Students from the Queensland University of Technology will be putting their search and rescue avionics to the test at next week's (Sept 24-27) UAV Outback Rescue Challenge.
UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles, are pilotless planes that can fly autonomously and perform missions that might normally be too risky for humans.
Rod Walker, a QUT Professor and Director of the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA), a joint initiative involving QUT and the CSIRO, said UAVs would become commonplace in the skies.
"New technologies are required to safely manage this future aviation environment," Associate Professor Walker said.
"UAVs are the next generation of airspace management technologies that will keep the complex skies of the future safe and help to ensure that disasters like the Lockhart River crash in North Queensland do not occur again."
QUT's team, known as SRUAV, will pit their prototype against an international field to fly from Kingaroy airport to a remote location, deliver vital medical supplies to a lost bushwalker, and return to base - all with limited human intervention.
Team leader Shane Degen said UAV technology was still in its infancy and most of the 32 teams who originally entered the competition have already bowed out due to vehicle crashes or not meeting Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) design criteria.
"It's been a very intense experience so far but we are happy with how things are progressing," Mr Degen said.
"There is prize money at stake in the competition but we're keeping it real and also aiming to just enjoy what we do and boost our studies on UAVs.
"I think UAVs are very much the way of the future. They're going to change the way we operate and do things because a lot of the tasks that are currently performed very arduously by people can be performed very easily by UAVs. For example, night-time search and rescues are one area where UAVs have great potential - the quicker rescuers can respond to a lost person the more chance of saving them."
The students' competition plane has a 2m wing span, weighs around the 15kg, and is powered by a 48cc twin cylinder engine.
The UAV Outback Rescue Challenge is being hosted by the Brisbane-based Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA) and will be held at Kingaroy Airport from September 24 to 27.
It aims to raise the profile of UAVs and provide students and hobbyists with valuable experience in designing, building, testing and operating these aircraft. For more information, visit www.uavoutbackchallenge.com.au.
Media contact: Rachael Wilson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 4494 or rachael.wilson@qut.edu.au.
** High res pics are available for media use of QUT students with their UAV
