Alexey Likhoded, from the University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering, received the Airbus Award for ‘the Best Aeronautical Engineering Student’ for his project entitled 'Vision Based Recovery of a Rotary Wing UAV’.
Record numbers of entries were received from every major university in Europe with 45 students shortlisted in 15 different categories for the event, which is supported by industry and leading research institutions.
Dr Tom Richardson, a lecturer in Flight Mechanics in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, said: "Two out of the three finalists for the Airbus Award came from the University of Bristol. Salman Iqbal, a postgraduate engineering student, was also shortlisted for his project entitled 'Design and Integration of Novel Unidirectional Thrust Vectoring System'. This was an outstanding achievement by both students and a fantastic result for the University’s Faculty of Engineering.”
Alexey said: “Going to the University of Bristol was the best decision of my life. I chose to study Avionic Systems Engineering because I have always had an interest in aerospace and computing. I decided to make the most of my university experience by taking part in as many as activities as possible and dedicating my time to obtaining a strong academic engineering foundation. I spent my third year at the University of Illinois on a study abroad scheme and my last year was spent back in Bristol dedicated to my final-year project, which involved the design of a control algorithm to enable the autonomous landing of a small-unmanned helicopter onto a moving target.
“The helicopter used a video camera to recognise a target of a pre-determined shape and calculate the 3-translational and 3-rotational displacements to the target. The project was a perfect way to complete my degree, since it allowed me to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired from my degree to a practical problem.
“The four years of my degree has fully prepared me for a career in engineering and I could have not imagined a better way to start my graduate programme at GE Aviation than receiving the Airbus Award.”
The SET Awards were presented at a ceremony in London's Hilton Hotel in September. The event was organised by the Leadership Forum and sponsored by BP, Airbus, Anglo American, ARM Holdings, AstraZeneca, AWE, BCS, Bentley Motors, Laing O'Rourke, Lloyd's Register Educational Trust, Kraft, Microsoft Research, Morgan Crucible and The National Physical Laboratory.