In the opening round of awards made by the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), the Control and Instrumentation Group in the Department of Engineering at the University of Leicester was among the first six UK institutions to receive a Major Award.

Led by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Postlethwaite, the successful bid involves a partnership with the Indian Institute of Science and the National Aerospace Laboratories in Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchirappalli.

The project, founded on a long history of achievement in the field at Leicester and the four Indian partner institutions, aims to develop novel control algorithms and technologies in two areas of application of importance to both the UK and India:

• Unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) and micro-satellites in search and rescue and disaster management scenarios
• High performance piloted aircraft, where poor handling qualities result in undesirable oscillatory motion, known as piloted-induced oscillations (PIOs).

The UKIERI project will enable the Leicester Control group to extend its research in UAV control problems and to benefit from the considerable expertise in India. The Leicester-India partnership is an important development for the future and Professor Postlethwaite expects the collaboration to be long-lasting and fruitful.

Faculty

1. Professor Ian Postlethwaite

2. Professor Da-Wei Gu

3. Dr. Chris Edwards

PhD Students

1. Mangal Kothari, Supervisor Professor Ian Postlethwaite

2. Rihan Ahmed, Supervisor Professor Da-Wei Gu

3. Paresh Deshpande, Supervisor Professor Ian Postlethwaite

4. Indira Nagesh, Supervisor Dr. Chris Edwards

5. P Bharani Chandra Kumar, Supervisor Professor Da-Wei Gu

6. Srinath Govindaswamy, Supervisor Professor Sarah Spurgeon

Workshops

1.  Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 21-22 August 2007

2. UKIERI Workshop on Robust Control of Smart Autonomous Unmanned Air Vehicle, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 22-23 August, 2008

3. Annual Workshop 2009, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 19-22 May 2009

Visitors to Leicester

1. Professor Bijnan Bandyopadhyay, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, June 2008.
2. Mr. Datatreya G Reddy, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, June 2008.
3. Professor M. Seetharama Bhat, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, July 2008.
4. Dr. RamKalyan, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, July 2008.

Visitors to India

1. Professor Ian Postlethwaite, August 2007.
2. Dr. Natesh Kannan, August 2007.
3. Professor Ian Postlethwaite, August 2008.
4. Dr. Andrea Lecchini-Visintini, August 2008.
5. Mr. Mangal Kothari, August 2008.
6. Professor Ian Postlethwaite, May 2009.
7. Mr. Mangal Kothari, May 2009.
8. Mr. Rihan Ahmed, May 2009.