Manuela Battipede

Manuela Battipede is Associate Professor of Flight Mechanics & Control at the Politecnico di Torino, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (DIMEAS). Since 2002 she has led research and teaching in aerospace guidance, airworthiness, neural-network-based virtual sensors, and trajectory optimisation, coordinating EU H2020 and Clean Sky projects, industrial airworthiness certification contracts, and supervising PhD students in aerospace engineering.

Education & Academic Career

• Joined Politecnico di Torino as a confirmed Associate Professor (Prof.ssa Associata Confermata).
• Visiting Researcher, West Virginia University, USA (April–September 2002).

Research Interests

Her work integrates control theory, flight mechanics, and artificial-intelligence-based sensing to enhance safety and efficiency of air and space vehicles. Key themes include:

• 4-D trajectory optimisation for climate-neutral aviation.
• Certifiable virtual air-data systems using neural networks.
• Flutter suppression and intelligent flight control for fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
• Low-thrust orbital mechanics, collision avoidance, and end-of-life disposal for satellites.
• Lighter-than-air platforms and VTOL hybrid drones for earth-observation and fire-monitoring missions.

Scientific Awards & Recognition

• PoCN – Proof of Concept Network (2015), AREA Science Park, Italy.
• Regular evaluator for SESAR Joint Undertaking, EU H2020, and European Commission programmes.

Doctoral Advising & Funding

Since 2011 she has served on the PhD board of the Aerospace Engineering doctorate at Politecnico di Torino, currently supervising:

• Giorgio Antonio Orlando (39th cycle, 2023–)
• Gabriele Tarascio (39th cycle, 2023–)

She has been Scientific Director of >20 competitively funded projects (EU Clean Sky MIDAS, ESA, MIUR-PRIN, EASA certification contracts, etc.) and commercial consultancy contracts exceeding €3 M.

Laboratories & Teams

Battipede leads the Modelling, Simulation and Control of Aircraft research group at DIMEAS, managing real-time hardware-in-the-loop test rigs, CubeSat development platforms, and an integrated multi-aircraft simulation laboratory for education and industrial validation.