Research Engineer on Fleet Guidance Experiments

Our research team has been at the forefront of cutting-edge research and innovation, leveraging UAV technology to explore dynamic atmospheric phenomena and address civil security challenges. Since 2003, we have been developing and utilizing our own open-sourced autopilot system called Paparazzi, which has become a key component in our UAV research and guidance endeavors.

Our group's commitment to excellence in Atmospheric Science and UAV technology makes it an ideal environment for researchers seeking to make a meaningful impact on the world's most pressing challenges, including civil security, environmental monitoring, and anti-drone operations. We are currently seeking a highly motivated and skilled Researcher to join our dynamic team and contribute to our mission of advancing UAV guidance through deep reinforcement learning in the context of fleet operations.

Position Overview:

As a Research Engineer in the FireFlies project, you will be an essential member of our UAV research team, contributing to the development, integration, and experimental validation of autonomous aerial systems. The position will focus on conducting flight tests with quadrotors and fixed-wing aircraft using existing UAV frameworks and autopilot systems, including Paparazzi, DJI-based platforms, ArduPilot, and other relevant tools.

You will work closely with the FireFlies research team, which develops advanced guidance, reinforcement learning, and vision-based control methods for UAVs operating in dynamic and challenging environments. Your role will be to support the transition from simulation and algorithmic development to real-world flight experiments by preparing, integrating, manufacturing, and testing aerial platforms.

The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on experience with UAV systems, including vehicle assembly, autopilot integration, embedded systems, sensor integration, and flight test operations. Experience or interest in FPV piloting will be considered a strong asset, as it can directly support the design and execution of vision-based flight experiments.

Responsibilities:

• Prepare, assemble, manufacture, and maintain different types of UAV platforms, including quadrotors, fixed-wing aircraft, and hybrid or custom experimental vehicles.

• Integrate autopilot systems, onboard computers, sensors, communication modules, cameras, and payloads into UAV platforms.

• Conduct experimental flight tests using existing frameworks and autopilot systems such as Paparazzi, DJI platforms, ArduPilot, and related UAV software tools.

• Support the implementation and validation of autonomous flight capabilities, including vision-based control, reinforcement learning-based guidance, and fleet coordination algorithms developed by the FireFlies research team.

• Collaborate closely with researchers, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and engineers working on reinforcement learning, computer vision, UAV guidance, and autonomous flight.

• Prepare UAV platforms for field experiments, including hardware checks, software configuration, calibration, safety procedures, and test documentation.

• Analyze flight test results, identify technical issues, and contribute to debugging, improvement, and optimization of UAV systems.

• Participate in the development of experimental setups for dynamic scenarios such as atmospheric phenomena exploration, civil security applications, fire monitoring, and other FireFlies project use cases.

• Ensure safe and reliable operation of UAV systems during laboratory, indoor, and outdoor flight experiments.

• Contribute to technical documentation, project reports, demonstrations, and dissemination activities related to the FireFlies project.

• Take part in project coordination activities and support the organization of experimental campaigns.

• Engineering degree, Master’s degree, or equivalent qualification in Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, Embedded Systems, or a related field.

• Strong practical experience with UAV systems, especially quadrotors and/or fixed-wing aircraft.

• Demonstrated ability to assemble, manufacture, repair, and modify aerial vehicles for experimental research purposes.

• Experience with autopilot systems and UAV software frameworks such as Paparazzi, ArduPilot, PX4, DJI platforms, or similar systems.

• Good knowledge of UAV hardware integration, including flight controllers, sensors, GPS, cameras, telemetry systems, radio links, onboard computers, and power systems.

• Practical experience in flight testing, including vehicle preparation, calibration, mission execution, troubleshooting, and post-flight analysis.

• Programming skills in languages such as C/C++, Python, or similar languages used in robotics, embedded systems, or UAV development.

• Familiarity with Linux-based development environments and version control tools such as Git.

• Ability to work closely with researchers developing reinforcement learning, vision-based control, and autonomous guidance algorithms, and to support their experimental validation on real UAV platforms.

• Good problem-solving skills, autonomy, technical rigor, and ability to work in a multidisciplinary research environment.

• Good communication skills and ability to document technical work clearly.

• Interest in FPV piloting is highly appreciated and will be considered a strong plus, especially for vision-based flight tests and experimental UAV operations.

• Knowledge of simulation tools, computer vision pipelines, real-time systems, or embedded AI deployment will be considered an advantage.