PEC team wins drone-making competition

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 26

Engineering students demonstrated their skills at assembling and operating unmanned aerial (UAVs) vehicles at Flytron at a two-day national-level competition on design and flying UAVs which concluded at the PECUniversity of Technology here today.

As many as 10 teams from various colleges in the region participated in the event that included poster-making competition on evolving UAV concepts. Design and flying competition included involving obstacle negotiation, pre-defined circuit flying and load dropping. 

The team from the PEC bagged the top position followed by the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, and the Delhi Technological University, New Delhi. The event was organised jointly by the Chandigarh chapter of the Aeronautical Society of India, Aeronautical Research and Development Board, New Delhi and PEC.

Dr AK Singh, director of DRDO’s Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Delhi, said: “There is no dearth of career opportunities in aerospace and aviation and this was one sector that encompasses all engineering disciplines. The drones are the machines of the future that will have applications in virtually all facets of day-to-day life.” 

Air Marshal Sukhchain Singh (retd) said the competition parameters had posed a tough challenge, but the manner in which the students approached it and went about their tasks was impressive. Dr Rakesh Kumar, head of aerospace engineering department, PEC, highlighted the utilities of intelligent UAVs in diverse fields and emphasised on more research aimed at improving endurance, range, fuel efficiency and autonomous operations by UAVs.