Serbian students develop quadcopter with machine vision and built-in computer for landing zone recognition

The Beoavia student team is ready for the new competition season with two ambitious projects - the autonomous aircraft “Vidar” for humanitarian missions within the Rapid Response Challenge and the unmanned transport aircraft “Svitac” for the Air Cargo Challenge 2026 competition.

The Rapid Response Challenge is held within the Student AirRace competition, and young aerospace engineers are tasked with constructing an aircraft that can deliver necessary assistance to hard-to-reach locations - quickly, with precision and reliably, in conditions that reflect realistic operational scenarios.

The “Vidar” quadcopter was developed within this project, based on the B-Swarm platform, which in previous phases demonstrated stability and adaptability, which enabled its advancement towards more complex control and navigation algorithms, according to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade.

Beoavia says the biggest challenge was developing a system that allows for fully autonomous landing and release of cargo at a given location, without relying on GNSS navigation. Instead, “Vidar” uses machine vision and an onboard computer to recognize the landing zone, precisely position itself, and autonomously perform the task.



The second project is the unmanned transport aircraft “Svitac”, intended for participation in the Air Cargo Challenge 2026, where the focus is on the efficient transport of cargo in the form of 0.33 liter cans. The Air Cargo Challenge is one of the leading international student competitions in the field of aeronautical engineering. The task of the participants is to design an aircraft that can carry as much cargo as possible and complete the assigned missions in the shortest possible time, with strictly defined technical rules. This year’s edition of the competition will be held on June 30 in Stuttgart.

When designing “Firefly”, a special challenge was balancing load capacity, energy efficiency, and structural limitations. Classic solutions with high wing slenderness were not applicable, so the team developed a more compact configuration with two engines, fixed landing gear and a center wing, which optimizes stability and operational simplicity.

Beoavia was founded in 2018 and today brings together around 75 students from seven faculties of the University of Belgrade. As the only representative of Serbia at prestigious international aviation competitions, the team is engaged in the design, development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles. Over the past eight years, 17 successful projects have been implemented and notable results have been achieved. Beoavia’s projects attracted great attention from visitors to this year’s 68th International Fair of Technology and Technical Achievements.

Udruženje Studenata Vazduhoplovstva BEOAVIA

Mašinski fakultet Beograd

Beoavia

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Belgrade

Vidar drone

Svitac drone

Rapid Response Challenge

Air Cargo Challenge 2026