Final conference of the project ORKAN
On Thursday and Friday, October 19 and 20, 2023, at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Organization and Informatics (UNIZG FOI), the final conference of the project "ORKAN – Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Policy Ecosystem“ was successfully held, where a new application solution for controlling the constellation of drones and locating a pilot intruder drone was presented. The conference was titled "ORKAN - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Policy Ecosystem: Glimpse of the Future (Final Event)" and gathered experts from Orqa d.o.o. and the Department of Automation and Computer Engineering from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UNIZG FER) and students in the field of IT industry. The conference was attended by more than 100 participants during two days of presentations and lectures.
During this significant conference, members of the "ORKAN" project team presented the results they achieved during the four years of project implementation. These results included the development of a risk analysis application, implementation of communication at the software and hardware level, development of the UAV Constellation Control Center (UCCC) application solution for controlling the constellation of drones and locating a pilot intruder drone. The ORKAN project is aimed at creating a new architecture for the communication of networked systems, including drones and the Internet of Things, with an emphasis on simplicity, security and energy efficiency of communication. The application solution developed within the project was presented as a platform for future scientific research.
Drones are part of the broader Internet of Things paradigm and are an indispensable part of the smart industry, so it is important to implement them in different contexts as they will be the backbone of a new industry and new jobs. – pointed out the ORKAN project leader prof. dr. sc. Neven Vrček.
In addition to the members of the "ORKAN" project team, presentations by external experts were held at the conference. Dragan Kovačević from Orqa d.o.o. shared his thoughts on the use of drones in the future through the lecture "Drones in education - Creating the profession of the future", while Assoc. Prof. Matko Orsag, Ph.D. from UNIZG FER held a lecture on the topic "Drones or aerial robots". Both presentations included an interactive discussion with gathered experts and students.
This conference was an integral part of the 12th Career Week – an event organized by the Student Support and Career Development Centre of the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (CPSRK FOI) which brings together students and employers from the world of IT and entrepreneurship.
The project "ORKAN" (IP-2019-04-4864) is funded by the Croatian Science Foundation in the amount of 71,000.00 EUR, with a duration of 48 months, from 01/02/2020 to 31/01/2024. The purpose of the project was to develop a research platform consisting of a control center expandable by user applications and a constellation of drones. The project leader is Prof. Neven Vrček, Ph.D. from UNIZG FOI, and from the very beginning of implementation a team of 15 researchers from UNIZG FOI, industry experts and external expert from the University of Iceland, Prof. Karl Gudmundsson, Ph.D. participated in the project.
More about the results is available on the project website.
