NTU-CEE Seminar Series: Associate Professor He Hongdi
Organized By
CEE Seminar Committee
Host By
Assistant Professor Yan Ran
Topic
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Intelligent Transportation and Environmental Monitoring
About the Seminar
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their high mobility, ease of operation, and low cost, enabling robust aerial monitoring capabilities. This seminar presents a UAV-based, multi-dimensional monitoring platform designed for urban environments. The research team developed an integrated UAV platform for air pollution monitoring by equipping UAVs with portable air-pollution sensors and validating the platform performance through wind-tunnel experiments and numerical simulations.
Using this platform, they conducted three-dimensional monitoring of pollutant dispersion in complex urban settings—including elevated street canyons, street-facing residential community, and port environments—providing a detailed understanding of 3D diffusion patterns critical for advancing air-quality modeling. In addition, by deploying UAVs equipped with infrared thermal imaging systems, the team extended the platform to urban traffic and infrastructure monitoring.
Demonstrated applications include dynamic monitoring of highway traffic flow, automated inspection of port areas, and rapid detection of overloaded vehicles. Collectively, these efforts showcase the versatility and efficiency of the UAV platform, offering intelligent and practical solutions for urban management and safety regulation.
About the Speaker
Dr. Hongdi is a tenured Associate Professor and Vice Head of the Department of Transportation at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He also serves as the Dean of the Center for ITS and UAV Applications. His research focuses on intelligent transportation systems, transportation–environment interactions, and new energy vehicles.
As Principal Investigator, he has secured four grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and led three Shanghai policy consulting projects. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers and holds three national patents. In teaching, he has received multiple awards, including the Second Prize in the SJTU Teaching Competition and the Third Prize for Teaching Excellence at SJTU.
His teaching innovations have been featured by major media outlets, including Shanghai Education Television, People’s Daily, and Xinhua News Agency.