Institution news
This week will see more than a dozen university teams take part in a two-day, in-person event to test the effectiveness of their UAS (unmanned aircraft system) at a closed airfield at BMFA Buckminster, located on the Lincolnshire/Leicestershire border. Coverage of the fly-off, including highlights, photos and videos, will be available on the UAS Challenge’s Twitter and Facebook pages over the course of the event.
That the Institution of Mechanical Engineers is able to host a live portion of this year’s Challenge represents a positive step and return to the established pre-COVID format of the Challenge, paving the way for a larger fly-off in 2022.
While restrictions relating to COVID this year meant that some teams were unable to join an in-person event, the first half of the 2021 UAS Challenge took place virtually in order to give all teams the chance to benchmark and get feedback on their work, no matter where they are located and how much of their UAS they were practically able to build.
During an online awards presentation held last month, teams from the UK, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Greece secured awards across the UAS Challenge’s presentation events, covering Design, Safety, Innovation and more, with India’s Team WRise from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies placed in first.
With the first half of the hybrid UAS Challenge 2021 now complete, all eyes are now on BMFA Buckminster as teams from across the UK convene to showcase the results of their hard work during tests of their UAS’ construction and systems.
These include simulations of real-world aid missions and flying demonstrations that test the speed, accuracy and reliability of each team’s UAS, with some missions using the same AirDropBox packages as those used for actual air drops to add to the realism.
Following the completion of two days of flying action this Wednesday and Thursday, the 2021 event will culminate in an awards ceremony to recognise the winners of this year’s fly-off events.
“All teams have endured challenging conditions to both study and compete in this year’s UAS Challenge and it is a testament to young engineers and their ability to adapt and overcome,” said Jelena Gacesa, Project Manager for the UAS Challenge. “We look forward to seeing how their UAS cope in the real world and hope that teams are as excited to participate in the fly-off as much as we are.”
The teams taking part in this year’s fly-off event are as follows:
- Loughborough University, Loughborough UAV, UK
- University of the West of England Bristol, Team AlphaDrone, UK
- Brunel University London, Brunel UAS, UK
- The University of Sheffield, Team Volaticus, UK
- University of Manchester, Team Hestia, UK
- Heriot Watt University, Team Aero-Watt, UK
- University of Surrey, Team Peryton, UK
- University of Huddersfield, Team Hawk, UK
- Imperial College London, Team ICAV Project, UK
- De Montfort University, Team DMU Flyers, UK
- University College London, Team Nova, UK
The 2021 UAS Challenge is sponsored by GKN Aerospace, Leonardo, QinetiQ, Babcock International, Raytheon, RS Grass Roots and Mashoom, with support from ARPAS-UK and AirDropBox.
On behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the UAS Challenge Steering Group and our sponsors, we wish all teams taking part the best of luck and we look forward to seeing everybody’s hard work in person.