SPECIAL SESSION #13

Mohamed Abderrahim

Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain

• mohamed@ing.uc3m.es

Choukri Bensalah

University of Tlemcen, Algeria

• choukri.bensalah@univ-tlemcen.dz

Rida Mokhtari

University of Tlemcen, Algeria

• mokhtari_rida_aut@hotmail.fr

Metrology—the science of measurement—plays a fundamental role in guaranteeing accuracy, reliability, and traceability across all engineering systems. In the aerospace domain, the growing deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Aerial Manipulators (UAMs) has created new opportunities and challenges for precision measurement, autonomous inspection, and aerial interaction. Achieving high-fidelity measurements in dynamic and uncertain environments requires advanced methods in automation, control, state estimation, and sensor fusion capable of ensuring consistent performance despite disturbances, noise, and complex vehicle–environment interactions.

This Special Session aims to gather contributions addressing the theoretical foundations, technological innovations, and experimental advances related to measurement-driven automation and control techniques for UAVs and UAMs in aerospace contexts. Any related contributions in the fields of UAVs and UAM are also considered.

The special section will cover the following key areas:

• Navigation, interaction and control of aerial robot.
• Metrology-oriented modeling and calibration.
• State estimation, observers, and data fusion.
• Vision-based tasks, and servoing.
• Learning-based perception and decision.
• Cooperative aerial manipulation.
• Reconfigurable multi-mode UAV.
• Other Related Applications and Contributions.

Pr. Mohamed Abderrahim holds an engineer degree in Optics and Precision Mechanics from Setif University, Algeria, and a Ph.D. in robotics from the Mechanical Engineering Department in the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Systems Engineering and Automation at Carlos III University of Madrid, he has led and contributed to various national and international projects (ROMA, FutureHome, RISANAR, ASIROV, HANDLE, PAPREC), including the development of climbing robots, space robotic systems, automation in construction and Robotic manipulation. His research interests include robotic manipulation, perception for manipulation, computer vision, image processing, and the use of computer vision and robotics in biomedical applications. More recently, his research has expanded to focus on green energy and the application of Artificial Intelligence in power systems. He has also been the lead researcher on projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and the EU, including, ASIROV, MEIGA-3, and HANDLE. The HANDLE project, focused on dexterous robotic manipulation, was the only EU Integrated Project with Spanish participation in robotics that year. From 2003 to 2008, he was awarded the prestigious “Ramón y Cajal” Fellowship, one of just 11 granted in the IEEA field across all of Spain. He has taught various courses, such as Industrial Automation, Programming, Computational Perception and Space Robotics among others.

Dr. Choukri Bensalah is currently an associate professor at the University of Tlemcen in the Faculty of Technology, university of Tlemcen, Algeria. In 2014, he received a Ph.D. in Electrical, Electronic, and Automation Engineering from the University of Carlos III. With a strong background in automation and control theory, his research interests include robotics, aerial manipulators, robust control, chaotic systems, cryptography, optimization, image processing, and computer vision. He is particularly focused on developing kinematic and dynamic control systems for unmanned aerial manipulators, with applications in precision agriculture. As the Director of the Master’s Degree program in Automation and Industrial Computing at the University of Tlemcen, he is responsible for overseeing curriculum development, teaching, and academic leadership. In addition to his teaching role, he supervises Master’s projects, providing guidance to students working on advanced topics in automation and robotics.

Dr. Rida Mokhtari received his Master’s degree in Automation and Manufacturing from the University of Tlemcen, Algeria in 2011. He subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical, Electronic, and Automation Engineering at the University of Tlemcen in 2015. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Higher School of Applied Sciences of Tlemcen, where he also serves as Director of the Doctoral Program in Automation. His research activity is mainly focused on automation, robotic systems, and advanced control architectures. In particular, his work is dedicated to the modeling, analysis, and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and aerial manipulators, including the development of robust and adaptive control techniques, observer design for aerial robotic systems, and optimization-based solutions for improved autonomy and stability. His research scope further extends to chaotic dynamical systems, computer vision for aerial platforms, and intelligent algorithms for perception and decision making. His scientific contributions are disseminated through several publications in international journals and conferences, and through supervision of Master’s and doctoral research projects.