Objective In recent years, the need to enable location- and map-aware services in GPS-deprived environments has become increasingly important, especially after natural disasters events. At the same time, the possibility to form swarms of mini-robots is a very attractive solution for users’ mobiles positioning and for mapping of position-related physical quantities, not only for outdoor but also for indoor scenarios, e.g. assessing the status of buildings immediately after an earthquake. In this context, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) represent a good choice thanks to their flexibility, reconfigurability and advantageous line-of-sight propagation conditions. Despite UAVs’ potentials for indoor positioning, scholars and professionals have mostly considered and used them only for enabling outdoor applications. In this perspective, AirSens aims at analyzing the potentialities of swarms of UAVs for high-accuracy tracking and sensing in indoor contexts, by addressing three novel objectives: (1) the assessment of the swarms’ localization performance, even in infrastructure-less scenarios, by deriving the fundamental limits and considering energy-efficient solutions; (2) the investigation of swarms’ mapping capabilities, enhanced by crowd-sensing mechanisms; (3) the design of an information-seeking control for navigation (i.e. where the swarm should navigate to provide reliable position estimates) and formation (i.e. which specific swarm geometry can maximize the positioning performance). These objectives will be pursued through an innovative combination of theoretical and experimental analyses, possible thanks to the synergy between the researcher and her supervisors, experts in the fields of advanced signal processing (USA) and radio-localization (Italy), which perfectly matches the project vision. AirSens will also enhance the researcher technical and managerial skills thanks to multidisciplinary and ad-hoc training activities. Fields of science engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsignal processingengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorssmart sensorsengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsradio technologyradarengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsdronesnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographynatural disasters Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2017 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2017 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-GF - Global Fellowships Coordinator ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA Net EU contribution € 164 203,80 Address VIA ZAMBONI 33 40126 Bologna Italy See on map Region Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Bologna Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 164 203,80 Partners (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all Partner Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement. THE RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK United States Net EU contribution € 0,00 Address STATE STREET 35 12201 Albany Ny See on map Activity type Other Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 80 065,20