Link: http://www.uavoutbackchallenge.com.au/2010

The AUSUAV 2010 entry to the OBC is underway spurred on by the release of the new rules. Flight testing began a few weeks ago and the current prototype 3.6m twin boom pusher airframe flew a 1.4 hr flight on under RC control on 28 Mar 10 with battery capacity remaining. 300-400W seems to sustain flight through lift, sink and mild climbs and descents on the airframe that has a very draggy fuselage and causes a lot of disruption to the flow through the prop. We are confident that this years entry will be capable of carrying all equipment and the rescue payload while achieving greater than a 1.5 hr endurance using electric power. The AP has returned from UNAV after being upgraded to the latest firmware with a 5 Hz GPS and is currently being fitted to the airframe along with the Millswood falsafe and Servo Station. The Millswood equipment has proven its self well in the old Telemaster and Cularis glider. The Cularis was flown using the failsafe as a serial servo controller controlled by Roborealm over a 9XTend for something different, it worked well without any latency issues for docile handling planes like the Cularis. The Millswood failsafe will be employed as a failsafe and payload controller. The new rules regarding comms loss failsafe behavior are a welcome option and will be pursued if time permits. The current test bed will be used to test components and comms ranges while an improved version is made. More to follow after Easter..

Link: http://www.ausuav.com

We are now looking for people to join the ausuav team, for our 2009 attempt at the UAV Outback Challenge, in the way of Sponsorship. If you have products, services or skills that you would like promoted, or simply have too much money , then we can help you! We are offering a tailored package of promotion in return for goods, services, money or anything else that could help us and at the same time add value to your business. If you think this is you or your company then please contact us via aaron@ausuav.com or the good old phone. In Australia call Aaron on 0419 507 586 or if from elsewhere in the world +61 419 507 586.

After "Winning" last years event (scoring the most points for the competition but not completing the task) we received a great amount of media coverage including print, web, magazine, video etc.

I built this website in response to people wanting information and pictures. Since Oct 2008 we have had over 7000 unique visitors to this website with more than 110,000 hits! That's a lot of worldwide exposure.

Some info on what you'll get for your involvement.

Permanent page and link on our website.

Promotion on our UAV in the form of stickers.

Promotion on our Team Shirts.

Mention in any Print, Radio, Internet Media coverage that we receive.

Positive promotion at the event which has leading memders of the world's UAV community present.

Any other ideas that we can come up with that are suitable to both parties, such as, promotional visits, team photos, product demonstrations on site, written reviews and reports etc.

> We are using the UAV to compete in the 2009 UAV Outback Challenge
> again. ( www.uavoutbackchallenge.com.au ) The competition is sponsored
> by Boeing and other major industry players and are well represented at
> the competition including the judging panel.
>
> We are just a two man team and have paid for everything out of our own
> pockets for last years effort and this years as well. We had great
> success competing against University teams with $30,000 budgets (and
> we beat them all Last year after the challenge we received quite a
> lot of media attention.
> We featured in newspaper reports, widespread coverage on dozens of
> industry websites and several UAV Industry magazines had coverage of
> the event also. There are also promotional videos and a wrap up of
> last years event on my website that are produced by the organisers.
>
> Both myself and Simeon are qualified pilots (we started at 16 years of
> age). Simeon is now a helicopter instructor with the Australian Army
> and I run my own business. My Father and I have built two Ultralight
> aircraft which we fly regularly. We've both been flying RC aircraft
> for at least 20 years now also. These are some of the skills that
> helped us in our approach to the challenge and to problem solve before and during the
> competition.

Hope to see you get on board the team.

Cheers
Aaron & Simeon.
Team ausuav.com

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3F5Ru_lgyM&feature=channel

You'll find some info and inspiration about the 2009 UAV Outback Challenge in this video. Again Team Telemaster gets some airtime in this video.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nocWi5YHOLo&feature=channel_page

The official Doco from the 2008 UAV Outback Challenge. Team Telemaster gets a good coverage in the video.

To read the article you can right click and save the image. You'll be able to get it full size then and read it at your leisure. We good a write up here too.

Link: http://aviation-philippines.blogspot.com/2008/10/amateurs-win-arcaa-uav-competition.html

Here is a well written article on the 2008 UAV Outback Challenge.

Below is a copy of the press release for this years challenge. We will be back again to find "Outback Joe" this year.

We are pleased to announce that the UAV Challenge - Outback Rescue will take place in 2009 in the regional Queensland town of Kingaroy. The event will take place on 28 September - 1 October 2009.

Aerospace students and enthusiasts alike will again have the opportunity to find and assist 'Outback Joe', a lost bush walker in Australia's vast outback, using UAVs.

We look forward to your continued enthusiasm and support for this event.

See you in Kingaroy!

UAV Challenge rules

The 2009 UAV Challenge rules will be similar to those of 2008. Minor adjustments will be made in the next month. When complete, the new rules document will be made available online.

Register for the UAV Challenge

Register for the 2009 Challenge here. This form will be uploaded onto the website shortly.

Sponsor the 2009 UAV Challenge

The 2008 UAV Challenge received overwhelming support from the aviation and aerospace industry. This support helped to make the event the huge success that it was.

We are now seeking support for the 2009 UAV Challenge. To receive a sponsorship kit, please contact:

Liesl Larsen
Telephone: 07 3224 7134
Email: liesl.larsen@dtrdi.qld.gov.au

2008 UAV Challenge - Outback Rescue winners and finalists

Congratulations to all participants in the 2008 UAV Challenge for making it a great success.

Airborne Delivery Documentary Challenge
Winner: Brisbane Boys’ College – Bash, Burn and Crash ($2,000)

Search and Rescue Documentary Challenge
Winner: Mueller College - MUROC Bush Masters ($8,000)

Airborne Delivery Encouragement Award (donated by RD Collins and Associates)
Winner: TSHS Mt Lofty ($500)

Steven M Sliwa Search and Rescue Encouragement Award (donated by Insitu)
Winner: Missouri S&T UAV Team ($500)

Airborne Delivery Challenge
Winner: Mueller College - MUROC Bush Pilots ($10,000)

Search and Rescue Challenge
Despite impressive demonstrations of autonomous UAV flight, unfortunately no teams were able to rescue Outback Joe this year. As a result, encouragement awards were provided based on technical reports, inspections and practice flights.

Finalists:
Telemasters ($5,000)
Missouri S&T UAV Team ($3,000)
QUT SRUAV 08 ($1,000)

Link: https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:16491.1436745760/rid:8cff8fac7094261bc5f907e48a47923d

Check out the link to see what Hobby Lobby had to say about our efforts in the "Challenge"

Thanks go to Jay, the CEO of Hobby Lobby for writing up a great story.
We had 4000 individual visitors over three days from the Oct News article alone.

Link: http://ausuav.com/index.php/photo/2008/10/01/aaron-aamp-the-senior-telemaster-dec-1978

Click on the link above, to go straight to the part of our site, that has the background story to the development of our UAV using the 30 year old Senior Telemaster airframe.

Then feel free to browse around the site and check out the other photos, videos and stories.

If you have any questions at all please feel free to contact me (Aaron Donaldson) through the contact form on this webpage.

Thanks for looking!!

Regards

Aaron & Simeon

We will be putting together a sponsorship package shortly for anyone interested in helping us compete at the 2009 UAV Outback Challenge in Queensland.

After winning this years UAV competition we have had media exposure in a number of forms, reaching a world wide audience.

We are competing against other teams with budgets in excess of $25,000 - $30,000 and twice as many team members. All of our money has come from our own pockets and the total we spent on last years competition was around $7,000.

If you can't wait and would like to be a part of our success too, please contact me via the contact section of this webpage.

Thanks
Aaron & Simeon

Link: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081024/nef025.html?.v=71

Jay Graves the CEO of Hobby Lobby Intl loved the story about our 30 yo Telemaster UAV so much that he wrote it up in a press release and it's made it's way all around the internet.

Thanks for the interest Jay!

Link: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=175577

Here is a quick note I sent to Hobby Lobby to let them know about our story.

Seems it made it to the CEO and he's written it up in his Blog on RC Groups. The biggest RC group on the net

Link: http://www.thechronicle.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3785984

'Amateurs' soar to UAV win
September 26, 2008
By Lacey Burley

TOOWOOMBA man Simeon O'Neill and his best mate used their patched-up 30-year-old model plane to beat teams of university aerospace engineers at the UAV Challenge in Kingaroy.

Mr O'Neill and his high school buddy Aaron Donaldson, from Geelong, won the main event, the Search and Rescue open category, taking home $5000.

The Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) Outback Challenge was held at the Kingaroy Airport and finished yesterday.

The pair heard about the competition last year and decided to rebuild Mr Donaldson's dad's 1978 model plane that was gathering dust in the shed.

With a budget of about $6000, they were impressed with their winning efforts.

"The other teams were made up of people studying to be electronics & aerospace engineers, Simeon and I didn't finish more than a semester of engineering," Mr Donaldson said.

"I guess QUT had a budget of about $30,000 and the United States university had a budget of about $25,000.

"And unfortunately both university teams crashed their planes."

The pair could have won the $50,000 prize.

But they failed to complete the challenge after a wiring plug came loose and forced them to land.

They will use the prize money to prepare another plane.

"We're ready for next year now," Mr O'Neill said.

Link: http://www.vimeo.com/1831290

Team Telemasters 2008 UAV Outback Challenge Documentary from You View on Vimeo.