University of North Texas

UNT Awards Grants for Autonomous Vehicle Research

Three UNT faculty members receive a seed grant for autonomous vehicle research

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NBC 5 News

Maurizio Manzo and Hector Siller in the College of Engineering, along with Abdulrahman Habib in the College of Science, were selected by UNT’s Jim McNatt Institute for Logistics Research as one of four teams to receive a seed grant.

These three University of North Texas faculty members are working on a project to use embedded fiber optical sensing for autonomous vehicles to increase day-to-day tracking of a variety of measurements.

Their research plans to use fiber optic sensors attached to autonomous vehicles or drones to help track and monitor a number of environmental factors.

They also want to evaluate machine learning techniques to help make the integration of sensors easier.

“These sensors would make it possible for autonomous vehicles to help detect pollution levels, monitor traffic or help locate contaminants or chemical substances in emergency situations,” said Manzo, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The group also wants to display the project to the Army Research Laboratory as part of the next-generation Vertical Take-Off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Systems initiative.

The seed funding grant comes as part of the new Center for Integrated Intelligent Mobility Systems initiative, which is a collaborative research unit at UNT focused on integrated intelligent mobility systems such as connected and autonomous vehicle research.

For more information go to https://cos.unt.edu/research-seed-grants

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