UAV Vision and MicroPilot Support Wild-Hogs Team in UAV Outback Challenge Australia

UAV Vision

has teamed up with Micropilot to provide key equipment for the Wild-Hogs team entering into the upcoming UAV Outback Challenge in Kingaroy, Australia. The challenge aims to have teams use a UAV to take off from Kingaroy airport, and transition to a rural search area to locate and deliver life saving water to “Outback Joe” who has now been lost in the bush for a long time.

UAV Vision will be providing the GD170 gyro stabilised camera gimbal, Sony block camera capable of 26x optical zoom and lens stabilisation as well as the digital communications system for the transmission of video to the ground station. Micropilot have offered the autopilot system which for some time has been integrated with the UAV Vision range of camera gimbal systems. Key features of this combined system include: camera tracking, fly by camera, orbit by camera and look here gimbal control modes. The combined UAV Vision / MicroPilot package provides users a low cost complete UAV and surveillance system.

UAV Vision’s Director of Sales & Marketing, Dr. Daniel Fitzgerald, told UAS VISION: “The UAV Outback Challenge provides a real world problem that forces entrants to address the real world challenges of operating UAVs.  There are many people wanting to get into this quickly growing industry, but underestimate what it takes both from the technical and regulatory point of view to manufacture and operate a UAV.  The UAV Outback Challenge provides a base to allow teams to experience this first hand in a fun and competitive environment.”

The Wild-Hogs are a group of men who came together initially to take a group of high school students from Mueller College, Rothwell, Brisbane to the inaugural OBC Airborne Delivery Challenge at Kingaroy in 2007. They have returned each year with students but each time thinking that the Search and Rescue Challenge was not out of reach. Expertise was increased from fledgling beginnings till 2010 where they had a budget home built aircraft and various off the shelf systems that propelled them to the the starting line. Sadly they were let down by lack of small engine expertise and a low quality engine. Lessons learnt, for 2012 they are now well prepared with a quality entry – well tested and reliable aircraft, high confidence in their ability to navigate and fulfil all mission requirements and carrying a high quality stabilised camera and gimbal system from UAV Vision and autopilot from MicroPilot.The aircraft itself is a 2.7m VQ Models Pilatus Porter PC-6 powered by a DLE 30cc 2-stroke engine.

The challenge has been running for about 6 years and to date teams have come very close to locating and delivering the water supply to Joe, however no teams have completed the full mission as yet. Based on initial flight testing and example water drops shown in the video above, we are confident that the Wild-Hogs will have a good shot at being the first team to take out the challenge.

Source: Press Release