Here at the UNT College of Engineering, our research in unmanned aircraft systems spans across a wide array of disciplines and applications. With 14 faculty members leading 12 graduate students and nearly 40 undergraduate students, our research intersects the disciplines of electrical, mechanical, engineering technology, materials science, and both computer science and computer engineering. Our team’s research is focused on:

• UAS Manufacturing and Materials Development
• UAS Modeling and Simulation
• UAS Air Platform and Morphing Structures
• UAS Propulsion & Power
• UAS Communications & Navigation
• UAS Signal and Image Processing, AI
• UAS Embedded Sensors, Failure and Design

Prototyping & Manufacturing

Design & simulations

Communications & controls

In-flight testing

Acoustic & RF testing

Ground testing

Engine wear & tribology

Noise mapping

Surface engineering

UAS research expertise in College of Engineering

Thanks to funding from the Army Research Laboratory, National Science Foundation, and NASA and our industry partners, Bell and Tribologix, we’re able to dedicate our expertise within the college to help with:

• UAS based quickly deployable networks for emergency responders communications (FEMA, …)
• UAS traffic management, communication, reliability and security
• Approaches for UAS flight safety navigation and controls with NASA, NSF
• Lightweight aerospace materials with embedded sensors
• Acoustic noise and imaging data processing
• Material and design approaches for aerospace propulsion reliability, energy loss reduction, energy and thermal management
• Cost effective manufacturing routes for UAS prototyping and making using Additive and Digital Manufacturing approaches.
• High-fidelity modeling of UAS flight dynamics using our in-house Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver and UNT high performance computing (HPC) center

Faculty research on UAS

• UAS propulsion - Samir Aouadi (samir.aouadi@unt.edu), Diana Berman, Andrey Voevodin
• UAS propulsion: tribology of low viscosity fuels - Diana Berman (diana.berman@unt.edu), Samir Aouadi, Andrey Voevodin
• UAS modeling and simulations - Hamid Sadat (hamid.sadat@unt.edu)
• Multimaterial, multifunctional 3d printed architectures with embedded sensing, shape morphing, energy harvesting, tunable sound absorption - Nandika D'Souza (nandika.dsouza@unt.edu)
• UAS design optimization and precision manufacturing - Hector R. Siller (hector.siller@unt.edu)
• Open networked airborne computing platform - Shengli Fu (Shengli.Fu@unt.edu)
• Aerial communications and networks - Kamesh Namuduri (Kamesh.Namuduri@unt.du)
• UAS acoustic measurement, characterization, and signal processing - Xinrong Li (Xinrong.Li@unt.edu)
• Self-powered sensor, antenna design on flexible substrate and on-chip - Ifana Mahbub (Ifana.Mahbub@unt.edu)
• UAS light-weight power-efficient circuit design - Gayatri Mehta (gayatri.mehta@unt.edu)
• Wireless SAW strain and pressure sensor for drone blade - Haifeng Zhang (haifeng.zhang@unt.edu)
• UAS manufacturing and materials development - Diana Berman (diana.berman@unt.edu)
• Deep Learning based Cooperative Perception System for UAVs - Qing Yang (qing.yang@unt.edu)

UAS internal combustion engine

Propulsion

UNT is a member of Center for Unmanned Aircraft System Propulsion (CUP) of ARL.

ARL-UNT Cooperative Agreement is supporting ARL/VTD ERP “Versatile Tactical Power and Propulsion” (VICTOR) led by Dr. Mike Kweon.

Propulsion - low viscosity fuel

Propulsion - cylinder liners

Goal: Develop light weight cylinder liners that provide high wear and thermal resistance, low friction, and that are stable and resilient to ignition cycling

Development and exploration of technology for UAS

College of Engineering senior design projects sponsored by Army Research Lab
September 2019 - May 2020

Three multidisciplinary senior design teams

• Thirty senior year students from four engineering programs, including electrical engineering, engineering technology, materials science and engineering, and mechanical and energy engineering departments
• Ten faculty advisors from four engineering programs
• Five research scientists as project team mentors from Vehicular Technology Directorate, Army Research Laboratory

Three interdisciplinary senior design projects

Project 1: Adjustable rotor blade pitch for UAS operations

Manufacturing blades using mold and 3D printing

Designing various blades using simulations

Modeling of the structural behavior of the designed blades

Pitch adjustment based on NiTiAg Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) transition

Processing of different SMA compositions to enable RT transition

SMA must provide enough stiffness to be a structural element. The designed SMA shows high crystallinity

XRD analysis to reveal the most promising material composition for the pitch angle adjustment upon heating

Project 2: Versatile platform for measuring aerodynamics and aeroacoustics characteristics of UAS

In-chamber test platform for aeroacoustics and aerodynamics measurements

Car-top test platform for aeroacoustics and aerodynamics measurements

EE student Webster Brown with CR3 prototype manufactured at UNT

Aeroacoustics noise measurement and analysis

Project 3: Mechanical design-power-embedded sensing of shape morphing UAS Wings

UAS Morphing Wing Prototype Design

Aspect ratio influence on lift and speed performance

Reconfigurable Embedded Antenna Design for UAS Communications

Power consumption for quadrotor and morph wing control circuit

Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering Research with Nandika D'Souza

View a video of her research.

Engagement in UAS centers and professional organizations