Jack Langelaan

Langelaan's research has focused primarily on state estimation, data fusion, path planning, and control for small uninhabited aerial vehicles (uavs). The drivers of this research have been two areas critical to improving vehicle capabilities: perception (transforming sensor data into knowledge of the vehicle state and surroundings by developing novel state estimation and data fusion algorithms) and persistence (exploiting energy available in the environment to improve range and endurance). Problems in state estimation and planning are strongly coupled in both of these areas: with limited sensors on-board the vehicle, the flight path has a significant effect on the quality of information gained about the environment. For more information please see Dr. Langelaan's page at www.aero.psu.edu/jack or his lab's page at www.aero.psu.edu/avia.