Devi Lakshmidevinivas

Background

About Devi Lakshmidevinivas

Recently completed my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering under the guidance of Dr. Douglas Bristow from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. My interest in Aerospace engineering stems from the desire to follow a challenging career path also to embark on a field that was relatively new. Determined to enhance my knowledge in the field and find a focus area I pursued my master's degree from the University of Glasgow. It was during this time I realized I wanted to specialize my skills in flight dynamics and control theory. Motivated by this newly found interest I sought the Ph.D. position at Missouri S&T. As a graduate research assistant I gained in-depth knowledge in various control theory methods like neural network control, optimal control, nonlinear control, robust control, etc. I also gained knowledge in researching and developing different control projects. My research focused on developing a novel barrier function-based method that can be used to design sub-optimal control for nonlinear systems with constraints. This technique was enhanced to address static symmetric and asymmetric constraints as well as time-varying constraints. We were able to test the method for its performance capability on an actual real-time system, a Quanser 3 degree of freedom hover test-bed. In addition to being a graduate research assistant, I also served as a graduate teaching assistant for the Control Systems Laboratory for senior undergraduate students. Under this role, I served as the head TA managing the TA group, organizing the labs, teaching, and mentoring students. During the last year of my Ph.D. and as a GTA I redesigned the course to include a brief introductory lab on PLCLogix and designed experiments on dynamic control systems. These experiments were focused to teach students to gain basic control aspects like time-domain system identification, root locus control design, frequency-domain system identification, control design using bode plots, etc, and test their control on a Quanser rotary flexible joint module. In addition to developing the experiments, I also documented the instructional manual for both PLC and dynamic systems control. The overall experience from my Ph.D. has helped me have a thorough knowledge of various control methods, both theoretical and hands-on, and improved my programming skills in PLC, MATLAB, Simulink, and LabView.