Research Verticals

We use control theoretic and experimental approaches to address the design issues in complex engineering systems, primarily in the biomolecular systems, robotics, and smart grids.

At present, we are focusing on:

  • Models, Dynamics, and Control of Biomolecular Systems
  • Design, Development, and Control of Robots in Healthcare
  • Stability Improvement in Power Systems using Controllers
  • Developing Control Theory for Robustness Design and Faster Adaptation
  • Applications of AI, ML, and other Data-Driven Approaches for Circuit Design
  • Estimation and Control of Electrical Vehicles and Aircraft
  • Developing Space Probiotics for the Gaganyaan Mission
A diagram illustrating the research focus areas

In summary, we are a multidisciplinary research group focusing on developing control engineering frameworks for systems of real-world applications that serve technology and benefit mankind.

Projects

Sponsored Fundings

Funding Agencies Logos
  • [P14] Development of an Intelligent Microrobotic System for Oncological Applications, Sponsoring Agency: ANRF, July 2026- July 2029 , PI
  • [P13] Design, development and fabrication of satellite's momentum exchange devices : control moment gyros (CMG) and variable speed CMG, Sponsoring Agency: DRDO, March 2026- March 2029 , PI
  • [P12] Development of Space Probiotics for Vitamin D Production using Synthetic Biology, Sponsoring Agency: ISRO, Sept 2025-Sept 2027 , PI
  • [P11] Grid Readiness for EV: Enablers and Technological developments (GREET), Sponsoring Agency: ANRF, June 2025-June 2028, Co-PI
  • [P10] Development and Characterization of Regulatory Biomolecular Circuits in Synthetic Biology, Sponsoring Agency: DBT, Sept 2024-Sept 2027, PI
  • [P9] Design of Synthetic Genetic Circuits: Robustness towards Change in the Growth Rate, Sponsoring Agency: MoE, May 2024-May 2027, PI
  • [P8] Design and Development of a Tether System for Drone Application, Sponsoring Agency: DRDO, May 2024-Nov 2025, co-PI
  • [P7] Design and Development of Ground Robots for Autonomous Navigation Systems, Sponsoring Agency: TIH Foundation IITB, Dec 2023- July 2025, co-PI
  • [P6] Mitigating Resource Burden Of Heterologous Biomolecular Circuits In Escherichia Coli, Sponsoring Agency: DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance, Jan 2024- Dec 2029, PI
  • [P5] AI Based Pose Estimation And Tracking Of Uncooperative Airborne Vehicle, Sponsoring Agency: ARDB DRDO, Nov 2023- Nov 2025, co-PI
  • [P4] Design And Development Of Autonomous Stairs/Escalator Climbing & Self-Navigating Smart Wheelchair, Sponsoring Agency:IIT Kanpur, June 2023- June 2025, co-PI
  • [P3] Nanorobotic Drug Delivery System & Lab-On-Chip Platform Development, Sponsoring Agency:IHFC Delhi, March 2023- March 2026, PI
  • [P2] Investigation And Design Of Robustness In Pulse Generating Biomolecular Circuits, Sponsoring Agency: IIT Kanpur, March 2022- March 2024, PI
  • [P1] Complex Defense Object Recognition And Autonomous Handling In Unstructured And Noisy Outdoor Environment (Phase-I), Sponsoring Agency: DRDO, Aug 2019- Dec 2023, Co-PI

Publications

2026

[C16] Akshay K Jaiswal, Esha Singh, Abhilash Patel, Soumya R Sahoo, On the Robustness of Biomolecular Systems to Perturbations in Translational Resources, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2026, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

[C15] Utkarsh Singh Solanki, Arun Thapa, Abhilash Patel, Modelling and Control-theoretic Analysis of Bacterial Plasmid Copy Number Regulation, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2026, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

[C14] Aditi Srivastava, Abhilash Patel, Soumya Ranjan Sahoo, Robust Stability Analysis of Multilayered Opinion Dynamics with Time Delay, 23rd IFAC World Congress 2026, Busan, Korea

2025

[C13] Neelam Verma, Armaan Bhandari, Sathyanarayanan Seshasayanan, Soumya Ranjan Sahoo, Abhilash Patel, Modeling and Control of an H-Configuration Quadrotor with Foldable Arms, IEEE Conference on India Control Conference, 2025, IISc Bangalore, India

[C12] Utkarsh Singh Solanki, Abhyudai Singh, Abhilash Patel, Consequences of Resource Constraint on Stochastic Gene Regulation, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2025, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.02.646804]

2024

[J9] Krishan K Gola, Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Tradeoffs in the Design of RNA Thermometers, Physical Biology, 2024, Vol. 21(4), 044001, doi: 10.1088/1478-3975/ad5d6b

[C11] Neeta Yadav, Abhilash Patel, Bidyadhar Subuddhi, Time Delayed Control for Maneuvering of Magnetic Micro/Nanorobots in Drug Delivering Applications, Indian Control Conference 2024, IISER Bhopal

[C10] Shikha S Chauhan, Abhilash Patel, Lyapunov characterization of Fold Change Detection and Adaptation in Biomolecular Systems, IFAC Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems 2024, SNU Delhi

2023

[C9] Abhilash Patel, Guy-Bart Stan, Exploiting Resource Constraints for Controlling Biomolecular Circuits, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2023, Singapore, Singapore

2022

[B2] Shaunak Sen, Abhilash Patel, Krishan K Gola, Design of a Toolbox of RNA Thermometers, Riboregulator Design and Analysis (Methods in Molecular Biology), Clifton, NJ, 2022

[C8] Bhabani S Dey, Anirudh Nath, Abhilash Patel, Indra Narayan Kar, A Contraction Theory Approach to Observer-based Controller Design for Glucose Regulation in Type 1 Diabetes, Indian Control Conference, 2022, IIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad

[C7] Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Indra N Kar, A Contraction Theory-based Framework for the Design of Robustness to Global Perturbations in Biomolecular Circuits, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2022, Cancun, Mexico

[C6] Abhilash Patel, Sandip Ghosh, An Unknown Input Observer Based Framework for Wide-Area Control of Inter-Area Oscillations with Local Measurement, Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems, 2022, NIT Silchar and IIT Guwahati, India

2021 and prior

[J8] Abhilash Patel, Spandan Roy, Simone Baldi, Wide-Area Damping Control Resilience towards Cyber-Attacks: A Dynamic Loop Approach, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2021, Vol. 12(4), P. 3438 - 3447, doi: 10.1109/tsg.2021.3055222

[J2] Praodsh R Sahoo, Abhilash Patel, Sandip Ghosh, Asim K Naskar, Selection of Overlapping Interaction Through Approximate Decentralized Fixed Mode Measure, 2021, Vol. 52(9), P. 1882-1893, International Journal of System and Science, doi: 10.1080/00207721.2021.1872115

[J7] Abhilash Patel, Richard M Murray, Shaunak Sen, Assessment of Robustness to Temperature in a Negative Feedback Loop and a Feedforward Loop, ACS Synthetic Biology, 2020, Vol. 9(7), P. 1581-1590, doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00023

[J6] Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Experimental Evidence for Constraints in Amplitude-Timescale Co-variation of a Biomolecular Pulse Generating Circuit Design, IET Systems Biology, 2020, Vol. 15(4), P. 217-222, doi:10.1049/iet-syb.2019.0123

[B1] Spandan Roy, Abhilash Patel, Wide Area Damping Controller for Randomly Varying Delay: A Dynamic Output Feedback Approach, Control Strategies for Time-Delay System, Elsevier, 2020

[C5] Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Computational Framework for Design of a Pulse Generating Biomolecular Circuit, Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems, 2020, IIT Madras, India

[J5] Spandan Roy, Abhilash Patel, Indra N Kar, Analysis and Design of a Wide-Area Damping Controller for Inter-Area Oscillation With Artificially Induced Time Delay, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2019, Vol. 10(5), P. 3654 - 3663, doi:10.1109/tsg.2018.2833498

[C4] Abhilash Patel, Soumyadeep Banerjee, Pranjal Gupta, Nishant K Sharma, Shaunak Sen, Characterization of Gene Expression Regulated by Combined Action of a Chemical Inducer and Temperature, Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution and Design, 2019, New York, USA

[J4] Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, Non-normality Can Facilitate Pulsing in Biomolecular Circuits, IET Systems Biology, 2018, Vol. 12(5), P. 199-204, doi: 10.1049/iet-syb.2018.0008

[J3] Abhilash Patel, Sandip Ghosh, Komla A. Folly, Inter-Area Oscillations Damping with Non-Synchronized Wide-Area Power System Stabilizer, IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, 2018, Vol. 12 (12), P. 3070-3078, doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2017.0017

[C3] Abhilash Patel, Shaunak Sen, On Amplitude-Timescale Constraints in a Pulse Generating Biomolecular Circuit, Indian Control Conference, 2018, IIT Kanpur, India

[C2] Abhilash Patel, Mithu Sarkar, Sandip Ghosh, Bidyadhar Subudhi, H infinity Design of Wide-Area Controller for Damping Inter-Area Oscillations in Power System, 1st International Conf. Emerging Trends in Engineering, Technology and Science, 2017, Delhi, India

[C1] Abhilash Patel, Sudhansu Samal, Sandip Ghosh, Bidyadhar Subudhi, A Study on Wide Area Controller Design for Inter-Area Oscillation Damping, 2nd International Instrumentation, Energy and Communication, 2016, Kolkata, India