Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have ubiquitous military and civilian applications. While today’s UAVs are far more capable than they were ten years ago, they remain constrained by the fact that they can only move through unknown environments at a relatively slow pace of 5-10m/s. This limit on the speed of UAVs is imposed by a combination of sensor limitations, limitations on available computational power, and the increasing complexity of aerodynamics at high speeds. This research project will attempt to develop some of the control and sensing techniques required to overcome these limitations.

This project excites me because of the opportunity to work in an expanding field with a wide range of possible applications. UAVs have been used in areas as different as archaeology and cinematography, and I’m certain that the possibilities that people can dream up of will continue to grow.