Modern aircraft do not need pilots, but the flight trajectory is still set by people − specialists in automatic control systems. Such specialists are trained at the SUSU Department of Automatic Control Systems. The specialists are in demand in many fields, including in rocket-and-space and aviation.
Aircraft Need Control Systems
In order for aircraft to function without human intervention, preliminary effective work of specialists in automatic control is required. It is them who competently determine the flight trajectory and create the algorithm that the aircraft follows, as well as design the control systems.
All this is taught at the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science of South Ural State University. Since 1962, the Department of Automatic Control Systems has been training specialists majoring in Aircraft Control Systems. Students obtain not only applied knowledge, but also fundamental training in Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science.
"The department trains future engineers and Master's degree students in the development of high-precision control systems for aircraft, mobile objects, technological processes and information processing and control systems for various purposes in the conditions of incomplete information about the external environment, disturbances and interference," said the Head of the Department of Automatic Control Systems Vladimir Shiriaev.
From Ballistic Missiles to Drones
Specialist programmes are still available at the department. Students can master disciplines in Aircraft Control Systems and in Mathematical and Software Control Systems in five years. Graduates know the composition and design of automatic and automated control systems, are able to control technological equipment and mobile objects (from ballistic missiles and spacecraft to all kinds of unmanned mobile objects), and perform industrial work.
In the Master's degree programme in Information and Control Systems in Traffic Control and Navigation, students are trained to design navigation systems, deepen their knowledge of control systems, including the modern devices used in them, and aircraft traffic control.
Graduates learn how to design automatic and automated control systems, and how to control moving objects.
Graduates can work at enterprises dealing with the development of rocket-and-space and aviation technology, the development of equipment for the automation of technological processes, in the departments of automation of industrial enterprises, and research institutes.
Postgraduates are trained for scientific and pedagogical activities in higher education and professional support for young specialists. They can choose any one of the two fields of study: Informatics and Computer Engineering, or Systems Analysis, Control and Information Processing.
Immersion in the Profession through Projects
Students not only learn about control automation, but can also apply the gained knowledge in practice by participating in the project on the Designing of an Onboard Control System of a Spacecraft to Fly to Asteroids. Also, a special project is being implemented at the department. Students and teachers are engaged in the synthesis of control and evaluation algorithms for control objects of various purposes, with high control accuracy in the conditions of incomplete information about the operating environment, parameters of the control object, disturbances in the channels of the information system.
To become a student of the Department of Automatic Control Systems, you need to pass the Unified State Exam in the Russian language, Mathematics and Physics or Computer Science. Admission to Master's degree programme and postgraduate studies is based on the results of an internal test and interview.
South Ural State University (SUSU) is a university of digital transformations, where innovative research is conducted in most of the priority fields of science and technology development. In accordance with the strategy of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, the university is focused on the development of big scientific interdisciplinary projects in the field of digital industry, materials science, and ecology. In the Year of Science and Technology, it will take part in the competition under the Priority-2030 program. The university acts as a regional project office of the World-class Ural Interregional Research and Education Centre (UIREC).