From roads to air: A new paradigm for transportation sensing and intelligence

By Yang Zhou on 04/09/2026 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in 1611 Titan Dr., Rantoul, IL 61866

Join Yang Zhou of Texas A&M University as he presents in person at the Spring 2026 Kent Seminar Series Thursday, April 9 from 2-3 p.m. (CT).

The Spring 2026 semester is set to feature 14 presentations, each addressing a topic related to innovation trends in aviation. See the full lineup of speakers for Spring 2026 semester.

Pizza and soft drinks will be provided beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the ICT Classroom. 

All presentations will be held on Zoom, but some speakers will present in person at ICT.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://go.illinois.edu/KentSeminar

Meeting ID: 856 1731 4207  
Passcode: 019160

Abstract

Modern intelligent transportation systems rely on dense networks of fixed sensors, which are costly and leave coverage gaps. This talk introduces airborne infrastructure, in which drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, provide flexible, low-cost sensing for scalable data collection. A drone-enabled data foundation integrates aerial LiDAR, maps and vehicle data to support digital twins of transportation infrastructure. It also introduces a spatial-temporal inductive graph transformer that fuses drone and sparse sensor data for traffic monitoring and prediction. Finally, the talk explores vehicle-to-drone collaboration to enable aerial-assisted perception, cooperative sensing and distributed intelligence in dynamic traffic environments.

Bio

Zhou is an assistant professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he directs the Smart, Safe, and Autonomous Mobility Lab. His research focuses on AI-driven transportation systems, digital twins, connected and automated vehicles, and safety analytics. He earned a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research is supported by agencies and organizations including the U.S. Department of Transportation and NVIDIA, and he has published more than 70 peer-reviewed journal articles.