Avionics is a high-tech field that combines airborne electronic equipment, automated flight control systems, navigation complexes, aeronautical communications, and artificial intelligence systems for aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and rocket-space vehicles.

An avionics specialist creates and operates the "brain" and "nervous system" of any aircraft—from commercial passenger airliners to FPV drones and space satellites.

Training in this specialty covers the following objects and systems:

- automatic flight control systems (FBW/Fly-by-Wire): autopilots, fly-by-wire control systems, stabilization, and attitude control systems;

- flight and navigation systems: inertial (INS) and satellite (GNSS/GPS) navigation systems, radars, and traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS);

- airborne computer networks and interfaces: digital data buses (ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553, CAN, Ethernet) and flight information processing systems;

- unmanned aerial systems (UAS/UAV): flight controllers, communication systems, telemetry, and GPS-denied autonomous navigation systems;

- software and information support: real-time operating systems (RTOS), airborne algorithms, radio-electronic systems, and cockpit display systems (Glass Cockpit).

Educational goals by higher education levels:

First (Bachelor's) level - training engineers capable of solving complex specialized tasks in the practical application, implementation, maintenance, and installation of avionics systems and devices.

Key focuses of Bachelor's training:

- mastering microcontrollers, analog/digital circuit design, and airborne system programming (C/C++, Python);

- diagnostics, debugging, technical maintenance, and repair of airborne equipment;

- electronic unit design in CAD systems (Altium Designer, KiCAD) and 3D modeling;

- installation and testing of navigation, radio communication, and autopilot equipment on aircraft and UAVs.

Third (Educational-Scientific) level - training highly qualified scientific personnel capable of conducting fundamental and applied research, designing, developing, testing, and certifying innovative avionics systems under conditions of uncertainty.

Key focuses of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) training:

- developing new mathematical models and algorithms for adaptive and autonomous aircraft control;

- creating noise-immune navigation and communication systems, integrating computer vision and AI into avionics;

- conducting airborne software certification studies according to international standards (DO-178C / DO-254);

- publishing scientific works in Scopus/Web of Science journals, patent activities, and academic teaching in higher education institutions.

Key graduate competencies:

- circuit design and Embedded - PCB design, microcontroller programming (STM32, FPGA, FPGA/SoC);

- control systems (DSP/Control) - mathematical modeling of flight dynamics and autopilot algorithm development (MATLAB/Simulink);

- programming and RTOS - writing reliable airborne code for real-time operating systems (FreeRTOS, VxWorks);

- aeronautical navigation and radar - working with radio-technical systems and Kalman filtering algorithms for satellite and inertial navigation.

Graduates of specialty 173 Avionics are in high demand both in the aerospace industry and in the private IT/Embedded sector:

- UAV development and manufacturing (Drone/UAV Industry): Lead Embedded Engineer, Avionics Systems Engineer, flight controller and autopilot developer;

- aerospace enterprises and design bureaus: ANTONOV Company, Yuzhnoye State Design Office, Radionix, Motor Sich — development and testing of aircraft and missile avionics;

- Embedded / IT companies: firmware development, real-time system developer for international Tech companies;

- airlines and MRO centers: maintenance engineer for avionics, electronic, and navigation systems of passenger aircraft;

- science and education (for PhD): head of R&D laboratories, researcher, lecturer at higher education institutions.

Training is conducted at the Department of Aircraft Control Systems (301)

Training is conducted according to the following educational programs:

Educational Program	Degree	Mode of Study	Duration of Study
Autonomous Navigation and Adaptive Control Systems of Aircraft	Bachelor based on complete general secondary education	Full-time and part-time	3 years and 10 months
Autonomous Navigation and Adaptive Control Systems of Aircraft	Doctor of Philosophy	Full-time and part-time	4 years