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Topic · Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems

Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems is a research topic within Aerospace Engineering. Science Explorer counts 16k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the development and optimization of autonomous aerial refueling systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). It covers topics such as vision-based sensor integration, trajectory tracking controllers, aircraft modeling and simulation, machine vision/GPS integration, flight control, aerodynamic coupling, and UAV technology.

  • Autonomous Aerial Refueling
  • Vision-Based Sensor
  • Aircraft Modeling and Simulation
  • Probe and Drogue System
  • Machine Vision Integration
  • Flight Control
  • Trajectory Tracking Controller
  • Navigation System
  • Aerodynamic Coupling
  • UAV Technology
Research works
16k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+27%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems

Which countries lead Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems research?

By volume, China and Russia publish the most (850 and 519 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 850 works
  2. 2 Russia 519 works
  3. 3 United States 372 works
  4. 4 India 164 works
  5. 5 Ukraine 126 works
  6. 6 Japan 87 works
  7. 7 Indonesia 78 works
  8. 8 Germany 72 works
  9. 9 Italy 71 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 53 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 35.6%Russia: 21.7%United States: 15.5%India: 6.9%6 others listed: 20.3%36%largest
China850 · 35.6%Russia519 · 21.7%United States372 · 15.5%India164 · 6.9%6 others listed486 · 20.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems research, followed by Beihang University and Northwestern Polytechnical University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 123 works
  2. 2 Beihang UniversityChina 70 works
  3. 3 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 62 works
  4. 4 Moscow Aviation InstituteRussia 61 works
  5. 5 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 53 works
  6. 6 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 41 works
  7. 7 United States Department of DefenseUnited States 36 works
  8. 8 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 35 works
  9. 9 Bauman Moscow State Technical UniversityRussia 34 works
  10. 10 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 30 works

Who are the leading researchers in Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems include Xiaogang Wang, Hao Chen and Guanrong Chen.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Hao Chen China 118k citations
  3. 3 Guanrong Chen China 116k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems?

The most cited paper in Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems is "Optimal Control: Linear Quadratic Methods" (Brian D. O. Anderson, John B. Moore, 1979), with 2,861 citations. Next come "Deterministic and Stochastic Optimal Control." (2,711) and "Survey of Numerical Methods for Trajectory Optimization" (2,610).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Optimal Control: Linear Quadratic Methods Brian D. O. Anderson, John B. Moore Jun 1979 2,861
2 Deterministic and Stochastic Optimal Control. J. A. Bather, Wendell H. Fleming, Raymond Rishel · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (General) 1976 2,711
3 Survey of Numerical Methods for Trajectory Optimization John T. Betts · Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics Mar 1998 2,610
4 Foundations of optimal control theory Henry G. Hermes · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control Apr 1968 1,726
5 Optimal control theory: An introduction W.S. Levine · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control Jun 1972 1,638
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems research done?

The largest centres of Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China), Xi'an (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Samara.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 239 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 225 works
  3. 3 Xi'anChina 99 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 82 works
  5. 5 Saint PetersburgRussia 60 works
  6. 6 HarbinChina 54 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 54 works
  8. 8 KyivUkraine 53 works
  9. 9 ChangshaChina 36 works
  10. 10 TokyoJapan 35 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SamaraRU · 31.6 works24×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems than the world average.

See Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems on the map

Where is the best place to study Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems?

Among universities, judged by research, Beihang University, Northwestern Polytechnical University and Harbin Institute of Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 21.07%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Beihang UniversityNorthwestern Polytec…Harbin Institute of …Nanjing University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Beihang UniversityChina 88.724.1%23.4×70 +22.8%
2Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 78.623.2%20.2×62 +85.4%
3Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 72.419.6%9.2×41 +179.0%
4Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 72.116.0%22.3×53 +53.2%
5Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 70.227.9%5.9×11 +108.3%
6Politecnico di MilanoItaly 69.521.5%8.0×16 +227.6%
7Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 67.514.7%11.0×35 +152.0%
8Tsinghua UniversityChina 66.222.3%2.5×16 +120.5%
9National University of Defense TechnologyChina 64.818.4%14.2×30 +172.9%
10Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologySouth Korea 60.123.0%6.9×9 +84.3%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems, country by country

Is Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 27% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.017% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems0.015% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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