Drone competition off to a flying start

The Challenge is a year-long project with phased stages of completion that require strict adherence to certain standards in order to qualify. The UAS must complete a series of tasks, such as way-point navigation (following a route towards a specific mark), location search and accurate delivery of an aid package.

A steering group, comprising of specialist professionals in aerospace engineering and flight safety at leading aerospace and defence organisations, supports the teams throughout the project. The expert advice helps develop the teams’ technical understanding and focus on safety.

The commercial viability of the projects are also tested with a Dragons’ Den style pitch to a panel of judges.

Qinetiq and GKN Aerospace will continue to support the UAS Challenge 2018.

Peter Finegold, Head of Education at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “Taking part in the UAS challenge provides students with an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between education and industry. Students are involved in an engineering project which brings theoretical knowledge to life and encourages authentic work experiences such as working in teams, to deadlines and solving real problems as they arise.”

A participant from the University of Southampton, said of the 2017 competition: “It was a great opportunity for a real-life challenge, with design choices, risks and mission planning on display for this competitive event. I used the skills gained in this group project to design and build an industrial UAV for my MSc Individual Project.”

Malcolm Foster, Chief Engineer – Advanced Projects at GKNs, said: “Last year was GKNs first year of sponsoring the UAS Challenge, and we were impressed by both the professionalism of the contest and the quality of the entrants’ submissions. We had a great time participating in the fly off activities and judging, and we had no hesitation about extending our sponsorship and look forward to another exciting year.”

Phil Briggs, Lead Project Engineer at QinetiQ, said: “We are very pleased to be involved in this year’s competition and are looking forward to seeing the contributions from all the competitors. We have had the privilege of reviewing the design concepts from the teams and there seems to be an interesting shift to some new aircraft configurations. Be sure to watch this space!”

Confirmed teams taking part in the 2018 UAS Challenge are:

1. Loughborough University
2. University College London – Project Bentham Team
3. University College London – Drone Aid
4. University of Southampton – Team Athena
5. University of Southampton – Team Horus
6. Swansea University – Team Cigno
7. Coventry University – Team Phoenix
8. University of Portsmouth
9. Sheffield Hallam University
10. University of the West of England
11. University of Surrey – Team Peryton
12. University of Dundee – Team Haggis Aerospace
13. University of Sheffield – Team Project HEX
14. National University of Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan – Team NUST AirWorks
15. DHA Suffa University, Pakistan – Team Zarrar
16. Queen Mary University of London – Team Hawkes
17. Kingston University London – Team Project Wunderfly
18. University of Glasgow
19. University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka – Team Mora Avions
20. University College London – Nova Team
21. Istanbul Technical University, Turkey – Team Hedef
22. University of Cambridge
23. University of Nottingham
24. University of Huddersfield – Team Hawk
25. University of Bath – Team Bath Drones