Welcome message from the chair Prof. Paolo Castaldi
Since the IFAC World Congress 2023, I have had the privilege of serving as Chair of IFAC Technical Committee 7.3 on Aerospace. Before taking up this role, I served as Vice-Chair for Education within TC 7.3, and I am also a member of IFAC TC 9.4 on Control Education and of the IEEE Control Systems Society Technical Committee on Aerospace Controls. These roles naturally support a stronger coordination between aerospace control and control education, as well as closer links between IFAC and IEEE in this domain.
I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the service of my predecessors, Professor Antonios Tsourdos (Cranfield University, UK), who led TC 7.3 in the 2017–2023 term, and Professor Houria Siguerdidjane (CentraleSupélec, France), who chaired the Committee in earlier years. Their leadership has been instrumental in shaping a vibrant and truly international community in aerospace control.
In the current term, I have taken the opportunity to update the internal organization of TC 7.3, within the roles prescribed by IFAC, but also making careful use of the flexibility available. In particular, I have introduced a new position of Vice-Chair for Relations with Other Organizations, reflecting the importance of structured inter-committee and inter-society collaboration. I have appointed to this role Professor Gokhan Inalhan (Cranfield University, UK), who serves as Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Aerospace Controls, thereby formalizing a stronger link between IFAC TC 7.3 and IEEE TC-AC. The full composition of the TC 7.3 board, including Vice-Chairs and Steering Committee members, is reported in the list below.
I have also established an Advisory Board, which has already proved very helpful in guiding strategic choices, in particular regarding new workshops and emerging activity areas. The role and remit of this Advisory Board, together with our flagship events and collaborations with other IFAC TCs and sister organizations such as IEEE and AIAA, will be outlined in the following sections.
On behalf of the board and the Advisory Board, I warmly invite colleagues from academia, industry, and space and aviation agencies to engage with our activities, contribute to our events, and consider joining the Committee.
Paolo Castaldi
Chair, IFAC TC 7.3 Aerospace
University of Bologna, Italy
