A high-tech Unmanned Aerial Vehicle developed by a team of ten undergraduates from Delhi College of Engineering in New Delhi has won the prestigious Unmanned Aircraft System International Competition held recently in the US.The DCE team surpassed 26 teams from top ranking American Institutes like MIT, Cornell University to notch the widely-acclaimed Directors Award organized by Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) in association with US Navy.
"The team was awarded a cash prize of USD 1,500 for successfully flying at the competition as well as for the best team efforts," R K Sinha, Dean Industrial Research and Innovations in DCE told a news agency.
Talking about the special features of the gadget, Sinha said, UAV, a fixed-wing aircraft powered by a 2-stroke engine, is capable of lifting weights up to 7 kgs, equipped with wireless cameras, sensors, GPS and onboard computers capable of long range wireless communications of more than 10 km.
"The entire autopilot and navigation system of the UAV was designed and developed by the team headed by Rochak Chadha, a second year student of Electronics and Communication Engineering supervised by the seniors in the college," Sinha added.
The competition was held at a US Navy base in Maryland from June 17 to June 22. In 2006, a DCE team had won the similar award under best innovation category.
