Iranian Student UAV Competition Part Two

Written and put together by Ali Parvazi

I will add some commentary about the article. First, I’d like to thank Ali for giving us this glimpse into the academic capabilities of the Iranian engineering student community. We in the west have such a limited perspective on what some countries are doing in this technology field and this piece affords us an

opportunity to see things on the peer level. Again, as stated in some of my of earlier commentary, it is possible to glean information and insights from these stories surrounding unmanned technologies not found in other callings. Interesting as people kind of downplay the size and scope of the unmanned sector and all that it encompasses. The supporting technologies and promise for the future applications. The later being stifled by the lack of common sense regulation and I will say the ultimate demise of the domestic market for production. Some may disagree, and that is their prerogative, but when you see governments that we westerners are told are repressive do more to foster innovation then those of us supposedly basking in the glow of freedom… I don’t get it.

Anyway, we as proponents of the technology globally have been sold short as the promise of possible innovations I believe can run a close second to “green” technology. Very likely at a faster pace and at less cost with the benefits being almost immediately realized.

In this competition, participants must provide a UAV equipped with a Camera to search a 10 square kilometer area for at least 40 minutes to find 3 square meter marks on the ground with different English letters on them. Finding ground targets and reporting the geo location are criterion for choosing the contest winner.

Enjoy…

28 Jan 2012 was the closing day of Iran national UAV competition (Homa Sazan) which holds by Sharif University of technology. Closing ceremony starts with the speech of chairman of presidency air and space technology development organization, Head of Shrif University and head of sharif University’s Aerospace department.

One of the most interesting issues was the participation and abilities of private universities. In first level of the competition, we had 36 teams from Governmental Universities and 15 teams from private universities, but at the final level, it totally becomes vice versa! Just 6 teams from Governmental Universities reached to the final level, and 8 teams from private university, flown their UAVs in the final level.

Final Teams were:

1. Azad University of Khomeini Shahr (Private University)
2. International Imam Khomeini University of Qazvin (Governmental University)
3. Azad University of Shahr-e-Rey (Private University)

Another interesting thing was the absence of well-known universities in the final stage. Most of them could not prepare their UAVs before the final test.

Because of lack of time, some of the universities decided to focus just on the electronic and avionic issues instead of designing the airframe. Hence, some of them used available R/C airplanes which equipped with the camera, autopilot and other facilities.

Must of the competitors, complained about the size of the runway being too short and narrow. Therefore most of the airplanes were damaged during landings.

Beside the closing ceremony they showed their UAVs in the next hall.

Here you can find official videos published by the competition holders:
http://www.4shared.com/file/Va2o19fn/IUDC-1.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/DQc3waq1/IUDC-2.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/y9gKjrlc/IUDC-3.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/MakBqd5J/IUDC-4.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/2pknnJfJ/IUDC-5.html

For more information about this competition, please check out the official competition site at: www.iudc.ir

(unfortunately it is not in English and you must use Google translate!)

 

Stories about things happening in Iran always make for pretty wild comments, so if you want to discuss there is always our LinkedIn page

http://lnkd.in/NCuTuk

People don’t get quite as caustic when their CVs are nearby.