Company.
SNAP s.r.l. is managed by Francesco Passarella, it is an R&D company that operates in the field of land mobility and UAV drones (both VTOL and fixed wing).
Francesco Passarella, born in Puglia, PhD in Mechanical Engineering, graduated in mechanical engineering cum laude. Before founding Snap, he worked for Magneti Marelli, VM Motori spa, Bosch, General Elettric and Ferrari, making available his passion for engines and engineering expertise.
He is a mechanical engineer with hands-on experience in propulsion systems and unmanned aerial vehicle development.
He worked on aircraft engine systems in collaboration with international defense aviation programs.
Later he focused on the conception, design, prototyping, and testing of multi-purpose unmanned aerial platforms. These systems were developed to support a wide range of applications and are capable of carrying payloads from 1 kg up to 100 kg. Some of these UAVs are currently in use and feature a complex mechanical system as well as a specific ground/vehicle launcher.
He has extensive expertise across the full development cycle of unmanned aerial systems, with a strong focus on structural engineering, testing, and advanced system integration. His work covers structural design, material selection, and validation, including both composite and thermoplastic architectures.
He is highly experienced in experimental testing methodologies, including the design and execution of wind tunnel campaigns, aerodynamic validation, and performance characterization. His skill set also includes rapid prototyping and iterative development, enabling fast transition from concept to functional hardware.
In addition, he has a solid background in avionics and sensor integration, covering GNSS-based navigation systems, anti-spoofing and anti-jamming technologies, inertial navigation systems (INS), and multi-sensor fusion approaches. His expertise extends to the integration of guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems for reliable and high-performance autonomous platforms.
His motto is: “once you have the specifications defined and if you have enough resources, I can design anything in half the time of others and make it work”.
We’re very different from other consulting firms in this sector. We’re not afraid to design and get to the testing stage.
