Control | Dr. Evangelos Vlachos

Open Topics for Theses, Internships and PhDs

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Our group works on the joint design of sensing, communication and control for UAV networks and 6G. The topics below are open now. Each starts from a published paper of ours, comes with working code to begin from, and is scoped to end in a result that can be published with you as a co-author. Diploma and MSc theses are offered with the University of Patras, PhD topics through co-supervision, and internships at ISI, ATHENA RC. Simulations run on the ARIS national supercomputer. Hardware topics use the drones, mmWave radar and Wi-Fi/Remote ID equipment of the EUSOME project.

Sensing and estimation

1. Sensing-aided channel estimation for UAV mmWave links

MSc or diploma thesis · simulation in Python or MATLAB

A drone’s flight controller already knows its position and velocity, and a base station with radar can sense the drone itself. Use both to cut the training a wideband mmWave link needs, starting from our estimator in IEEE TVT 2025 and the sensing-aided method of ISAC 2026. Deliverable: a simulator with beam squint and a comparison of pilot overhead against standard estimators.

2. Cooperative localization for UAV swarms over lossy links

MSc thesis or PhD · estimation theory and simulation

Drones in a swarm can locate each other from mutual range and bearing measurements when GPS is degraded, but links drop and some measurements are wrong. Starting from our consistency-gated method in EUSIPCO 2026, design estimators that stay consistent under packet loss and outliers, and test them on a simulated swarm in Gazebo/PX4.

Communication and control

3. Connectivity-aware motion planning for UAV formations with directional links

Diploma or MSc thesis · ROS 2, Gazebo/PX4

mmWave links work only when the beams of both drones point at each other, so motion and communication cannot be planned separately. Building on our predictive control for connectivity in NextGCom 2026, implement a planner that keeps a formation connected while it flies its mission, with a directional link model in Gazebo/PX4.

4. Safe collision avoidance and interception with control barrier functions

MSc thesis or PhD · control theory and simulation, optionally hardware

Our SE(3) control barrier functions in ICUAS 2026 keep a counter-UAS interceptor safe under its hardware limits. Extend them to actuator saturation and sensing delays, to several interceptors, and to hardware-in-the-loop tests on small quadrotors.

Drone detection and air mobility

5. Passive Wi-Fi radar and Remote ID for drone detection

Diploma or MSc thesis, or internship · ESP32 and Wi-Fi hardware, signal processing

Ordinary Wi-Fi signals reflected by a drone reveal it, and Remote ID broadcasts identify it. Build a low-cost detector that combines both and evaluate it with measurements from the EUSOME field trials. Our radar simulation framework in ISC2 2025 is the starting point for the radar side.

6. Radar and camera fusion for detect-and-avoid on small drones

Diploma or MSc thesis · Python, deep learning, mmWave radar

A camera fails in low light and a radar gives few pixels; together they can detect obstacles and other aircraft reliably. Train and test fusion detectors on the synchronized radar and camera data of FIRA-DAV, for the detect-and-avoid function of SPLASH.

7. Cellular ISAC for drone surveillance in U-space

MSc thesis or PhD · simulation and standards

5G and 6G base stations can act as radars and track drones. Quantify the accuracy and coverage they reach, and what this means for the separation between drones in U-space, starting from our study of ISAC for advanced air mobility in ISC2 2025. The results relate to our contribution to the ETSI ISG ISAC standardisation group.

What you get

A well-defined problem, code to start from, a weekly meeting and the Friday group seminar, compute time on ARIS, and co-authorship of what you publish.

How to apply

Write to us with the topic you are interested in, a CV or transcript, and something you have built: code, a report, a project. Your own ideas within these directions are welcome too.

Leading a Special Session at IEEE ICASSP 2027

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I am leading the organisation of a special session at IEEE ICASSP 2027, the flagship conference of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, which takes place in Toronto, Canada, on 16–21 May 2027.

Special session: Signal Processing for Integrated Sensing, Communication, and Control in Autonomous Aerial Networks

Drones and other autonomous aerial platforms have to sense their surroundings, keep reliable radio links and stay under safe control, often with the same hardware and under tight power and latency limits. The session brings together signal processing work that treats these three functions jointly rather than one at a time.

The session is co-organised with Kostas Berberidis (University of Patras), George C. Alexandropoulos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Panayiotis Kolios (KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, University of Cyprus).

More information: ICASSP 2027

SPLASH: Joint Sensing, Communication and Control of Aerial Vehicles

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Project Overview

SPLASH (Signal Processing for physicaL-lAyer design of joint Sensing, communication, and control of aerial veHicles) is an industrial research contract between the Industrial Systems Institute of ATHENA RC and the Hellenic U-Space Institute (HUSI). As Principal Investigator, I lead ATHENA’s work on one question: how drones sharing low-altitude airspace can sense their surroundings, keep their communication links and stay under control, using the same radio hardware.

The project started in September 2023 and was extended in 2026.

Research Tasks

Detect-and-avoid with camera and mmWave radar fusion Fusing camera images with mmWave radar detections, so a drone can spot and avoid other aircraft and obstacles in conditions where either sensor alone is unreliable.

Control and communication co-design Designing the flight controller and the wireless link together, so that manoeuvres do not break the link and the link quality is taken into account when the drone plans its motion.

FMCW joint sensing and communication Using FMCW radar waveforms for both sensing and data transmission, so one radio front end serves both functions.

Impact

SPLASH supports HUSI’s U-Space activities, feeds the work of the EUSOME Excellence Hub, and informs ATHENA’s input to ETSI ISG ISAC on integrated sensing and communication for low-altitude airspace.

Funded by the Hellenic U-Space Institute (HUSI) under an industrial research contract (€45,000, 2023–2027).