EDTconf 2025
Mon 6 - Tue 7 October 2025 Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
co-located with MODELS 2025

This program is tentative and subject to change.

With the increasing deployment of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) in unfamiliar and complex environments, Environmental Digital Twins (EDT) that comprise weather, airspace, and terrain data are critical for safe flight planning and for maintaining appropriate altitudes during search and surveillance operations. With the expansion of sUAS capabilities through edge and cloud computing, accurate EDT are also vital for advanced sUAS capabilities, like geolocation. However, real-world sUAS deployment introduces significant sources of uncertainty, necessitating a robust validation process for EDT components. This paper focuses on the validation of terrain models, one of the key components of an EDT, for real-world sUAS tasks. These models are constructed by fusing U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) datasets and satellite imagery, incorporating high-resolution environmental data to support mission tasks. Validating both the terrain models and their operational use by sUAS under real-world conditions presents significant challenges, including limited data granularity, terrain discontinuities, GPS and sensor inaccuracies, visual detection uncertainties, as well as onboard resources and timing constraints. We propose a 3-Dimensions validation process grounded in software engineering principles, following a workflow across granularity of tests, simulation to real world, and the analysis of simple to edge conditions. We demonstrate our approach using a multi-sUAS platform equipped with a Terrain-Aware Digital Shadow.

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Tue 7 Oct

Displayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change

14:00 - 15:00
Session 7: Modeling, Validation, and Verification in Digital TwinsTechnical Track at DCIH 102

Hybrid

14:00
20m
Paper
A Digital Shadow for Accurate Robot Motion Control: Integrating Data with Friction ModelsRegularIn Person
Technical Track
Malte Heithoff RWTH-Aachen University, Minh Trinh , Judith Michael University of Regensburg, Bernhard Rumpe RWTH Aachen University, Christian Brecher
Pre-print
14:20
20m
Paper
Enabling Inverse Reasoning in Enterprise Digital Twins using Multi-Objective Bayesian OptimizationRegularRemote
Technical Track
Avadhut Sardeshmukh Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS), Garima Jain TCS Research, Pune, India, Tammali Tharun , Souvik Barat Tata Consultancy Services Research, Vinay Kulkarni Tata Consultancy Services Research
14:40
20m
Paper
Validating Terrain Models in Digital Twins for Trustworthy sUAS OperationsRegularIn Person
Technical Track
Arturo Miguel Russell Bernal University of Notre Dame, Maureen Petterson University of Notre Dame, Pedro Alarcon Granadeno University of Notre Dame, Michael Murphy University of Notre Dame, James Mason University of Notre Dame, Jane Cleland-Huang University of Notre Dame