{"id":9286,"date":"2026-10-01T15:20:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/?p=9286"},"modified":"2026-10-01T15:20:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:20:43","slug":"knowledge-transfer-partnership-case-study-hvn-labs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/knowledge-transfer-partnership-case-study-hvn-labs\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge Transfer Partnership case study – HVN Labs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About HVN Labs<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HVN Labs is a Bristol-based technology company specialising in drone swarm and light-show UAV design, manufacture and choreography. The business develops both the hardware and software technology stack with respect to drone swarm technology. HVN’s markets span commercial drone light shows, bespoke swarm choreography for events, and drone hardware\/software design services, serving clients across the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Knowledge Base:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The academic team based within the School of Engineering<\/a> at The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)<\/a> brings cross-disciplinary research, combining both academic and industry perspectives. The KTP was supported by UWE Bristol academics Dr Jun Yao<\/a> and Dr Amina Hamoud<\/a>. Dr Jun Yao is an Associate Professor in Aerospace Engineering at UWE Bristol whose teaching subjects relate to fundamental aerodynamics, aero propulsion, fluid dynamics and thermodynamics with expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Dr Amina Hamoud is a Senior Lecturer in Systems Engineering, her research and industry work are within areas of digital twin, systems and control, robotics and autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the KTP Associate:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KTP Associate, Ritvik Swaminathan<\/a> holds a 1st class MEng degree from the University of Southampton, bringing his expertise in aircraft design and simulation into this project. He has a deep passion for developing efficient computational solutions in the aircraft design processes ultimately reducing the R&D costs.<\/p>\n\n\n

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KTP Associate \u2013 Ritvik Swaminathan holding his award after achieving 2nd place in the real-world challenge (and 4th in the virtual challenge) at the IEEE RAS Summer School on Multi-Robot Systems, hosted by MRS Group at FEE-CTU Prague.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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About Innovate UK:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovate UK<\/a> is part of UK Research and Innovation, the UK\u2019s innovation agency. Their mission is to help companies to grow through their development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Challenge the KTP Addressed:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original aim of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) was to develop a digital twin system capable of simulating drone flights prior to real-world operations. This capability was intended to support research and development activities, pilot training, and the development of swarm flight behaviours. A further objective was to create a simulation environment that could validate the flight performance of different drone configurations before physical testing, enabling faster design iteration and reducing development risk whist lowering drone development costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UWE Bristol provided academic expertise and strategic guidance to support the KTP Associate during the development of the software platform. Additionally, the company worked closely with the university throughout the KTP, to guide the development of the project, which helped ensure the resulting system addressed practical and operational needs to fulfil HVN\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: KTP Associate \u2013 Ritvik Swaminathan during lab experiments to collect crucial data to characterise the performance of HVN\u2019s show fleet under extreme temperature and humidity conditions.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KTP delivered significant value to HVN across commercial, operational and academic dimensions. By establishing a robust digital twin and simulation capability, the project transformed how the company designs, tests and validates its drone systems. The resulting tools and processes have reduced development costs and testing requirements, strengthened safety assurance, and generated new research outputs that contribute to the wider field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) simulation and validation.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Internal drone light show #1 demonstration showcased at HVN.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Financial benefits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replacing large blocks of physical flight testing with a validated simulation stack cut performance-testing time by 93%, freeing flight-tests resources for revenue-generating shows and new client projects, which led to reducing the cost of qualifying each new drone variant. The new in-house design-configuration tool allows HVN to test and compare novel drone designs within a visual environment using software before committing to physical prototypes, reducing research and development costs on new design exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-financial benefits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KTP fundamentally changed how HVN designs, tests and validates its technology. What was previously a predominantly ad hoc, test-first design culture has evolved into a company-wide structured simulation-first workflow embedded in the company, enabling engineers to assess performance, safety and system behaviour before flight. The business now holds an in-house flight simulation capability that did not exist before. This gives HVN a genuine internal design and safety-validation capability it previously had to work around rather than own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academic input:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project generated a peer-reviewed research publication and new knowledge in drone simulation and digital twin technology. This provides UWE Bristol with a valuable industry-informed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

research output and demonstrates the impact that collaboration between universities and businesses can achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key milestones<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full digital twin build and Software-in-the-Loop (SITL) simulation capability; four-tier fidelity validation study; 93% reduction in physical testing time.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Internal demonstration drone light show #2 developed showcased at HVN.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Key Facts and Impact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n