Institution news
More than a dozen student teams from around the world will compete in the online 2021 UAS Challenge, with entrants hailing from India, Greece, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the UK.
Held every year by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the UAS Challenge sees teams of university students design, build, test and fly an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The project follows an industry build cycle and is aligned to aerospace industry standards . It helps competitors to develop their engineering knowledge and practical skills alongside their university coursework, making them into well-rounded and capable graduates that are sought by the aerospace industry.
This year’s UAS Challenge is sponsored by GKN Aerospace, Leonardo, QinetiQ, Babcock International, Raytheon, RS Grass Roots and Mashoom, with support from ARPAS-UK and AirDropBox.
Ordinarily the student competition culminates in a live flyoff event held in the summer, with presentations of their work, live tests of the UAS in a series of assessments that are designed to mimic real-world tasks and assess the effectiveness of a UAS’ flight systems.
However, where teams are unable to travel to the UK or have restrictions placed on them by their university owing to the continued effects of COVID-19, the virtual competition will enable students to compete in an online environment, using flight simulation technology. The flight simulation provides students with the opportunity with which to input their UAS designs and fly in a simulated BMFA environment. Teams will see their UAS flying, get feedback from industry experts, benchmark their work against their peers and win awards.
“The 2021 UAS Challenge is an excellent representation of a post-Covid educational landscape and reinforces the continued importance of practical skills for engineers, whilst building on an increasing need for digital aptitude. The UAS Challenge remains at the forefront of engineering, consistently adapting to the changing needs of both academia and industry,” explained Jelena Gacesa, Project Manager for the UAS Challenge. “It is one of the most exciting and competitive events that the Institution holds, and we expect participants, who are top of class students, to rise to the challenge!”
New to this year’s virtual events, competing teams will have the chance to model their UAS in the X-Plane 10 software and compete in simulations to demonstrate their team’s virtual testing and flight setup skills. This not only diversifies the roster of events for the virtual competition, but also helps to develop their abilities with industry-level software.
The virtual competition will be followed by a formal awards ceremony, which will be held online on 18 June 2021 at 2pm BST and is open to public attendance. To find out who will be crowned winners: join the awards ceremony via MS Teams here.
The following teams will be taking part in this year’s virtual competition:
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University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Team WRise, India
- Wrexham Glyndwr University, Y Dreigiau Coch (The Red Dragons), UK
- Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Team Foxtrot, Pakistan
- Queens University Belfast, Team Hummingbird, UK
- The University of Sheffield, Project HEX, UK
- University of Aberdeen, Team Null Gravity, UK
- University of Dundee, Team Haggis Aerospace, UK
- University of Moratuwa, Team Mora Avions, Sri Lanka
- Swansea University, Team BlueSwan, UK
- National University of Sciences and Technology, Team NUST Airworks, Pakistan
- Democritus University of Thrace, Team Democritus Aeronautical Rescue Team ( DART), Greece
- Islamic University of Technology, Team ANTS, Bangladesh
- University of Twente, DroneTeam Twente, Netherlands
On behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the UAS Organising Committee and the event sponsors, we wish all participants the best of luck this week!
The next stage of the hybrid UAS Challenge 2021 will take place at BMFA Buckminster in a month’s time, where a closed fly-off event will be held for the remainder of this year’s teams.