José Joaquín Mendoza Lopetegui, currently a research fellow at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of Politecnico di Milano, has won the 2026 Award of the Italian Society of Professors and Researchers in Automation (SIDRA), presented to the best PhD theses in the field of Automation defended in Italy.
The award was presented for his thesis, Design and Development of Advanced Aircraft Ground Handling Control Systems for Safe Human-in-the-loop Control, carried out within the PhD programme in Information Technology at Politecnico di Milano under the supervision of Prof. Mara Tanelli.
The thesis develops advanced control systems to make aircraft ground operations safer and more stable, with particular attention to the phases following landing and to taxiing. During these operations, high aircraft speeds, potential system failures, and adverse runway conditions can make maintaining the intended trajectory more challenging, increasing the pilot’s workload and the risk of loss of control.
The research proposes solutions with progressively higher levels of assistance and automation. These range from advanced anti-skid systems designed to ensure effective braking while also improving directional stability, to assistance systems capable of automatically correcting the aircraft’s trajectory even in the presence of system failures and adverse environmental conditions.
Finally, the work develops a fully autonomous system for managing post-landing deceleration and taxiing, designed to further reduce pilot workload and contribute to safer aircraft ground operations.