Advanced Flight Dynamics and Control of Aircraft, Missiles, and Hypersonic Vehicles – Online Short Course (Starts 6 May 2025) 6 May - 29 May 2025 Online

Register Now

advanced-flight-dynamics-and-control













  • From 6–29 May 2025 (4 Weeks, 8 Classes, 16 Total Hours)
  • Every Tuesday and Thursday at 1–3 p.m. Eastern Time (all sessions will be recorded and available for replay; course notes will be available for download)
  • This course will briefly review the fundamentals of flight dynamic modeling and control
  • It will present a variety of flight control design examples to enhance the learning experience. They include Boeing 737 Max aircraft’s MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System); SAS (Stability Augmentation Systems) of various aircraft; bank-to-turn versus skid-to-turn (yaw-to-turn) of missiles; classical three-loop autopilot design of missiles; and coordinated bank turn of flight vehicles
  • It will further cover advanced flight dynamic modeling and control topics, such as tailless aircraft stability & control, control allocation of tailless aircraft, high angle-of-attack velocity-vector roll maneuvers, missiles/aircraft equipped with thrust vector control (TVC) systems, and hypersonic aircraft flight control
  • All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course

OVERVIEW
This course is intended for aerospace GNC engineers/researchers, flight control system engineers, and graduate students, who are interested in a comprehensive overview of the advanced flight dynamic modeling, analysis and control design of aircraft, missiles, and hypersonic vehicles. This course employs a modern practical approach to flight dynamic modeling and control, which utilizes MATLAB’s computational tools of control systems analysis, design, and simulation. Consequently, some traditional/classical flight dynamic characterization methodologies of utilizing transfer functions, root-locus plots, and Bode plots, which have been treated in detail in most textbooks on flight dynamics and control, are not elaborated in this course. Furthermore, this course will emphasize advanced flight dynamics and control design topics, such as control allocation of advanced tailless aircraft (X-47B, B-2, B-21, etc.), high angle-of-attack velocity-vector roll maneuvers, flight control design of missiles/aircraft equipped with thrust vector control (TVC) systems, and hypersonic aircraft flight control.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

  • The basic physical concepts and mathematical/computational tools required for the flight dynamic modeling, analysis, design, and simulation of aircraft and missiles
  • Flight control design methodologies (pole placement, LQR, LQG, NDI, etc.)
  • MATLAB’s computational tools of control systems analysis, design and simulation, as applied to a variety of numerical examples of flight control design problems
  • Illustrative examples of stability augmentation systems (SAS) of various aircraft
  • Advanced flight dynamics and control of modern tailless aircraft, high angle-of-attack velocity-vector roll maneuvers, flight control design of missiles and aircraft equipped with TVC systems, and hypersonic aircraft flight control
  • Recent advances in unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV), CCA, the sixth-generation fighter, etc.

KEY COURSE TOPICS

  • Nonlinear 6-DOF equations of motion of flight vehicles
  • Linearized state-space models (dx/dt = Ax + Bu, y = Cx + Du) ofNavion, Boeing 747, F-104, F-16, XB-70, and hypersonic aircraft such as X-15 and X-43
  • Modern state-space control design tools (pole placement, LQR, LQG)
  • Tailless aircraft stability & control; control allocation problem
  • High-AOA flight dynamic equations of motion
  • High-AOA lateral-directional stability parameters (LCDP, Cn𝛽dyn)
  • Herbst/Cobra velocity-vector roll maneuvers
  • Nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) flight control
  • Hypersonic aircraft flight control

AUDIENCE
This course is intended for aerospace GNC engineers/researchers, practicing FCS engineers, and graduate students, who are interested in a comprehensive overview of the advanced flight dynamic modeling, analysis and control design of aircraft, missiles, and hypersonic vehicles. This course reviews the basic physical concepts and mathematical/computational tools required for FCS analysis and design of advanced aircraft and missiles. It emphasizes a modern practical approach to flight control design of advanced flight vehicles, which utilizes MATLAB’s computational tools for linear dynamical systems analysis and nonlinear systems simulation. However, no MATLAB codes are provided to the course attendees because all attendees are expected to be able to apply MATLAB’s basic tools to various numerical examples of flight control design problems treated in this online course.

COURSE FEES (Sign-In To Register)
- AIAA Member Price: $945 USD
- Non-Member Price: $1145 USD
- AIAA Student Member Price: $495 USD

Classroom Hours / CEUs: 16 classroom hours, 1.6 CEU/PDH

Cancellation Policy: A refund less a $50.00 cancellation fee will be assessed for all cancellations made in writing prior to 7 days before the start of the event. After that time, no refunds will be provided.

Contact: Please contact Lisa Le or Customer Service if you have questions about the course or group discounts (for 5+ participants).

Frequently Asked Questions



Outline

OUTLINE: 8 Classes (2 hours each)

Class 1. Introduction

  • Introduction and Course Overview
  • Recent Advances in UCAV, CCA, The Sixth-Generation Fighter (F/A-XX, NGAD, etc.)
  • FCS Example: Boeing 737 Max MCAS

Class 2. Flight Dynamic Fundamentals

  • Static Stability and Control
  • Crosswind Landings and Coordinated Turns: Static Analysis
  • 6-DOF Flight Vehicle Dynamic Modeling
  • Small Perturbations from Steady-State Trim Condition

Class 3. Longitudinal Flight Control

  • Longitudinal State-Space Models: dx/dt = Ax + Bu (Navion, Boeing 747, F-104, F-16, XB-70)
  • Short-Period and Long-Period (Phugoid) Modes
  • Steady Pull-Up Maneuvers
  • Longitudinal Control Examples
  • ILS Landing: Glide-Slope Tracking Control

Class 4. Lateral-Directional Flight Control

  • Lateral-Directional State-Space Models: dx/dt = Ax + Bu (Navion, Boeing 747, F-104, F-16, XB-70)
  • Dutch-Roll, Roll-Rate, Spiral Modes
  • Basic Coordinated Turn Maneuvers
  • Lateral-Directional Control Examples
  • ILS Landing: VOR/LOC Tracking Control

Class 5. Missile Flight Control

  • Flight Dynamics and Control of Conventional Missiles
  • Bank-to-Turn versus Skid-to-Turn (Yaw-to-Turn)
  • Missile GNC Systems Overview
  • Flight Control of Missiles/Rockets with TVC Systems
  • TVC Design Example of a Sounding Rocket

Class 6. Tailless Aircraft Stability & Control

  • Yaw Stability Control of Modern Tailless Aircraft (X-47B, B-2, B-21, etc.)
  • State-Space Modeling of an ICE Tailless Research Aircraft
  • Control Allocation and Multi-Input Control Design Examples

Class 7. High-AOA Flight Dynamics & Control

  • High-AOA Flight Dynamic Equations of Motion
  • High-AOA Lateral-Directional Stability Parameters
  • Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (NDI) Control
  • Herbst/Cobra Velocity-Vector Roll Maneuvers

Class 8. Hypersonic Aircraft Flight Control

  • Historical Overview of Hypersonic Flight Dynamics and Control
  • State-Space Models: dx/dt = Ax + Bu (X-15, X-30, X-43, etc.)
  • Classical Flight Control Systems of Hypersonic Aircraft
  • Recent Advances in Hypersonic Aircraft/Missiles
Materials

Course Delivery and Materials

  • The course lectures will be delivered via Zoom. You can test your connection here: https://zoom.us/test
  • All sessions will be available on-demand within 1-2 days of the lecture. Once available, you can stream the replay video anytime, 24/7. All slides will be available for download after each lecture.
  • No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
  • Between lectures, the instructors will be available via email for technical questions and comments.
Instructors

Bong Wie is Professor Emeritus of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University. He holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Seoul National University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. In 2006 he received AIAA’s Mechanics and Control of Flight Award for his innovative research on advanced control of complex spacecraft such as solar sails, large flexible structures, and agile imaging satellites equipped with control moment gyros. He is the author of two AIAA textbooks: “Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control(2nd edition, 2008)” and “Space Vehicle Guidance, Control, and Astrodynamics (2015).” He has published 210 technical papers including 80 journal articles. He has three US patents on singularity-avoidance steering logic of control moment gyros. In early 2010s, he was actively involved in guidance, control, and astrodynamics research for deflecting or disrupting hazardous near-Earth objects (NEO). From 2011-2014, he was a NIAC (NASA Advanced Innovative Concepts) Fellow for developing an innovative solution to NASA’s NEO impact threat mitigation grand challenge and its flight validation mission design. His NIAC study effort has resulted in two distinct concepts for effectively disrupting hazardous asteroids with short warning time, called a hypervelocity asteroid intercept vehicle (HAIV) and a multiple kinetic-energy impactor vehicle (MKIV). During late 2010s, his research focused on further developing the ZEM/ZEV feedback guidance strategies for robotic/human Mars precision powered descent & landing with hazard avoidance and retargeting. He is currently exploring technically challenging, guidance and control problems of hypersonic reentry vehicles and an advanced guidance problem of missiles with precision impact time and angle control (ITAC) requirements. For 1986-1991, he was an Associate Editor of Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. For 2018-2023, he was co-Editor of Astrodynamics, an international journal established in 2018. The following on-demand short courses by Dr. Wie are available from AIAA:

 

AIAA Training Links