Posted on July 3, 2010
Engineering Students Design, Build, Soar Above Competition
Mississippi State students engineer another successful year at the Unmanned Air Systems Competition through teamwork and autonomous flight. The 10-member student team, named Xipiter, placed second overall at the eighth annual student Unmanned Air Systems Competition by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. They rose above 21 other peer institutions such as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Rutgers University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Cornell University. The aerospace engineering department’s senior flight test engineer, Calvin Walker, said, “It’s a really great feeling when you find out going into the competition that the Air Force is telling the other schools that you are the team to beat.”
Posted on July 8, 2008
MSU Student Team Wins National Unmanned Aircraft Competition
A Mississippi State team is the victor over students from 13 other universities for a top prize of more than $10,000 in competition to navigate an unmanned radio-controllable aircraft system in a simulated combat zone. MSU's 17-member unmanned aircraft systems group--working under the title "Team Xipiter"--recently took the 2008 Best Flight Award of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. The organization's sixth annual student competition took place at Webster Field in St. Inigoes, Md. The challenge involved the identification of 10 targets on a mission similar to what might be encountered by a military strike team seeking strategic targets for attack.
