Institute of Unmanned Systems-Beihang University

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Institute of Unmanned Systems

On December 4, 1978, under the instructions of the Third Ministry of Machine-Building Industry, Beihang University officially established the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Design and Research Institute (referred to as the "UAV Institute"). Leveraging Beihang's strengths in aerospace science, control science and engineering, electronic information engineering, and computer science and technology, the Institute successively developed two unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, which won the National Science and Technology Progress First Prize twice.

On June 15, 2016, in accordance with Beihang's Implementation Plan for Institutional Reform of the UAV Design and Research Institute, the university restructured the Institute to deepen research in UAV technologies and facilitate the transformation of UAV technological achievements. The reform adopted a "one institute, one company" framework, separating UAV design research from prototyping and production tasks. The UAV Institute was renamed the Institute of Unmanned Systems, while the prototyping and production tasks were separated to establish an independent corporate entity, Beijing Beihang Tianyu Changying UAV Technology Co., Ltd.

Study

The Institute of Unmanned Systems is a second-tier specialized research unit at Beihang University. In October 2019, the Near-Space Science and Technology Research Institute and the Helicopter Research Institute of Beihang's School of Aeronautics were merged into the Institute of Unmanned Systems, forming the current organizational structure of "three offices, four institutes, and two centers."

The Institute undertakes the establishment of Beihang's first-level discipline "Unmanned Systems Science and Technology," which was approved by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council in September 2023. The Institute currently has 43 doctoral and master's supervisors, as well as 21 interdisciplinary supervisors. In 2024, it officially began enrolling graduate students, offering four research directions: Autonomous Systems and Systems Engineering, Multi-Domain Autonomous Unmanned Systems Design, Intelligent Control and Energy Efficiency Integration, and Collaborative Sensing and Intelligent Processing.

Faculty

The Institute has 67 staff members on its institutional payroll, 27 contract staff, and six postdoctoral researchers. Among its personnel are two national-level leading talents, five national-level young talents, and over 20 experts and technical specialists in related fields.

Research

Focusing on the forefront of unmanned systems technology development, the Institute organizes research on unmanned systems for space, near-space, air, sea, land, and underwater domains. Its work encompasses technological development research, key technological breakthroughs, system design, and integrated validation. The Institute has established several advanced research platforms, including the Helicopter Research Laboratory, the UAV New Energy Propulsion Technology Laboratory, the Micro UAV Laboratory, the Complex Equipment System Modelling and Simulation Laboratory, and the Swarm Intelligence Simulation Laboratory.

In 2016, the Institute was approved as the Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Intelligent Unmanned Flight Systems by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In 2024, it was designated as the "Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircraft Technology." The Institute leads the construction of a major integrated research platform for the Ministry of Education and participates in the establishment of the National AI Industry-Education Integration Innovation Platform, the Engineering Research Center for Advanced Long-Endurance UAV System Technology of the Ministry of Education, and the Beijing Universities High-level Discipline Innovation Center for Advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The Institute has preliminarily established a first-class hybrid virtual-physical research and validation environment for intelligent collaborative unmanned system clusters.

The Institute currently has eight research and technical teams that systematically support major national scientific and technological strategic development and talent cultivation in cutting-edge interdisciplinary fields. To date, the Institute has received over ten provincial and ministerial-level scientific and technological awards, published nearly 700 high-level papers in SCI/EI and SCI Q1/Q2 journals, and obtained over 300 authorized national invention patents.

Tel: +86-10-82317398
Email：wrjs@buaa.edu.cn
Address：Institute of Unmanned Systems, Beihang University, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, P.R. China