UTHM enters Malaysia Book of Records for producing country's first giant drone

BATU PAHAT, Sept  20 -- Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) has made it into the Malaysia Book of Records after successfully producing the first giant drone in Malaysia known as C-Drone.

Project chief Assoc Prof Dr Zamri Omar said the success was a gift to the university, which celebrated its 28th anniversary on Sept 16.

He added that the drone project, which kicked off in June 2019, was completed in April this year by a group of UTHM researchers from various specialisations and assisted by students, besides advice from experts from local universities and the industry.

“For time being, the C-Drone prototype has been designed, built and test flown at UTHM, as well as through flight tests in the laboratory.

“We expect to make the first flight as early as next month and not later than December with a cargo load of 200 kilogrammes (kg),” he said in a statement today.

Zamri explained that the analysis, design, simulation, component fabrication, installation, system integration and flight testing activities of the project were all implemented in the C-Drone project laboratory facility located at UTHM Parit Raja main campus here.

“The battery-powered C-Drone is of the Multirotor Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) type. The prototype size of this UTHM cargo drone is about five metres long, five metres wide and two metres high, while its gross weight is about 400 kg.

“The C-Drone development project aims to produce a proof of concept (PoC), which is to prove that the design concept and system of this large cargo drone can be built and operate well.

“Funds for the C-Drone project were obtained from the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), and partly funded by UTHM,” he added.

-- BERNAMA