About Us

The Purdue Center on AI for Digital, Autonomous and Augmented Aviation (AIDA³), founded in April 2024, is a hub of innovation, where cutting-edge research meets practical application. At AIDA³, we harness the power of artificial intelligence to revolutionize aviation and transportation. Our multidisciplinary team is pioneering AI and machine learning (ML) models to address industry challenges — from optimizing commercial logistics to enhancing safety in autonomous transportation.

infographic showcasing AIDA3 teams workflow

Our Mission

Harnessing the power of AI to revolutionize aviation and transportation, AIDA³ is a hub of innovation where cutting-edge research meets practical application. The multidisciplinary team of researchers is pioneering AI and machine learning models to address industry challenges — from optimizing commercial logistics to enhancing safety in autonomous transportation.

The AIrTonomy Vision

AIDA³ is building research infrastructure for a new field of science: Safe and trustworthy AI for aerial autonomy, or what we call AIrTonomy. We invite scientists to join us as lead users of a new research infrastructure. Get involved now!

View AIrTonomy Report

FOUNDING PARTNERS

Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at our main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis.

Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its comprehensive urban expansion, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Windracers

Windracers: Windracers provides the capability to deliver essential logistics to the people and places that need them, anywhere and everywhere, anytime, every time. Powered by its autopilot technology Masterless™, Windracers’ highly reliable long-range drones fly without the need of a pilot, delivering an autonomous solution from engines on to engines off and offering high utilization and scalability.

The robust and cost-effective ULTRA (Uncrewed Low-cost TRAnsport) platform can carry 100 kg up to 1,000 km and has Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) capability. With a flexible payload, Windracers Group provides solutions across four sectors: Mail & Parcel, Humanitarian Assistance, Defense and Environmental Protection.

The groundbreaking autopilot system Masterless has been developed and patented by Distributed Avionics, part of the Windracers Group, to bring greater efficiency and safety. Masterless™ control was designed in line with the company’s Zero Single Point of Failure philosophy, meaning that no single flight computer is directly controlling the aircraft, so if any component should fail or produce false data, the aircraft will still fly safely.

INSTITUTE FOR PHYSICAL AI

Purdue University is building a world-leading program in artificial intelligence (AI). Leveraging Purdue’s signature strengths in materials science, engineering, microelectronics, computer science, agriculture and life sciences, the Institute for Physical AI (IPAI) is committed to solving the world’s toughest challenges.

Leadership

Sabine Brunswicker

Director, AIDA³
Professor, Purdue Polytechnic Institute

Sabine Brunswicker is an interdisciplinary trained scholar and thought leader in digital innovation and autonomous systems, with a particular focus on physical AI/ML and human-autonomy teaming. As a daughter of a pilot and work experience in aviation and transportation, she is enthusiastic in tackling grant challenges in aviation and airmobility using AI to safe, trustworthy and economically scalable use of autonomous UAVs and manned aircrafts. Prior to joining Purdue, she was leading a large research group at Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft, Germany’s largest research institution with a focus on user-inspired research translating lab to life. Her work has been funded by NSF, NIH, DoD, DARPA, Google and other agencies.

Find Sabine Brunswicker on LinkedIn.

View Profile

Core Faculty

James Goppert

Managing Director of Purdue’s UAS Research and Test Facility, and Aeronautics and Astronautics Lecturer

Research Expertise:

Autonomous Systems, AI-Human Teaming, Airspace Cybersecurity

Pillars:

2 – Onboard Intelligence

Inseok Hwang

Professor in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Research Expertise:

Autonomous Systems, AI-Human Teaming, Airspace Cybersecurity

Pillars:

1 – Human Autonomy Teaming
2 – Onboard Intelligence

Nan Kong

Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Research Expertise:

Logistics Dynamic Demand Modeling Healthcare

Pillars:

3 – Supply chain Optimization

Damon Lercel

Assistant Professor, Aviation and Transportation Technology

Research Expertise:

Human Factors, AI for Maintenance

Pillars:

1 – Human Autonomy Teaming
2 – Onboard Intelligence

Affiliated Faculty

Vaneet Aggarwal

Professor, Edwardson School. of Industrial Engineering Research Expertise: Reinforcement Learning, LLMs, Quantum Computing Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming
2 – Onboarding Intelligence

Santiago Torres-Arias

Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Expertise: Secure Systems Applied Cryptography and Software Supply Chain Security Pillar:
5 – Cybersecurity

Christopher Brinton

Elmore Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Expertise: Federated Learning, ML, Deep Learning Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming
2 – Onboard Intelligence
3 – Supply-chain Optimization

Hua Cai

Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and Associate Professor of Environmental and Ecological Engineering Research Expertise: Agent-based Modeling Pillar:
3 – Supply-chain Optimization
4 – Remote Sensing

Berkay Celik

Assistant Professor, Computer Science Research Expertise: Formal Methods, Cybersecurity Pillar:
5 – Cybersecurity

Stacey Connaughton

Professor, Communication and Liberal Arts Research Expertise: Humanitarian Aid Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming

Melba Crawford

Distinguished Professorship in Civil Engineering; Professor of Agronomy, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Expertise: Geomatics Pillar:
4 – Remote Sensing

Eugenio Culurciello

Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Expertise: Experience in Deep Learning and Neural Networks Hardware and Software and Well Positioned to Lead the Nascent Institute Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming
2 – Onboard Intelligence

Dan Cziczo

Professor, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Studies Research Expertise: Chemical Composition Meteorology Pillar:
4 – Remote Sensing

Ayman Habib

Professor of Civil Engineering Research Expertise: Geomatics Pillar:
4 – Remote Sensing

Elsayed Issa

Assistant Professor of Computational Linguistics and Arabic Research Expertise: Computational Linguistics Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming

Curtis Marshall

Purdue Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Leadership Team. Research Expertise:
Pillar:
2 – Onboard Intelligence

Nathan Rose

Assistant Professor, Aviation Research Expertise: UAV-enabled Emission Modeling Pillar:
4 – Remote Sensing

Philip E. Paré

Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Expertise: Networked Systems, Control Theory Pillar:
2 – Onboard Intelligence
3 – Supply-chain Optimization

Qiu Qiang

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Expertise Computer Vision Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming

Anne Sereno

Professor of Psychological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering Research Expertise: Cognitive Psychology, Neuroscience Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming

Yuehwern Yih

Professor, Industrial Engineering Research Expertise: Design, monitor, and control of complex systems; Pillar:
3 – Supply-chain Optimization

Michael Zultowski

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Expertise: Networked System, Radar, Cybersecurity Pillar:
2 – Onboard Intelligence
3 – Supply-chain Optimization

Student Fellows

Chuhao Deng

Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming
2 – Onboard Intelligence

Jayanth Shreekumar

Research Expertise: Computer Vision Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming

Worawis (Willis) Sribunma

Research Expertise: Robotics, Control, Aerodynamics Pillar:
2 – Onboard Intelligence

Doguhan Yeke

Research Expertise: Computer Vision Pillar:
5 – Cybersecurity

Liangqi Yuan

Research Expertise: LLMs, Federated Learning Pillar:
1 – Human Autonomy Teaming

Together with our interdisciplinary team we are forming a new field of aerial autonomy sciences and engineering while bringing lab-to-life to solve real-world problems.

Sabine Brunswicker

Director, AIDA³