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Captain’s Message

The aerospace industry is among the fastest-growing industries worldwide. In 2025, the market size was estimated at 373.6 billion USD and is projected to double by 2035.

At Queen’s Aerospace Design Team (QADT), we are dedicated to pushing boundaries with the development of high performance & autonomous UAVs for national and international competitions in Canada, Europe, and the United States. With the continued growth in industry aerospace applications in recent years, QADT has seen an unparalleled expansion, and our dedicated team of more than 150 undergraduate students has not disappointed.

Last year, the technical team developed 2 brand new UAVs from the ground up to compete at the AEAC 2025 student competition hosted in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Including a fully carbon fiber fixed wing aircraft with a two-axis gimbal to find and map wildfires, as well as a heavy-lift quadcopter designed to pick-up and drop-off water for autonomous fire extinguishing. While in parallel, the QADT research team wrote two research papers for submission to the IMAV conference paper call and the VFS student design competition. Respectively, these papers focused on the application of DBD plasma actuators to reattach airflow separation and a hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft design to maximize loitering time.

This year, we are going even further with new designs and initiatives as we prepare to expand our technical capabilities and compete in not just the AEAC 2026 student competition, but also the AIAA Design, Build, Fly competition hosted in Wichita, KS, while continuing to publish leading edge research papers.

QADT offers a unique opportunity for development and growth for students in any discipline, including gaining technical experience in Aeromechanics, Electrical, and Software, and the opportunity to conduct research in a variety of unique fields, as well as the chance to gain experience in business and management. QADT is looking to continue its rapid growth and expansion by taking on like-minded and motivated individuals to not just continue the development of advanced drone technology, but push the boundaries of what student teams are capable of.

We eagerly await your application.

‘Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.’

— Eddie Rickenbacker, WWI flying ace

Queen's Aerospace — Software Engineering Team Member

The QADT software team gives students a chance to develop skills in ROS2, PX4 autopilot, Git, Docker, Linux, and more! Whether you have used all or none of these in the past, we are looking for students who are passionate about developing their software skills for UAV applications. The AEAC competition that QADT has previously competed in relies heavily on the autonomy and computer vision software implemented by the software team, while the AIAA competition is not focused on software development, and therefore does not have a software team. For AEAC, students can expect to learn about industry level platforms and apply them to a real-life UAV for the competition. In addition, students interested in developing novel algorithms for UAVs and implementing them in simulation may join the software research team and compete at the international ICUAS UAV Competition. The three software subteams open for applications are listed below:

• Computer Vision Software Development - AEAC
• Autonomy Software Development - AEAC
• Software Research - ICUAS

Computer Vision Software Development:

The Computer Vision sub-team is responsible for the perception systems that allow our UAVs to understand and interact with their environment in competition. Working closely with the Autonomy sub-team, we develop and test the vision pipelines that support tasks such as long-range flight, reconnaissance and indoor navigation. This is an exciting and complex software challenge that blends computer vision, robotics, and systems engineering.

What to Expect:

• Software Design Principles: Gain experience in clean, modular coding practices while learning to integrate vision pipelines into larger UAV systems.
• Learn a UAV Tech Stack: Work with operating systems, robotics middleware, simulation frameworks, and containerized development environments. These same technologies are used across robotics, aerospace, and autonomous vehicle industries.
• From Simulation to Reality: Develop perception algorithms in simulation, then deploy and validate them on physical UAVs for the AEAC competition.
• WATCH OUR DRONES FLY: Watch your own code control the drone in real-time as it maps out its environment, localizes targets, and extinguishes them.

Autonomy Software Development:

The Autonomy team is responsible for the guidance, navigation, and automated flight control systems on the drone. Working alongside the Computer Vision team, we develop intelligent flight control software with real-time data processing and decision making tailored to competition objectives. This experience involves working with open-source flight control software and designing systems that enable the drone to plan routes, avoid obstacles, and operate without manual input.

What to expect:

• Core Software Development: Learn to design route optimization, flight control, and autonomous landing algorithms that respond to real-time sensor, imagery, and UAV system data.
• Simulation Strategies: Build simulation environments to test functionality, stress scenarios and edge cases, and validate control algorithms before deployment.
• Embedded Software Development: Gain experience working with embedded systems that interface with hardware to collect, process, and share data across the UAV system.
• Geospatial Development: Gain experience in geospatial development by implementing autonomous behaviors that account for terrain, altitude, positioning, and tracking of mission objectives.

Software Research:

The software research team will be similar to the other two software subteams but is officially part of the research branch to compete in the ICUAS UAV competition. It will be focused on creating a program for a drone in a simulated environment to complete a specific task given to us. This will likely include autonomous navigation, computer vision, and some other unique challenges.

Application & Interview Details

We do not look at your resume as a deciding factor. We weigh it the least compared to your written application and interview.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: September 11th, 2025 (11:59 PM EST)

Interviews will occur online after the deadline. We are happy to provide accommodations for these interviews, so please reach out to us and let us know how we can make the process more accessible for you!

Contact Information

Please email any questions or concerns to aero @engsoc.queensu.ca or text @queensaero on Instagram!