Undergraduate Research
Undergraduate research is an important part of the Michigan experience. Students have a range of opportunities to get involved in research within Aerospace or elsewhere in the University.
Summer Undergraduate Research (SURE) PROGRAM
How to Apply
All participants must complete the online application for the College of Engineering SURE program. The program application launches in December and the deadline to apply is January 15, 2021, with students being notified in February and March.
Applicants are required to write a statement explaining the reason why they want to work on a project, their relevant skills, and what they expect from the experience. The statement should be one page or less (12pt font and 1″ margins) and uploaded in “Other” section at the bottom of the online application. The applicant indicates their three top projects in order of interest.
The list of the most recent Aerospace Engineering projects available is below. (In December the project list is updated for the following summer.) If you have additional questions regarding a project or are interested in working with a faculty mentor not listed here, please contact the faculty member directly.
Aerospace Engineering 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering (SURE) projects
Aero Project 1: Robust and Resilient Autonomous Vehicles
Faculty mentor: Prof. Ilya Kolmanovsky
Project description: There is a rapidly growing interest in autonomous systems and vehicles in aerospace, automotive and other domains. The project involves research into modeling, development, implementation and experimental testing of novel control strategies for autonomous ground and air vehicles with a particular focus on improving robustness, reliability and resiliency to failures and noise factors to make such vehicles and systems production feasible. The scope of a specific project may vary depending on priorities in a given year and could include development of small scale experimental platforms, embedded control implementation in the lab, control algorithm design and testing, modeling and simulations, etc.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 2: Development of a Table Top Electric Thruster
Faculty mentor: Prof. Benjamin Jorns
Prerequisites: Hands-on project work in both mechanical and electrical engineering. Programming experience in MatLab and LabView.
Project description: The purpose of this project is to design and build a small-scale electric propulsion device that will be used to demonstrate the principles of operation of the next-generation space propulsion technologies developed at Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory. The student will assist with design, fabrication, and implementation. Additional work will involve probe construction and GUI development for data visualization.
Research mode: in person (plans may need to change as the public health situation dictates)
Aero Project 3: Next Generation Space Propulsion Testing
Faculty mentor: Prof. Benjamin Jorns
Prerequisites: Hands-on project work in both mechanical and electrical engineering. Programming experience in MatLab and LabView.
Project description: The purpose of this project is to assist the faculty mentor and his graduate students in a series of experimental campaigns planned over the summer. The goal is to perform performance and plasma measurements for several new electric thruster concepts under development at Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory. Tasks may include probe construction, data analysis, or thruster development.
Research mode: in person (plans may need to change as the public health situation dictates)
Aero Project 4: Cooperative Control of Unmanned Vehicles: Marsupial Systems
Faculty mentor: Prof. Anouck Girard
Project description: Many concepts for future use of robotic systems involve marsupial systems, where one vehicle can deploy and retrieve other vehicles. In many cases, a large vehicle can travel fast, then release many small vehicles that are harder to detect and may carry more accurate sensors close to an object of interest. However, little work exists as to when to deploy marsupial agents, or how to use them most effectively. We will investigate this problem in the summer, starting with non-dimensional parameter analysis, and developing preliminary results using optimal control theory.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 5: Emergency Collision Avoidance Maneuvers for Satellites
Faculty mentor: Prof. Jean-Baptiste Jeannin
Project Description: Orbits of satellites are getting increasingly crowded, especially with debris from old satellites falling back to Earth, or debris from previous collisions. Collisions between satellites or with debris are thus a major concern of the space industry. In this project we will develop collision avoidance maneuvers for satellites, and precisely prove their correctness under realistic assumptions. Proofs of safety/collision freedom will be checked by a computer using an automated theorem prover. The project will start with simple 2-satellite situations, and ramp up to more complicated scenarios.
Required skill set: A minor in computer science and/or some programming experience is recommended.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 6: Verifying Neural Networks for Aircraft Collision Avoidance
Faculty mentor: Prof. Jean-Baptiste Jeannin
Project Description: The next generation of aircraft collision avoidance systems use Markov decision problems to optimize alerting logic, then compress the result in a deep neural network representation. However, ensuring that the neural network always issues safe advisories is of critical importance. In this project we will explore ways to ensure that the neural network always issues a safe advisory, either by verifying the learnt network, or by influencing the learning process.
Required skill set:
- A minor in computer science and/or some programming experience is recommended.
- Familiarity with machine learning techniques is desirable.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 7: In-Flight Wing Shape Estimation for Very Flexible Aircraft
Faculty mentor: Prof. Carlos Cesnik
Project Description: In the context of Very Flexible Aircraft automatic control design, our group is developing techniques for estimating wing shape during flight. The student will study our current wing shape estimator designs (already designed and experimented in MATLAB) and will adapt/port them for use in our inhouse Very Flexible Aircraft simulator (in C++).
Expected outcome: A C++ library that estimates wing shape during flight based on other sensor modules output (e.g., distributed rate gyros, accelerometers, cameras), and is compatible with our inhouse very flexible aircraft simulator.
Prerequisites:
- Must be proficient in C++;
- Rudimentary Python and MATLAB skills;
- Familiarity with GitHub;
- Familiarity with rigid body attitude descriptions and kinematics (highly recommended).
Research mode: in person (plans may need to change as the public health situation dictates)
Aero Project 8: Robotically manufactured composite aerostructures
Faculty mentor: Prof. Anthony M. Waas
Project Description: Research is being done to evaluate the structural properties (tensile, compressive, torsional and coupled torsional-bending) of robotically manufactured composite structures for airframe and spacecraft applications. Models, based on manufacturable structures are being developed and design-trade studies are conducted to evaluate the most suitable manufacturing method for a given application.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 9: Nanosatellite Modeling, Design, and Flight
Faculty mentor: Prof. James Cutler
Prerequisites: Hands-on project work or programming or analytical modeling
Project description: We are developing novel small satellite missions built on fundamental advancements in spacecraft technology. This work is multidisciplinary and involves topics such as space systems design, flight dynamics and control, astrodynamics, electrical engineering, thermal management and structural systems. Three satellites are currently in development and a fourth one has been launched. A variety of sensors and optimization algorithms are being researched as well. Regular flights of high altitude balloon flights occur during prototyping of satellite systems.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 10: Aircraft Design Optimization Studies
Faculty mentor: Prof. Joaquim R. R. A. Martins
Prerequisites: Good programming skills
Project description: Using the aircraft conceptual design software developed in the MDO Lab, the student will evaluate various aircraft configurations and analyze the trade-offs between fuel burn, operating cost and environmental impact, while optimizing cruise speed, altitude, and the wing shape.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 11: Measurements of Detonation Structure
Faculty mentor: Prof. Mirko Gamba
Prerequisites: Some hands-on project experience in mechanical and electrical engineering. Good working knowledge of Matlab.
Project Description: In this project, the student will assist with the development of testing hardware and diagnostics for the study of detonations in simplified configurations replicating rotating detonation engines. The project will require some analysis of existing literature data, data collection and processing, mechanical design and drafting, instrumentation selection and assembly. The student will also participate in measurement campaigns on the models developed as part of this project.
Research mode: in person (plans may need to change as the public health situation dictates)
Aero Project 12: Self-Healing Composite Materials
Faculty mentor: Prof. Henry Sodano
Prerequisites: Have completed strength of materials course and good hands on capability
Project Description: Self-healing polymers are designed to allow damage in a composite material to be recovered either with external stimulus such as heat or autonomously such that the material can maintain its strength. In this project, students will work with state of the art self-healing polymer synthesized in our lab to layup composite materials for ASTM testing. The project will expose the students to the multidisciplinary nature of composite materials and the chemical processing methods required to achieve self-healing.
Research mode: in person (plans may need to change as the public health situation dictates)
Aero Project 13: 3D Printing of Morphing Wings
Faculty mentor: Prof. Henry Sodano
Prerequisites: Have completed strength of materials course and good hands-on capability
Project Description: Additive manufacturing offers a shift in the way in which aircraft components are manufactured, however materials produced generally only provide mechanical properties. In this project we are working with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to develop a polymer actuator that can be printed such that an active wing can be formed. The objective will be to develop a custom 3D printer and work with characterizing and optimizing the printing process to allow simultaneous printing of structural and actuation materials to form the aerodynamics surfaces of UAVs.
Research mode: in person (plans may need to change as the public health situation dictates)
Aero Project 14: Software Development and Experiments with Large-Scale Aerial Swarms
Faculty mentor: Prof. Dimitra Panagou
Project Description: The purpose of this project is to develop and implement collision-free trajectory generation and optimization tools/software for a large swarm (50+ agents) of Crazyflie quadrotors. The student will be involved with writing software in C++ and Python, debugging low-level hardware issues on the Crazyflie quadrotors, and maintaining the hardware of the Crazyflie fleet. The swarm will be flown both indoors in the DASC lab flight space and outdoors in the state-of-the-art M-Air flight facility.
Expected outcome: The expected outcome is the creation of portable software tools to:
- Autonomously fly large swarms (50+ agents) of quadrotors using a VICON and Qualisys motion capture system.
- Generate collision-free trajectories for large swarms of quadrotors.
- Create dynamic and visually exciting demos for lab tours, Aerospace outreach days, and ongoing research experiments in the DASC lab.
Prerequisites:
- Required: Proficient at C++ and Python programming. Experience debugging large software projects.
- Recommended: Prior experience with Robot Operating System (ROS), low-level microcontroller development.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 15: Development of a Human-Virtual Robot Interaction Environment
Faculty mentor: Prof. Dimitra Panagou
Project Description: This project involves the control of holographic virtual quadrotors, via voice commands, which are displayed to a human subject wearing a Microsoft Hololens. The student will be expected to modify existing quadrotor simulation software (e.g., Gazebo ) such that a hologram of a quadrotor may be projected to a Microsoft Hololens. The student will be expected to develop a set of hybrid modes for the quadrotor to operate in. Transitions between modes will be triggered through voice commands issued by a human subject. Therefore, the student will also be expected to research existing speech recognition software and to develop an interface such that commands spoken into the Hololens microphone may trigger discrete variable transitions in MATLAB.
Expected outcome: This project is somewhat open-ended and the objectives may evolve over the course of the summer. However, the primary deliverable is a Hololens+MATLAB+ROS interface that will allow for humans to interact with simulated quadrotors via vocal commands. The completed system will be useful in the collection of data from human subjects during future studies on human-robot interaction—particularly ones that consider close proximity operations in which a physical quadrotor would introduce additional complications with respect to safety.
Required skill set:
- Good knowledge of MATLAB and ROS.
- Knowledge of the Linux architecture.
- Familiarity with GitHub.
Highly recommended:
- Familiarity with the control of hybrid systems.
- Prior experience with VR or AR is desirable.
Research mode: remote
Aero Project 16: Development of a Gazebo Environment for Robot Swarms Simulation
Faculty mentor: Prof. Dimitra Panagou
Project Description: The purpose of this project is to develop a Gazebo simulation environment to simulate realistic, physics-based motion of swarms of robots in urban environments. The student will be involved in developing the following elements of the Gazebo environment: 1) Physics-based models for quadrotors, car-like robots etc.; 2) models for various sensors like IMU, Gyroscope, GPS, LIDAR, Camera etc. with realistic noisy behaviors; 3) models for various objects in urban environments such as buildings, parks, roads, airports etc.; 4) models for different realistic wind profiles. The student will also develop an interface for interacting with this Gazebo simulation environment from MATLAB Robotics Toolbox, allowing user to tune model parameters directly from MATLAB scripts. This simulation environment will be used for testing various motion planning algorithms for swarms of robots in an urban environment.
Expected outcome: A Gazebo environment with a user-friendly interface for the following:
- Different robots’ models, e.g., Aerial robots: quadrotor, fixed-wing aircraft; Ground robots: car-like robot, omni wheeled robot.
- These robots should have choices of onboard sensors such as: IMU, Gyroscope, GPS, Lidar, Camera.
- Urban environments: i) Airport and its vicinity, ii) City like environment with buildings, parks, roads, cars, people etc.
- A user-friendly interface to initialize these elements in MATLAB Robotics Toolbox.
Required skill set:
- Familiarity with ROS (Robot Operating System) and Gazebo
- Good knowledge of MATLAB coding and familiarity with MATLAB Robotics Toolbox
- Knowledge of Linux architecture
- Good knowledge of C/++ coding (especially data handling, string manipulation, functions and structs)
- Basic understanding of dynamics of vehicles such as aircraft, quadrotors, cars etc.
- Experience in working with sensors (good knowledge of sensor-hardware interfacing, data handling etc)
Recommended (but not necessarily required) skill set:
- Prior experience with developing models in Gazebo environment.
- Having done a lab-course in instrumentation (covering controller/micro-controller boards), a lab-course covering avionics such as IMU and GPS.
- Have working knowledge of control theory.
Research mode: remote
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) creates research partnerships between first and second year students and University of Michigan faculty. All schools and colleges of the University of Michigan are active participants in UROP.
