AI-powered combat UAV from university students: Alpagu V3

Developed over a year of work by 7 university students from the Departments of Aerospace, Electrical-Electronics, Mechanical, and Software Engineering, the AI-powered combat UAV "Alpagu V3" was deemed worthy of the "Best System Architecture" award in the final of the TEKNOFEST Southeast Combat UAV Competition held in Siirt.

Having emerged from one year of work by 7 students studying in Aerospace, Electrical-Electronics, Mechanical, and Software Engineering departments, Alpagu V3 features a 1.8-meter wingspan, a 1-meter fuselage length, and a takeoff weight of 5 kilograms. The aircraft, which can reach a cruising speed of 18 meters per second, is capable of determining the distance and size of rival aircraft by analyzing the images it receives from its onboard camera using an AI-supported system. While the team strives to produce the software, printed circuit boards, and system components with domestic resources, it used the domestically produced Alaca board for the autopilot system.

Qualifying for the finals out of 1,032 teams that applied for the Combat UAV Competition held in Siirt within the scope of TEKNOFEST Southeast, the team won the "Best System Architecture" award in the final stage where 42 teams competed. Team captain Samet Özkoç stated that the competition consisted of kamikaze and "dog fight" missions, and that attempts were made to detect rival aircraft using image processing technologies. He noted that in the kamikaze mission, the aim was for the QR code placed in the designated area to be detected by the UAV diving at a specific angle and transferred for evaluation.