Abstract
A clear trend in the field of aerospace guidance and control has emerged in recent years in what we call “Computational Guidance and Control” (CG&C). In CG&C, traditional guidance and control laws and controllers of fixed structures are replaced by algorithms. CG&C allows much more complex guidance and control tasks to be performed than ever before, offering great potential for significant increase in capability and reduction in operational costs associated with guidance and control systems. With the tremendous advent in onboard computational capability, CG&C is expected to become a major phenomenon in the field of GN&C and a key part of the foundational technologies for system autonomy and autonomous operations. In this presentation, we will define what CG&C entails, what are the characteristics of CG&C in contrast to traditional G&C, and point to sampled topics in CG&C. The requirements of onboard computational efficiency, reliability, and robustness of CG&C demand more up-front investment in modeling and analyzing the problem, and novel design of the algorithm. Detailed examples will be provided to demonstrate how this philosophy and CG&C are practiced in realistic applications of guidance and control of space and air vehicles.

Bio
Ping Lu received his Bachelor’s degree from then Beijing Institute of Aeronautics, and his Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has been on the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University since 1990, where he is presently a Professor. His research interests and expertise are in the area of Guidance, Control, and Flight Dynamics, specifically, advanced guidance of space transportation systems, computational control, and autonomous trajectory planning of flying vehicles. Prof. Lu was the recipient of the prestigious Mechanics and Control of Flight Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2008, “for contributions in advanced guidance algorithms for entry and ascent flight”. Prof. Lu is the Editor-in-Chief of the AIAA Journal Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, the leading international journal in aerospace guidance, control, and flight dynamics.

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