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Actuators
Special Issues
Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications
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Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Control Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 9442

Editors

Dr. Xiaoxiong Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, China
Interests: aircraft flight control; guidance and navigation technology; adaptive fault tolerance control; formation flight control; actuators health management
Dr. Yu Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Interests: fault-tolerant control; nonlinear control; advanced control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The dynamic characteristics of actuation systems are critical to the flight performance and reliability of aerospace vehicles. In light of the modeling uncertainties and potential failures faced by actuators in real-world scenarios, it is essential to explore robust control system designs that can mitigate these risks.

This Special Issue invites original research contributions that address the challenges posed by actuators in aerospace applications. We are particularly interested in papers that offer theoretical insights and practical solutions, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Nonlinear analysis of actuators;
  • Modeling and simulation of actuators;
  • Fault diagnosis and fault tolerance;
  • Advanced control strategies.

We welcome submissions that not only introduce novel ideas but also make a positive contribution to the field of actuator technology and control system development, potentially leading to advances in aerospace actuator design and functionality.

Dr. Xiaoxiong Liu
Dr. Yu Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • aerospace actuation systems
  • advanced control technologies
  • actuator dynamics
  • fault-tolerant strategy
  • aerospace robotics

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4844 KB  
Article
Attitude Control of a Vehicle with Active Airfoil and Suspension Systems Using Integral Action for Body Angle and Tire Deflection
by Syed Babar Abbas and Iljoong Youn
Actuators 2026, 15(6), 317; https://doi.org/10.3390/act15060317 - 4 Jun 2026
Viewed by 1094
Abstract
This paper presents a novel approach to design an attitude motion control strategy of a vehicle to mitigate lateral or longitudinal inertial forces acting on the passenger during cornering, braking, and acceleration maneuvers. The collaboration of active suspension system and active airfoil substantially [...] Read more.
This paper presents a novel approach to design an attitude motion control strategy of a vehicle to mitigate lateral or longitudinal inertial forces acting on the passenger during cornering, braking, and acceleration maneuvers. The collaboration of active suspension system and active airfoil substantially enhances the attitude motion of a vehicle. By incorporating integral control action for both the desired body attitude roll or pitch angle and zero dynamic tire deflection within the performance index, the optimal controller maintains the ideal roll or pitch angle while preserving the road holding capability. The computer simulations were conducted to evaluate the dynamic performance of the proposed system in comparison with various other suspension systems based on a 4-degree-of-freedom half-car model. Four scenarios for rolling and pitching motions were simulated as follows: the first case examines the rolling response to a one-sided bump input applied to a lateral half-car model during straight-line driving. The second case investigates the rolling performance during a cornering maneuver. The third and fourth cases analyze the pitching responses to braking and acceleration using a longitudinal half-car model. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed system maintains the ideal body attitude, attenuates the effect of the lateral or longitudinal inertial forces and keeps an ideal road holding capability. As a result, the proposed control system substantially improves ride comfort while enhancing the dynamic safety of the vehicle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications)
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20 pages, 2294 KB  
Article
Robust Control of Twin-Rotor MIMO Systems Under Unmodeled Dynamics: Comparative Experimental Validation of Hybrid BSMC and Online QBHO Strategies
by Abderrahmane Kacimi, Azeddine Beloufa, Souaad Tahraoui, Abderrahmane Senoussaoui, Mehdi Houari Zaid, Abdelbasset Azzouz and Jun-Jiat Tiang
Actuators 2026, 15(5), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/act15050236 - 28 Apr 2026
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 581
Abstract
The control of Twin-Rotor Multi-Input Multi-Output (TRMS) systems presents a significant challenge due to high nonlinearity, strong aerodynamic cross-coupling, and the inevitable discrepancies between theoretical models and physical plants. This paper first exposes the instability of conventional Backstepping control under real hardware conditions, [...] Read more.
The control of Twin-Rotor Multi-Input Multi-Output (TRMS) systems presents a significant challenge due to high nonlinearity, strong aerodynamic cross-coupling, and the inevitable discrepancies between theoretical models and physical plants. This paper first exposes the instability of conventional Backstepping control under real hardware conditions, where unmodeled dynamics and parametric uncertainties drive the yaw subsystem into divergent oscillation, then proposes and experimentally validates two advanced architectures to overcome this limitation. The first is an online adaptive Backstepping gain-tuning scheme based on a novel Rate-Constrained Sequential Quantum Black Hole Optimization (RS-QBHO) algorithm. The second is a Hybrid Backstepping–Sliding Mode Control (BSMC) architecture that integrates structural disturbance rejection directly into the recursive design. Both schemes are formally verified via Lyapunov stability analysis and validated on a physical TRMS rig under identical hardware-in-the-loop conditions. Experimental results confirm that while the standard Backstepping controller failed in the yaw axis with an RMSE of 2.5624 rad, both proposed methods achieved stabilization. The QBHO-tuned controller yielded RMSE values of 0.0799 rad for pitch and 0.2305 rad for yaw, while the BSMC strategy proved superior, achieving 0.0682 rad and 0.1858 rad, respectively. These findings demonstrate that while meta-heuristic optimization effectively compensates for parametric mismatches, the passive disturbance rejection of the sliding mode term offers a more effective solution for mitigating unmodeled aerodynamic dynamics in MIMO flight platforms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications)
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23 pages, 6299 KB  
Article
Multi-Valve Coordinated Disturbance Rejection Control for an Intake Pressure System Using External Penalty Functions
by Louyue Zhang, Duoqi Shi, Chao Zhai, Zhihong Dan, Hehong Zhang, Xi Wang and Gaoxi Xiao
Actuators 2025, 14(7), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/act14070334 - 2 Jul 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1039
Abstract
Altitude test facilities for aero-engines employ multi-chamber, multi-valve intake systems that require effective decoupling and strong disturbance rejection during transient tests. This paper proposes a coordinated active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) scheme based on external penalty functions. The chamber pressure safety limit is [...] Read more.
Altitude test facilities for aero-engines employ multi-chamber, multi-valve intake systems that require effective decoupling and strong disturbance rejection during transient tests. This paper proposes a coordinated active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) scheme based on external penalty functions. The chamber pressure safety limit is formulated as an inequality-constrained optimization problem, and an exponential penalty together with a gradient based algorithm is designed for dynamic constraint relaxation, with guaranteed global convergence. A coordination term is then integrated into a distributed ADRC framework to yield a multi-valve coordinated ADRC controller, whose asymptotic stability is established via Lyapunov theory. Hardware-in-the-loop simulations using MATLAB/Simulink and a PLC demonstrate that, under ±3 kPa pressure constraints, the maximum engine inlet pressure error is 1.782 kPa (77.1% lower than PID control), and under an 80 kg/s2 flow-rate disturbance, valve oscillations decrease from ±27% to ±5%. These results confirm the superior disturbance rejection and decoupling performance of the proposed method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications)
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42 pages, 11122 KB  
Article
Safe Electromechanical Actuation for General Aviation Aircraft: Automatic Maneuver Injection for System Identification
by Rodolfo K. Hofmann, Barzin Hosseini and Florian Holzapfel
Actuators 2025, 14(7), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/act14070310 - 23 Jun 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1914
Abstract
An electromechanical actuator system was used on a general aviation aircraft to automatically execute programmed test inputs for system identification and parameter estimation. The flight test campaign consisted of approximately 10 flight hours with over 250 carefully designed dynamic test inputs, including multisteps, [...] Read more.
An electromechanical actuator system was used on a general aviation aircraft to automatically execute programmed test inputs for system identification and parameter estimation. The flight test campaign consisted of approximately 10 flight hours with over 250 carefully designed dynamic test inputs, including multisteps, frequency sweeps, phase-optimized orthogonal multisines, and the optimal inputs for parameter estimation. This paper describes the actuator system retrofitted to the REMOS GX aircraft and the software developed for automatic maneuver injection. The design of the flight test maneuvers is discussed while considering the characteristics and the limits of the onboard actuator system. The initial parameter estimation results are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the applied methods, which is a first for a light sport aircraft. The lessons learned and the advantages of such a system with respect to manual (piloted) flight testing will be described, as will recommendations for future applications of electromechanical actuators to aircraft of this weight class. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications)
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21 pages, 4820 KB  
Article
A Novel Overactuated Quadrotor: Prototype Design, Modeling, and Control
by Zhan Zhang, Yan Li, Hengzhi Jiang, Jieqi Li and Zhong Wang
Actuators 2025, 14(5), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/act14050223 - 30 Apr 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2506
Abstract
Traditional multirotor UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are inherently underactuated, with coupled position and attitude control, which limits their maneuverability in specific applications. This paper presents a fully actuated quadrotor design based on a swashplateless rotor mechanism. Unlike existing fully actuated UAV designs that [...] Read more.
Traditional multirotor UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are inherently underactuated, with coupled position and attitude control, which limits their maneuverability in specific applications. This paper presents a fully actuated quadrotor design based on a swashplateless rotor mechanism. Unlike existing fully actuated UAV designs that rely on servo-driven tilt mechanisms, this approach minimizes additional weight and simplifies the structure, resulting in a more maintainable system. The design, modeling, and control strategies for the quadrotor are presented. Furthermore, we propose a decoupled control method to address the need for both fully actuated and underactuated modes. The control architecture employs parallel attitude and position control structures and decouples the two subsystems using a nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) method. A compensation module is introduced to address the constraints imposed by the maximum rotor deflection angle and the corresponding feasible force set. This compensation module actively adjusts the attitude to mitigate the saturation of the required thrust, effectively overcoming the impact of rotor deflection angle limitations on trajectory tracking performance. The approach facilitates seamless switching between fully actuated and underactuated modes, enhancing the system’s flexibility and robustness. Simulation and flight experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications)
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17 pages, 4203 KB  
Article
Nonlinear Backstepping Fault-Tolerant Controllers with Extended State Observers for Aircraft Wing Failures
by Yansheng Geng, Bo Wang and Xiaoxiong Liu
Actuators 2025, 14(5), 206; https://doi.org/10.3390/act14050206 - 24 Apr 2025
Viewed by 1191
Abstract
To effectively overcome changes in aircraft aerodynamic and control characteristics caused by wing surface damage, this paper proposes a fault-tolerant control method based on an extended state observer (ESO) to ensure flight mission requirements under wing surface and control surface failures. First, considering [...] Read more.
To effectively overcome changes in aircraft aerodynamic and control characteristics caused by wing surface damage, this paper proposes a fault-tolerant control method based on an extended state observer (ESO) to ensure flight mission requirements under wing surface and control surface failures. First, considering the characteristics and requirements of backstepping control in addressing nonlinear problems, an extended observer is designed to estimate disturbances and uncertainties induced by wing surface failures, and its stability is analyzed by using the Lyapunov method. Next, a backstepping control law for the airflow angle loop is designed based on the extended observer. The serial-chain method is introduced as an allocation algorithm for fault-tolerant flight control in order to compensate for the changes in control efficiency caused by wing surface faults. And stability analysis is conducted by integrating the control characteristics of the aircraft’s airflow angle loop, proving the uniformly bounded stability of the controller. Finally, fault-tolerant control simulations are performed under scenarios of wing damage, elevator damage, and actuator jamming faults. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves excellent control performance during wing surface failures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuation and Robust Control Technologies for Aerospace Applications)
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