Team
Meet the experts, researchers, doctoral students, and junior engineers driving the development of AWES technology in Spain through aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, control, power electronics, and experimental validation.
People behind the prototypes
An interdisciplinary team built for full-system AWES development.
The AWE3 Group combines senior scientific leadership, industrial experience, doctoral research, and hands-on engineering capacity. The team covers the complete chain from airborne-system design and flight dynamics to power electronics, grid integration, control implementation, microgrid energy management, and test-bench validation.
2
Principal Investigators
Senior leadership across Aerospace and Electrical Engineering.
4
Researchers
Postdoctoral, doctoral, and visiting research capacity.
2
Junior Researchers
Hands-on engineering work on GNC, EMS, KCU, machines, and communications.
10
Past Members
Previous thesis and research work feeding the current AWES platform.
Leadership
Principal Investigators and Project Leaders
Principal Investigator · Department of Electrical Engineering
David Santos Martín
Industrial engineer (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 1997), Automation and Signal Processing engineer (SUPELEC, Paris, 1997) and PhD in Electrical Engineering (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2008, Extraordinary Doctorate Prize).
He has 9 years of industrial experience in the wind energy sector, working at EDF, Ecotecnia-Alstom and Iberdrola Ingeniería on advanced wind turbine control and grid integration, and later co-founding a UC3M start-up on power electronics for renewable integration, where he served as CTO.
He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at UC3M and co-leader of the UC3M research group on Airborne Wind Energy Systems. His research focuses on airborne wind energy systems, power electronics control, and grid integration of renewable energy sources.
He has led more than 10 industrial and national research projects, including the co-coordination of the UC3M–CT Ingenieros Industrial Chair and the Co-PI role in the national project KITE2GRID, for a total of over €2M. He has been director/co-director of a total of 5 PhD theses (ended and on-going).
Principal Investigator · Department of Aerospace Engineering
Gonzalo Sánchez Arriaga
Aerospace engineer (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 2004) and astrophysicist (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2010), he combines strong scientific leadership with proven project execution in advanced aerospace and airborne wind energy technologies.
He is currently a Full Professor and Director of the BSc in Aerospace Engineering at UC3M. His research focuses on airborne wind energy, kite control and dynamics, electrodynamic tethers, and plasma physics.
He has led more than 15 European and national research projects, including the coordination of three European Innovation Council projects (E.T.PACK, E.T.PACK-F and E.T.COMPACT) with total funding of €9.5M, as well as one ESA project (Pro-BPT). Author of more than 75 peer-reviewed papers and director/co-director of 15 PhD theses, completed and ongoing.
He also co-founded PERSEI Space, nominated as the most innovative start-up in Madrid. This academic and entrepreneurship experience reinforces his ability to translate frontier research into high-impact technological development.
Current research capacity
Post-Docs, Researchers & Professors
Post-Doc and Assistant Professor
Carolina Nicolás Martín
Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. She received her degrees in Industrial Technologies and Industrial Engineering from UC3M, and completed her PhD in Electrical, Electronic and Automation Engineering in 2025 with cum laude distinction.
Her research focuses on advanced control and power conversion for renewable energy systems, with special emphasis on airborne wind energy systems (AWES), predictive control of electric machines, and grid integration of converter-based systems. She has participated in national research projects such as KITE2GRID, published in distinguished international journals and conferences.
Visiting Researcher
Osmany Pérez Aballe
Received his Electrical Engineering degree in 2007, a Master of Science in Electromechanics in 2012, and a PhD in Sciences, with specialization in Electromechanics, in 2026.
He is a research professor at the University of Moa, Cuba, specializing in Power Electronics and Renewable Energy. He is currently involved in research projects with Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) focused on energy management in electric microgrids integrating airborne wind energy systems (AWES). He has served as Degree Director and as Head of the Electrical Engineering program at Moa University, Cuba.
Assistant Professor
Cristina Vitulano
Researcher in aerodynamics for wind energy systems. She holds a BSc and MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Naples Federico II and completed her PhD in Industrial and Information Engineering at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” in 2025. Her research career then continued at Delft University of Technology, where she worked on aerodynamics for wind energy systems.
Her research focuses on large wind rotor aerodynamics, with particular interest in transonic and unsteady flows and the aerodynamic performance of next-generation wind turbine airfoils. Her work combines computational and experimental approaches to investigate complex aerodynamic phenomena. She has published her research in international journals and conferences in the fields of wind energy and fluid dynamics.
Current research capacity
Doctoral Candidates
Doctoral Candidate
Jorge Gonzalez García
He received the bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and the master’s degree in engineering research from the Universidad de Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain, in 2020 and 2023, respectively.
He worked as a Development Engineer in the automotive sector in the private industry for many years, providing ample industrial experience. In 2023, he joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganes, Spain, as a Predoctoral Researcher. His research focuses on the design, control, and testing of airborne wind energy systems (AWES), contributing across the mechanical, aeronautical, and electrical integration aspects of the project.
Hands-on engineering team
Junior Researchers
Master Student
César Eduardo Perdomo Díaz
Working on the GNC (Guidance, Navigation and Control) subsystem. Developing new algorithms and deploying them in embedded hardware.
Master Student
Miguel Alonso Resta
Developing electrical machine control algorithms, deployment of Real Time systems and communications networks. Working closely with power electronics.
Master Student
Thomas Waroude
Mechatronic engineer working on the automatic kite deployment system. Mechanical and electronic design of a drone-based release mechanism.
Research legacy
Past Members
Francisco de los Ríos-Navarrete
Ground-Actuated Airborne Wind Energy System Demonstrator
Bachelor Student
Gabriel Brondel Oñate
A Forecast-Driven Energy Management System for AWES Microgrids with Hybrid Energy Storage
PhD Student and Researcher
Iván Castro Fernández
Unsteady Aerodynamics of Delta Kites applied to Airborne Wind Energy Systems
Bachelor Student
Pablo Flores Martín
Energy Management for Ground Generation Airborne Wind Energy Systems
PhD Student and Researcher
Ricardo Barobia Moreno
Aplication of Flight Testing Techniques to the Aerodynamic Charaterization of Power Kites
Alberto LLabres Andreo
Analysis of Iron Losses in Induction Machines & Configuration of a Three-Phase Electrical Grid Emulator
Master Student
Pedro López Pelaez
Design of an Airborne Control System for Airborne Wind Energy
Jaime Delgado Carrasco
Development of a Hardware-Based Flight Dynamics Emulator of Airborne Wind Energy Systems
Juan Fernández Lozano
Development of real-time simulation environments for the electrical system of an Airborne Wind Energy Conversion system using Typhoon HIL
Bachelor Student
Francisco Cruz Pérez
Development of modeling platforms for the electrical subsystem using HIL techniques
Would like to join the team?
We welcome thesis students, doctoral candidates, and collaborators interested in airborne wind energy systems.