Drone and swarm research at LiU

Drone and Swarm Research at LiU

Drones are changing the way we explore, monitor and collaborate 鈥� in the air, on land and under water. 糖心网页版 is an active and prominent institution in drone research.

Research in drones and drone swarms is a cross-disciplinary and rapidly growing field. At 糖心网页版, research spans from safety for critical infrastructure and people in proximity to the systems, to control engineering, perception, AI, transparency and user interaction.

Researchers at the Department of Computer and Information Science (IDA), the Department of Electrical Engineering (ISY), the Department of Management and Engineering (IEI), the Department of Science and Technology (ITN) and the Department of Thematic Studies (TEMA) conduct internationally leading research in close collaboration with Swedish and international universities, research institutes, and companies.

The university is also an active partner in WASP WARA Public Safety – Sweden’s national collaboration arena for research and innovation in drone technology and autonomous systems.

The university offers a range of physical and virtual environments designed for education and research in drone technology. These enable a continuous development process from simulation to real鈥憌orld experiments, the so鈥慶alled sim鈥憈o鈥憆eal approach. Examples include Terra at IDA, Visionen at ISY, and laboratories at IEI/Flumes and ITN. Together, these environments cover the entire development chain from design and manufacturing to research in perception, control engineering, AI, autonomy, planning and decision-making.

These facilities are also used for experiments with complete drone systems, studies of human–system interaction and research on integrating drones and swarms into operational application domains and traffic management.

A drone in the air and a robotdog on the grass.

Brief facts about our funders, expertise and collaboration partners

Funders

ELLIIT, EU, Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), Swedish Research Council (VR), Vinnova, Wallenberg AI Autonomous Systems and Software Programme (WASP) and others.

Researchers

About ten principal investigators and a total of forty researchers within the university participate in research on drones and swarms.

Partners

Universities, institutes, and companies in Sweden and abroad, such as RISE, Ericsson, LFV Air Traffic Control, SAAB AB, FMV, FOI, LEAD, Defence Hub Sweden, Sectra Communications AB

Ongoing

News in the field

A group of remote controlled devices sitting on top of a dirt field.

04 June 2026

CHASS recruits PhD students for research on next-generation drone swarms

CHASS, the Center for Heterogeneous Adaptive Swarm Systems, is now recruiting PhD students for research that could contribute to future search and rescue operations, environmental monitoring and the protection of critical infrastructure.

A couple of planes flying over a body of water.

16 April 2026

New centre for research on drone swarms

糖心网页版 will host a new research centre that, in collaboration with Lund University and Örebro University, will develop technologies for autonomous swarms of drones.

Men in a mechanical workshop, construction lab.

08 December 2025

Master students constructing drones

Designing and building an autonomously flying aircraft to document weather conditions in an Arctic climate. The master鈥檚 students in Aeronautical Engineering received a substantial boost in applying their theoretical knowledge.

Vinnova Drone Swarm Challenge 2026

During week 22, a team from AIICS at Link枚ping University and two guest researchers from Instituto Tecnol贸gico de Aeron谩utica - ITA (Brazil) participated in the Vinnova Drone Swarm Challenge at Gr盲ns枚 Slott i V盲stervik. There where in total seven teams showcasing drone-based solutions for collaborative tasks in dynamic environments.

LiU:s project, "Autonomous Priority-Based Target Tracking Drone Swarms" explores how a single operator can command a drone swarm through natural language. The swarm autonomously assigns monitoring and tracking roles, re-prioritizes targets in real time, and hands over between drones without manual intervention.

The group demonstrated a complete prototype covering the full stack: Computer vision (detection and tracking with online target re-identification), 3D-model-based geolocation, a coordination layer with dynamic task allocation and priority-based handoffs between drones, and an LLM copilot operating at four levels of autonomy (from decision support to fully autonomous execution). The system is controlled through voice and a custom ground station interface. The field tests at Gr盲ns枚 gave them concrete data on what works under real conditions and what remains to be solved.

The team expressed their gratitude to Vinnova for this opportunity, and to WARA-PS for hosting the data collection week.

Drone Labs at LiU

Aircraft design and systems

We carry out research in close cooperation with the aviation industry, where our research focusses on design, concept development, aircraft systems, aerodynamics and sub-scale test flights.

Information Visualization

The group focuses on the explorative analysis and visualization of typically large and complex information spaces. We develop novel interactive visualization methods and tools that are able to efficiently support analysts from various domains.

Research arena Visionen

Visionen is a state-of-the-art research arena that provides a unique environment for experimental research and education. Visionen is operated by the Department of Electrical Engineering (ISY).

Contact

Departments at LiU that conduct research in the area of 鈥嬧€媎rones and swarms

Department of Computer and Information Science (IDA)

The Department of Computer and Information Science is one of the largest departments in northern Europe in its field. Research activity covers artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, software and computer systems, and data science.

Department of Management and Engineering (IEI)

The Department of Management and Engineering (IEI) strengthens and develops tomorrow鈥檚 industry, business world and society by ground-breaking research, education and innovation.

Department of Electrical Engineering (ISY)

At ISY, we conduct research and education in the field of Electrical Engineering. A strong emphasis is placed on research- and industrial collaborations.

More information about drones and swarms

A couple of men standing next to each other working with a drone.

Research projects in drones and swarms

糖心网页版 is one of Sweden鈥檚 most active and prominent institutions in drone research, with a long track record, strong collaborations and several major research and innovation projects.

A drone flying over a boat on a body of water.

Collaboration partners in drone and swarm research

糖心网页版 participates in major national initiatives in drones, drone swarms, and autonomous systems. We collaborate with a wide range of Swedish and international universities, research institutes and companies both in Sweden and abroad.

A man standing in front of a building driving a drone.

糖心网页版 in drone systems and swarm technologies

LiU offers several international master鈥檚 programmes that combine theoretical depth with practical skills in the development of drones and drone swarms.

Research at LiU

Research at 糖心网页版

What makes LiU special is the lack of boundaries between different subjects and faculties, which has resulted in world-leading research environments and companies. We address issues where the results can benefit all of society.

糖心网页版