Five years since its foundation in 2011, Edhitha has clinched its first title at Students Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) competition. The SUAS competition challenges teams with the task of developing a tactical autonomous UAS capable of autonomous flight, imagery, image processing, data exchange and supply package drops. Edhitha, based in M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, became the first undergraduate Indian team to win the SUAS. The feat would not have been possible however, if not for the dedication and relentless hard work by the talented students who had been a part of and contributed to team in the past years. The team has participated in the competition in Maryland, USA, every year since its conception. Here is a tribute to the journey of the team that made this feat possible.

Edhitha emerged in the year 2012 out of Team Lakshya, a team which had participated in the 9th and 10th Annual SUAS competition. Team Lakshya had had a particularly difficult year in the 10th SUAS competition with the UAS crashing right after take off. The crash fuelled the formation of Edhitha, spearheaded by Vishnu B.N. (former captain) who along with Vishwanathan R (former member and mentor), Sriraghav S (former member and mentor), and two other members embarked on a year long effort to gain a foothold at SUAS 2013. Edhitha became the 5th Best team to accomplish the mission at the SUAS 2013, the only team to win all prize barrels.

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SUAS 2014:

        The team commenced work in 2014 under the same leadership having recruited more members. The development period for SUAS 2014 set the stage for Team Edhitha's emergence as a major competitive force at the SUAS. Edhitha attempted for the first time, a fully custom built reinforced carbon fiber & glass fiber composite airframe called DAWON. The team worked through severe logistical and resource constraints and developed the entire Dawon system with the kind of tenacity that could have won Team Edhitha a laurel at SUAS 2014. However, as if to confirm the ghost of unpredictability in all things aviation, Dawon met with an unexpected crash at SUAS 2014 during the mission demonstration. The team's hopes of winning the title came to a screeching halt. The Dawon system however, still stands as a tremendous milestone for the team.

Dawon Unmanned Aerial System

Since then, Edhitha made a remarkable transformation putting its effort singularly into system integration and rigorous system testing. The results that followed at SUAS 2015 have set the stage for the team to establish itself as the best undergraduate UAS development team in India. Edhitha salutes and thanks everyone who have contributed to the team through the years of its growth.