Research

My main research interests are in the area of Guidance, Navigation and Control of rotor-based and fixed-wing unmanned aircrafts. In addition I have been deeply involved in the development of hardware/software architectures for UAS autonomous flight missions.

I have spent part of my research time on the development of a Terrain Aided Navigation system for aircrafts which augments the INS/GPS solution. The system was implemented and flight-tested on the Yamaha RMAX unmanned industrial helicopter (100Kg max take-off weight).

In addition I have been working in the following areas:

- Rotorcraft dynamics modelling using system identification techniques.

- Development of control system and guidance algorithms for aircrafts.

- INS/GPS integration using Kalman filter techniques.

- Theoretical and experimental study of the aerodynamic performance of rotors at low Reynolds number regime.

Currently I am working on:

- Hardware and software development of a lidar-based data acquisition system for 3D airborne mapping.

- Non-linear rotorcraft dynamic modeling including unsteady aerodynamics effects.

- I am continuosly involved in flight-test activities. Substantial experience has been acquired in post flight-data analysis.

International Awards

1) Best rotorcraft award. 1st US-European Competition and Workshop on Micro Aerial Vehicles Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. September 17-23, 2005.

2) 1st place in the outdoor competition at the 3rd US-European Competition and Workshop on Micro Aerial Vehicles and 7th European Micro Aerial Vehicle Conference and Flight Competition. Toulouse, France. September 17-21, 2007.

3) 3rd place in the indoor competition at the 3rd US-European Competition and Workshop on Micro Aerial Vehicles and 7th European Micro Aerial Vehicle Conference and Flight Competition. Toulouse, France. September 17-21, 2007.

Additional Infos

Authorized UAS operator from the Swedish Aviation Authority.

Certified test-pilot and operator for the Yamaha RMAX unmanned helicopter. Test-pilot course taken at the Yamaha Motor Company in Hamamatsu, Japan. 6th-8th of December 2005.