FlyART provides a dedicated infrastructure for experimental campaigns on UAVs, with a particular emphasis on multirotor platforms, supporting the development, integration, and verification of new concepts on real hardware.

The facility is an indoor flight arena with approximately 290 m³ of operational volume, fully covered by a 3D motion-capture system that enables accurate measurements of vehicle pose and motion during experiments. FlyART can be used to:

• investigate new UAV concepts and configurations, including innovative multirotor prototypes with environment-interaction capabilities;
• enable rapid prototyping of guidance, navigation and control algorithms and artificial intelligence solutions for progressively higher levels of autonomy;
• test and rapidly deploy advanced control algorithms, leveraging Software-In-The-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-In-The-Loop (HIL) capabilities;
• conduct experiments in both single-vehicle flight and cooperative/formation flight with small UAVs.

FlyART supports the research and education activities of the Aerospace Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL), the scientific laboratory of the Department devoted to systems and control research. Through FlyART, ASCL carries out experimental validation of modelling, identification, estimation, and control methodologies for aerospace systems, and provides students and researchers with hands-on access to advanced experimental resources.

In addition to flight experiments, the facility provides several multirotor platforms and instrumented test-beds for hands-on learning and research. In particular, FlyART offers experimental rigs designed to reproduce, in a simplified yet accurate manner, the coupled attitude and translational dynamics of a drone, offering the opportunity to learn and validate estimation and control concepts on a real system, in close connection with FlyART activities.

Collaborations

FlyART conducts activities in collaboration with major industrial and institutional partners, including Leonardo, Edison, and ENI. The facility also supports collaborations with numerous universities and research centers in Europe and the United States through joint projects and research activities.