As small aircraft become more prevalent in urban environments, safe navigation becomes ever more important. Saumya Gupta is researching how the radio signals we use to communicate in the air behave in urban environments. The UCF team is developing a digital twin: a virtual model of an urban communication area.

“By using a digital twin to model how buildings and materials affect radio frequency signals, this research helps identify where signals may weaken, become blocked or experience interference. These insights can guide safer routing, real-time coordination and the scalable airspace management that future urban air mobility will depend on,” says Gupta.

• Adan Vela
• Saumya Gupta