· Hub for the NS Community ·
Dear community members,
We're excited to share progress on our initiative at NSLab (at CTU in Prague): the development of Spring Boot Expanders — a toolset to generate full REST API backend applications in the popular Java framework, Spring Boot.
This effort originated from the diploma thesis of Artem Kravchenko, and has now gained new momentum under the guidance of our intern Antoine Douant (IMT Atlantique). The project aims to streamline backend application scaffolding and open it up for broader use at CTU and beyond, creating opportunities for both research and practice. Recent developments include automated generation of layered DTOs, complete with MapStruct-based mappers and service integration. Generated APIs are also enhanced with Spring HATEOAS for hypermedia-driven endpoints.
Given Spring Boot's strong presence in educational settings, the Expanders will also double as a teaching and onboarding tool, helping students and junior developers familiarize themselves with clean architectural patterns and typical Spring practices. For instance, a model with relations automatically yields controller, service, DTOs, and repository code, illustrating Spring Boot best practices and clean separation of concerns. We're looking forward to sharing more updates and possibly welcoming collaborators to extend the work further!
This month, Helicus successfully completed a milestone in Belgian aerial mobility by conducting the first-ever river-crossing commercial drone flight in Belgium, connecting two industrial sites across the river Scheldt in the Port of Antwerp. This achievement reflects nearly a decade of dedicated work in drone aviation, operational excellence, and regulatory collaboration.
The 52kg cargo drone is automated and certified for flight operations in an industrial environment. This use case would improve sustainable logistics in line with pan-European DORAI requirements (Drone Operator Aerial Initiative), while contributing to regulatory and technological advancement for European drone logistics. For updates on this project, Helicus invites people who are interested to explore their LinkedIn page — where the full story is available.
Kind community regards and see you next month!
