AIDA3 Research: AI for Autonomous Aviation

December 17, 2025

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AIDA3 Research: This research project explores and develops machine-learning models to solve real-world problems in fixed-wing uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and participates in national and international competitions to advance the future of autonomous aviation that are organized both virtually and physically in your unique testing. The project is open to students from all colleges and majors (assuming that they have some basic programming and machine learning skills or have interest in organizing large scale technical competitions).

Advisor:

Detailed Description

This VIP team supports AIDA3 Research with a focus on fixed-wing uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the International Autonomous Fixed-Wing UAS Pylon Racing Competition. As the UAV and aviation industries rapidly grow, the team aims to tackle real-world problems and integrate AI/ML into the future of autonomous aviation to ensure a safe, efficient aviation. Students work on two tightly coupled research thrusts: (1) flight autonomy with a deep learning model for different aspects of flight from guidance, navigation, and control to onboard sensing through SLAM and computer vision, and (2) the exploration and development of digital twins of fixed-wing vehicles and their operating environments to further improve the scalability and close the simulator-to-real-world gap. Typical activities include software development in Python/C++/ROS 2, training and benchmarking models, building and testing simulation data pipelines, and participating in competitions. Over multiple semesters, teams aim to compete in different national and international competition events and create tools, datasets, and publications for autonomous aviation.

Relevant Technologies

  • Machine learning for autonomous systems
  • Digital twinning and Flight testing
  • Autonomy and Robotics

Prerequisite Knowledge

  • Basic coding (Python or C++)
  • Basics in robotics (ROS 2)
  • Willingness to learn and advance the future of autonomous aviation

Competition

Autonomous Fixed-Wing UAS Pylong Racing