Students and Graduates from Unicauca, Winners in the National Drone Competition

The ZAUTON, SENTINEL and HERM teams won first and second place in the ZAGI AESS RACE 2022 national model airplane competition, which took place on August 26 and 27 in the city of Bogotá.

The members of Semillero SIA, Nautes, Sistemas Embedidos and AESS Unicauca experienced multiple challenges as participants in the ZAGI AESS RACE 2022, an event that took place on August 26 and 27, organized by the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society AESS Colombia chapter, in collaboration with RAS Universidad Nacional and AESS Universidad Distrital, having as its main setting the facilities of the Julio Garavito School of Engineering in the city of Bogotá.

The participating groups from different universities such as the Universidad del Magdalena, Universidad Javeriana, Universidad Industrial Santander, Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad del Norte, Universidad de San Buenaventura, Universidad Santiago de Cali, Universidad Los Libertadores and organizations such as the Julio Garavito School of Engineering, the FAC, Space G, EAN, and Astronomy Gabriels NCO School competed in one of the three categories on offer; Radio Frequency (RF), First Person Vision (FPV) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), testing the design, development and implementation of their own fixed-wing drones, which have become an elementary instrument in various areas of study.

Its applications range from aerial photography, to national security, including agricultural spraying, surveying and mapping. The technological and scientific development around drones has motivated the holding of this event, which allows both developers of this technology and end users of all branches to share use cases, experience technological advances, establish new partnerships and solve real problems. .

At the end of the competition, the participants were awarded with medals and respective trophies for the three mentioned categories of first, second and third place, where the ZAUTON and SENTINEL team made up of students and graduates of the Universidad del Cauca in alliance with students from the University of Antioquia, obtained their respective recognition as first and second place winners respectively in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) category, along with gifts from the Colombian Aeronautical Industry Corporation CIAC, who were official sponsors of the event and a monetary recognition so that they can continue in the elaboration of their aircrafts.Like the ZAUTON team, the HERM team participated in the union of students from SENA, the University Foundation of the Andean area and the District University of Bogotá in the Radiofrequency (RF) modality, thus obtaining recognition medals for their hard work and articulation. , also highlighting the good design and planning efficiency of its flying wing.

HERM team members: Sara Rebeca Abella Segura; Wilson Duvan Cobo Pillimue; Brayan Alexander Moreno Trullo and Sebastián Castillo Castillo, Physics Engineering students.

The SENTINEL team is made up of: Laura Tatiana Vega Cristancho; Sarah Alejandra Cabeza Longo; Brian Geoffrey Bolanos Ceballos; Edwin Francisco Valdes Arias; Jennyfer López, students of Physical Engineering together with María Edith Montenegro Gutiérrez and José Luis Figueroa Medecis, graduates of the same program, Juan Sebastián Orozco Monje and Jhonatan David Becerra González, of Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications.

The ZAUTON team is made up of: Jesús Alirio Gurrute Campo; Mathematics student, Víctor Manuel Macías Martínez, Felipe Alejandro Tosse Cerón, Aurelio José Muñoz, students of Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications, Carlos André Duran Paredes, of Physical Engineering, Luis Alejandro Torres, of Automatic Engineering from the University of Cauca in alliance with Hamilton Giraldo Ramírez, Jhon Harold Osorio Osorio, Pablo Franco García, David Díaz, Yedinzon Toro Gil, students of Aerospace Engineering, and Luis Fernando Torres, student of Electronic Engineering at the University of Antioquia.