Two years ago, engineering associate professor Brad Ratliff bought a 22-passenger van on eBay. He’s since converted it — with the help of his dad, Mike — into his very own mobile lab, an extension of his Applied Sensing Lab in Kettering Labs.
His students use camera sensors attached to drones to support remote sensing research, he explained, “to detect things that you’re not touching” whether across the room or across the country. On this day, students were at Old River Park conducting a mock aerial drone field test.
“Labs like mine are often just seas of computers, and you’re begging people for data,” he said. “But my goal was to build these capabilities so students can collect their own data to support their research.”
Soon, he said, his students will start collecting data to detect, identify and track objects.
A version of this article appears in print in the Winter 2024-45 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 9. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE