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UI AUAV Team To The Biggest Aviation Competition In The World Thanks To Fixed Wing Aircraft Technology

Universitas Indonesia (UI) Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AUAV) Team, went to Turkey to take part in the Teknofest International Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Competition (13-18 September 2021 at Bursa Yunuselli Airport, Turkey). The UI Team consists of eleven students from the Faculty of Engineering (FT) and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA). The AUAV Team is part of the UI Robotics Team (TRUI), which is a Student Activity Unit at UI that focuses on developing robots for national and international level competitions.

UAV Competition is one of the largest aviation festivals in the world aimed at increasing awareness of technology and science for the public, and increasing human resources who are trained in this field. Teknofest consists of 34 competition categories, including rocket categories, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, and underwater systems. One of the types being contested is the Fixed Wing & Vertical Take-off & Landing (VTOL) category.

The seven Engineering Faculty students are Luthfi Aldianta, Muhammad Luqman Sugiyono, Pramudita Bintang Al Hakam, Adam Ilham Maulana, Shang Welly Chin, Daniel Martua Matthew Simatupang, Raditya Aryaputra, and from FMIPA Rizky Millennianno (Physics) and Anindya Samiya Artanti (Mathematics). “Our main goal in participating in this competition is to improve capabilities in the fields of mechanics, manufacturing, electronics, programming, strategy, image processing, digital communication, and other soft skills related to the world of robotics. Apart from that, we want to prove that UI also has student resources that are able to compete on an international scale and have competence, respect and adaptability,” said Luthfi, who is the team captain who departed for Turkey on Friday, September 10, 2021.

In this competition, the UI AUAV Team brought fixed wing technology or what is familiarly called a fixed wing aircraft or conventional aircraft. This aircraft has a number of different configurations from ordinary aircraft, such as the shape of the fuselage which is equipped with two wings and one motor. This type of aircraft is popular in the agricultural and petroleum industries to perform area mapping, such as land contour mapping.

The speed and ability to cover a wide area make this aircraft technology often used for disaster management activities, such as tracking victims, collecting and sending medical samples, and sending supplies and medicines to remote and inaccessible areas. “In making this technology we put forward the air stability aspect, the durability aspect of the flying robot frame, the position accuracy aspect, the robot safety aspect, and don’t forget also the appearance aspect of the robot so that it is functional, but still aesthetic. These are all important assessment indicators in the competition later, “said Luthfi explained.

To fulfill all these aspects, the flying robot framework made by the AUAV Team is made of fiber and foam so that the aircraft frame remains strong, yet light in use. For accuracy, this flying robot uses a flight controller with a 32-bit architecture accompanied by a GPS tracker with the ability to cover approximately 20 satellites.

Embedding this technology is used to keep the robot’s flight path accurately known. In terms of design, this flying robot is equipped with a propeller that points backwards, so that when this robot hits an object, the object will not be sliced ​​by the robot’s propeller. This flying robot technology is equipped with assistance from Microsoft which is used to maximize the capabilities of robots, such as GitHub, Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, Azure Time Series Insights, and Azure Maps.

By using GitHub, programs on robotic computers can be updated quickly via the internet, while still being able to rollback if problems occur. The need for reading real-time telemetry data and storing aircraft test data can be easily accomplished with Microsoft Azure IoT Hub technology, Azure Time Series Insights, and Azure Maps. In addition, the AUAV team also uses Microsoft Excel in the analysis to obtain parameters in determining the optimal type of design and manufacturing mechanism for robot manufacturing.

“The entry of the AUAV UI team into the final round of the Teknofest International UAV Competition is a very proud achievement and we should appreciate it. Their enthusiasm and dedication in developing fixed wings is an inspiration for Indonesia’s great potential in the fields of science and engineering. We are also proud of our technology. can help the team in developing this flying robot. Hopefully the achievements of the AUAV UI team can inspire more Indonesians to advance the world of science and technology, so that we can continue to empower Indonesia,” said Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah. ST., M.Eng., Dekan Fakultas Teknik Universitas Indonesia..

The AUAV team has a focus on the type of unmanned aircraft competition. Previously, this team had won several awards, both national and international, including the Mission Achievement award at the 2020 Indonesian Flying Robot Contest in the fixed wing category and a finalist at the 2020 Teknofest UAV Competition in the same category.

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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia

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