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Malaysia campus research profiled at international conference in Korea

14 September 2005

Monash University Malaysia engineering lecturer Dr Rini Akmeliawati has profiled her research on aircraft autopilot systems at the 13th International Conference for Women Engineers and Scientists in Seoul, Korea.

Dr Rini has designed an autopilot system control for civil aircraft that gives maximum stability radius to cruising aircraft when faced with turbulence and wind shear. The design of the autopilot system is based on robust control theory, which allows more efficient and effective control of the aircraft.

"My research has shown that the robust control system provides seven to nine times more stability to existing autopilot control systems than the linear control theory, which is widely used in present-day commercial aircraft," she said.

"This is a significant development as it shows that the proposed controller can provide greater stability to cruising aircraft."

Dr Rini conducted several simulations for a single landing scheme by testing the system under varied flight conditions to validate her results.

She said the research was particularly relevant to Malaysia as the country had plans to develop its own aerospace research centre with the possible future conversion of the former Subang Airport.

Dr Rini said her research was not limited to aircraft, but was applicable to any automatic system including cars, trucks and ships.

As well as presenting her paper, Dr Rini chaired an oral session on space technology. The conference was opened by the Korean First Lady, Mrs Kwon Yang-Sook, and attracted 700 engineers and scientists from more than 50 countries.