Description of the organization
University of Southern Denmark (SDU) was formed in 1998 through the merger of Odense University with many of the higher education centers in Southern Denmark. SDU has a total of approx. 29.000 students divided over five faculties and six campuses. At the Faculty of Engineering, there are approx. 3.000 students and 21 study programs. Competences include all the engineering disciplines, e.g. mechanics, development of sensor software and environmental technology. Furthermore, the faculty has many international contacts to research- and development environments. The university is particularly strong in areas such as communication, information technology, and biotechnology. The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute under SDU’s Faculty of Engineering brings together front-line research in robotics, software engineering, sensor technology and human-computer interfaces within the framework of collaborative projects. SDU has made significant contributions to research in areas such as agricultural robots, biologically-inspired robotics, modular and cellular robots, cognitive vision (2D image handling and 3D interpretation of images) in the context of grasping, object recognition and scene interpretation, applied mathematics for mathematical modelling of mechanical systems and processes as well as for motion planning, software technology (especially modelling, architecture, evolution of software and knowledge management) and embedded systems. Moreover, SDU has made significant contributions in the area of programming languages for robotics, with applications to industrial robots, modular robots and safety in agricultural robots. SDU has significant experience in the development of advanced robotics solutions in cooperation with companies. For many years, SDU has contributed to projects in manufacturing, including national projects CARMEN, MADE and SAFE as well as EU projects IntellAct, TaylorCrete and Locomorph.
SDU Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)Center was established in 2015 and brings together experts in robotics, computer vision, physics, software engineering, mechanical engineering, and cyber-physical systems to focus on research, education, innovation, and collaboration in the UAS domain. The Center provides interdisciplinary engineering solutions to practical problems including precision agriculture, infrastructure inspections, UAS regulatory development, e-commerce delivery, search and rescue, humanitarian relief/disaster assistance, and many additional UAS-related activities. Through cooperation with global thought leaders from leading universities, UAS businesses, public-private research institutions, and government regulatory bodies, the Center advances UAS command and control, reliability, safety, and airspace integration. The Center offers a specialization in Drone technology as part of an MSc in Engineering in Robot Systems, utilizing a curriculum developed in concert with industry to meet the growing demand for skilled engineers in the UAS field. In addition, the SDU UAS Center has a unique testing facility at Hans Christian Andersen Airport that enables indoor and outdoors testing, hardware/software system integration, modeling and 3D printing. SDU UAS Center maintains and operates a UAS lab at the airport for research, education, test flights, and community outreach activities. From 2018, SDU UAS coordinates a Grand Solutions Innovation Fund Denmark project named Drones4Energy (drones4energy.dk), that aims to develop a collaborative, autonomous, and self-charging drone system that will be offered to powerline operators to inspect the high-voltage power grid accurately, frequently, and autonomously.
Involved Staffs
Emad Samuel Malki Ebeid, Brad Beach
Role in the AERIAL-CORE project and main tasks
SDU UAS will lead task 8.4 and will be providing strong expertise in drone operations in harsh environments and particularly near high voltage cables and battery charging system from such cables. SDU UAS will also participate in other aerial robotics perception and planning tasks.