About Me
Ilya M. Afanasyev, Ph.D., is a Senior R&D Expert and Key Project Engineer: a long-term external contractor engaged via IT consulting companies (Ventra, later Coleman Tech) to deliver research projects and technology expertise for their client, the Chebyshev Research Center (Huawei R&D, St. Petersburg). Always an external expert, never a Huawei employee. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor (Docent) at Innopolis University, Center for Top-Tier Educational Programs in AI. He earned his Ph.D. in Optical and Optoelectronical Devices from Vavilov State Optical Institute (2006).
With over two decades of R&D experience across industry and academia (Marie Curie fellowship at the University of Trento, Italy; TGT Oilfield Services; Giesecke & Devrient), he specializes in Autonomous Systems, Sensors, Computer Vision, and Mobile Robotics. His current work rests on three pillars: computational and algorithmic optimization of perception pipelines (GPU and CPU), the Julia programming language for scientific computing, and Geometric (Clifford) Algebra as a unified mathematical language for robotics.
He is a Marie Curie Fellow alumnus, holder of 2 patents, and author of 120+ publications (56 indexed in Scopus/WoS), with an h-index of 23 and about 2,000 citations (Google Scholar).
📅 Experience Timeline
🔬 Research Interests
- Geometric (Clifford) Algebra: dual-quaternion geometric observers on SE(3), conformal geometric algebra for scene representation
- State Estimation & Sensor Fusion: 6-DoF pose estimation, multi-radar/multi-camera calibration, IMU and visual odometry fusion
- Mobile Robotics: SLAM, Navigation, Path Planning
- Computer Vision: Object Detection, Tracking, Camera Calibration, Diffusion Models
- Computational & Algorithmic Optimization: accelerating perception pipelines for GPU and CPU architectures
- Julia for Scientific Computing: differentiable programming and rapid prototyping
- Intelligent Systems: UAV, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Human-Computer Interaction
📚 Selected Publications & Patents
Please visit my Google Scholar Profile for the full list.
A-level Conference Paper (Geometric Algebra in Sensor Fusion)
1. Geometric State Fusion for Autonomous Agents: A Comparative Analysis of Dual Quaternion Observer and Kalman Filters.
I. Afanasyev.
Ext. Abstract 1168, Proc. of the 25th Int. Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2026), May 25-29, 2026, Paphos, Cyprus, pp. 3480-3482.
DOI, Project page: SE3-Manifold-Lib/GeoDQ
Most Cited (SLAM Benchmarking)
2. Comparison of Various SLAM Systems for Mobile Robot in an Indoor Environment.
M. Filipenko, I. Afanasyev.
9th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Systems (IS), 2018.
[Cited by ~300+] DOI
Lidar SLAM & Ground Truth Analysis
3. Map Comparison of Lidar-based 2D SLAM Algorithms Using Precise Ground Truth.
R. Yagfarov, M. Ivanou, I. Afanasyev.
Int. Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision (ICARCV), Singapore, 2018.
[Cited by ~170+] DOI
Intelligent Systems & IoT
4. Towards the Internet of Robotic Things: Analysis, Architecture, Components and Challenges.
I. Afanasyev, et al.
12th International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering (DeSE), 2019.
[Cited by ~100] arXiv
Top Journal (UAV Efficiency)
5. Game Theory-based Parameter Tuning for Energy-efficient Path Planning on Modern UAVs.
D. Moolchandani, I. Afanasyev, et al.
ACM Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems, Vol. 6(4), 2022.
DOI
Patents (Hardware & UAV)
6. Modular multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle of vertical take-off and landing.
M. Galimov, I. Afanasyev, et al.
Patent RU 2706765, 2019.
Google Patents
🎓 Teaching (Highlights)
- Advanced Robotics (Master's level), Innopolis University (2025-2026)
- Optoelectronic Detecting Technology, ITMO & CUST (China), Changchun, 2025
- Condensed Matter Physics, ITMO & CUST (China), Changchun, 2025-2026
- Foundation of Robotics and Computer Vision with OpenCV, Kazan Federal University (2021-2022)
- Sensors of Transport Systems and Graph Database and Data Management, SPbPU industrial track (2021-2023)
- Sensors & Sensing, Innopolis University (2018-2020, 2022-2023)
- Intelligent Mobile Robotics, Innopolis University (2016-2020)
- Control Theory, Innopolis University (2016-2019)
- PhD supervision: Anvar Tliamov (since September 2025), mathematical modelling for robotics and multi-agent systems
- Thesis supervision: 18 Master's and 9 Bachelor's theses (27 in total, including co-supervisions)
🤝 Service to the Profession
- Reviewer: IEEE T-ASE, IEEE RA-L, IFAC, IEEE CASE, IEEE Access, MDPI Sensors
- Invited Speaker: IEEE ICARA 2023 (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
- Session Chair: TOOLS 50+1 (Innopolis, 2019)