Dr. Liang Sun

Research Laboratory

Research Interests

    Drones, Unmanned Aerial/Ground Vehicles, Tethered UAV Systems, Task Allocation, Sound Source Localization, Optimal Sensor Management, Cooperative Control and Estimation.

Recent Publications

Book Chapter
  1. Sun, L., Bask, S., and Pack, D., “Distributed Probabilistic Search and Tracking of Agile Mobile Ground Targets Using a Network of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, Human Behavior Understanding in Networked Sensing, Springer International Publishing, 2014. ISBN: 978-3-319-10806-3. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-10807-0_14. PDF
Journal Articles
  1. Dutta, R., Sun, L., and Pack, D., “A Novel Decentralized Formation Controller for Multiple Unmanned Systems with Maintaining and Tracking Network Connectivity”, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, accepted, in press,  DOI: 10.1109/TCST.2017.2740837.
  2. Farmani, N., Sun, L., and Pack, D., “A Scalable Multi-Target Tracking System For Cooperative Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 53, no. 4, 2017, pp. 1947 – 1961. DOI: 10.1109/TAES.2017.2677746.
  3. Zhong, X., Sun, L., and Yost, W., “Active Binaural Localization of Multiple Sound Sources”, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Vol. 85, 2016, pp. 83-92. DOI:10.1016/j.robot.2016.07.008.
  4. Zhao, H., Jin, T., Wang, S., and Sun, L., “A Real-Time Selective Harmonic Elimination Based on A Transient-free, Inner Closed-Loop Control for Cascaded Multilevel Inverters”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 31(2), 2015, pp. 1000-1014. DOI: 10.1109/TPEL.2015.2413898.
  5. Sun, L., Castagno, J., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., “Parameter Estimation for Towed Cable Systems Using Moving Horizon Estimation”, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 51(2), 2015, pp. 1432-1446. DOI: 10.1109/TAES.2014.130642.
  6. Lwowski, J., Sun, L., Mexquitic, R., Sharma, R., and Pack, D., “A Reactive Bearing Angle Only Obstacle Avoidance Technique for Unmanned Ground Vehicles”, Journal of Automation and Control Research, Vol. 1(1), 2014, pp. 22-28. DOI: 10.11159/jacr.2014.004.
  7. Nichols, J. W., Sun, L., Beard, R. W., and McLain, T. W. “Aerial Rendezvous of Small Unmanned Aircraft Using a Passive Towed Cable System”, AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 37(4), 2014, pp. 1131-1142. DOI: arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/1.62220.
  8. Sun, L., Hedengren, J. D., and Beard, R. W., “Optimal Trajectory Generation using Model Predictive Control for Aerially Towed Cable Systems”, AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 37(2), 2014, pp. 525-539. DOI: arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/1.60820. 
  9. Colton, M. B., Sun, L., Carlson, D. C., and Beard, R. W., “Multi-vehicle Dynamics and Control for Aerial Recovery of Micro Air Vehicles”,. Int. J. Vehicle Autonomous Systems, Vol. 9, 2011, pp. 78.-107. DOI: 10.0.5.224/IJVAS.2011.038181. 
Refereed Conference Proceedings
  1. Al-Radaideh, A. and Sun, L., “Self Localization of a Tethered Quadcopter Using Onboard Sensors in a GPS-Denied Environment“, IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Miami, FL, USA, June 2017, pp. 271-277.
  2. Brown D. and Sun, L., “Exhaustive Mobile Target Search and Non-intrusive Reconnaissance Using Cooperative Unmanned Aerial Vehicles“, IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Miami, FL, USA, June 2017, pp. 1425-1431. 
  3. Ismail, S. and Sun, L., “Decentralized Hungarian-Based Approach for Fast and Scalable Task Allocation“, IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Miami, FL, USA, June 2017,  pp. 23-28.
  4. Sun, L., Hu, B., Zhao, S., “An Event-Triggering-Based Approach for Three-Dimensional Local-Level Frame Formation Control of Leader-Follower UAVs“, IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Miami, FL, USA, June 2017, pp. 472-479.
  5. Dutta, R., Sun, L., and Pack, D., “Multi-agent Formation Control with Maintaining and Controlling Network Connectivity“, IEEE American Control Conference, Boston, MA, USA, July 2016, 1036 – 1041.
  6. Lwowski, J., Sun, L., and Pack, D., “Heterogeneous Bi-Directional Cooperative Unmanned Vehicles for Obstacle Avoidance“, ASME 2016 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, October 2016. DOI: 10.1115/DSCC2016-9645.
  7. Sun, L. and Hu, B., “Event-Triggering in Three-Dimensional Leader-Follower Formation Control for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, ASME 2016 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, October 2016. DOI: 10.1115/DSCC2016-9783. 
  8. Sun, L. and Pack, D., “Guidance Law Design for Tracking Mobile Ground Targets Using An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with A Fixed Camera”,  IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Arlington, VA, USA, June 2016, 235-241. 
  9. Sun, L. and Pack, D., “A Novel Estimation Technique Based on Curve Fitting and Sigma-Point Kalman Filtering with Time-delayed Measurements“,  IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Arlington, VA, USA, June 2016, 580-588.
  10. Sun, L. and Pack, D., “Controlling Unmanned Aerial Vehicles With A Pre-Existing Autopilot System In The Loop”, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Osaka, Japan, December 2015, pp. 476-481. 
  11. Farmani, N., Sun, L., and Pack, D., “Tracking Multiple Mobile Targets Using Cooperative Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Denver, Colorado, USA, June 2015, 395-400.
  12. Sun, L. and Pack, D., “Mobile Target Tracking Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with a Non-Gimbaled Video Sensor”, AIAA Science and Technology Forum: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Kissimmee, Florida, USA, January 2015.
  13. Farmani, N., Sun, L., and Pack, D., “Optimal UAV Sensor Management and Path Planning for Tracking Multiple Mobile Targets”, the ASME 2014 Dynamic System and Control Conferences, San Antonio, Texas, USA, October 2014. 
  14. Zhao, H., Jin, T., Wang, S., Wu, D., and Sun, L., “A Real-Time Selective Harmonic Elimination Based on A Transient-free Inner Closed-Loop for Cascaded Multilevel Inverters”, IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), Pittsburgh, PA, USA, September 2014, 3679-3686. 
  15. Dutta, R., Sun, L., Kothari, M., Sharma, R., and Pack, D., “A Cooperative Formation Control Strategy Maintaining Connectivity of A Multi-agent System”, International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Chicago, Illinois, USA, September 2014, pp. 1189-1194. 
  16. Farmani, N., Sun, L., and Pack, D., “An Optimal Sensor Management Technique for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Tracking Multiple Mobile Ground Targets”, International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Orlando, FL, USA, May 2014, pp. 570-576. 
  17. Lwowski, J., Sun, L., Mexquitic, R., Sharma, R., and Pack, D., “A Reactive Bearing Angle Only Obstacle Avoidance Technique for Unmanned Ground Vehicles”, International Conference of Control, Dynamic Systems, and Robotics, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 2014. 
  18. Sun, L., Beard, R., and Pack, D., “Trajectory-Tracking Control Law Design for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with an Autopilot in the Loop”, American Control Conference, Portland, OR, USA, June 2014, pp. 1390-1395.