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Journal Publications

1. Beard, R., McLain, T., Nelson, D. and Kingston, D.  Decentralized Cooperative Aerial Surveillance Using Fixed-Wing Miniature UAVs, Proceedings of the IEEE.  Invited submission.  Accepted for publication.

2. Casbeer, D., Kingston, D., Beard, R., McLain, T., Li, S., and Mehra, R.  Forest Fire Surveillance Using a Team of Small Unmanned Air Vehicles, Special Issue on Cooperative Control Approaches for Multiple Mobile Robots for the International Journal of Systems Science.  Invited submission.  Accepted for publication.

3. Howlett, J., McLain, T, and Goodrich, M.  Learning Real-Time A* Path Planner for Unmanned Air Vehicle Target Sensing.  Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information, and Communication.  Accepted for publication.

4. Anderson, J., Howell, L., Wittwer, J., and McLain, T.  Piezoresistive Sensing of Bistable Micromechanism State, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, Accepted for publication.

5. Anderson, E., Beard, R., and McLain, T.  Real-time Dynamic Trajectory Smoothing for Unmanned Air Vehicles, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Volume 13, Number 3, pp. 471-477, May, 2005.

6. Beard, R., Kingston, D., Quigley, M., Snyder, D., Christiansen, R., Johnson, W., McLain, T., and Goodrich, M.  Autonomous Vehicle Technologies for Small Fixed-wing UAVs, Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information, and Communication, Volume 2, Number 1, pp 92-108, January, 2005.

7. McLain, T. and Beard, R.  Coordination Variables, Coordination Functions, and Cooperative Timing Missions, AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Volume 28, Number 1, pp. 150-161, January-February 2005.

8. Beard, R., McLain, T., Goodrich, M., and Anderson, E., Coordinated Target Assignment and Intercept for Unmanned Air Vehicles, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation. Volume 18, Number 6, pp. 911-922, December 2002.

9. Lott, C., McLain, T., Harb, J., and Howell, L.  Modeling the Thermal Behavior of a Surface-micromachined Linear-displacement Thermomechanical Actuator, Sensors & Actuators: A. Physical, Volume 101, Number 1-2, pp. 239-250, September 2002.

10. Bailey, C., McLain, T., and Beard, R.  Fuel Saving Strategies for Dual Spacecraft Interferometry Missions, Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Volume 49, Number 3, pp. 469-488, July-September 2001.

11. Abbott, R., McLain, T., and Beard, R.  Application of an Optimal Control Synthesis Strategy to an Electro-hydraulic Positioning System, ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Volume 123, Number 3, pp. 377-384, September 2001.

12. Beard, R., McLain, T., and Hadaegh, F.  Fuel Optimization for Constrained Rotation of Satellite Formations, AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, & Dynamics, Volume 23, Number 2, pp. 339-346, March-April, 2000.

13. Beard, R. and McLain, T.  Successive Galerkin Approximation Algorithms for Nonlinear Optimal and Robust Control, International Journal of Control: Special Issue on Breakthroughs in the Control of Nonlinear Systems, Volume 71, Number 5, pp. 717-743, November 1998.

14. McLain, T. and Rock, S.  Development and Experimental Validation of an Underwater Manipulator Hydrodynamic Model, International Journal of Robotics Research, Volume 17, Number 7, pp. 748-759, July 1998. 

15. McLain, T., Rock, S., and Lee, M.  Experiments in the Coordinated Control of an Underwater Arm/Vehicle System, Journal of Autonomous Robots, 3, 213-232, 1996.

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Conference Papers

1. Messenger, R., McLain, T., and Howell, L. Piezoresistive feedback for decreased response time of MEMS thermal actuators, Proceedings of the SPIE: Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems, Vol. 6164, Paper No. 6174-06.

2. Messenger, R., McLain, T., and Howell, L. Improved Nanopositioning Resolution Through Piezoresistive Feedback Control of a MEMS Thermal Actuator, Proceedings of the 2005 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Paper No. IMECE-81209, November 2005, Orlando, Florida.

3. Barber, D., McLain, T., and Beard, R. Autonomous Landing of Miniature Aerial Vehicles, Proceedings of the AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference, September 2005, Washington, DC.

4. Saunders, J., Call B., Curtis, A., Beard, R., and McLain, T. Static and Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance for Miniature Air Vehicles, Proceedings of the AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference, September 2005, Washington, DC.

5. Theodore, C., Sheldon, S., Rowley, D., McLain, T., Dai, W., Takahashi, M. Full Mission Simulation of a Rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Landing in a Non-Cooperative Environment, Proceedings of the 61st Annual Forum of the American Helicopter Society, June 2005, Grapevine, Texas.

6. Casbeer, D., Beard, R., Li, S., McLain, T., and Mehra, R. Forest Fire Monitoring Using Unmanned Air Vehicles, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 2005, Portland, Oregon.

7. Ren, W., Sun, J., Beard, R. and McLain, T. Experimental Nonlinear Tracking Control for Nonholonomic Mobile Robots with Input Constraints, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 2005, Portland, Oregon.

8. Kingston, D, Holt, R., Beard, R., McLain, T., and Casbeer, D. Decentralized Perimeter Surveillance Using a Team of UAVs, Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, August 2005, San Francisco, California.

9. Messenger, R., McLain, T., and Howell, L., Feedback Control of a Thermomechanical Inplane Microactuator Using Piezoresistive Displacement Sensing, Proceedings of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, November 2004, Anaheim, California.

10. Nelson, D., McLain, T., Christiansen, R., Beard, R., and Johansen, D.   Initial Experiments in the Cooperative Control of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Proceedings of the AIAA Unmanned Unlimited Conference, September 2004, Chicago, Illinois.

11. McLain, T. and Beard, R. Unmanned Air Vehicle Testbed for Cooperative Control Experiments, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, July 2004, Boston, Massachusetts.

12. Hintze, J., Christian, D., Theodore, C., Tischler, M., McLain, T., Montgomery, J., Automated Landing of a Rotorcraft UAV in a Non-cooperative Environment, Proceedings of the AHS International 60th Annual Forum, June 2004, Baltimore, Maryland.

13. Beard, R. and McLain, T.  Multiple UAV Cooperative Search under Collision Avoidance and Limited Range Communication Constraints, Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 25-30, December 2003, Maui, Hawaii.

14. Kingston, D., Beard, R., McLain, T., Larsen, M., and Ren, W. Autonomous Vehicle Technologies for Small Fixed Wing UAVs, Proceedings of the AIAA Unmanned Unlimited Conference, AIAA paper no. 2003-6559, September 2003, San Diego, California.

15. Howlett, J., Goodrich, M., and McLain, T.  Learning Real-Time A* Path Planner for Sensing Closely-Spaced Targets from an Aircraft, Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, AIAA paper no. 2003-5338 August 2003, Austin, Texas.

16. McLain, T. and Beard, R.  Coordination Variables, Coordination Functions, and Cooperative Timing Missions, Proceedings of the American Control Conference,
    pp. 296-301, June 2003, Denver, Colorado. McLain, T., Beard, R., and Kelsey, J.  Experimental Demonstration of Multiple Robot Cooperative Target Intercept, Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference. August 2002, Monterey, California.

17. Li, S., Boskovic, J., Seereeram, S., Prasanth, R., Amin, J., Mehra, R., Beard, R., and McLain, T.,  Autonomous Hierarchical Control of Multiple Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs), Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 2002, Anchorage, Alaska.

18. Beard, R., McLain, T., and Goodrich, M., Coordinated Target Assignment and Intercept for Unmanned Air Vehicles, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May, 2002, Washington DC.

19. Judd, K. and McLain, T.  Spline-based Path Planning for Unmanned Air Vehicles, Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, August 2001, Montreal, Canada.

20. McLain, T., Chandler, P., Rasmussen, S., and Pachter, M.  Cooperative Control of UAV Rendezvous, Proceedings of the American Control Conference.  June 2001, Arlington, Virginia.

21. Lott, C., McLain, T., Harb, J., and Howell, L.  Thermal Modeling of a Surface-micromachined Linear Thermomechanical Actuator, 2001 International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems, March 2001, Hilton Head, South Carolina.

22. McLain, T., and Beard, R.  Trajectory Planning for Coordinated Rendezvous of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, August 2000, Denver, Colorado.

23. Bailey, C., McLain, T., and Beard, R.  Fuel Saving Strategies for Separated Spacecraft Interferometry, Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, August 2000, Denver, Colorado.

24. McLain, T., Chandler, P., and Pachter, M.  A Decomposition Strategy for Optimal Coordination of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 2000, Chicago, Illinois. 

25. Abbott, R. and McLain, T.  Validation of a Synthesis Technique for the Optimal Control of an Electro-hydraulic Positioning System, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 2000, Chicago, Illinois.

26. Gilbert, D. and McLain, T.  Characterization of Positioning Repeatability for Systems with Variable Friction, Proceedings of the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division - 1999, DSC-Vol. 67, pp. 655-662, November 1999, Nashville, Tennessee.

27. McLain, T. and Beard, R.  Nonlinear Robust Missile Autopilot Design Using Successive Galerkin Approximation, Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, August 1999, Portland, Oregon.

28. McLain, T., Bailey, C., and Beard, R.  Synthesis and Experimental Testing of a Nonlinear Optimal Tracking Controller, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 1999, San Diego, California.

29. Lawton, J., Beard, R., and McLain, T.  Successive Galerkin Approximation of a Nonlinear Optimal Attitude Control, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 1999, San Diego, California.

30. Beard, R., McLain, T., and Wen, J.  Successive Galerkin Approximation of the Isaacs Equation, Proceedings of the 14th IFAC World Congress, July 1999, Beijing, China.

31. McLain, T. and Beard, R.  Nonlinear Robust Control of an Electro-hydraulic Positioning System, Proceedings of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, FPST Division, November 1998, Anaheim, California.

32. McLain, T. and Beard, R.  Nonlinear Optimal Control Design of a Missile Autopilot, Proceedings of AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, August 1998, Boston, Massachusetts.

33. McLain, T. and Beard, R.  Nonlinear Optimal Control of an Underwater Robotic Vehicle, Proceedings of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 1998, Leuven, Belgium.

34. Beard, R. and McLain, T.  Fuel Equalized Retargeting for Separated Spacecraft Interferometry, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 1998, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

35. Beard, R. and McLain, T.  A Practical Algorithm for Designing H_∞ Control Laws, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, June 1998, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

36. McLain, T. and Beard, R.  Nonlinear Optimal Control of a Hydraulically Actuated Positioning System, Proceedings of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, FPST Division, November 1997, Dallas, Texas.

37. McLain, T. and Rock, S.  Experiments in the Hydrodynamic Modeling of an Underwater Manipulator, Proceedings of AUV ‘96, June 1996, Monterey, California.

38. McLain, T., Rock, S., and Lee, M.  Coordinated Control of an Underwater Robotic System, Video Proceedings of the 1996 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, April, 1996, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

39. McLain, T., Rock, S., and Lee, M.  Experiments in the Coordination of Underwater Vehicle and Manipulator Control, Proceedings of MTS/IEEE Oceans ‘95, October, 1995, San Diego, California.

40. Wang, H., Marks, R., McLain, T., Fleischer, S., Miles, D., Sapilewski, G., Rock, S., Lee, M. and Burton, R.  OTTER:  A Testbed Submersible for Robotics Research,  Proceedings of the 6th Topical Meeting on Robotics and Remote Systems,  February 1995, Monterey, California.

41. McLain, T. and Rock, S.  Experimental Measurement of ROV Tether Tension, Proceedings of Intervention/ROV '92, June, 1992, San Diego, California.

42. McLain, T., Iversen, E., Davis, C., and Jacobsen, S.  Development, Simulation, and Validation of a Highly Nonlinear Hydraulic Servo System Model, Proceedings of the 1989 American Control Conference, June, 1989, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

43. Jacobsen, S., Iversen, E., Davis, C., Potter, D., and McLain, T.  Design of a Multiple-Degree-of-Freedom, Force-Reflective Hand Master/Slave with a High-Mobility Wrist, Proceedings of the 1989 ANS Robotics and Remote Systems Conference, March, 1989, Charleston, South Carolina. 

44. McLain, T., Free, J., and Teng, A.  Optimal Design of Complex Systems Using Decomposition Methods:  An Example Application to Electromechanical Control, Proceedings of the ASME Design Automation Conference, September, 1988, Kissimmee, Florida.

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Book Chapters

1. Howell, L. McLain, T. Baker, M. and Lott, C., “Techniques in the Design of Thermomechanical Microactuators,” MEMS/NEMS Handbook: Techniques and Applications, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2006.
2. Wei Ren, Randal W. Beard, Timothy W. McLain, Coordination Variables and Consensus Building in Multiple Vehicle Systems, Proceedings of the Block Island Workshop on Cooperative Control,  Springer-Verlag Series: Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences}, 2004.
3. Walker, D., McLain, T., and Howlett, J.  Cooperative UAV Target Assignment Using Distributed Calculation of Target-Task Tours, Theory and Algorithms for Cooperative Control, World Scientific, 2004.

Magazine Articles

1. Howell, L. and McLain, T.  “A Little Push,” Mechanical Engineering, ASME, Vol. 124, No. 10, pp. 58-59, October 2002.

Technical Reports

1. Erik P. Anderson, Randal W. Beard, Timothy W. McLain, "Dynamic Trajectory Smoothing for UAVs",  February, 2003, MAGICC-2003-01.

2. McLain, T.  Cooperative Control of UAV Rendezvous, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Vehicles Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, August, 2000.

3. McLain, T.  Coordinated Control of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Vehicles Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, September, 1999.

Dissertation and Thesis

1. Timothy W. McLain, "Modeling of Underwater Manipulator Hydrodynamics with Application to the Coordinated Control of an Arm/Vehicle System," Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, September 1995.  Download PDF.
2. Timothy W. McLain, "Application of Optimization and Decomposition Methods to Obtain Optimal Transient Response in the Integrated Design of Control Systems and Actuators," Masters Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, August 1987.

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