Stellar team clinches MoD challenge
Updated on 19 August 2008
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the winner of its Grand Challenge competition.
The competition was launched to find a vehicle capable of identifying threats encountered by UK troops on current operations.
Team Stellar beat off six others who qualified for the final competition to win the RJ Mitchell Trophy - named after the designer of the Spitfire which earned legendary status for its decisive role in the Battle of Britain.
Their entry, SATURN - an integrated system with one high flying and one mini UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), and a UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) with a control station fusing data from visual, thermal and radar sensors - gave them the winning edge.
Team Stellar was awarded the highest points of any team by a panel of judges, after their vehicles successfully identified a range of threats planted in the village and recreated by actors dressed as militia.
Using sophisticated communications systems, their SATURN system was able to relay this information back to the team on the ground.
Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Baroness Ann Taylor said: "The Grand Challenge has proven a showcase for the wealth of talent that exists in the UK - not just in large Defence firms, but in universities, schools and even garden sheds across the nation.
He added: "They have brought fresh, exciting ideas to the Defence table which could have battle winning applications for our Armed Forces".
Out of 23 teams who originally applied to the competition, seven qualified for the final held over the last three days at Copehill Down, a village on Salisbury Plain specially built by the military for urban warfare training.
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