Multi-Vehicle Systems and Air Traffic Control Commons^™

Multimodal Interpretation Of Pilot–Controller Communications For Runway Safety Assurance And Enhanced Atc Situational Awareness., Chaebin Song, Juin Park

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Recent runway safety events have highlighted the importance of accurate and timely interpretation of pilot–controller communications, especially in complex airport environments where aircraft and ground vehicles interact on or near active movement areas. In light of the recent LaGuardia Airport collision, which has drawn attention to communication, coordination, and surface safety challenges, this project investigates how multimodal data can support air traffic controllers’ situational awareness and safety assurance. This study develops an in-progress framework that combines Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) of pilot–controller radio communications with ADS-B trajectory data to improve interpretation of operational intent and cross-check communications against observed aircraft …

Improving Multi-Agent Swarm Collision Avoidance Using Reciprocal Velocity Obstacles, Nick Wilson

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

As multi-agent systems grow increasingly complex, physical robotic swarms are essential to bridge the gap between limited software simulations and real-world application. The BID4R STARS swarm provides a physical platform for testing diverse algorithms, yet its success relies heavily on fundamental agent capabilities—most notably, obstacle avoidance. Preventing intra-swarm collisions is critical to avoid hardware damage and experimental disruption. To address this challenge, this project implements the Reciprocal Velocity Obstacles (RVO) algorithm onto the STARS swarm. While standard collision avoidance algorithms often overcorrect and induce oscillatory agent movement, RVO factors in the velocity and anticipated responses of all agents involved in …

Honeybee-Inspired Swarm Intelligence For Autonomous Adaptability Of Martian Infrastructure, Morgan Kendall

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Current research in autonomous space systems primarily relies on centralized control or swarm methods designed for fixed mission scenarios. These approaches lack the flexibility needed for long-duration Mars operations, where infrastructure must adapt to changing conditions, evolving mission goals, and limited human oversight. This creates a critical gap in developing autonomous systems capable of continuous self-organization. This gap is being addressed by developing a biologically inspired, adaptive Martian infrastructure using swarm intelligence. The scope includes key system domains such as power distribution, communication networks, and surface logistics. Agent-based modeling software will simulate infrastructure components as autonomous agents that evaluate local …

Applications Of A Swarm-Behavior Model On Existing Satellite Constellations, Naomi Lee

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

The scope of this work explores biological swarm behavior and its application to low- and medium-sized Earth orbit satellite constellation systems. Existing constellation structures have predetermined orbits, meaning there is little adaptivity in the spacing and interactions between satellites. This allows for formation disruption by atmospheric perturbations in lower Earth orbit trajectories but can be countered with interactive controls that help with structure stability. This adaptive spacing and control can also be applied in MEO constellations in coverage and positioning optimization. In ‘mimicking’ this swarm behavior in starling murmurations, the separation, alignment, and cohesion flocking behavior of satellite groupings will …

Helio: Heliophysics Enhanced Learning For Intelligent Orbits, Kylie Nager, James Kirk

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

HELIO: Heliophysics Enhanced Learning for Intelligent Orbits   Satellite constellations operating in near-Earth space are increasingly vulnerable to space weather disturbances, such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and high-speed solar wind streams, which degrade communications, destabilize attitude control, and accelerate orbital decay. These disturbances directly threaten mission continuity, constellation availability, and space asset survivability. Current protective approaches rely primarily on ground-based alerts and lack integration with broader space domain awareness, which results in programmed reactive protocols that are often initiated too late to prevent performance degradation and asset loss. The HELIO project addresses this gap by turning space-weather forecasts …

Fault-Aware Flight Path Assessment For Evtols Using An Integrated Air Traffic Management Environment, John Clardy, Edison Alberto Martinez Samaniego

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

This study introduces a simulation framework to evaluate Fault-Aware Flight Paths for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft within an integrated air traffic management environment. By combining an air traffic management system with intelligent trajectory generation frameworks, the approach assesses the development of safe, adaptive, and fault-aware flight paths that account for traffic interactions, airspace features, and specific operational constraints. Real-world historical airspace traffic data was used to accurately simulate complex and congested operational conditions. The main goal is to evaluate the operational impact of integrating eVTOL operations into the National Airspace System, with a focus on conflict detection, …

Cars Imass - Comparing Llm Vs Human Operator Effectiveness In Multi-Agent Swarm Coordination, Gatlin Nelson

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Title: Dual-Perspective Risk Analysis for Human-LLM Decision Comparison in UAV Swarm Navigation   Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms operating in low-altitude wireless network environments encounter localized disruptions that degrade positioning and navigation metrics. These disruptions are modeled as geographic failure zones with defined boundaries. A UAV discovers a zone by entering it and observing degraded performance on its onboard systems. This work assumes that affected UAVs can autonomously retreat to safety using onboard sensors and focuses on the subsequent rerouting decision. Once recovered, the system generates candidate repositioning points surrounding the vehicle, each scored using Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR). A human operator …

Phaëthon System, Brady Roudabush, Lauren Gallo, Emelia Thompson, Jacob Woods

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Phaëthon System is the project name for the Search and Rescue Drone Initiative. This initiative will improve the current search and rescue drone industry by introducing new techniques to get through dense forest canopies and other places where an overhead view is not useful. The Phaëthon System uses a swarm of drones that can penetrate under the tree canopy to map and search with the utmost efficiency and safety for rescuers. A command drone is launched to survey the overall search area, and set up a communications and data link. The next component is then released, which is a swarm …

Accelerating Search And Rescue Response: A Simulation Study On The Dynamic Efficiency Of Flocking-Enabled Drone Swarms, Sophia Beckwith, Carys Del Prete

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

This project explores how imitations observed in animal group behavior, specifically flocking in birds, can be applied to the functionality of autonomous drone systems to aid in search and rescue efforts. The goal is to demonstrate how incorporating code based on the Boids, Vicsck and predictive control linear algebraic mathematical models for drone flight controls and the collective behaviors of flocks will increase the efficiency of drone maneuvers, allowing them to reorganize and fill gaps when one is removed. A MATLAB-based simulation was developed to model the behaviors using research conducted on the symmetric and synchronized behaviors observed from flocks …

Interplay Between Physical Design Choices And Emergent Cyber System Consensus: A Case Study With An Underwater Swarm, Ava Neubert

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Understanding how physical constraints influence collective behavior is critical for designing cyber-physical multi-agent systems in communication-limited environments. This project investigates how agent mobility and communication constraints affect opinion dynamics in a three-dimensional underwater swarm. An agent-based model was developed in AnyLogic, where agents follow realistic motion dynamics and exchange information at discrete communication intervals to reflect underwater limitations. Agent opinions are modeled using a BOIDS-inspired consensus mechanism in RGB space, allowing visualization of convergence behavior. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of communication range, agent speed, turn rate, and swarm size. Results show that communication range has …

Machine Learning For Predictive Energy And Emissions Modeling Of Vehicles And Power Grids In The United States, S M Tanvir Faysal Alam Chowdhoury

Dissertations

The environmental benefits of electric vehicle (EV) adoption depend on more than replacing internal combustion engine vehicles with electric powertrains. EV adoption reshapes electricity demand, interacts with regional generation mixes, and influences travel behavior and congestion, creating a coupled transportation-energy system in which vehicle and power-plant emissions must be evaluated together. This dissertation develops machine-learning frameworks for predicting energy consumption and emissions from vehicles and power grids under rising EV adoption. The first component forecasts grid emissions from EV charging. Using simulation data from NREL's Cambium database, a Prophet-based time-series framework predicts carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emission rates …

Assessing Computer Vision Based Conflict Detection In Uas Traffic Monitoring Under Secure Communication Constraints, Fadjimata Issoufou Anaroua

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The rapid growth of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is creating a new low-altitude airspace ecosystem where drones, air taxis, service suppliers, communication networks, sensors, and ground-based monitoring systems must work together safely. Within this ecosystem, UAS Traffic Management (UTM) is expected to provide a digital framework for coordinating operations beyond traditional air traffic control. However, reliable integration also requires resilient monitoring methods that can detect non-cooperative aircraft, protect communication links, and maintain timely situational awareness under real-world constraints.

This dissertation examines how computer vision can support cooperative monitoring systems such as Remote ID and ADS-B …

The Pid-Based Three Quadcopter Uavs Formation Control Under External Disturbance, Vo Van An, Trinh Luong Mien

Makara Journal of Technology

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a formation control strategy for three quadcopter UAVs, based on a PID controller in a leader–follower structure, under the influence of external disturbances. Each UAV employs a six-degree of-freedom dynamic model and utilises a cascade PID control architecture, in which the inner control loop stabilises the attitude. In contrast, the outer control loop regulates position and maintains the formation. The PID parameters are tuned using the Ziegler–Nichols method to ensure simple implementation and low computational cost. The performance of the control system is evaluated through simulations in the MATLAB environment for two …

Cooperative Unmanned Aerial System (Uas) Geolocation Of Emitters, Christopher Peters

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

A collection of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can be networked as a cooperative wireless sensor array to geolocate an unknown-location RF emitter using time-based measurements. In operation, however, environmental multipath and hardware errors in sensor positioning and timing can degrade emitter localization accuracy and limit the practicality of single-snapshot solutions. This dissertation evaluates time-of-arrival and time-difference-of-arrival (TOA/TDOA) geolocation for cooperative UAS arrays under realistic error sources and develops geometry-control strategies that actively reduce localization uncertainty through iterative UAS repositioning.

This work studies the Location on a Conic Axis (LOCA) method for emitter localization. Using Monte Carlo simulations with hardware error …

Statistical Analysis Of Log Transformation Effectiveness In Air Traffic Movement Forecasting During Covid-19 In South Africa, John Lehlaka Masekoameng

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

This study evaluates the effectiveness of log transformation in enhancing multiple regression models used to forecast air traffic movements (ATMs) in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using 60 monthly observations from October 2016 to September 2021, the analysis incorporates variables such as revenue, lockdown levels, COVID-19 metrics, exchange rates, gross domestic product, and population. Two models are compared: one using raw ATMs and another with log-transformed ATMs as the dependent variable.

While the untransformed model shows stronger explanatory power (R² = 0.904, adjusted R² = 0.891) compared to the log-transformed model (R² = 0.772, adjusted R² = 0.741), the …

Autonomous Uav Mission Planning Under Threat Using Model Predictive Control With Proportional-Navigation Pursuers, Mehmet B. Ozcelik

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses

Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating in contested environments must

complete mission objectives while avoiding restricted regions, radar exposure, and pos-

sible interception. This thesis develops a MATLAB-based simulation framework for

two-dimensional UAV mission planning under threat using model predictive control and

proportional-navigation chasers. The mission requires the UAV to travel from a start

location to a goal while visiting required checkpoints and avoiding no-fly zones and radar

regions. A chaser attempts to intercept the UAV using either a basic pure-pursuit-style

law or a proportional-navigation guidance law.

The framework integrates environment generation, augmented visibility-graph rout-

ing, waypoint management, UAV kinematic …

Gaussian Process Regression–Based Uncertainty Quantification For Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management And Advanced Air Mobility Applications, Aakarshan Khanal

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations

Uncertainty quantification has gained significant attention in recent years as a research area in dynamical systems. Mathematical representations of the physical system, combined with an understanding of model uncertainties, enable the propagation of uncertainty in temporal space, which allows us to make informed decisions. However, what if the true dynamics of the system is unknown or too complex to define explicitly? In such cases, the system’s behavior can instead be inferred or learned from observed input–output data rather than from an analytical or physics-based model. To this end, this dissertation focuses on developing a data-driven framework for nonparametric dynamics modeling, …

A Feasibility Study Into The Usability And Application Of An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle For Aircraft Inspection And Quality Assurance Inspections, Reece P. Bhave

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The global aviation industry is often characterized as one of the safest modes of transportation in the modern world. With an abundance of quality assurance inspections and checks to determine operations safety, modern-day commercial aircraft that are utilized for passenger and cargo flights are held to a higher safety standard defined by regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States of America and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in the European Union. While these quality standards are maintained via a series of inspections, checks, and preventative maintenance procedures, they are limited to only visual or …

Flysurf: A Flying Robotic Surface With Shape Morphing And Motion Control, Kevin Aubert De Luchi Lomellini

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis introduces FlySurf, a novel flying robotic surface capable of simultaneous shape morphing and motion control. FlySurf is modeled as a mesh-based dynamic structure actuated by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles, enabling complex deformations during flight. The proposed control architecture comprises three main components. First, a state estimator to infer the robotic surface state from limited observations. Second, a shape trajectory planner that incorporates an affine deformation term to preserve surface integrity during shape transitions. Third, a surface controller to minimize the error between the desired and actual surface configurations.

The methodology is validated through realistic simulations and hardware experiments, …

Heterogeneous Boid Swarm Performance Under Environmental And Neighbor Communication Link Variability, Jonathan C. Oxborrow

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial swarms are of growing interest in numerous fields and use cases. As their utilization increases drones and robots with different capabilities will be required to coordinate for task completion thus creating heterogeneous swarms. Swarm individuals generally communicate with all neighbors inside their sensor range generating a significant amount of message traffic. Previous research of a heterogeneous group in a non-physical environment has shown that restricting communication to only one neighbor of each different capability maintained performance. This work applies that finding to a heterogeneous boid swarm with the addition of varied environmental conditions. The swarm is comprised of three …