On April 28-30, Microdrones key account sales manager and drone pilot, Sebastien Long, was in Alma, Quebec at the Unmanned Systems Canada Student UAS Competition.
Microdrones was honored to sponsor this event and play a role in creating this great learning experience for young scientists and engineers.
According to Unmanned Systems Canada, “The purpose of the competition is to promote and develop Canadian expertise and experience in unmanned systems technologies at the university and college levels. Even small scale unmanned vehicles are complex systems requiring a well planned and executed design approach. In addition, safety considerations are important factors in this competition as in any other vehicle design project. The students are faced with real life scenarios involving the environment, agriculture, mining, transportation, and oil & gas sectors.”
The competition took place in two phases. For phase I, the students had to design an aircraft and write a paper presenting their design. From there, those who qualified would move on to phase II. But before participating in phase II, they had to build their aircraft and provide a video demonstrating its functionality in flight.
Phase II consisted of an operational flying demonstration in a “real-life scenario.” This year’s real-life scenario is described below:
The use of UAS for wildlife monitoring is becoming commonplace particularly in Canada’s vast remote landscape. This year’s real life scenario will do just that. Each team is a “company” hired to use their UAS in support of wildlife research personnel. They will be asked to locate and census nests of three different types of geese in the remote Canadian wilderness. In addition, nesting samples are required to test for pesticides in the environment by retrieving eggs from the nests of birds under study. A written report on the findings is also submitted to the judges.
“It was an absolute pleasure watching this competition unfold!” said Sebastien. “The students all did a phenomenal job and it was impressive to watch them work. Microdrones loves to be a part of this competition because it is full of talented, innovative young minds and future leaders in this industry. In the past we’ve hired students from this competition and we even have some employed with us now.”
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S WINNERS AND ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS COMPETITION!
Listen to Sebastien in a radio interview about the Unmanned Systems Canada student competition.