SPLASH: Signal Processing for Joint Sensing and Communications in U-Space

Project Overview

SPLASH (Signal Processing for Joint Sensing, Communication and Control — JC&S) is an industrially funded project in partnership with the Hellenic U-Space Industry (HUSI). As Principal Investigator, I lead research into the joint co-design of waveforms and protocols that simultaneously support radar sensing, reliable communications, and UAV swarm control within U-Space airspace.

The project targets the convergence of sensing and communications in 5G/6G systems — a key enabler for safe, scalable UAV operations in shared airspace.

Key Research Directions

ISAC Waveform Design Investigation of OTFS and FMCW waveforms for simultaneous radar sensing and high-throughput data transmission, enabling a single radio front-end to serve both functions with minimal performance trade-off.

GNSS Resilience Development of navigation solutions for GPS-denied environments using cooperative localization among UAV swarm members, combining angle-of-arrival, time-difference-of-arrival, and inertial measurements.

Risk Modeling for UAV Swarms New probabilistic frameworks for safety assessment of UAV swarms in shared airspace, integrating communication reliability, sensing accuracy, and control latency into unified risk metrics.

Impact

SPLASH contributes directly to the standardization roadmap for U-Space services and the integration of ISAC into 6G NR specifications. Results are being transferred to HUSI for prototype validation in live U-Space trials.

Funded by the Hellenic U-Space Industry (HUSI) under an industrial research contract.