What is it about?
The Flying Wing aircraft is a futuristic aircraft design that could cut fuel use by 25%, but it needs a reliable autopilot before it can fly passengers. This thesis develops a type of controller, named Hybrid INDI, that blends real sensor data with an onboard model to improve stability, and adds an envelope protection system that prevents pilots from bringing the aircraft beyond its safe operating limits.
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Why is it important?
To meet its environmental targets, aviation needs radical efficiency gains. Flying Wings are one of the most promising next-generation designs, but they can become unstable in ways traditional airliners don't. This work directly addresses that barrier: it shows how to keep Flying Wings stable and safe across their flight envelope, bringing them one step closer to actually carrying passengers.
Perspectives
Hybrid INDI bridges the gap between model-based and sensor-based control, two approaches that have traditionally been treated separately. As onboard computing power and sensor quality continue to improve, intelligently fusing both sources becomes increasingly viable and offers greater robustness than either approach alone. This thesis contributes to that direction by demonstrating the approach on an unconventional aircraft configuration.
Tim Traas
Technische Universiteit Delft
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Hybrid Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion Control with Flight Envelope Protection for Flying Wing Aircraft, January 2026, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2026-0549.
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