Students from Middlesex University Robotics department obtained their Foundation Licences after a Verulam Amateur Radio Club (VARC) course and went on to win UAVforge.

The amateur radio Foundation training course was part of the preparations by members of the HALO team to take part in the international UAVForge competition in the USA.

This is an international drone competition and involved the team taking on some of the world’s top engineers and universities. They succeeded in becoming the highest scoring team at UAVforge.

The HALO team comprised:
Witold Mielniczek M6HUJ
Mantas Brazinskas M6LTU
Mehmet Ali Erbil M6DUC
Dr Stephen Prior M6ESY

Their HALO Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) used a Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) system with a 900 MHz data downlink and a 5.8 GHz video downlink along with a 1280 MHz video feed.

Watch DARPA UAVforge Milestone 3 Live Fly Video – Team HALO HD

This video was shot from HALO and relayed over 3.2 km via a 1280 MHz live video feed using a 2.5 W Video TX with a Yagi antenna positioned 30 m up a tree.

Watch UAVforge 2012 Team HALO Attempt 2

Further information including a photo of some of the Middlesex University radio amateurs can be seen at http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/news-events/news/uavforge-final.aspx

Team HALO Win UAVForge Competition 2012 http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/robotics/uncategorized/
team-halo-win-uavforge-competition/

A 2009 paper on Development of a Co-Axial Tri-Rotor UAV http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/2873/1/Prior_-Development_of_a_Co-Axial
_Tri-Rotor_UAV_-_Middlesex_University_%28compressed%29.pdf

UAVforge http://www.uavforge.net/uavhtml/index.php

Verulam Amateur Radio Club (VARC) http://www.radioclubs.net/verulam/

10 year old Foundation licence holder interviewed on TV about his amateur radio DIY space projects http://www.amsat-uk.org/?p=8821/