Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Laboratory (UAV-Lab)

The unmanned aerial vehicles laboratory is a test facility for NTNU's Research on unmanned aerial systems (UAS). We are using Agdenes airfield as primary test field located about 90 km southwest of Trondheim (Google maps). In addition we operate UAVs from Eggemoen, Brekken, Ørland, Frøya, Ny-Ålesund and other locations. A test lab is located in Elektro Bld. D (Room D140) and includes mobile test facilities and a workshop/lab.

Internal pages: UAV-Lab Wiki page (requires local IP address)

Contact persons:

Professor Tor Arne Johansen, Director
Professor Thor I. Fossen, Co-director
Professor Kostas Alexis
Associate Professor Torleiv H. Bryne
Researcher Richard Hann

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Centers and Associated Labs

NTNU Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems (NTNU AMOS)
NTNU UAV Icing Lab
Autonomous Robots Lab

Projects

Autonomous detection and mitigation of in-flight icing on unmanned aerial vehicles. Funded by the Research Council of Norway (IKTPLUSS), managed by NTNU in collaboration with UBIQ Aerospace, Andøya Space, Maritime Robotics and VTT Finland.
Adverse weather mission planning for unmanned aerial vehicles. Funded by the Research Council of Norway (Innovation project), managed by UBIQ Aerospace in collaboration with NTNU.
Unmanned Aircrafts in All Future Airspace – UAFFA. Funded by the Research Council of Norway (Innovation project), managed by Radionor Communications in collaboration with Andøya Space and NTNU.
Machine Piloted Unmanned Systems - MPUS. Funded by the Research Council of Norway (Innovation project), managed by Radionor Communications in collaboration with Kongsberg Seatex, Maritime Robotics and NTNU.
Efficient Learning and Optimization Tools for Hyperspectral Imaging Systems (ELO-Hyp). Bilateral (EEA) project with Romania funded by Grants Norway. Managed by Univ. Polytech. Bucuresti in collaboration with NTNU, Univ. Bucuresti and Spitalul Clinica Coltea.
Cyber-Physical Security for Safety-Critical Aviation Operations, funded by the Research Council of Norway (IKTPLUSS) and headed by Sintef Digital
D•ICE ROTORS – Protecting the unmanned aircraft industry, funded by Research Council of Norway (BIA) and UBIQ Aerospace
Integrated Remote Sensing Technology for Arctic Operations - Center for Research-Based Innovation (University of Tromsø)
Maritime Landing System for UAS (MarLander), innovation project funded by the Research Council of Norway (MAROFF), Maritime Robotics, Equinor, and NOFO
Autonomous optimized energy management and advanced control for hybrid electric propulsion air vehicles (FlightSmart), innovation project funded by the Research Council of Norway (BIA), Equator Aircraft, Maritime Robotics
Autonomous Drone-based Surveys of Ships in Operation (ADRASSO), innovation project funded by the Research Council of Norway (MAROFF), DNV GL, Norsk Elektrooptikk, Scout Drone Inspection, Jotun, IDLEtechs
Unlocking the potential of autonomous systems and operations through supervisory risk control (UNLOCK), funded by the Research Council of Norway (FRINATEK)
Ocean-Air synoptic operations using coordinated autonomous robotic SYStems and micro underwater gliders (OASYS), funded by the Research Council of Norway under the MARTERA program
Nonlinear Autopilot Design for Increased Extended Flight Envelopes and Operation of Fixed-Wing UAVs in Extreme Conditions, funded by the Research Council of Norway (IKTPLUSS
Ground based technologies for a real-time unmanned aerial system traffic management system (UTMS) – CLASS, SESAR-JU project, coordinated by Airbus
Hybrid Operations in Maritime Environments, innovation project funded by the Research Council of Norway (MAROFF), jointly with Radionor Communications, Kongsberg Seatex and Maritime Robotics
Multi-stage global sensor fusion for navigation using nonlinear observers and eXogenous Kalman filter, funded by the Research Council of Norway (FRINATEK)
TerraDrone – Earth observation from unmanned aerial vehicles, innovation project funded by the Research Council of Norway (BIA), jointly with Maritime Robotics AS, IDLEtechs AS, NGU (Norges Geologiske Undersøkelser) and ICRAF (World Agroforstry Centre)
Marine UAS is an EU-funded doctoral program to strategically strengthen research training on Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems for Marine and Coastal Monitoring. It is a comprehensive Marie Curie Innovative Training Network across a range of partners in several countries designed to have high impact on the training of individual researchers and their knowledge, skills and their future careers. MarineUAS has established a unique cooperative environment, coordinated by NTNU AMOS at NTNU.

PhD and Postdoc Projects:

UAV Icing (several PhD candidates)
Synchronization and timing in sensor fusion (PhD candidate Erling Jellum)
Phased-array-aided intertial navigation systems for UAVs (PhD candidate Mika Okuhara)
UAV ship-based operations (PhD candidate Oliver Hasler)
Airborne GNSS/GBAS receiver experimental platform for UAVs (Postdoc Atilla Toker)
Super-resolution techniques and hyperspectral image acquisition for remote sensing (Postdoc Joseph Garrett)
Nonlinear flight control for UAVs (PhD candidates Dirk Reinhardt and Erlend Coates)
Robust navigation and air data parameter estimation in extreme flight conditions (Postdoc Bård Stovner)
Hyperspectral imaging in drones and small satellites (PhD candidate Marie Henriksen)
UAV for maritime operations in arctic conditions (PhD candidate Richard Hann)
Global nonlinear methods for estimation in SLAM with UAV applications (PhD candidate Elias Bjørne)
Autonomous ship-landing of UAVs (PhD candidate Martin Sollie)
Decision making under uncertainty in risk-based autonomous control (PhD candidate Sverre Rothmund)
Drone contact operations (PhD candidate Pål Mathisen)
Machine learning in control and estimation (PhD candidate Eivind Bøhn)
Coordinated oceanographic observation system with autonomous aerial/surface robots and hyper-spectral imaging in SmallSat (PhD candidate Sivert Bakken)
Autonomous anti-icing of UAV (Postdoc Kim Lynge Sørensen)
Autonomous object detection and tracking in maritime environments using infrared sensors (PhD candidate Håkon Helgesen and Postdoc Frederik S. Leira)
Multivariate Analysis of Image Data with Heterogenous Sensors and Environments (PhD candidate João Fortuna)
Deployment, search and recovery of marine sensors using multiple rotary wings UAVs (Researcher Mads Bornebusch)
Deployment, search and recovery of marine sensors using a fixed-wing UAV (PhD candidate Mariann Merz)
Navigation and sensor timing and synchronization for UAVs (PhD candidate Sigurd M. Albrektsen)
Air data parameter estimation for small UAVs (PhD candidate: Kasper Trolle Borup)
Multi-body Unmanned Aerial Systems (PhD candidate: Krzysztof Cisek)
Autonomous control and communication architectures for coordinated operation of unmanned vehicles (UAV, AUV, USV) in a maritime mobile sensor network (PhD candidate: Artur Zolich)
Embedded Optimization for Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Mission Planning and Guidance (PhD candidate: Siri H. Mathiesen)
Automatic landing of fixed-wing UAVs (PhD candidate: Kristoffer Gryte)
Intelligent Data Acquisition in Maritime UAS (PhD candidate: Christopher Dahlin Rodin)
Iceberg Detection, Tracking and Motion Prediction (PhD candidate: Jonatan Olofsson)
Maritime operations supported by UAVs (PhD candidate: Fabio Andrade)
Conceptual design of maritime UAVs (PhD candidate: Anthony Hovenburg)

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