Call to keep abreast of unmanned vehicle tech

Muscat: The First International Conference on Unmanned Vehicle Systems (UVS Oman 2019) concluded with a call to keep abreast with this vital emerging technology.
Organised by the College of Engineering at Sultan Qaboos University from February 5 to 7, it brought together leading academicians, researchers, engineers, industry professionals, and regulators to increase awareness, share views, and exchange ideas and field experiences on numerous aspects of Unmanned Vehicle Systems (UVS) which is a major part of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
This first event organised by SQU, UVS Oman 2019 provided an opportunity to network researchers, practitioners, students, and hobbyists to enrich interdisciplinary UVS and related platforms and present the most recent innovations, trials, future trends, applications, concerns as well as challenges and solutions developed and applied in the various fields of applications.
A number of workshops, students’ project competitions, and an exhibition on UVS were held during the three days conference.
Based on the views and suggestions of the speakers, participants, organisers and sponsors of the first edition of the event, the conference came up with a number of recommendations.
The conference endorsed the necessity of following up on these efforts for organising future versions of this conference to keep up-to-date with the rapid development in this field and strengthen its direct positive impact on the economic developmental and educational activity in the Sultanate.
The forum recommended to increase the awareness of the unmanned vehicle systems and their use in various applications and to inform the society about the economic benefits of these systems.
It was recommended to collaborate with the various institutions concerned by this field to advance science and research through R&D platforms (such as Ejaad) and build human and infrastructure capabilities to strengthen local know how in modern technologies and applications to support development and community service that are in line with the future vision of the Sultanate.
Another recommendation is to establish appropriate and effective mechanisms to enhance cooperation between Sultan Qaboos University and the economic, regulatory, educational and research institutions, such as the National Survey Authority, the General Authority for Civil Aviation, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, The Research Council and other concerned institutions and companies.
The conference urged the units concerned and educational institutions to promote the field of unmanned vehicle systems and requirements (such as algorithms, artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data and cloud) within their educational, technical, ethical programs and promote creativity in various areas in these future technologies.
The event advocates introducing and strengthening the laws and regulations in the Sultanate to encourage entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises to invest and work in these technologies to raise local added value. UVS Oman 2019 endorsed the provision of updated and accurate databases from reliable sources in the Sultanate, to be used in the areas of unmanned vehicle systems and other research areas as they are important in the quality of the outcomes.
At the end, the participants saluted the efforts of the college of engineering, the organizing committee, the SQU administration and the supporting institutions that participated in this important event. On this occasion, the Organizing Committee of the Conference announced the date of the Second Conference on Unmanned Vehicle Systems to be on 8-10 February 2021.