The awards ceremony for the IMechE Uas Challenge 2020 took place virtually on 19th June.   Congratulations to team FlyMechE from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queens, who are this year's overall winners having received the GKN Design Award for their ASAP system (Autonomous Support Aid Platform).  This was a fantastic outcome for the team after two semester’s worth of hard work and effort during their stage 3 Aircraft Design module which they completed as part of their undergraduate Masters program in Aerospace engineering at Queens.

The Design award was presented by Malcolm Foster from GKN Aerospace.  Team FlyMechE received the highest aggregate score for their Concept Paper (CP), Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and Critical Design Review (CDR) submissions.  Their work had been scored against criteria which included:  the design process, innovation, analysis, costs, safety, manufacturing and testing as well as how clearly each of these elements had been expressed by the team in their submissions.  Malcom stated that the Queens team had done an excellent job of describing and following a robust design process throughout the year including stringent requirements management.  This resulted in the highest scores for their concept paper and their preliminary design review in a field which started with thirty six entrants from across the world!  Team FlyMechE were also ranked highly in their critical design review where they were particularly strong in their structural analysis, the aerodynamic design of their airframe and their system design.  Of particular note was the design and analysis of their propulsion system.  It was also noted that their system would have resulted in a very competitive aircraft in any normal year.  They achieved their win amid stiff competition from Huddersfield, Bangladesh and Southampton who were strong at individual points in the process.  Queens delivered consistently high performance across all of the judged elements which ultimately resulted in their win.  Team FlyMechE were also runners up in the Business Proposition section of the awards.

In congratulating team FlyMechE we would also like to acknowledge the support of our UAS challenge mentors at Bombardier Belfast.  As per previous years, thanks to Raymond in our prototyping lab as well as Wes and the team in our main workshop who enabled the delivery of key components in time for our first flights in February.  Thanks also to Tara for looking after orders for materials and equipment.  The help of Belfast Model Flying Club, North Down Model Aircraft Club and the Ulster Model Aircraft Club is also gratefully acknowledged.

For a full list of this year’s competition winners including a video of the 2020 Awards ceremony, you can visit the IMechE website here.