Low-altitude Economy: My Personal Experience and Perspective

Abstract

Low-altitude economy (LAE) is becoming a hot topic at all levels of our society. Will it become a reality in the near future or remain just a fantasy?  This seminar attempts to present the speaker’s personal views to stimulate further debate. First, it outlines the speaker’s experience in developing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies and their applications over the last 20 years, covering perception, decision-making/control, and system integration. A number of applications of UAV technologies are presented, including those in agriculture and environmental protection. The seminar then focuses on the speaker’s perspective on the low-altitude economy. While UAVs are important for LAE, they represent only a small part of the overall picture. Other key players, such as UAV service providers, unmanned aircraft system traffic control and management, end users, and regulatory agencies, are essential components that constitute the ecosystem of LAE. It argues that much more research and development is required to fully realize the potential of LAE, with safety remaining the largest obstacle.

Speaker

Prof. Wen-Hua Chen holds the position of Chair Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Systems and is the Director of Research Centre for Low-Altitude Economy in the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  Before that, he was a Chair Professor in Autonomous Vehicles and the Founding Director of the Loughborough Centre of Control and Autonomous Systems (LUCAS) in the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University, UK, from 2012 to 2024. Prof. Chen has considerable experience in control, signal processing and artificial intelligence and their applications in aerospace and automotive engineering. Over the last 20 years, he has been working on the development and application of unmanned aircraft systems and intelligent vehicle technologies, spanning autopilots, situational awareness, decision-making, verification, and remote sensing for precision agriculture and environment monitoring. He is a Chartered Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK. Prof Chen was awarded the prestigious Established Career Fellowship by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).