The AERPAW testbed provides access to ground and air-based autonomous vehicles equipped with wireless capabilities for the purpose of enabling research into next-generation wireless networks. It is funded by the NSF PAWR program, which also supports the open access COSMOS testbed at Columbia as well as other testbeds.

A drone equipped with RF capabilities executing a team’s solution in the AERPAW testbed.

Previously, the testbed hosted the AERPAW Find-a-Rover (AFAR) Challenge, the first student competition for the testbed, where Weijie was able to achieve second place. This year they hosted the AERPAW Autonomous Data Mule (AADM) Challenge. The challenge involved optimizing the path of an autonomous aerial vehicle to download as much data as possible from ground-based transmitters in as little time as possible. In total, 16 teams submitted their solutions for evaluation. The first round was evaluated in a digital twin environment, the top 11 teams progressing to the final round where their solution would be executed on real unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the outdoor testbed. Following the evaluation of every team’s solution, Kevin and Weijie found themselves tied for third place, a strong performance by the duo.

Kevin is entering the third year of his Ph.D. program and is excited to utilize the skills learned to support his ongoing research into full-duplex and mmWave joint communication and sensing. Weijie is finishing his M.S. at Columbia and plans to use his experience with the AERPAW student challenges in the wireless sector following graduation.