­Participation at SciTech Conference 2025

The Chair presented its current research results in numerous of papers at this year's AIAA SciTech Forum. The publications areavailable via the TU Dresden research portal (FIS) .

With over 3000 presentations and an exhibition and 6000 participants, SciTech is one of the world's largest and most important scientific conferences in the aerospace industry. In addition to sharing the latest research findings and presenting new technological developments, it provides an important interface between academia and industry in a constantly evolving sector. The conference took place from January 6 to 10, 2025 in Orlando, Florida.

Contributions of the Chair

For satellite attitude control, Emily Burgin presented a novel approach for switching between different operation modes using linear parameter-varying control. Guarantees can be made for performance and robustness over the entire process. A clear advantage over previous approaches. FIS-Link Publication

Mario Izquierdo Serra discusses the verification of satellite maneuvers under realistic conditions with uncertainties. The mathematical approach of "Polynomial Chaos Expansion" is applied, which represents an alternative to traditional Monte Carlo simulation. The advantage is a significant reduction of the necessary computing power and time. FIS-Link publication

Another research topic is the use of ion propulsion systems for high-altitude platforms. The aim is to investigate the technology in a special wind tunnel at the Chair using "Particle Image Velocimetry". In the article by David Nölle , preparatory investigations and preliminary results are presented, which provide the necessary basis for further experiments. FIS-Link Publications

An integrated UAV guidance and control for accurate path following was contributed by Roser Berenguer Bertran. The guidance is realized by the concept of target tracking. In addition, a robust controller to execute the guidance commands was presented. The algorithm was applied to the Chair's reference UAV, the UrbanConder. FIS-Link publication

© FMR

Hannes Rienecker discusses a method for calculating energy-efficient trajectories for unmanned aerial vehicles by utilizing wind fields in urban areas. The approach differs from previous solutions by taking into account uncertainties, e.g. unexpected wind phenomena, to ensure applicability under real conditions. Fis-Link publication.

The topic of Jürgen Frey 's contribution is the calibration of small pressure probes, which are to be used for flow direction measurement and subsequently for wind estimation on a UAV. The probes are smaller and require fewer system resources than conventional five-hole probes. They were calibrated both individually and together with the UAV in the wind tunnel in order to best capture the influence of the aircraft on the probe flow. FIS-Link publication

The identification of the short-period dynamics of an airplane with experimental data was presented by Sabine Wisbacher . The Chair's UAV Urban Condor was measured in the in-house wind tunnel for various flight conditions. System identification methods were used to determine a meaningful mathematical description of the dynamics. One advantage of this approach is the repeatability of the controlled test conditions. FIS-Link publication

In cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Design Technology, Paderborn , the results of a controller validation with dynamic wind tunnel tests for a tiltrotor VTOL were presented. The controller is based on the novel and complex concept of "Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion". The installation in the wind tunnel by means of a test rig enabled the successful validation of the controller under real flight conditions without the risk of a crash. FIS-Link Publication