off Campus Location
April 19-July 1, 2018
-Free and Open to public-
This exhibit showcases photographic works created by people incarcerated at Thumb Correctional Facility in collaboration with University of Michigan students. The opening reception on April 19 at 5pm features students and PCAP faculty Isaac Wingfield who worked with prisoners at Thumb on the exhibits and will be there to share their experiences.

Exhibition:Marcel Dzama: A Jester's Dance
2018-05-30 11:00 - 17:00 | Museum of Art - Media Gallery
Canadian artist Marcel Dzama is known for imaginative drawings, sculptures, dioramas, and films rooted in the traditions of Surrealism, Dada and outsider art. His 2013 film Une danse des bouffons (or A jester's dance) tells the tale of a romance between two principal figures of these traditions: Dada icon Marcel Duchamp and Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins, who was the model for Duchamp's final, enigmatic artwork Étant donnés. Rife with art-historical references not only to the work of Duchamp but also to Francisco Goya, Francis Picabia and Joseph Beuys, among others, Une danse des bouffons navigates a sexually charged and mesmerizing world in which fantasy and torture run amok. The gallery presentation also includes a storyboard for the film featuring Dzama’s ink and watercolor drawings, renderings of small hybrid figures resembling children’s book illustrations. The drawings underscore the fantastical elements in a film that combines the carnivalesque with a nightmarish exploration of the surreal.

Lead support for Marcel Dzama: A Jester's Dance is provided by Candy and Michael Barasch. Additional generous support is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment and the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities and the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.

Exhibition:New at UMMA: Illuminated Manuscript
2018-05-30 11:00 - 17:00 | Museum of Art - The Connector
Books of hours—custom-made for private devotion in the Christian faith—were a bestseller in medieval Europe. These manuscripts incorporated prayers, hymns, biblical stories, and monthly calendars featuring religious feast days, which were often supplemented by images painted in exquisite detail. Today, books of hours are a testament to the visually rich material culture of the Middle Ages. UMMA was recently gifted a bejeweled double-sided calendar leaf for January. Executed on parchment, the page highlights the material opulence and artistry involved in manuscript illumination. Accompanying the calendar are painted images or miniatures of the labor and characteristic activity of the month, and Aquarius, the zodiac sign for January, embodied by a man collecting water from a stream. The folio’s luminous, gilded surface, accentuated by the use of bright colors, was meant to transport the medieval viewer into a state of spiritual transcendence.

This work was recently gifted to UMMA by Mrs. Carrol Robertsen.

Exhibition:Unrecorded: Reimagining Artist Identities in Africa
2018-05-30 11:00 - 17:00 | Museum of Art - The Jan and David Brandon Family Bridge
Historical collecting practices have had a lasting impact on representations of Africa, its history, culture, and life today. Labeled as ‘unknown’ or ‘anonymous,’ African artists became associated with broad cultural styles and collective identities rather than personal creativity and individual agency. The exhibition Unrecorded: Reimagining Artist Identities in Africa includes artworks from both named and unrecorded, contemporary and historic artists to tell an alternative story. It explores how the changing attributes of an ‘African’ artist’s identity, and constructions of African identity more broadly, have shaped perceptions of Africa outside of the continent.

Lead support for Unrecorded: Reimagining Artist Identities in Africa is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost and the African Studies Center. Additional generous support is provided by the University of Michigan Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and Susan Ullrich.

Social / Informal Gathering:Deutschtisch
2018-05-30 12:00 - 12:45 | Michigan League - Courtyard Garden (if weather permits)
Spring/Summer Deutschtische will take place on Mondays (through May 21) in 3308 MLB, which is the third-floor German Conference Room.

They will take place on Wednesdays at Cafe 32 in the School of Dentistry Building or, in good weather, in the "Courtyard Garden" of the League, across from UHS (one way to get to it would be to go directly through the League from the front doors (facing the Bell Tower) to the back doors).

To be sure of the location on Wednesdays, come to the end of class at 11:50 a.m. in 3310 MLB to walk to lunch with the group!

Workshop / Seminar:Fulbright U.S. Student Program Information Session WEBINAR ONLY
2018-05-30 12:00 - 13:00 | Off Campus Location
U-M Fulbright U.S. Student Program Advisors (FPA) will detail specific components of the Fulbright application and provide helpful tips on how to design your application.

Register to join May webinar: https://bit.ly/2L3mCwi

Workshop / Seminar:Physics Graduate Student Symposium | Illuminating Photosynthesis with Two Dimensional Spectroscopy
2018-05-30 12:00 - 12:30 | West Hall - 340
Photosynthesis is a process vital to life on Earth by which energy from light is converted to chemical energy. Although much is understood about this process, unanswered questions remain that, if answered, could inspire more efficient artificial light harvesting technologies. The technique of two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy has shown promise in addressing some of these questions. In this talk, I will discuss 2D studies of the Bacterial Reaction Center (BRC), a pigment-protein complex that serves as a model system for investigating the initial steps of photosynthesis. By exciting the BRC in the near-IR and detecting the response over a broad portion of the visible spectrum, we are able to uncover previously obscured coupling between BRC pigments and begin to further elucidate the kinetic pathways of energy transfer and charge separation.

Talks will be given each Wednesday and will be 30 minutes in length, with time after for questions. Lunch will be served at 11:45 and talks will begin at 12:00. Unless otherwise noted, they will be held in 340 West Hall.
