cut studentDrone designed by CUT Student
Chinhoyi University of Technology Engineers showcasing a drone at Chinhoyi Agriculture show.

Video Credit – Pension Muputeya

Chinhoyi – Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) Engineering student designed a high-tech quad copter prototype guided by intelligent algorithms for enhanced safety features.  

Drones are commonly affected by problems of getting lost after battery levels are depleted and usually they are unable to fly back to base or the operator.  

The quad copter was show cased by Engineer Hweju from CUT at the Mash-West Agriculture recently held in Chinhoyi.  

Engineer Hweju said the aircraft is programmed with special algorithms that prevent the drone from crashing or getting lost.  

“The student managed to incorporate algorithms that will monitor the battery levels…the drone will switch on the home function to return back to base”, said Engineer Hweju.  

For the drone to be able to return back home, the engineer had to incorporate GPS systems for it to know how to return back home.  

“The air craft has to be aware of its surroundings for it to be able to return back home…so we had to incorporate functions such as GPS in order for the air craft to know its position when flying”, said Engineer Hweju explained.  

On full battery charge, the drone is able to fly for 11 minutes before it activates the home function to return to base.  

Engineer Hweju, could not reveal the name of the student and the production name of prototype for security reasons as the drone has not reached final stages of design.  

The state of drone technology in Zimbabwe

Drone technology is still in its earliest stages in zimbabwe. This first and biggest convention to discuss drone technology was held in November 2021. Since the drone technology is new in Zimbabwe…it come down to this question, is drone technology allowed into Zimbabwe ? Yes drone technology is allowed in Zimbabwe and drone laws are regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ).

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By Richard Kawazi

Richard Kawazi is a media policy and tech enthusiast, also a multi award winning journalist with a keen interest in Experimental Media Development.

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