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93850 - Unmanned Systems

Academic Year 2025/2026

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Aerospace Engineering (cod. 5723)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Aerospace Engineering (cod. 5723)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student is knows how to create a mathematical model of an unmanned aircraft and he knows how to design and implements the main attitude and trajectory control systems. Through experimental lab activities, he also gets familiar with the fundamentals of Remote-Piloted Aircraft Systems flight planning and operations.

Course contents

Theoretical aspects

  • Unmanned Systems: An overview of their history and development.

  • GNC System Design: Introduction to the Model-Based Design approach.

  • Fixed-Wing Battery-Powered Platforms: Performance evaluation and optimization, with emphasis on identifying optimal design configurations.

  • Conventional Rotary-Wing (helicopters) Battery-Powered Platforms: Analysis and optimization of performance characteristics.

  • Non-conventional Rotary-Wing (multirotors) Battery-Powered Platforms: In-depth performance assessment and optimization strategies. Examination of propeller aerodynamics specifically designed for professional multirotor applications, along with optimal design solutions.

Practical aspects

  • Simulation Model Development: Application of Blade Element Theory and implementation of multirotor motion equations within the Matlab/Simulink environment.

  • Dynamic Modeling: Open-loop and closed-loop analysis of a six degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) multirotor model.

  • Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC): System definition and implementation, including a comparison of different guidance modes developed.

Readings/Bibliography

  • Peter D. Talbot, et al., A mathematical model of a single main rotor helicopter for piloted simulation, NASA Technical Memorandum (TM) 84281, NASA, 1982.
  • Brian L. Stevens, Frank L. Lewis, Eric N. Johnson, Aircraft Control and Simulation, Third Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016.
  • J. Gordon Leishman, Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics, Second Edition, Cambridge Aerospace Series, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Gareth D. Padfield, Helicopter Flight Dynamics: The Theory and Application of Flying Qualities and Simulation Modelling, Second Edition, Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
  • Donald McLean, Automatic Flight Control Systems, Prentice Hall, 1990.
  • Kimon P. Valavanis (Editor), Unmanned Aircraft Systems - The Current State-of-the-Art, Springer, 2013.

Teaching methods

  • Class lectures on digital whiteboard (exclusively in-presence).
  • Collaborative computer programming in Matlab/Simulink environment.
  • Numerical exercises and simulations.
  • Eventual educational visits and laboratory activities.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of a single practical and oral session in which the student is requested to:

1) solve a given simulation/design task on his own laptop (60 minutes),

2) answer theoretical questions about the overall course program (60 minutes),

3) discuss the personal simulation model developed during the course (15 minutes).

Teaching tools

  • Digital whiteboard.
  • MathWorks products for computer programming.
  • Laboratory equipments.
  • Unmanned small-scale electric platforms.

Office hours

See the website of Emanuele Luigi De Angelis