The AUVSI SUAS Competition is designed to foster interest in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), stimulate interest in UAS technologies and careers, and to engage students in a challenging UAS mission. The competition requires students to design, integrate, report on, and demonstrate a UAS capable of autonomous flight and navigation, remote sensing via onboard payload sensors, and execution of a specific set of tasks. The competition has been held annually since 2002. The 2017 competition was held June 14-17, 2017 at Webster Field, St. Inigoes, MD, and 59 international teams were accepted to the competition. John “JC” Coffey represented the NOAA UAS Team.
The competition had three major elements: the Technical Design Paper, the Flight Readiness Review Presentation, and the Mission Demonstration. The paper detailed a team’s UAS design. The presentation detailed the team’s testing and preparedness for the competition. The demonstration simulated a mission in which the UAS and team is evaluated.
The mission consists of autonomous flight, obstacle avoidance, object detection, and air delivery. The UAS 2017 Mission was searching for a lost hiker located in a remote area who had called for help. Search and rescue had tasked an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to find the hiker, direct rescue personnel to the hiker’s location, and deliver urgent aid supplies.
More information can be found at: www.auvsi-suas.org/competitions/2017/.
