Cal Coopmans
Research Assistant Professor
AggieAir Director

Educational Background
Biography
Dr. Coopmans holds a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Utah State University where he researches drone and robotic applications for real-world science. He has deep experience in aerospace, hardware, software, and networking technologies as well as sensors, control systems, and autonomous systems.
Teaching Interests
Unmanned aerial systems, control systems, sensors, guidance, autonomous systems, real-time systems, embedded hardware and software, mechatronics
Research Interests
Aerial remote sensing, cyberphysical systems, image processing, lidar/ladar, systems engineering, mechatronics, unmanned systems
Publications | Abstracts
- Petruzza, S.N, Coopmans, C., Lessons learned towards the immediate delivery of massive aerial imagery to farmers and crop consultants. SPIE International Society for Optics and Photonics
- Coopmans, C., Torres-Rua, A., Petruzza, S.N, Scientific timely actionable robotic data operating system (STARDOS): architecture and progress. SPIE International Society for Optics and Photonics
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
- Coopmans, C., (2015). Concept of operations of small unmanned aerial systems: Basis for airworthiness towards personal remote sensing: Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
- Coopmans, C., (2015). Cyber-physical systems enabled by small unmanned aerial vehicles: Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Publications | Book Chapters
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Journal Articles
Academic Journal
- Azad, A., Tavakoli, R., Pratik, U., Varghese, B., Coopmans, C., Pantic, Z., (2020). A Smart Autonomous WPT System for Electric Wheelchair Applications with Free-Positioning Charging Feature. IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, 8:4, 3516-3532.
- Nassar, A., Torres-Rua, A., Kustas, W.P, Nieto, H., McKee, M., Hipps, L.E, Alfieri, J.G, Prueger, J.H, Alsina, M.M, McKee, L.G, Coopmans, C., Sanchez, L., Dokoozlian, N., (2020). Implications of soil and canopy temperature uncertainty in the estimation of surface energy fluxes using TSEB2T and high-resolution imagery in commercial vineyards: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping V. SPIE, doi: 10.1117/12.2558715 *
- Nassar, A., Torres-Rua, A., Kustas, W.P, Nieto, H., McKee, M., Hipps, L.E, Alfieri, J.G, Prueger, J.H, Mar Alsina, M., McKee, L.G, Coopmans, C., Sanchez, L., Dokoozlian, N., (2020). To what extent does the Eddy Covariance footprint cutoff influence the estimation of surface energy fluxes using two source energy balance model and high-resolution imagery in commercial vineyards?: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping V. SPIE, 11414, doi: 10.1117/12.2558777 *
- Torres-Rua, A., Ticlavilca, A.M, Aboutalebi, M., Nieto, H., Alsina, M.M, White, A., Prueger, J.H, Alfieri, J.G, Hipps, L.E, McKee, L.G, Kustas, W.P, Coopmans, C., Dokoozlian, N., (2020). Estimation of evapotranspiration and energy fluxes using a deep-learning-based high-resolution emissivity model and the two-source energy balance model with sUAS information: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping V. SPIE, 11414, doi: 10.1117/12.2558824 *
- Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., McKee, M., Kustas, W.P, Nieto, H., Alsina, M.M, White, A., Prueger, J.H, McKee, L.G, Alfieri, J.G, Hipps, L.E, Coopmans, C., Dokoozlian, N., (2020). Deriving daily evapotranspiration from multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) thermal imageries and high-frequency ground thermal measurements: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping V. SPIE, 11414, doi: 10.1117/12.2558630 *
- Nassar, A., Torres-Rua, A., Kustas, W., Nieto, H., McKee, M., Hipps, L.E, Stevens, D.K, Alfieri, J., Prueger, J., Alsina, M.M, McKee, L., Coopmans, C., Sanchez, L., Dokoozlian, N., (2020). Influence of Model Grid Size on the Estimation of Surface Fluxes Using the Two Source Energy Balance Model and sUAS Imagery in Vineyards. Remote Sensing, 12:3, 342. doi: 10.3390/rs12030342
- Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., McKee, M., Kustas, W.P, Nieto, H., Alsina, M.M, White, A., Prueger, J.H, McKee, L., Alfieri, J., Hipps, L.E, Coopmans, C., Dokoozlian, N., (2020). Incorporation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Point Cloud Products into Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration Models. Remote Sensing, 12:1, 50. doi: 10.3390/rs12010050
- Philips, G.R, Clark, C., Wallace, J., Coopmans, C., Pantic, Z., Bodine, C., (2020). User-centred design, evaluation, and refinement of a wireless power wheelchair charging system. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology
- Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., Kustas, W.P, Nieto, H\'ector, , Coopmans, C., McKee, M., (2019). Assessment of different methods for shadow detection in high-resolution optical imagery and evaluation of shadow impact on calculation of NDVI, and evapotranspiration. Irrigation science, 37:3, 407--429.
- Aboutalebi, M., Allen, L., Torres-Rua, A., McKee, M., Coopmans, C., (2019). Estimation of soil moisture at different soil levels using machine learning techniques and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) multispectral imagery: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping IV. SPIE, 11008, 110080S. *
- Torres-Rua, A., Aboutalebi, M., Wright, T., Nassar, A., Guillevic, P., Gao, F., Hipps, L.E, Jim, K., Alsina, M., Nieto, H., Coopmans, C., McKee, M., Kustas, W., (2019). Estimation of surface thermal emissivity in a vineyard for UAV microbolometer thermal cameras using NASA HyTES hyperspectral thermal, and landsat and AggieAir optical data. SPIE *
- Coopmans, C., Humble, J., McKee, M., Sunberg, J., (2019). Software requirements, architecture, design, and results of a modular, multispectral, scientific quality unmanned aerial system payload for civilian remote sensing. SPIE *
- Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., McKee, M., Nieto, H., Kustas, W., Coopmans, C., (2019). The impact of shadows on partitioning of radiometric temperature to canopy and soil temperature based on the contextual two-source energy balance model (TSEB-2T): Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping IV. SPIE, 11008, 1100804. *
- Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., McKee, M., Kustas, W., Nieto, H., Coopmans, C., (2019). Validation of digital surface models (DSMs) retrieved from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) point clouds using geometrical information from shadows: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping IV. SPIE, 11008, 110080L. *
- Dorafshan, S., Thomas, R.J, Coopmans, C., Maguire, M., (2019). A practitioner's guide to small unmanned aerial systems for bridge inspection. Infrastructures, 4:4
- Torres-Rua, A., Nieto, H., Parry, C., Elarab, M., Collatz, W., Coopmans, C., McKee, L., McKee, M., Kustas, W., (2018). Inter-comparison of thermal measurements using ground-based sensors, UAV thermal cameras, and eddy covariance radiometers: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping III. SPIE, 10664, 106640E. *
- Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., McKee, M., Kustas, W., Nieto, H., Coopmans, C., (2018). Behavior of vegetation/soil indices in shaded and sunlit pixels and evaluation of different shadow compensation methods using UAV high-resolution imagery over vineyards: Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping III. SPIE, doi: 10.1117/12.2305883 *
- Hoffer, N.V, Coopmans, C., Jensen, A.M, Chen, Y., (2014). A survey and categorization of small low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle system identification. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems: Theory and Applications, 74:1-2, 129-145.
- Podhradský, M., Coopmans, C., Jensen, A., (2014). Battery state-of-charge based altitude controller for small, low cost multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems: Theory and Applications, 74:1-2, 193-207.
- Coopmans, C., Jensen, A.M, Chen, Y., (2014). Fractional-order complementary filters for small unmanned aerial system navigation. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems: Theory and Applications, 73:1-4, 429-453.
- Han, J., Di, L., Coopmans, C., Chen, Y., (2014). Pitch loop control of a VTOL UAV using fractional order controller. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems: Theory and Applications, 73:1-4, 187-195.
- Stark, B., Coopmans, C., Chen, Y.Q, (2013). Concept of operations for personal remote sensing unmanned aerial systems. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems: Theory and Applications, 69:1-4, 5-20.
- Sheng, H., Sun, H.G, Coopmans, C., Chen, Y., Bohannan, G.W, (2011). A Physical experimental study of variable-order fractional integrator and differentiator. European Physical Journal: Special Topics, 193:1, 93-104.
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | MultiMedia
Software
- Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., McKee, M., Kustas, W., Nieto, H., Hipps, L.E, Coopmans, C., (2019). Vegetation Spectral-Structral Information eXtraction Algorithm (VSSIXA). GitHub
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Other
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.