Welcome to the Foundational Autonomous Systems and Technologies (FAST) Research Group Webpage

As researchers in the interdisciplinary field of dynamical systems and control with our multidisciplinary background in mechanical and aerospace engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, and mathematics, The FAST group research focuses on designing and developing advanced, integrated control system analysis and synthesis methodologies that address real-world control problems. Specifically, our research specializations (alphabetically) include adaptive systems and learning, autonomy, flight dynamics and control, linear control systems, multiagent systems, nonlinear control systems, optimization and optimal control systems, robotics, robust control systems, and space robotics. 

Autonomous Robotic Vehicle Experimental Testbed for In-Space Servicing, Assembly, Manufacturing Applications

Testbed Introduction Video 

Recent Highlights

• Matt Stanko and Bronson Saulo successfully defended their MSc thesis (Spring 25).

• Nate and Eren received the 2025 ACC Student Travel Award.

• Our two conference papers, "Discrete-Time Distributed Adaptive Control of Uncertain High-Order Multiagent Systems in the Presence of Coupled Dynamics" by I. A. Aly, N. Sisson & K. M. Dogan and “Distributed Adaptive Control Method via Command Governor Mechanism for Uncertain Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems” by A. Kurttisi, E. Sarioglu, K. M. Dogan & B. C. Gruenwald have been accepted for presentation at the 23rd European Control Conference (ECC).

• FAST received the NASA University Leadership Initiative grant (expected start date: Aug 2025).

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• Dr. Dogan is a AIAA Intelligent Systems Technical Committee Co-Technical Discipline Chair for the 2025-2026. 

• Our journal paper has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Control Systems Letters "Low-Frequency Learning for a Discrete Uncertain System" by Nathaniel Sisson and K. Merve Dogan.

• Our journal paper has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing "On the Stability Verification of Adaptive Uncertain and Coupled Dynamical Discrete-Time Systems" by Islam A. Aly, Atahan Kurttisi, and K. Merve Dogan.

• Kyle Vernyi successfully defended his MSc thesis (Fall 24).

• Our two conference papers, "Human-in-the-loop Adaptive Control Allocation for Uncertain Systems with Unknown Effector Degradation" by E. Sarioglu, K. Vernyi & K. M. Dogan and “Human-in-the-Loop Adaptive Control Allocation and Sliding Mode Control for Uncertain Systems” by K. Vernyi et al. have been accepted for presentation at the 5th IFAC Workshop on Cyber-Physical and Human Systems (CPHS 2024).

• Our six abstract papers have been accepted for presentation at the 2025 AIAA SciTech.

• FAST received the Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (July 2024).

• Nate received the 2024 IEEE CDC Student Travel Award.

• Our two conference papers, "Stabilizing an Uncertain Robotic Modular System in the Presence of Coupled Dynamics through Distributed Adaptive Control" by T. Vongkunghae & K. M. Dogan and “Generalized Discrete Adaptive Control Allocation for Over-Actuated Systems” by N. Sisson, E. Sarioglu, K. Merve Dogan, and B. Gruenwald have been accepted for presentation at the 2024 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

• Dr. Dogan received an NSF fund for the Fellows program at the 2024 IFAC Workshop on Cyber-Physical-Human Systems (CPHS), where she is a DEI chair.

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• Kyle has recently been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship with the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Panama City, Florida.

• FAST received the 2024 COE – Innovation Stimulus Proposal Call: Space and Hypersonics Edition grant through ERAU (April 1st).

• Islam A. Aly successfully defended his PhD dissertation (Sp 24).

• Our journal paper has been accepted for publication in the Electronics Journal's Special Issue Networked Robotics and Control Systems "A Novel Distributed Adaptive Controller for Multi-Agent Systems with Double-Integrator Dynamics: A Hedging-Based Approach" by Atahan Kurttisi, K. Merve Dogan, and Benjamin Gruenwald.

• Our journal paper has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Systems Science "Resilient Coordination of Multi-Agent Systems in the Presence of Unknown Heterogeneous Actuation Efficiency and Coupled Dynamics: Distributed Approaches" by Islam A. Aly, Atahan Kurttisi, and K. Merve Dogan.

• Eren received the 2024 ACC Student Travel Award.

• Our two conference papers, "Command Governor Mechanism for Uncertain Multi-agent Systems with Actuator Dynamics" by A. Kurttisi, E. Sarioglu, M. Deniz & K. M. Dogan and “Adaptive Control Allocation for Uncertain Systems with Unknown Effector Degradation” by E. Sarioglu & K. Merve Dogan have been accepted for presentation at the 2024 American Control Conference (ACC).

• Our journal paper has been accepted for publication in the Electronics Journal's Special Issue Networked Robotics and Control Systems "Discrete-Time Adaptive Control for Uncertain Scalar Multiagent Systems with Coupled Dynamics: A Lyapunov-Based Approach" by I. A. Aly and K. M. Dogan.

• Atahan Kurttisi successfully defended his PhD dissertation (Sp 24).

• Our paper has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Control, “Distributed Adaptive Control Architectures for Uncertain Multiagent System in the Presence of Coupled Dynamics” by I. A. Aly, K. M. Dogan, T. Yucelen & J. Muse.

• Our three abstract papers have been accepted for presentation at the 2024 AIAA SciTech.

• Eren Sarioglu successfully defended his MSc thesis (Sum 23).

• Thitiphun Vongkunghae successfully defended his MSc thesis (Sum 23).

• Our paper, "Discrete-Time Adaptive Control Algorithm for Coordination of Multiagent Systems in the Presence of Coupled Dynamics" by I. A. Aly & K. M. Dogan, has been accepted for presentation at the 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2023).

• Sebastian Comeaux successfully defended his MSc thesis (Fall 23).

• Islam received the 2023 CCTA Student Travel Award.

• Our paper, "Discrete-Time Model Reference Adaptive Control of Uncertain Dynamical Systems in the Presence of Coupled Dynamics" by I. A. Aly, A. Kurttisi & K. M. Dogan, has been accepted for presentation at the 2023 IEEE CCTA.

• FAST received the AFWERX STTR Phase I Project through ControlX (May 2023).

• FAST received the AF SBIR Phase II grant through ControlX (March 2023). 

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• FAST received the FAA Phase II grant (February 2023).

• Our 2 papers (by I. A. Aly and A. Kurttisi) have been accepted for presentation at the 2023 IEEE ACC.

• Dr. Dogan have been selected to receive the 2022 Dave Ward Memorial Lecture Award from the Aerospace Control and Guidance Systems Committee (ACGSC).

Link

• Our 5 papers (by A. Kurttisi, I. A. Aly, S. Comeaux, E. Sarioglu) have been accepted for presentation at the 2023 AIAA SciTech.

• FAST received the SpaceWERX Phase I STTR grant through Modularity Space (August 2022).

Link

• FAST received the SpaceWERX Phase I STTR grant through ControlX (July 2022).

• Our paper, "Coordination of Uncertain Multiagent Systems with Non-Identical Actuation Capacities" by A. Kurttisi, I. A. Aly & K. M. Dogan, has been accepted for presentation at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Cancun, Mexico, 2022.

• Our paper, "A Projection Operator-Based Discrete-Time Adaptive Architecture for Control of Uncertain Dynamical Systems with Actuator Dynamics" by K. M. Dogan, A. Kurttisi, T. Yucelen & A. T. Koru, has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS) on 06/10/2022 and for presentation at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (Cancun, Mexico).

• Our paper, "Further Results on Multiagent Distributed Adaptive Control Systems with Unmeasurable Coupled Dynamics" by K. M. Dogan, T. Yucelen, I. A. Aly & J. A. Muse, has been accepted for presentation at the  American Control Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, 2022.

• FAST received the Faculty Innovative Research in Science and Technology (FIRST) Program Supplemental grant of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

• Dr. Dogan has been selected to be an Excellent Reviewer for the Journal of Guidance, Control, and Guidance (JGCD) in 2021 by JGCD Associate Editor(s).

• Sebastian Comeaux has been selected for the 2022 AIAA Undergraduate Conference Experience. This program pairs GNC community mentors with students to introduce them to the conference events, including technical sessions, graduate student opportunities, and young professional activities. The goals of the program are to provide motivated students insights into the GNC research community, career guidance, and networking opportunities with both young and experienced professionals in academia, industry and the government.

• Our paper, "Uncertain Multiagent System in the Presence of Coupled Dynamics: An Asymptotic Convergence" by I. A. Aly and K. M. Dogan, has been accepted for presentation at the 2022 AIAA SciTech.

• FAST received the Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) grant of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2021).

• Dr. Dogan became a member of The National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

• FAST received the Faculty Innovative Research in Science and Technology (FIRST) Program grant of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (2021).

• Dr. Dogan became a co-director of Forum on Robotics and Control Engineering (FoRCE), dedicated to disseminating and discussing new research results, education perspectives, and applications of control systems.