FixTheRobot Explore Robotics / Guidance, Navigation and Control / Resources

Guidance, Navigation and Control · 64 resources

Resources

Textbooks, lecture courses, technical reports and open-source tools for guidance, navigation and control. Each entry says whether it is free, what its licence allows, and how it was checked.

Last checked on 2026-11-11. Back to the course.

How to read the labels

  • Free anyone may read or watch it at no cost. It says nothing about copying.
  • Reuse allowed, also commercial the licence lets you copy and adapt the material, with attribution, including in a commercial product.
  • Reuse non-commercial only or same licence required you may copy and adapt it under conditions: not commercially, or only if your result carries the same licence.
  • No reuse the source says it may not be redistributed or adapted. Read it and cite it.
  • Reuse not established no licence statement was found. Assume ordinary copyright: link to it, do not copy it.

What “checked” means. Pages were opened and playlists confirmed automatically, and licences were read where the entry says so. No video was watched in full and no repository's code was reviewed: the description of each source comes from its own page or table of contents. This course cites these sources; its text, figures and code were written for this site and copy none of them.

Where to start

Free material, in the order a reader can use it before the course is finished. Entries marked paid are the books worth buying.

ModuleSourceAccess
M1, M12Best Practices for the Design, Development, and Operation of Robust and Reliable Space Vehicle GN&C SystemsFree
M1, M6, M8NPTEL: Navigation, Guidance and ControlFree
M2, M8Guidance Fundamentals TutorialFree
M2, M5, M7, M8, M10Small Unmanned Aircraft: Theory and PracticePaid
M3Classical Control TheoryFree
M3, M4Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers, 2nd editionFree
M3, M4, M5Python Control Systems LibraryFree
M4, M9CMU 16-745 Optimal Control and Reinforcement LearningFree
M4Control BootcampFree
M6An introduction to inertial navigationFree
M7, M11Attitude Determination and Control SystemsFree
M8Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, vol. 29, no. 1 (2010): Homing Missile Guidance and ControlFree
M10MIT 16.333 Aircraft Stability and ControlFree
M11Spacecraft Dynamics and ControlFree to audit
M12Applying Monte Carlo Simulation to Launch Vehicle Design and Requirements AnalysisFree

Core references (8)

The sources the course is designed around: one per area. Four of the six books are paid; the free alternative for each is in the groups below.

  • Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers, 2nd edition

    K. J. Åström, R. M. Murray. Princeton University Press, 2021 · Book (authors’ PDF)

    The standard modern introduction to feedback: modelling, state feedback, output feedback, transfer functions, frequency-domain analysis and design, and fundamental limits.

    FreeNo reuseModules: M3, M4

    Licence: Book: copyright Princeton University Press, kept on the web with its permission. Wiki pages: CC BY-NC-SA unless otherwise noted. Checked: page opened; licence read.

  • Small Unmanned Aircraft: Theory and Practice

    R. W. Beard, T. W. McLain. Princeton University Press, 2012 · Book (paid) with free companion code and slides

    One vehicle taken through the whole GNC chain: frames, kinematics and dynamics, forces and moments, linear models, autopilot by successive loop closure, sensors, state estimation, guidance models, straight-line and orbit following, path management and planning.

    PaidReuse allowed, same licence requiredModules: M2, M5, M7, M8, M10

    Licence: Book: copyrighted. Companion repository: GPL-3.0. Checked: licence read.

  • Tactical and Strategic Missile Guidance

    P. Zarchan. AIAA Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics · Book

    The reference text on homing guidance: proportional navigation, the linearized homing loop, miss-distance analysis by adjoints, optimal guidance, with simulation listings.

    PaidNo reuseModules: M8

    Licence: Copyrighted; all rights reserved (standard publisher copyright, not re-read). Checked: could not be reached; listed from prior knowledge.

  • Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Integrated Navigation Systems, 2nd edition

    P. D. Groves. Artech House, 2013 · Book

    The reference text on navigation: frames and kinematics, inertial sensors and navigation equations, INS error propagation, GNSS, and loosely, tightly and deeply coupled integration.

    PaidNo reuseModules: M6, M7

    Licence: Copyrighted; all rights reserved (standard publisher copyright, not re-read). Checked: could not be reached; listed from prior knowledge.

  • Fundamentals of Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control

    F. L. Markley, J. L. Crassidis. Springer, 2014 · Book

    Attitude representations, sensors and actuators, static attitude determination (TRIAD, Wahba’s problem, QUEST), attitude filtering and attitude control.

    PaidNo reuseModules: M7, M11

    Licence: Copyrighted; all rights reserved (standard publisher copyright, not re-read). Checked: could not be reached; listed from prior knowledge.

  • Aircraft Control and Simulation, 3rd edition

    B. L. Stevens, F. L. Lewis, E. N. Johnson. Wiley, 2016 · Book

    Aircraft equations of motion and modelling, trim and linearization, classical and modern design of flight control systems, with simulation code.

    PaidNo reuseModules: M2, M4, M5, M10

    Licence: Copyrighted; all rights reserved (standard publisher copyright, not re-read). Checked: could not be reached; listed from prior knowledge.

  • Best Practices for the Design, Development, and Operation of Robust and Reliable Space Vehicle GN&C Systems

    C. J. Dennehy. NASA/TP-20230005922, NASA Engineering and Safety Center, 2023 · NASA technical publication

    What experienced GNC engineers check: lessons collected from crewed and robotic spacecraft programmes. It supersedes the 2008 summary linked below.

    FreeReuse allowed, also commercialModules: M1, M12

    Licence: Work of the US Government; public use permitted (as stated on the NTRS record). Checked: page opened; licence read.

  • NPTEL: Navigation, Guidance and Control

    D. Ghose, Indian Institute of Science · Web course (lecture notes)

    The closest single free course to this one in scope: the basics of navigation, guidance and control of aerospace systems for undergraduates, built on basic control theory.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M1, M6, M8

    Licence: Licence not read (the course page is rendered by script; the syllabus PDF was read). Checked: document downloaded and read.

Control (modules 3 to 5) (13)

Pick one video course and one text. The lessons give section references to Åström and Murray.

  • Classical Control Theory

    B. Douglas · Video lectures

    Short lectures on transfer functions, Bode plots, Nyquist, root locus and compensators.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M3

    Licence: No licence statement found. Checked: playlist or video confirmed.

  • Control Bootcamp

    S. Brunton · Video lectures

    State-space control in short lectures: controllability, observability, pole placement, LQR, Kalman filter, LQG and robustness.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M4

    Licence: No licence statement found. Checked: playlist or video confirmed.

  • MATLAB Tech Talks: Understanding Control Systems

    MathWorks · Video series

    Short conceptual videos. The related series cover practical control problems and model predictive control.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M3, M9

    Licence: No licence statement found. Checked: playlist or video confirmed.

  • MIT 16.30 Feedback Control Systems

    J. How, E. Frazzoli. MIT OpenCourseWare · Course: lecture notes, problem sets

    A full aerospace control course from classical design to state space, estimators and LQG.

    FreeReuse non-commercial onlyModules: M3, M4

    Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (MIT OpenCourseWare terms, read on 2026-11-10 for the Probability survey). Checked: page opened.

  • UIUC AE 353 Aerospace Control Systems

    T. Bretl, University of Illinois · Course: syllabus, notes, Python projects

    An undergraduate aerospace control course taught with Python simulation projects.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M3, M4

    Licence: No licence statement found. Checked: page opened.

  • Christopher Lum: lectures on control and flight

    C. Lum, University of Washington · Video lectures

    A large set of worked lectures. Three playlists are linked: Control Theory, and the course playlists AE511 and AA516/AE512 (titles confirmed; contents not inspected).

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M3, M4, M10

    Licence: No licence statement found. Checked: playlist or video confirmed; page opened.

  • NPTEL: Advanced Control System Design for Aerospace Vehicles

    R. Padhi, Indian Institute of Science · Video course

    Linear and nonlinear analysis and synthesis in the state-space framework, biased towards guidance and control of aircraft and missiles.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M4, M5, M10

    Licence: Licence not read. Checked: document downloaded and read; playlist or video confirmed.

  • Slotine Lectures on Nonlinear Systems

    J.-J. Slotine, MIT Nonlinear Systems Laboratory · Video lectures

    Lectures that follow Slotine and Li, Applied Nonlinear Control (paid book): Lyapunov theory, feedback linearization, sliding and adaptive control.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M5

    Licence: No licence statement found. Checked: page opened.

  • Underactuated Robotics

    R. Tedrake, MIT · Online textbook with notebooks and lectures

    Nonlinear dynamics and control by optimization: Lyapunov analysis, LQR, trajectory optimization, with runnable notebooks.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M4, M5, M9

    Licence: No licence statement found on the page (© Russ Tedrake). Checked: page opened; playlist or video confirmed.

  • Optimal Control: Linear Quadratic Methods

    B. D. O. Anderson, J. B. Moore. Prentice Hall, 1989 · Book (scan on an author’s page)

    The classic text on the linear-quadratic regulator, its robustness properties and LQG.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M4

    Licence: No licence statement found (18 MB scan). Checked: document downloaded and read.

  • Python Control Systems Library

    python-control developers · Software library

    Transfer functions, state space, Bode and Nyquist plots, margins, LQR and more, in Python. The tool to check a lesson’s numbers against.

    FreeReuse allowed, also commercialModules: M3, M4, M5

    Licence: BSD 3-Clause. Checked: page opened; licence read.

  • Control Tutorials for MATLAB and Simulink (CTMS)

    University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Detroit Mercy · Tutorials

    Worked design examples (cruise control, aircraft pitch, inverted pendulum) by every classical and state-space method.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M3, M4

    Licence: Licence not read (the site refused automated access). Checked: could not be reached; listed from prior knowledge.

  • Paid texts for modules 3 to 5

    Franklin, Powell, Emami-Naeini, Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems; Skogestad, Postlethwaite, Multivariable Feedback Control; Khalil, Nonlinear Systems; Lavretsky, Wise, Robust and Adaptive Control with Aerospace Applications · Books

    The standard textbook for classical design, for robustness and limits of performance, for Lyapunov theory, and for adaptive control of aircraft, in that order.

    PaidNo reuseModules: M3, M5

    Licence: Copyrighted; all rights reserved (standard publisher copyright, not re-read). Checked: could not be reached; listed from prior knowledge.

Guidance and trajectory optimization (modules 8 and 9) (14)

Guidance theory was developed for homing missiles and for spaceflight, and that is where its literature is. The course uses the theory for landing, rendezvous and path following.

Aircraft, spacecraft and rockets (modules 2, 10 and 11) (13)

Vehicle dynamics and the GNC practice of each vehicle class.

  • MIT 16.333 Aircraft Stability and Control

    J. How. MIT OpenCourseWare · Course: lecture notes

    Aircraft equations of motion, longitudinal and lateral modes, and autopilot design.

    FreeReuse non-commercial onlyModules: M10

    Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (MIT OpenCourseWare terms, read on 2026-11-10 for the Probability survey). Checked: page opened.

  • Flight Dynamics (book page) and Princeton lecture slides

    R. F. Stengel, Princeton University · Book page with course material

    The page of a standard flight-dynamics text (paid book). The lecture pages of the related course refused automated access.

    FreeNo reuseModules: M10

    Licence: © Robert F. Stengel. All rights reserved. Checked: page opened.

  • NPTEL: Flight Dynamics II (Stability)

    Channel: nptelhrd · Video course

    A lecture course on aircraft stability (title confirmed; contents not inspected).

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M10

    Licence: Licence not read. Checked: playlist or video confirmed.

  • JSBSim

    JSBSim Team · Flight dynamics model and reference manual

    An open 6-DoF flight dynamics model, with a manual that documents its equations.

    FreeReuse allowed, same licence requiredModules: M2, M10

    Licence: LGPL-2.1. Checked: page opened; licence read.

  • PX4: Controller Diagrams

    PX4 Development Team · Documentation

    Block diagrams of the multicopter and fixed-wing controllers of a fielded autopilot, including total-energy control.

    FreeReuse allowed, also commercialModules: M5, M10

    Licence: PX4 code: BSD 3-Clause. Documentation licence not read. Checked: page opened; licence read.

  • Spacecraft Dynamics and Control

    H. Schaub, University of Colorado Boulder. Coursera · Online specialization

    Kinematics, kinetics and control of spacecraft attitude, with a capstone. It follows Schaub and Junkins, Analytical Mechanics of Space Systems (paid).

    Free to auditNo reuseModules: M11

    Licence: © Coursera Inc. All rights reserved. Checked: page opened.

  • Basilisk

    Autonomous Vehicle Systems Laboratory, University of Colorado Boulder · Simulation framework

    An astrodynamics simulation framework with flight-software modules for attitude determination and control.

    FreeReuse allowed, also commercialModules: M11, M12

    Licence: ISC. Checked: page opened; licence read.

  • Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics & Control (Space Vehicle Dynamics course)

    S. Ross, Virginia Tech · Video lectures

    A lecture course on rigid-body attitude dynamics and control (title confirmed; contents not inspected).

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M11

    Licence: No licence statement found. Checked: playlist or video confirmed.

  • MIT 16.346 Astrodynamics and 16.07 Dynamics

    MIT OpenCourseWare · Courses: lecture notes

    Orbital mechanics, and rigid-body dynamics in the form module 2 uses.

    FreeReuse non-commercial onlyModules: M2, M11

    Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (MIT OpenCourseWare terms, read on 2026-11-10 for the Probability survey). Checked: page opened.

  • State-of-the-Art of Small Spacecraft Technology: Guidance, Navigation, and Control

    NASA Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute · Report chapter

    What GNC hardware small satellites carry today: wheels, magnetorquers, star trackers, sun sensors, GNSS receivers.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M7, M11

    Licence: Licence not read (NASA web page). Checked: page opened.

  • MIT STS.471J Engineering Apollo: The Moon Project as a Complex System

    MIT OpenCourseWare · Course

    The first digital GNC system as a case study in system engineering.

    FreeReuse non-commercial onlyModules: M1, M11

    Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (MIT OpenCourseWare terms, read on 2026-11-10 for the Probability survey). Checked: page opened.

  • Marine vehicles: Fossen’s marine craft model and MIT 2.154

    T. I. Fossen; MIT OpenCourseWare · Model reference, toolbox and course

    The same GNC structure for ships and underwater vehicles, for readers who work on them. The course does not teach marine vehicles.

    FreeReuse allowed, also commercialModules: M2

    Licence: MSS toolbox: MIT. Web page and book: copyrighted. MIT 2.154: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Checked: page opened; licence read.

  • Paid texts for modules 10 and 11

    Curtis, Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students; Schaub, Junkins, Analytical Mechanics of Space Systems; Wie, Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control; Etkin, Reid, Dynamics of Flight · Books

    The usual first orbital-mechanics text, the reference for attitude kinematics and kinetics, a control-centred treatment of space vehicles, and the classic on aircraft stability.

    PaidNo reuseModules: M10, M11

    Licence: Copyrighted; all rights reserved (standard publisher copyright, not re-read). Checked: could not be reached; listed from prior knowledge.

GNC systems engineering (modules 1 and 12) (4)

How a design is verified. Almost all of it is public, because space agencies publish their practice.

  • Applying Monte Carlo Simulation to Launch Vehicle Design and Requirements Analysis

    J. M. Hanson, B. B. Beard. NASA, 2010 (NTRS 20100038453) · NASA technical publication

    How many runs a requirement needs, how to state the result with a confidence, and how to disperse the inputs.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M12

    Licence: Licence not read (NASA report; the copyright statement of the record was not read). Checked: page opened.

  • NASA-STD-7009: Standard for Models and Simulations

    NASA · Standard

    What must be shown about a simulation before its results support a decision.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M2, M12

    Licence: Licence not read. Checked: page opened.

  • ECSS-E-HB-60A: Control engineering handbook

    European Cooperation for Space Standardization, 2010 · Handbook

    The European space standard’s view of the control engineering process, from requirements to verification.

    FreeNo reuseModules: M1, M12

    Licence: © European Space Agency for the members of ECSS. Checked: page opened.

  • NASA Trick

    NASA Johnson Space Center · Simulation environment

    The simulation framework used for many NASA vehicle simulations, including Monte Carlo runs.

    FreeReuse not established: link onlyModules: M12

    Licence: Licence not read beyond its heading: NASA Open Source Agreement 1.3. Read its terms before any reuse. Checked: licence read.