Explore DroneLab
Explore DroneLab
Explore DroneLab
Unmanned airborne or aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, have become an option for a broad range of application scenarios. Relatively inexpensive, lightweight and easily deployable, drones provide a viable alternative to traditional forms of flight, such as full-scale aircraft and helicopters. Drones typically resemble one of several common design variants, including fixed-wing, foldable-wing, rotary-wing, and multi-rotor designs. Modern integrated and embedded systems have scaled drones to very small scales, allowing drones to strike a reasonable balance between cost, operational complexity, and payload capacity.
The DroneLab at UC San Diego explores the use of lightweight UAVs as well as terrestrial and underwater drones for a broad range of use scenarios, often in tandem with other robotic systems. Drones have become a ubiquitous choice for imaging on land, under water and in the air for environmental and habitat monitoring, disaster and post-disaster reconnaissance, search and rescue, real-estate development and marketing, general photography, videography, cinematography, archaeology and the reconstruction of cultural heritage sites, and much more.
You are invited to explore this website for information on current state-of-the-art drones as well as emerging technologies and associated applications or business implications. The DroneLab's research focuses on drones in the context of an integrative sensing methodology for data-enabled applications. The ubiquitous applications of drones have created a broad spectrum of opportunities related to designing, developing, testing and deploying airborne, terrestrial and submersible robots that are carrying a variety of payloads, ranging from multispectral imaging to physical sample collection or placement in time-critical environments.
The DroneLab is uniquely equipped to provide expert solutions related to a wide range of challenges in aerial, ground and underwater imaging. From platforms developed in-house for use in STEM education to modified drone technologies for use in hard-to-reach or hostile environments, our scientists and engineers can offer research, equipment and expert services, and the lab welcomes expressions of interest in potential collaborations with other institutions involved or interested in drone-related R&D. Contact our team via dronelab@ucsd.edu or call 858.534.9953.
New CISA3 Special Projects Coordinator: Transforming Students from Consumers into Makers
Researchers Use 3D Visualization Technique to Document Underwater Cave, Paleoamerican Remains
