LinkedInCall for Special Sessions
Special sessions are a great way to increase the community exchange on a particular topic by gathering a group of participants with a joint interest in that topic. They can take different forms, format can be adapted to the best fit the intended purpose. They can for instance include regular presentations, open discussions, panels, hands-on tutorials, or even design challenges…
Feel free to propose the format that suits your topic best!
Procedure to Follow for Proposing a Special Session
To propose a special session, please send an email to the conference chair (see Contact page). Special sessions can be either closed or open to external contributions:
- A closed session typically involves a group of contributors already identified by the session organizer.
- An open session welcomes additional submissions and is advertised to the broader research community.
The organising committee strongly encourages organizers to make their sessions open to promote inclusivity and broader engagement.
If you wish to have your session announced on this page, please contact the organising committee with a short description.
Special Sessions in the Making
At the moment, contributions are welcome for the following special session(s).
Control Barrier Functions in Aerospace Applications
Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) are an increasingly popular tool for enforcing state constraints in nonlinear control systems, offering strong theoretical guarantees on safety. Despite substantial progress in the control theory community, their application in aerospace remains limited. This special session aims to explore how CBFs can be used in aerospace contexts such as flight envelope protection, geofencing, and collision avoidance. We welcome contributions ranging from theoretical developments to practical implementations, including simulation-based studies and experimental validations. The goal is to bridge the gap between modern safety-critical control methods and real-world flight control challenges, and to foster discussion on their relevance and feasibility in aerospace applications.
Point of contact for potential contributors: Johannes Autenrieb (DLR) – e-mail: johannes.autenrieb@dlr.de
Multi-Body & Multi-Spacecraft Dynamics and Control in Space
This session will focus on advances and new results related to the dynamical characterization and control of multi-body and multiple spacecraft systems and operations. Topics of interest include formation flying, autonomous rendezvous & docking, lunar and asteroid proximity operations, and active debris removal for multiple spacecraft, and from flexible or tethered systems to multi-body spacecraft. The goal of the session is to share updates on the most recent GNC problems relevant to the sustainable exploration and utilization of space for these types of multi-systems.
Point of contact for potential contributors: Behrad Vatankhahghadim (UC3M) – e-mail: bvatankh@ing.uc3m.es
Airborne Wind Energy Control
Airborne wind energy systems (AWES) are an emerging technology for power generation using tethered flying devices like soft kites and rigid-wing sailplanes. Their guidance, navigation and control aspects (GNC) play a major role in enabling autonomous operation, achieving crosswind trajectories superimposed with tether reel-in and reel-out phases. Accordingly, the dynamics of the airborne component is coupled to the response of the mechanical-to-electrical power subsystem, yielding an interesting and complex GNC problem where the power output and the safety and reliability of the operation are the main design drivers. Contributions ranging from theoretical developments, including modelling and simulation, to practical implementations and experimental validation are welcomed. Besides presenting cutting-edge contributions in the AWE field, the goal of the special session is to bring attention to the GNC community to AWE, which are aerospace systems that are currently in a pre-commercial phase and will need robust GNC solutions and a strong academy-industry collaboration in the next few years.
Point of contact for potential contributors: Duc Nguyen (UBristol) – e-mail: duc.nguyen@bristol.ac.uk and David Santos Martin (UC3M) – e-mail: dsmartin@ing.uc3m.es
AI-Based Sensing and Control in Turbulent Flows
This session will explore recent advances in flow sensing and control enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning. Emphasis will be placed on data-driven approaches such as model predictive control, reinforcement learning, manifold learning, and reduced-order modeling techniques applied to complex, turbulent flow environments. Contributions highlighting the use of neural networks, dimensionality reduction, and hybrid physics-informed models are particularly welcome. The session aims to foster collaboration between the guidance, navigation and control (GNC) and flow control communities, encouraging cross-disciplinary innovations in real-time sensing, feedback control, and aerodynamic optimization.
Point of contact for potential contributors: Andrea Ianiro (UC3M) – e-mail: aianiro@ing.uc3m.es and Stefano Discetti (UC3M) – e-mail: stefano.discetti@uc3m.es
Navigation in GNSS-Denied and Challenging Environments
Ensuring robust navigation when GNSS is unavailable or degraded is a growing challenge for aerospace systems, from aircraft and autonomous platforms to rockets operating under high dynamics. This special session will cover advances in resilient GNC architectures and experimental demonstrations addressing navigation in contested or denied environments. Topics of interest include multi-sensor fusion, terrain and vision-based navigation, interference mitigation techniques, and flight tests in realistic scenarios. The goal is to highlight state-of-the-art solutions and foster discussion on future directions for resilient navigation.
Point of contact for potential contributors: Miguel Ángel Gómez López (INTA) – e-mail: gomezlma@inta.es