GROUND CONTROL STATION v2.4.1 INITIALIZED
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Custom UAV Platforms for
Academic Research
& Industrial Inspection.

End-to-end drone development — custom hardware integration, autonomous flight software, computer vision pipelines, and high-fidelity digital twin simulation. Built to spec. Tested to standard.

▶ REQUEST FOR QUOTE◈ VIEW HANGAR
CAPABILITY STATUS ▸
PX4 AUTOPILOT[CERTIFIED]ROS2 HUMBLE[ACTIVE]GAZEBO SIM[READY]COMPUTER VISION[ONLINE]SLAM NAV[OPERATIONAL]OAK-D DEPTH AI[LINKED]MISSION PLANNER[SYNCED]CUSTOM FIRMWARE[DEPLOYED]PX4 AUTOPILOT[CERTIFIED]ROS2 HUMBLE[ACTIVE]GAZEBO SIM[READY]COMPUTER VISION[ONLINE]SLAM NAV[OPERATIONAL]OAK-D DEPTH AI[LINKED]MISSION PLANNER[SYNCED]CUSTOM FIRMWARE[DEPLOYED]
[PILOT]

OPERATOR CREDENTIALS

Not just a drone guy — an engineer who understands the silicon, the firmware, the flight dynamics, and the airspace. From bare-metal STM32 code to 3,000ft AGL in a Cessna.

🛩

FAA Part 107

Certified Remote Pilot

Commercial drone operations certification

✈

Private Pilot Student

60+ Flight Hours

Cessna 150 — Initial solo completed

🎓

M.S. ECE

Mississippi State University

Electrical & Computer Engineering

⚡

Sr. FPGA Systems Engineer

AMD / Xilinx

Silicon-level hardware expertise

60+FLIGHT HOURS
8+UAV BUILDS
9.5K+HACKSTER VIEWS
2COMPETITION ENTRIES
107FAA CERT
11+PUBLISHED PROJECTS
[PUBLICATIONS & CREDENTIALS]
📄0PUBLICATIONS
🏆0×AMD AWARDS
🎓MSUMSU GRADUATE
⚡FPGAFPGA LEAD ENGINEER
📡0GRESEARCH
View Full Capabilities→

// ORIGIN STORY

I started building drones by hand-soldering a custom PCB flight controller onto an STM32 Blue Pill — not because I had to, but because I wanted to understand every electron between the gyroscope and the motor. That project hit 9,500+ views on Hackster.io and taught me more about control systems than any textbook.

From there it was NXP HoverGames competitions (twice), a 3D-printed Shark Aero fixed-wing, PX4 SITL simulations, and eventually strapping real sensors to real airframes for real missions. Along the way, I earned my FAA Part 107 and started training for my Private Pilot certificate — because the best way to understand flight is to do it yourself at 3,000 feet.

My day job at AMD/Xilinx gave me something most drone contractors don't have: an understanding of hardware at the silicon level. FPGA design, high-speed serial protocols, signal integrity, embedded Linux — I've debugged it all. That translates directly to building drone systems that are reliable, optimized, and actually production-ready.

Today I combine all of it — custom hardware, firmware development, computer vision, Gazebo simulation, and real flight experience — into a one-stop drone engineering service for universities, research labs, and aerospace companies worldwide. Based in Austin, TX. Available globally.

[RSR]

FOR RESEARCHERS

Purpose-built UAV platforms designed for academic research labs. We support you from grant proposal through deployment.

▣

Grant Proposal Support

Equipment specs, BOMs, and budget justifications for NSF, DOE, USDA applications

⬡

Custom Data Pipelines

Sensor → cloud → analysis workflows tailored to your research methodology

◈

Automated Missions

Repeatable survey patterns with terrain-following for longitudinal studies

◉

CV & ML Integration

Deploy trained models on aerial data — crop health, defect detection, wildlife counting

▶ AI AUTOMATION SERVICES
[OPS]

RESEARCH AREAS

🌿

Environmental Monitoring

Air quality, water sampling, ecosystem mapping

🌾

Agricultural Survey

Crop health, NDVI analysis, precision agriculture

🏗️

Infrastructure Inspection

Bridges, towers, pipelines, solar farms

🔍

Search & Rescue

Thermal imaging, autonomous search patterns

🗺️

Geological Mapping

Photogrammetry, LiDAR, terrain modeling

[HGR]

RECENT BUILDS

Select platforms from the active fleet.

UAV//STM32-RTH-DRONE
OPERATIONAL
STM32 RETURN-TO-HOME DRONE — Custom PCB Flight Controller on F450 Frame
FEED LIVE

STM32 RETURN-TO-HOME DRONE

Custom PCB Flight Controller on F450 Frame

A full custom-built quadcopter featuring a hand-designed PCB flight controller using the STM32 Blue Pill. The board sits directly on top of the F450 frame, integrating GPS for autonomous return-to-home capability. Project spans 3D modeling, schematic capture, PCB layout, firmware development, and flight testing.

controllerSTM32F103C8T6
frameDJI F450
featureGPS RTH
views9,500+ on Hackster

// BILL OF MATERIALS

  • ├─STM32F103C8T6 (Blue Pill)
  • ├─DJI F450 Frame
  • ├─Custom PCB (KiCad Designed)
  • ├─GPS Module (Return-to-Home)
  • ├─Brushless Motors + ESCs
  • ├─3D-Printed Component Mounts

// SOFTWARE STACK

Arduino IDEKiCadSTM32C/C++GrabCAD
◈ HACKSTER▶ VIDEO⬡ CAD
UAV//PX4-ROI-TRACKING
ACTIVE
PX4 ROI OBJECT TRACKING — QGroundControl Region-of-Interest Simulation
FEED LIVE

PX4 ROI OBJECT TRACKING

QGroundControl Region-of-Interest Simulation

A simulation-first approach to region-of-interest tracking using PX4 autopilot and QGroundControl. The system autonomously locks onto and tracks a target while maintaining stable flight, demonstrating the full SITL pipeline from algorithm development to mission validation.

autopilotPX4 SITL
gcsQGroundControl
modeROI Track
statusSim Validated

// BILL OF MATERIALS

  • ├─PX4 Autopilot (SITL)
  • ├─QGroundControl Ground Station
  • ├─Gazebo Simulation Environment
  • ├─ROI Tracking Algorithm
  • ├─MAVLink Protocol

// SOFTWARE STACK

PX4QGroundControlGazeboMAVLinkSITL
▶ VIDEO
UAV//HOVERGAMES-3-HAZARD
OPERATIONAL
CHEMICAL HAZARD TESTING RANGER — NXP HoverGames 3.0 Competition Entry
FEED LIVE

CHEMICAL HAZARD TESTING RANGER

NXP HoverGames 3.0 Competition Entry

Competition entry for NXP HoverGames 3.0 — an autonomous drone platform designed to detect and map chemical hazards in disaster zones. Features real-time sensor data telemetry and autonomous survey patterns for first-responder safety assessment.

competitionHoverGames 3.0
sponsorNXP Semiconductors
missionHazard Detection
autonomyWaypoint Survey

// BILL OF MATERIALS

  • ├─NXP FMUK66 Flight Controller
  • ├─NXP HoverGames Drone Kit
  • ├─Chemical/Gas Sensor Array
  • ├─Telemetry Downlink
  • ├─Custom Sensor Integration Board

// SOFTWARE STACK

PX4NuttXMAVLinkPythonSensor Fusion
▶ VIDEO
VIEW ALL BUILDS →
[SAM]

SERVICE AREA MAP

Drone operations coverage across the United States. Available for deployment nationwide with 48hr notice.

Primary Operations
University Partners
Available Area
▸ Available for deployment nationwide with 48hr notice
[LOG]

FLIGHT LOG & MEDIA REEL

Custom PCB drone builds, PX4 simulation demos, and NXP HoverGames competition entries. All real. All engineered.

6/6 ENTRIES
BUILD

STM32 Custom Drone — Full Build Video

Complete build walkthrough of a custom PCB flight controller drone using STM32 Blue Pill. 3K+ views.

SIMULATION

PX4 QGC ROI Object Tracking Simulation

Region-of-interest tracking using PX4 autopilot in SITL with QGroundControl.

COMPETITION

Chemical Hazard Testing Ranger — HoverGames 3.0

NXP HoverGames 3.0 competition entry for autonomous chemical hazard detection.

COMPETITION

NXP HoverGames Challenge 2

Second HoverGames entry using NXP FMUK66 flight controller for social good.

BUILD

S500 Quadcopter Build

Building and testing an S500-class research quadcopter platform.

BUILD

Shark Aero — 3D Printed RC Plane Build

End-to-end build of a fully 3D-printed fixed-wing RC aircraft.

▶ VIEW ALL ON YOUTUBE →
[SVC]

SERVICE MATRIX

Five verticals. Modular engagement. Scale from a single consultation to a full platform build.

SVC-01⚙

Custom Hardware Integration

End-to-end UAV builds from frame selection to maiden flight. Custom PCBs, STM32 controllers, ESC tuning, PID optimization, and flight-ready delivery.

// CAPABILITIES

  • ▸Frame & Propulsion Design
  • ▸Flight Controller Setup (PX4 / ArduPilot)
  • ▸Custom PCB Design (STM32, GPS, IMU)
  • ▸3D-Printed Mounts & Enclosures
  • ▸Vibration Isolation & EMI Shielding
REQUEST QUOTE →
SVC-02◎

Computer Vision & SLAM

Visual perception pipelines for autonomous navigation. Stereo depth, object detection, visual-inertial odometry, and real-time 3D mapping in GPS-denied environments.

// CAPABILITIES

  • ▸OAK-D / RealSense Integration
  • ▸Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO)
  • ▸SLAM (ORB-SLAM3, RTAB-Map)
  • ▸Object Detection & Tracking (YOLO)
  • ▸Depth Processing & Point Clouds
REQUEST QUOTE →
SVC-03◇

Digital Twin & Gazebo Simulation

High-fidelity simulation environments for safe, repeatable testing. URDF/SDF modeling, sensor simulation, SITL/HITL integration, and CI pipeline deployment.

// CAPABILITIES

  • ▸Gazebo Harmonic World Building
  • ▸Custom URDF/SDF Vehicle Models
  • ▸PX4 SITL & HITL Integration
  • ▸Sensor Noise & Physics Modeling
  • ▸GitHub Actions CI/CD Pipeline
REQUEST QUOTE →
SVC-04▣

FPGA & Embedded Systems

Custom FPGA and embedded system design for real-time control and sensor fusion. 3+ years AMD/Xilinx experience — RTL, bare-metal, embedded Linux.

// CAPABILITIES

  • ▸RTL Design & Verification (SystemVerilog)
  • ▸High-speed Serial Protocols (PCIe, Ethernet)
  • ▸Bare-metal & Linux Driver Development
  • ▸FPGA Image Processing Pipelines
  • ▸Zynq UltraScale+ SoC Integration
REQUEST QUOTE →
SVC-05◉

Aerial Photography & Videography

FAA Part 107 certified aerial cinematography for real estate, events, construction, and creative productions. Multi-city portfolio across Austin, NYC, and Miami.

// CAPABILITIES

  • ▸4K Drone Photography & Video
  • ▸Real Estate & Construction Progress
  • ▸FAA Part 107 Compliant Operations
  • ▸Orthomosaic Mapping & 3D Terrain
  • ▸Post-production & Color Grading
REQUEST QUOTE →
[GIT]

COMMIT LOG

Engineering activity — 0 contributions in the last year.

RECENT PUSHES
VIEW ON GITHUB →
[BLD]

DRONE BUILDER

Select components and see real-time thrust-to-weight, flight time, and BOM calculations.

SUMMARY
WEIGHT: 0g
[REC]

SIGNAL INTERCEPTS

What colleagues, managers, and research collaborators say about working with AJ.

NP

Nitish Patil

PhD Candidate in ECE • Mississippi State University

December 2021

“Ajaya is a multi-talented person with the level of knowledge you would expect from a PhD candidate. He has quite the problem solving capabilities and would be considered an expert in the field of Electrical and Computer Engineering. I had the pleasure of working with him on the software side of UAVs and image processing where he shows excellent leadership qualities.”

▸UAVs & Image Processing
AG

Alexis Grey

Embedded Software Engineer • AMD (Manager)

February 2024

“AJ is the real deal — Fantastic engineer who learns at an unbelievable pace, and enjoys the process. I had the opportunity to have him on my team at AMD where we solved challenging problems together across a broad range of topics. AJ was a sponge, soaking up everything we threw at him, from high-speed serial protocols and signal integrity, FPGA design and configuration, bare-metal software, and embedded Linux.”

▸FPGA Design & High-Speed Protocols
JL

John Linn

Strategic Application Engineer • AMD / Xilinx

December 2024

“He is a very motivated sharp embedded engineer. He pushes through hard problems to get to a solution with both embedded hardware and software. He has the ability to learn new technology as he covers a lot of varied embedded subjects from RTL to Linux drivers to bare metal drivers. He is a great asset wherever he is working.”

▸RTL to Linux Drivers
DS

Daniel Sill

SMTS Systems Design Engineer • AMD

January 2025

“I mentored AJ through the AMD Mentor Program. I found him to be both very eager to learn and easy to work with. In his current role at AMD, he debugs both hardware and software issues reported by networking customers. These multidisciplinary skills have made him a very valuable asset to AMD.”

▸Hardware & Software Debug
VIEW ALL ON LINKEDIN →
▸ TRANSMISSION OPEN

READY TO BUILD?

Whether you need a full autonomous platform, aerial cinematography, FPGA integration, or a targeted consultation on flight controller firmware — let's scope it out.

▶ INITIATE CONTACT▶ YOUTUBE CHANNEL