Biography

Darius Carter is currently a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology. He obtained his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Material Science from the University of Virginia in 2017, and then his Ph.D. in 2021. As a Ph.D. student, his research focused on unmanned aerial vehicles and their safety when flying near boundaries. With his Postdoc, he will be focusing on near-boundary aerodynamics of multirotors.

Outside of school and research, he is a dedicated member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the National Society of Black Engineers. He enjoys hanging out with friends, adventuring, traveling, and watching and playing sports, especially basketball.

Research

The growth of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) industry is outpacing our understanding of how UAVs behave in near boundary environments. Search and rescue UAV applications occur in tight, confined spaces filled with complex obstacles and boundaries. Near-boundary flight provides aerodynamic benefits, such as the “ground effect,” seen in animals and helicopters. However, near-boundary flight advantages are hard to harness because boundary effects can also be destabilizing. They perturb lift (near ground-air or water-air boundaries). We study the aerodynamics and performance of a multi-rotor system operating near a ceiling/ground/corner to explore these near-boundary effects.

Classes Taught

AE 3030: Aerodynamics

Publications

Journal Articles

Carter, D., Bouchard, L., and Quinn, D., “Influence of the Ground, Ceiling, and Sidewall on Micro-Quadrotors,” AIAAJ, Vol. 59, No. 4 (2021), pp. 1398-1405. DOI: 10.2514/1.J059787

Conference Publications

Carter. D., and Rauleder, J., “Multirotor Interactional Aerodynamics with Boundary Effects,” Aviation Forum, AIAA, San Diego, California, June 2023, DOI: 10.2514/6.2023-3237

Gao, S., Franco, C. D., Carter, D., Quinn, D., and Bezzo, N., “Exploiting Ground and Ceiling Effects on Autonomous UAV Motion Planning,” 2019 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems. DOI: 10.1109/ICUAS.2019.8798091

Carter, D. “Insect Residue Height for Different Conditions and Coatings,” AIAA 2018 SciTech Forum, Kissimmee, Florida, January 2018. DOI: 10.2514/6.2018-0313

Favorite Cereal

Apple Jacks