Project Grant 2549274

The National Science Foundation Division of Information and Intelligent Systems awarded The Research Foundation For The State University Of New York $190,000 on October 1, 2026, under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) to support collaborative research on a smart collaborative aerial logistics ecosystem for urban on-demand delivery.

The project develops a networked coordination framework enabling delivery drones and ground vehicles to operate safely and efficiently in urban environments by treating the wireless network itself as a shared computational layer rather than requiring each drone to operate autonomously. Work is organized across four synergistic thrusts: an autonomy engine creating scalable multi-agent coordination policies and network-aware cooperative perception; a physical layer foundation building three-dimensional radio frequency maps, energy models, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces; an intelligent open radio access network fabric with unmanned aerial vehicle-aware resource management and network digital twin service; and system integration and validation through high-fidelity simulation and hardware-in-the-loop testing. The project is international and collaborative, bringing together investigators from the University at Buffalo, the University of California Riverside, and Waseda University.

Performance runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2029, with place of performance at Buffalo, New York. The Research Foundation for the State University of New York serves as fiscal agent and research administrator for the State University of New York system; the University at Buffalo is the intellectual home for the NSF-funded research team.