The 2019 Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) annual competition was held in St. Mary’s County, Maryland in June, where Vaughn engineering students competed for the first time and ranked 24th on mission execution and 26th overall.

In this year’s competition, 75 top-recognized national and international engineering schools (Harvard, Cornell, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Penn State, University of Maryland and many others) qualified, but only 47 teams were flight-ready by registration day. The Vaughn UAV team passed all of the requirements and qualified to fly in the competition.

Vaughn’s team members confronted many challenges but they managed to achieve multiple milestones, such as taking off to above 100 feet and hovering autonomously, as well as executing the required communication to achieve a safe landing.

(Above) Vaughn UAV team members troubleshoot at their work station at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station Webster Field.