Sentian Aerospace wins AVI awards 2019

Sentian Aerospace wins AVI awards 2019

October 28, 2019 • News

Johannesburg, South Africa: 28 October 2019. Local aviation innovation company, Sentian Aerospace has won the Overall Winner and SMME Winner accolades at the 5th annual AVI AWARDS 2019 held at the 8th AVI AFRIQUE Summit at The Canvas Innovation Hub in Riversands, Fourways, Gauteng. The AVI AWARDS High School Winner was awarded to Samuel Nkgoeng from N.M.Tsuene High School in Ga-Rankuwa, Gauteng.

The annual AVI AWARDS, hosted by the Air Traffic and Navigation Services SOC Limited (ATNS), recognise those individuals who contribute to innovation, elevate the aviation industry through intelligent design of products and processes, and enhance the capabilities of the aviation industry.

“Our awards winner truly impressed us with their innovative and unique aviation concepts which speaks volumes of the sheer talent we have and also bodes well for future innovation and development,” says Thomas Kgokolo, interim CEO of ATNS.

Sentian Aerospace won the Overall Winner for the design of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that can carry up to 15kg of payload over 1400 kilometres nonstop. “This eliminates the need for runways and heavy, complex launch equipment. Furthermore, the hovering ability allows for stationary surveillance of infrastructure such as stockpiles, power lines and pipelines” states Muzi Dube, CEO of Sentian Aerospace.

After take-off, the Sentian Aerospace UAV switches to cruise mode in the fixed-wing mode to save on energy consumption, allowing for long-distance and endurance missions while carrying payloads. Muzi explains further “The idea behind our design was to reduce the cost of aerial transport. A typical helicopter can cost in excess of R10 000 an hour and we’d like to cut it down to about R2000 an hour.

“We believe Sentian Aerospace is uniquely positioned as we can in the future also offer services and products that can save lives such as delivering critical medical supplies to rural hospitals.”

The Sentian Aerospace UAV features the following technical specifications:

• Cruise speed – 120km/hr
• Maximum speed – 280km/hr
• Minimum speed – 0km/hr (hover)
• Endurance -12 hours (Engine: Payload as fuel)
• Endurance -2 hours (Full electric)
• Range – 1400km.

Samuel Nkgoeng won his AVI AWARDS High School Winner awards for his unique concept of lowering a wind turbine in an aircraft to provide energy to power small electrical items.

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