A2RL Drone Racing
Working towards developing the drone research ecosystem at Illinois. Led the offical aerial robotics team at the A2RL Drone racing compeition at Abu Dhabi. Qualified till the quarter finals in our debut season.
Dec 18, 2025
Safe RL for Autonomous Drone Racing
Developed an end-to-end time-optimal RL framework for autonomous drone racing using PPO with CBF–based reward shaping for collision-free gate traversal while enabling aggressive racing lines via dynamic safety funnel constraints. Achieved ~38% reduction in lap time and ~34% improvement in target-region accuracy compared to the baseline.
Dec 12, 2025
Genetic Algorithm-Based Wing Design for fixed-wing MAVs
Designed an end-to-end wing optimization pipeline by coupling GAs with VLM simulations for micro-UAVs. Automated aerodynamic sizing and performance evaluation under multiple flight constraints.
May 12, 2025
Safe Landing Zone Detection for UAVs
Novel approach for safe landing zone detection for UAVs, leveraging DL-based image segmentation with a custom dataset and integrating SuperResolution, resulting in up to 6.3% improvement in accuracy over SOTA methods.
Aug 12, 2023
SkyroHex: Custom Hexacopter Optimized for Heavy-weight Payloads
Custom Hexacopter featuring a custom-made Li-ion battery pack for high-endurance and heavy payload capabilities.
Jul 1, 2023
Bumblebee: FPV Drone for Long-Range Survey
Custom micro-UAV platform with integrated FPV for long-range outdoor exploration.
Jun 1, 2023
AM13: Micro Blended-Wing-Body for High Volume Payload Transport
Achieved 1st place in Design at the SAE AeroDesign East 2023 along with the fastest lap performance. Patent-pending BWB design with F/W, optimized for transporting high-volume payloads.
Mar 29, 2023
ADRMax+: Quadcopter for Precise Payload Deployment
Winning design for the SAE India Aerothon Competition. Fully indigenous drone optimized for target detection and precise payload deployment.
Feb 12, 2023