In 2012, Southport Aerospace Centre played host to the Unmanned Systems Canada 2012 Student UAV Competition.
Unmanned Systems Canada Press Release Excerpt:
Southport, MB-- May 4-6, 2012 -- Five university student teams from across Canada competed in the Operational Phase of the 4th Unmanned Systems Canada UAV Student Competition hosted by Southport Aerospace Centre south of Portage la Prarie MB. The teams were challenged to use unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in support of forest fire fighting. They were tasked with automatically locating targets that would represent points of interest in an actual forest fire fighting scenario in the remote Canadian wilderness, using their own experimental unmanned aircraft flying under the control of autopilots.
The first place finisher was Team VAMUdeS from Université de Sherbrooke (QC), followed by Team Guardian from Simon Fraser University (BC) and Team Blackbird from Carleton University (ON).
Student Teams Competing in 2012 UAV Competition:
Team Guardian, Simon Fraser University
Team UVic AERO, University of Victoria
Team Blackbird, Carleton University
Team VAMUdeS, Université de Sherbrooke
Team UAARG, University of Alberta
Team Four Winds, University of British Columbia -- Okanagan
Team Bat Aircraft, Université du Québec à Rimouski
Team RUAV, Ryerson University
