Programme

The programme provides a fundamental background in modern flight control, human-machine systems, air traffic management systems, noise and climate effects, safety and air transport operations research.

The Control & Operations core course programme provides a fundamental background in operations research, avionics systems, flight control and automation. The profile courses a student attends are associated with one of three sections (research groups) the student has joined. The 3 to 4 additional elective courses are chosen after consulting with the responsible track/profile coordinator. After completing the required course programme and the internship, the student performs the literature survey associated with his or her thesis. The literature survey and final thesis project are performed with the same supervisor, working on a specific project of current relevance to the field. Students are encouraged to  contact prospective supervisors early, as they can aid in the selection of elective courses. All C&O students do a literature study and submit a research paper prior to graduation.

Student profile

The C&O student is interested in creating mathematical models of dynamic systems and processes in order to control, analyse, optimise and predict them. Such processes and systems include vehicle dynamics (e.g., fixed-wing and rotor aircraft, drones and spacecraft), operational procedures (e.g., airline & airport scheduling and maintenance) and environmental effects (e.g., noise and emissions). The C&O student has a high affinity with sustainability and possess a good understanding of physics, control theory, linear algebra, signal processing, differential equations and statistics and does not shy away from programming solutions and field testing them in laboratory and especially in real operational environments.