Stanford SURF

Path planning for ecological surveying using UAV swarms.

Path Planning for Ecological Surveying with UAV Swarms

During my SURF Fellowship at Stanford University, I worked in the Multi-Robot Systems (MSL) Lab where I helped develop path planning algorithms for UAV swarms to conduct ecological surveys. This work was completed under the supervision of Professor Mac Schwager.

I validated the waypoint-following algorithms using quadcopters in an OptiTrack motion-capture lab, integrating the system with ROS for real-time feedback and control. To ensure reliability, I also flew the quadcopters manually to confirm that all hardware systems were functioning as expected.

Field experiments used DJI Matrice 100 drones with gimbal-mounted cameras to execute the surveys. Waypoints were generated as trajectories and images were collected of toy penguins to evaluate tracking performance and data quality. Field experiments were conducted at a local park near Stanford University.

Preparing drones to verify waypoint-following algorithms using an OptiTrack motion-capture system.
The experimental platform included DJI Matrice 100 drones (left) which flew pre-planned trajectories (middle) to capture images of toy penguins (right). The field experiment was conducted at a local park near Stanford University.

Video Demonstration

Poster Presentation and Award

This research was presented at the Stanford SURF Research Poster Symposium, where my poster received second place out of forty participating scholars.

My SURF research poster (top) and the award I received for second place at the Stanford SURF Research Poster Symposium (bottom).