Dr James Whidborne

CEng, MIET, SMIEEE, PhD, MSc, MA

Reader

Centre for Aeronautics

Contact Dr James Whidborne

Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754787
Email: j.f.whidborne@cranfield.ac.uk
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ORCID

Areas of expertise

Aeronautical Systems
Autonomous Systems
Computing, Simulation & Modelling
Mechatronics & Advanced Controls
Oil and Gas

Background

James Whidborne was born in Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) in 1960. He received a BA degree in Engineering from Cambridge University, England in 1982, and an MSc and a PhD in Systems and Control from UMIST, Manchester, England in 1987 and 1992 respectively.

From 1982 to 1985 he worked in industry, and from 1986 to 1991, he was with the Control Systems Centre, UMIST (now Manchester University). From 1991 to 1994, he held a position of Research Associate with the Department of Engineering, University of Leicester, England. From 1994 to 2003, he was a Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, King's College London.

He joined Cranfield University in 2004, and is a now the head of the Dynamics, Simulation and Control Group. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the IET and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He serves on the the Editorial Board of Control Engineering Practice, the International Journal of Systems Science, the International Journal of Automation and Computing and serves on the International Editorial Board of Chinese Journal of Aeronautics. He served as Chair of the IEEE (UK&RI) Control Systems Chapter from 2004 to 2010 and is an elected member of the EPSRC College.

James Whidborne has published over 250 refereed conference and journal papers. He is the co-author of the books Critical Control Systems: Theory, Design and Applications and Multiobjective Optimisation and Control. He is co-editor of the monograph Digital Controller Implementation and Fragility.

Current activities

25 years experience in the theory and application of advanced robust control with noted contributions in the areas of quadrotor control, multi-objective control design, finite-wordlength implementations, feedback flow control and directional drilling control.

Clients

EPSRC
ASTRAEA
BAE Systems
Cobham plc
Schlumberger Oilfields UK
AOS Ltd
Rolls Royce

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

He L, Aouf N, Whidborne JF & Song B (2020) Integrated moment-based LGMD and deep reinforcement learning for UAV obstacle avoidance. In: 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Paris, France, 31 May - 4 June 2020.
Foudeh HA, Luk PC & Whidborne JF (2020) Quadrotor system design for a 3 DOF platform based on iterative learning control. In: 2019 Workshop on Research, Education and Development of Unmanned Aerial Systems (RED UAS), Cranfield, 25-27 November 2019.
Nnabuife SG, Whidborne J, Lao L & Cao Y (2019) Venturi multiphase flow measurement based active slug control. In: 25th International Conference on Automation and Computing (ICAC), Lancaster, 5-7 September 2019.
Song S, Whidborne JF, Lone M & Molina-Cristobal A (2018) Multi-objective optimal longitudinal flight control system design for large flexible transport aircraft. In: UKACC 12th International Conference on Control (CONTROL 2018), Sheffield, 5-7 September 2018.
Papageorgiou G, Barden J, Whidborne JF & Garry K (2018) Extremum seeking control for truck drag reduction. In: UKACC 12th International Conference on Control (CONTROL 2018), Sheffield, 5-7 September 2018. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.6491846
Hayes D, Lone MM, Whidborne J & Coetzee E (2017) Evaluating the Rationale for Folding Wing Tips Comparing the Exergy and Breguet Approaches. In: 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Grapevine, Texas, 9-13 January 2017.
Inyang I, Whidborne J & Bayliss M (2016) Bilinear modelling and bilinear PI control of directional drilling. In: 2016 UKACC International Conference on Control, Belfast, 31 August - 2 September 2016.
Whidborne J & Shaik M (2016) Robust sliding mode control of a quadrotor. In: 2016 UKACC International Conference on Control, Belfast, 31 August - 2 September 2016.
Whidborne J (2016) Solving optimal control problems using Chebfun. In: 2016 UKACC International Conference on Control, Belfast, 31 August - 2 September 2016.
Hilaire T, Chevrel P & Whidborne JF (2015) Low parametric closed-loop sensitivity realizations using fixed-point and floating-point arithmetic. In: 2007 European Control Conference (ECC), Kos, 2-5 February 2007.
Aldhaher S, Luk PCK & Whidborne J (2014) Wireless power transfer using Class E inverter with saturable DC-feed inductor. In: IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE 2013), Colorado, 15-19 September 2013.
Yamamoto I, Zhu R, Whidborne JF & Marks A (2014) Research and design on a control system for a disk-type flying robot with multiple rotors. In: UKACC International Conference on Control (CONTROL 2014), Loughborough, 9-11 July 2014.
Yuan DL, Whidborne JF & Xun YJ (2014) A study on a multi-controller design of the drawtube for aerial boom refueling. In: 20th International Conference on Automation and Computing (ICAC), 2014, Cranfield University, 12-13 September 2014.
Alturbeh H & Whidborne JF (2014) Real-time obstacle collision avoidance for fixed wing aircraft using B-splines. In: UKACC International Conference on Control (CONTROL 2014), Loughborough, 9-11 July 2014.
Farman JR, Teixeira JA, Whidborne JF, Mba D & Natanzi S (2013) Development of polychormatic irregular waves for testing OWC bidirectional turbines at a land-based test facility. In: 10th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, 2013, Aalborg, 2-5 September 2013.
Souliman A, Joukhadar A, Alturbeh H & Whidborne JF (2013) Real time control of multi-agent mobile robots with intelligent collision avoidance system. In: Science and Information Conference 2013, London, 7 October 2014.
Aldhaher S, Luk PCK, Bati A & Whidborne JF (2013) Electronic tuning of a high frequency DC/AC inverter for inductive power transfer. In: 5th International Conference on Power Electronics Systems and Applications (PESA), Hong Kong, 11-13 December 2013.
Lone MM, Lai CK, Cooke AK & Whidborne JF (2012) Application of pilot models to study trajectory based manoeuvres. In: AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 13 August 2012.
Jamil R, Salama F, Lone M, Savvaris A & Whidborne J (2012) Multi-objective Control Allocation with Conflict Resolution. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 13-16 August 2012.
Lai CK & Whidborne JF (2012) Automated return-to-route maneuvers for unmanned aircraft systems. In: 2012 IEEE/AIAA 31st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Williamsburg, VA, 14-18 October 2012.
Marks A, Whidborne JF & Yamamoto I (2012) Fault Tolerant Control of a VTOL Octorotor UAV using Control Allocation. In: UKACC International Conference on Control, (CONTROL 2012), Cardiff, 3-5 September 2012.
McEnteggart Q & Whidborne JF (2012) A multiobjective trajectory optimisation method for planning environmentally efficient trajectories. In: UKACC International Conference on Control, (CONTROL 2012), Cardiff, 3-5 September 2012.
Marks A, Whidborne JF & Yamamoto I (2012) Control allocation for fault tolerant control of a VTOL octorotor. In: UKACC International Conference on Control, (CONTROL 2012), Cardiff, 3-5 September 2012.
Whidborne JF (2011) Linear control of fluid flow. In: 2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering, Robotics and Aerospace (ICMERA 2011), Bucharest, 20-22 October 2011.
Adîr VG, Stoica AM, Marks A & Whidborne JF (2011) Modelling, stabilization and single motor failure recovery of a 4Y octorotor. In: 13th IASTED International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Control (ISC 2011), Cambridge, 11-13 July 2011.
Adîr VG, Stoica AM & Whidborne JF (2011) Modelling and control of a star-shaped octorotor. In: 2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering, Robotics and Aerospace (ICMERA 2011), Bucharest, 20 October 2011.
Lai CK & Whidborne JF (2011) Trajectory generation for UAV collision avoidance with enhanced nominal safety. In: Bristol International Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Conference (No.26) 2011, Bristol, 11 April 2011.
Lai C, Lone M, Thomas P, Whidborne JF & Cooke AK (2011) On-board trajectory generation for collision avoidance in unmanned aerial vehicles. In: 2011 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT, 5-12 March 2011.
Panchal N, Bayliss MT & Whidborne JF (2011) Minimum strain energy waypoint-following controller for directional drilling using OGH curves. In: IEEE International Conference on Control Applications (CAA) 2011, Denver, CO, 28-30 October 2011.
Rangajeeva SLMD & Whidborne JF (2011) Linear parameter varying control of a quadrotor. In: 6th IEEE International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems 2011 (ICIIS 2011), Kandy, 16-19 August 2011.
Azzopardi MA & Whidborne JF (2011) Computational air traffic management. In: 2011 IEEE/AIAA 30th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Seattle, WA, 16-20 October 2011.
Lai CK & Whidborne JF (2011) Real-time trajectory generation for collision avoidance with obstacle uncertainty. In: AIAA Guidance Navigation and Control Conference and Exhibition, 2011, Portland, OR, 8-11 August 2011.
Akhtar N, Cooke A & Whidborne J (2010) An Integrated Control System for Atmospheric Energy Extraction. In: Bristol International Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Conference (No.24) 2009, Bristol, 30 March 2009.
Matsuzaki T, Yamamoto I, Inagawa N, Nakamura T, Batty WJ & Whidborne JF (2010) Development of unmanned flying observation robot with real time video transmission system. In: World Automation Congress (WAC 2010), Kobe, 20 September 2010.
Lai CK & Whidborne JF (2010) Aircraft route re-planning for a pop-up obstacle using a direct method. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2010, Coventry, 7-10 September 2010.
Martinelli F, Quadrio M, McKernan J & Whidborne JF (2010) Feedback control of transient energy growth in subcritical plane Poiseuille flow. In: Seventh IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition, 2009, Stockholm, 23-26 June 2009.
Jamil R, Savvaris A & Whidborne JF (2010) Effector failure mitigation by control allocation for a UAV with integrated fluidic control devices. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2010, Coventry, 7-10 September 2010.
Akhtar N, Whidborne JF & Cooke AK (2009) Wind shear energy extraction using dynamic soaring techniques. In: 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Orlando, Florida, 5-8 January 2009.
Rahman N, Whidborne JF & Cooke AK (2009) Longitudinal control system design and handling qualities assessment of a blended wing body aircraft. In: IBCAST - International Bhurban Conference on Applied Science and Technology, Islamabad, 19 January 2009.
Chumalee S & Whidborne JF (2009) Experimental development of an UAV nonlinear dynamic model. In: Bristol International Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Conference (No.24) 2009, Bristol, 30 March 2009.
Chumalee S & Whidborne JF (2009) Identification and control of RTAF aerial target. In: European Control Conference (ECC2009), Budapest, 23 August 2009.
Chumalee S & Whidborne JF (2009) LPV autopilot design of a Jindivik UAV. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference 2009, Chicago, Illinois, 10-13 August 2009.
Drury RG & Whidborne JF (2009) A Quaternion-based Inverse Dynamics Model for Real-time UAV Trajectory Generation. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference 2009, Chicago, Illinois, 10-13 August 2009.
Saban K & Whidborne JF (2009) Modeling of wake vortex effects for unmanned air vehicle simulations. In: AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference, 2009, Chicago, IL, 10-13 August 2009.
Saban D & Whidborne JF (2009) Integration of wake vortex effects in simulations of UAVs in close formation flight. In: 24th International UAVs Conference, Bristol, 30 March - 1 April 2009.
Leung KT, Whidborne JF, Purdy D & Dunoyer A (2009) Ideal vehicle sideslip estimation using consumer grade GPS and INS. In: SAE 2009 World Congress and Exhibition, Detroit, MI, USA, 20-23 April 2009.
Chumalee S & Whidborne JF (2008) Pole placement controller design for a linear parameter varying plant. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2008, Manchester, 2 September 2008.
Rahman NU & Whidborne JF (2008) A lateral directional flight control system for the MOB blended wing body planform. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2008, Manchester, 2 September 2008.
Cowling I & Whidborne JF (2008) Multiple vehicle rendezvous using the circumcenter law. In: Bristol International Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Conference - No.23, Bristol, 7 April 2008.
McKernan J, Whidborne JF & Papadakis G (2008) Poiseuille flow controller design via the method of inequalities. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2008, Manchester, 2 September 2008.
Akhtar N, Whidborne JF & Cooke A (2008) Real-time trajectory generation technique for dynamic soaring UAVs. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2008, Manchester, 2 September 2008.
Whidborne JF, Cowling ID & Yakimenko OA (2008) A direct method for UAV guidance and control. In: 23rd Bristol International UAVs Systems Conference, Bristol, 7 April 2008.
Leung KT, Whidborne JF, Purdy D, Dunoyer A & Williams R (2008) A study on the effect of GPS accuracy on a GPS/INS Kalman filter. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2008, Manchester, 2 September 2008.
McKernan J, Whidborne JF & Papadakis G (2008) Simulations of feedback control of early transition in Poiseuille flow. In: IUTAM Symposium on Flow Control and MEMS, London, 19-22 September 2006.
Cowling I, Yakimenko O, Whidborne J & Cooke A (2007) A prototype of an autonomous controller for a quadrotor UAV. In: 2007 European Control Conference (ECC), Kos, 2-5 February 2007.
Cooke A, Cowling I, Erbsloeh S & Whidborne J (2007) Low cost system design and development towards an autonomous rotor vehicle. In: 22nd International Conference on Unmanned Air Vehicle Systems, Bristol, 16 April 2007.
Cowling I, Whidborne J & Cooke A (2006) MBPC for autonomous operation of a quadrotor air vehicle. In: 21st Bristol International UAV Systems Conference, 2006, Bristol, 3 April 2006.
Cowling I, Whidborne J & Cooke A (2006) Optimal trajectory planning and LQR control for a quadrotor UAV. In: UKACC International Conference on Control 2006, Glasgow, 30 August 2006.
Whidborne JF, Pangalos P, Zweiri YH & King SJ (2002) A graphical user interface for computer-aided robust control system design. In: Proceedings of EDC 2002 - Engineering Design Conference, London, UK, 11 March 2002.
Zweiri YH, Whidborne JF, Althoefer K & Seneviratne LD (2002) A new three-term backpropagation algorithm with convergence analysis. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Washington, DC, 11 May 2002.
Wu J, Chen S, Li G, Chu J, Istepanian RH, Jian C & Whidborne JF (2000) Stability issues of finite precision state estimate feedback controller realizations for discrete time systems. In: 2000 American Control Conference, Chicago, IL, 28-30 June 2000.
Gang Li, Istepanian R, Wen-Bo Mei & Whidborne JF (1999) Finite precision digital system structures with stability and roundoff noise considerations. In: 1999 American Control Conference, San Diego, 2 June 1999.
Istepanian RSH & Whidborne JF (1999) Multi-objective design of finite word-length controller structures. In: Evolutionary Computation, Washington, DC, 6-9 July 1999.
Whidborne JF (1999) Genetic algorithm approach to designing finite-precision PID controller structures. In: 1999 American Control Conference, San Diego, CA, 2-4 June 1999.
Zweiri YH, Whidborne JF & Seneviratne LD (1998) A mathematical transient model for the dynamics of a single cylinder diesel engine. In: International Conference on Simulation '98, York, 30 September 1998 - 2 October 2008.
Istepanian RSH, Wu J, Whidborne JF, Yan J & Salcudean SE Finite word length stability issues of a teleoperation motion-scaling control system. In: Control 98. UKACC International Conference on, Swansea, 1 September 1998.
Whidborne JF & Istepanian RSH (1998) Optimal digital controller structure for a fluid power system subject to wordlength constraints. In: Control 98. UKACC International Conference on, Swansea, 1-4 September 1998.
Bekit BW, Seneviratne LD, Whidborne JF & Althoefer K. (1998) Fuzzy PID tuning for robot manipulators. In: IECON '98. 24th Annual Conference of the IEEE, Aachen, 31 August 1998.
Zweiri YH, Whidborne JF & Seneviratne LD (1998) Mathematical transient model for the dynamics of a single-cylinder diesel engine. In: International Conference on Simulation '98, York, 30 September 1998.
Bekit BW & Whidborne JF (1998) Sliding mode control for robot manipulators using time-varying switching gain and boundary layer. In: Control 98. UKACC International Conference on, Swansea, 1-4 September 1998.
Istepanian RH, Wu J, Jian Chu & Whidborne JF (1998) Maximizing lower bound stability measure of finite precision PID controller realizations by nonlinear programming. In: 1998 American Control Conference, Philadelphia, PA, 24-26 June 1998.
Bekit BW, Whidborne JF & Seneviratne LD (1997) Fuzzy sliding mode control for a robot manipulator. In: 1997 IEEE International Symposium in Robotics and Automation (CIRA), Monterey, CA, 10-11 July 1997.
Whidborne JF, Gu DW & Postlethwaite I (1997) Simulated annealing for multi-objective control system design. In: UKACC International Conference on Control '96, Exeter, 2-5 May 1996.
Bekit BW, Seneviratne LD & Whidborne JF (1997) Robust adaptive control for robot manipulators. In: AIM 1997 - IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Tokyo, 16-20 June 1997.
Chipperfield AJ, Dakev NV, Fleming PJ & Whidborne JF (1996) Multiobjective robust control using evolutionary algorithms. In: IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT), Shanghai, 2-6 December 1996.
Whidborne JF, Postlethwaite I & Gu D-W (1996) Mixed optimization approach to multiobjective computer-aided control system design. In: IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Aided Control System Design, Dearborn, MI, 15-18 September 1996.
Whidborne JF, Gu D-W & Postlethwaite I (1995) Algorithms for the Method of Inequalities -- A Comparative Study.
Dakev NV, Whidborne JF & Chipperfield AJ (1995) H∞ design of an EMS control system for a maglev vehicle using evolutionary algorithms. In: 1st IEE/IEEE International Conference on Genetic Algorithms in Engineering Systems: Innovations and Applications GALESIA '95, Sheffield, 12 September 1995.
Whidborne JF, Gu D-W & Postlethwaite I (1995) MODCONS - a MATLAB toolbox for multi-objective control system design. In: IEE Colloquium on Applied Control Techniques Using MATLAB, London, 26 January 1995.
Postlethwaite I, Gu D-W & Whidborne JF Expert system for robust controller design. In: International Conference on Control '94, Coventry, 21 March 1994.
Akhtar N, Cooke A & Whidborne J Fuel saving benefits of soaring UAVs. In: Cranfield Multi Strand Conference 2008, Cranfield, UK, 6 May 2008.

Books

Souliman A, Joukhadar A, Alturbeh H & Whidborne JF (2014) Intelligent collision avoidance for multi agent mobile robots: extended and selected results from the Science and Information Conference 2013. Heidelberg: Springer.
Whidborne J (eds), (2011) Proceedings of the 13th IASTED International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Control, Calgary, Canada: ACTA Press.
Whidborne JF (2005) A moI based on H-infinity theory - with a case study. In: Control Systems Design - A New Framework. Zakian V (ed.), London, UK: Springer-Verlag, p. 311-325.
Whidborne JF (2005) Critical control of the suspension for a maglev transport system. In: Control Systems Design - A New Framework, Springer-Verlag, p. 327-338.
Liu GP, Yang JB & Whidborne JF (2002) Multiobjective optimisation and control. Baldock, UK: Research Studies Press.
Whidborne J (eds), (2001) Digital controller implementation and fragility: a modern perspective, London: Springer-Verlag.
Whidborne JF & Liu GP (1993) Critical Control Systems: Theory, Design and Applications. New York: John Wiley & Sons.