A team of six Bilkent engineering students received a third-place award at Teknofest 2021 for their entry in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Fighter competition category.
Teknofest is a national aerospace and technology festival organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation and the Ministry of Industry and Technology in partnership with a number of other organizations that play a critical role in the development of technology in Turkey. The festival includes competitions for young people in a variety of categories and disciplines, with the intent of promoting interest and nurturing aptitude in science and technology.
The Bilkent team, founded in 2020 and competing under the name Gökordu, consists of Ahmed Bircis Aydın (EE), Emre Bektaş (ME), Utku Koca (ME), Erdem Koçer (EE), Alpsencer Özdemir (CS) and Yavuz Alp Sencer Öztürk (CS).
The team members stated that their aim was to develop unmanned autonomous systems and create cutting-edge technologies in the UAV field. “So far, we’ve manufactured a quadcopter that can detect and follow other UAVs in the airspace using object detection and is able to fly 40 minutes within a 16km radius,” they said. “Our design is also capable of transmitting video from long distances with low latency, which is crucial for modern UAV systems.”
That design won Gökordu their award at Teknofest. The team hopes for further success in upcoming international competitions.