Dheeraj Ahuja

Qualcomm (United Kingdom), Qualcomm (United States)

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Dheeraj Ahuja is a researcher specializing in aerial robotics, autonomous systems, and the innovative application of consumer-grade technology to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His work has pioneered the use of smartphones as cost-effective platforms for powering flying robots, demonstrating that the sensors and processors found in everyday devices — cameras, gyroscopes, and accelerometers — can enable sophisticated autonomous flight capabilities without expensive, specialized hardware. Ahuja's most influential contribution, "Smartphones power flying robots" (2015), garnered 40 citations and established the foundational argument that the dramatic improvements in price-to-performance ratios of consumer electronics could be leveraged for aerial robotics. He extended this vision in "A swarm of flying smartphones" (2016, 20 citations), exploring how these platforms could enable cooperative, GPS-denied autonomous deployment across multiple robots simultaneously. His 2018 work further advanced this trajectory by addressing autonomous flight and cooperative control for environmental reconstruction using smartphone-powered aerial robots. Collectively, Ahuja's research has helped democratize aerial robotics by lowering barriers to entry, making autonomous UAV systems more accessible and affordable. His contributions are particularly relevant for researchers and engineers working at the intersection of consumer technology, swarm robotics, and real-world autonomous systems deployment.