About the Competition
Following on from the resounding success of the inaugural RAF Engineering Competition in 2018, the 2019 competition is now open for registration!
The competition aims to showcase and celebrate the potential, ingenuity and innovative spirit of young people and all those associated with today’s Royal Air Force. We are offering a rewarding, challenging and enjoyable competition that pays tribute to the influence of engineering in our daily lives and helps us to visualise how engineering will continue to shape the RAF’s development into our next century.
The engineering competition reaches out across the breadth of the Royal Air Force including all trades and branches, Civil Servants, as well as members of the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme (DTUS) and University Air Squadrons (UAS). Also, for 2019 we are extending eligibility for youth organisations to include the RAF Air Cadets, Combined Cadet Force (RAF), Air Scouts, Explorer Scouts and non-uniformed organisations such as youth clubs and schools.
The challenge for 2019 is to design an engineering solution relating to air and space activities, based around one or more of the following broad categories:
Space: The RAF uses satellites to observe, locate, communicate and pass information around the globe, and we can ‘look’ into space using telescopes and radar. But how could the RAF evolve its activities in space in the future? Could we put RAF astronauts into orbiting space stations? Are there uses for satellites that we haven’t considered? Could we better link together space-borne, airborne and land-based technologies? Will the RAF develop its own launch capabilities to support its space activities?
Air Power: What features will characterise the next generation of RAF aircraft? Could they fly higher, further, faster or for longer? What roles could unmanned aircraft play in RAF activities? Could the RAF employ autonomous air vehicles for logistic air drops or surveillance in hazardous areas?
Technology: How could technology be used to improve the way we do business? Whether it’s administration, logistics, flying, training or catering, all the functions that we undertake in our everyday lives have the potential to be improved upon with the support of technology. Wearables, gadgets, apps, the ‘Internet of Things’, virtual/augmented reality each offer opportunities to change the way we live and work.
The Information Age: ‘Big Data’, ‘Cloud Computing’, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ are all terms associated with the massive amount of information that we create and store on a daily basis. If that information could be organised and investigated, how could it be used to help us to recognise trends and perhaps anticipate future events?
Each of the teams that make it through to the Finals will receive a small amount of funding to help refine their ideas and produce a prototype or concept demonstrator. At the Finals in June 2020, there will be a range of individual and team awards on offer to recognise flair, ingenuity and enthusiasm.
