UAV Competition at Turkey’s eminent Aerospace and Technology festival
TEKNOFEST is one of the world’s largest Aerospace events and hosts a variety of activities every year, including technology competitions, air shows, and interviews. A team of students from the Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad won the first position in International Free Mission UAV Competition at Turkey’s eminent Aerospace and Technology festival (TEKNOFEST). The festival was organized by the Republic of Turkeys’ Ministry of Industry and Technology. Institute of Space Technology, being the pioneer institute of Pakistan in Aerospace Science and Engineering, participated in the competition held at Bursa this year where more than 240 teams participated from more than 85 countries. They also secured the fourth position in the overall competition. The team was also awarded a cash prize of 36,000 Turkish Lira. The team developed an Artificial Intelligence-based winning solution for Human Search and Rescue operations through a swarm of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. These UAVs were specially designed for optimized path planning and human detection in post-disaster scenarios. This cluster of intelligent UAVs is designed to work together to search a disaster area for wounded citizens from a height of 30-50 meters, to offer an advanced solution for search and rescue missions, where every minute plays a critical role in the survival of the victims.
The team was especially commended for designing a cost-effective, compact, and responsive solution, as compared to the conventional use of helicopters. The solution is readily applicable in the areas like surveillance and reconnaissance, search and rescue, terrain mapping and aerial surveying, and agricultural and environmental research, etc. The Vice Chancellor-Institute of Space Technology, Major General Rehan Abdul Baqi (Retd), commended the efforts of students and faculty and emphasized the importance of such indigenous and novel solutions.