Published Tuesday, 23 September, 2008 at 02:34 PM
Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
The Honourable Desley Boyle
SKIES ALIVE! Kingaroy to play host to 2nd annual UAV Challenge
For the next three days robot aircraft on a search and rescue mission will fill Kingaroy skies as part of an international competition featuring high school children, university students and aerospace enthusiasts.
The second annual UAV Challenge – Outback Rescue competition will run from 23-25 September at Kingaroy Airport and is the only event of its kind in Australia.
Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) are aircraft without an onboard pilot that can either be remote-controlled or flown autonomously based on a pre-programmed flight plan.
Minister for Regional Development and Industry Desley Boyle said the pioneering aircraft were already used extensively in defence, and that scientists, engineers and leading aerospace companies were beginning to realise their enormous potential for civilian use.
“They can be used in traffic and road control, power line maintenance, fisheries and wildlife surveillance, stock monitoring, crop management, as well as aerial photography and preventing and fighting bushfires,” Ms Boyle said.
“In fact UAVs were used in brush fire monitoring in the recent fires in western USA and the University of Queensland is using them to carry out aerial surveys of Moreton Bay’s endangered dugong population.”
Ms Boyle said the aim of the Challenge was to highlight UAVs’ many potential benefits including demonstrating how they could save the lives of people lost in the bush.
The competition consists of two major challenges – an Airborne Delivery Challenge for high school children and a Search and Rescue Challenge for university students and enthusiasts.
“Basically, competitors in both competitions have to mount an Outback rescue mission, where they have to drop off ‘emergency supplies’ to someone lost in the Bush, which must be done within an extremely tight time frame,” Ms Boyle said.
“The high school category will feature 14 teams from Brisbane, Kingaroy, Oakey, Toowoomba, Noosa and as far away as Canberra. In the Search and Rescue Challenge, there are eight teams, hailing from all over Australia as well as from the United States, Brazil, and the Netherlands.
”All teams have been hard at work over the past months designing, building and testing their UAV models. Competition will be fierce, and we can expect some outstanding engineering and piloting prowess on show from everyone.”
There are three categories: one for high school children, an open category for university students and enthusiasts, and prizes for the best documentary about a team preparing for the Challenge.
Prize money includes: $50,000 for the winning team in the open category; $10,000 for the best high school team; $8000 for the best documentary in the open category; and $2000 for the best documentary in the high school category.
Ms Boyle said the UAV Challenge – a joint initiative between the Queensland Government, the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation, and Boeing Australia Limited – was a prime example of government, industry and research organisations working together.
UAVs are the fastest growing segment in the international aerospace industry and more than 30 percent of Australia’s growing UAV industry is located in Queensland.
Work underway in Queensland includes research, design, flight testing and training in the use of UAVs. Queensland is researching ways to integrate UAVs safely with other aircraft uses and also the commercialisation for civil use of UAVs.
Ms Boyle said the Queensland Government was also working with the South Burnett Regional Council, Australian Government agencies and the UAV industry to establish UAV test and training capability for the global UAV industry at Kingaroy.
The Challenge will be held at Kingaroy Airport and is open to the general public to go along and have a look at.
Admission is free.
For further information: www.uavoutbackchallenge.com.au
Ends
Media contact: 3225 1005 or 3224 2007
23 September 2008
The second annual UAV Challenge – Outback Rescue competition will run from 23-25 September at Kingaroy Airport and is the only event of its kind in Australia.
Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) are aircraft without an onboard pilot that can either be remote-controlled or flown autonomously based on a pre-programmed flight plan.
Minister for Regional Development and Industry Desley Boyle said the pioneering aircraft were already used extensively in defence, and that scientists, engineers and leading aerospace companies were beginning to realise their enormous potential for civilian use.
“They can be used in traffic and road control, power line maintenance, fisheries and wildlife surveillance, stock monitoring, crop management, as well as aerial photography and preventing and fighting bushfires,” Ms Boyle said.
“In fact UAVs were used in brush fire monitoring in the recent fires in western USA and the University of Queensland is using them to carry out aerial surveys of Moreton Bay’s endangered dugong population.”
Ms Boyle said the aim of the Challenge was to highlight UAVs’ many potential benefits including demonstrating how they could save the lives of people lost in the bush.
The competition consists of two major challenges – an Airborne Delivery Challenge for high school children and a Search and Rescue Challenge for university students and enthusiasts.
“Basically, competitors in both competitions have to mount an Outback rescue mission, where they have to drop off ‘emergency supplies’ to someone lost in the Bush, which must be done within an extremely tight time frame,” Ms Boyle said.
“The high school category will feature 14 teams from Brisbane, Kingaroy, Oakey, Toowoomba, Noosa and as far away as Canberra. In the Search and Rescue Challenge, there are eight teams, hailing from all over Australia as well as from the United States, Brazil, and the Netherlands.
”All teams have been hard at work over the past months designing, building and testing their UAV models. Competition will be fierce, and we can expect some outstanding engineering and piloting prowess on show from everyone.”
There are three categories: one for high school children, an open category for university students and enthusiasts, and prizes for the best documentary about a team preparing for the Challenge.
Prize money includes: $50,000 for the winning team in the open category; $10,000 for the best high school team; $8000 for the best documentary in the open category; and $2000 for the best documentary in the high school category.
Ms Boyle said the UAV Challenge – a joint initiative between the Queensland Government, the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation, and Boeing Australia Limited – was a prime example of government, industry and research organisations working together.
UAVs are the fastest growing segment in the international aerospace industry and more than 30 percent of Australia’s growing UAV industry is located in Queensland.
Work underway in Queensland includes research, design, flight testing and training in the use of UAVs. Queensland is researching ways to integrate UAVs safely with other aircraft uses and also the commercialisation for civil use of UAVs.
Ms Boyle said the Queensland Government was also working with the South Burnett Regional Council, Australian Government agencies and the UAV industry to establish UAV test and training capability for the global UAV industry at Kingaroy.
The Challenge will be held at Kingaroy Airport and is open to the general public to go along and have a look at.
Admission is free.
For further information: www.uavoutbackchallenge.com.au
Ends
Media contact: 3225 1005 or 3224 2007
23 September 2008