Egyptian student Osama wins TEKNOFEST Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Competition

Osama, an Egyptian student in Türkiye, won first place in the Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Competition held under TEKNOFEST, together with his Syrian friend Talal Bakour, a graduate of the Mathematical Engineering Department. Osama described the competition process and his goals.

Osama said he initially thought he might struggle to communicate because of the language barrier, but learned Turkish quickly. He said he did not feel a major cultural difference, as Türkiye is also a Muslim country.

Three tasks, four sessions

The competition had three tasks. In the first, people and vehicles were detected. In the second, the team tried to estimate the position and coordinates of a drone whose GPS signal was cut. In the third, objects in the given images were identified.

The competition began with applications in February and ended with finals in September, lasting about 6-7 months. In the first stage, the pair prepared a report describing the algorithms they planned to develop and their work, and received about 80 points. In the semifinal, results were submitted online and there was a single session. In the final, internet use was banned and there were four sessions, each lasting about an hour. The pair finished the semifinal in seventh place and won the final.

Arkadaşım beni arayarak sonuçların açıklandığını söyledi. Sonuçları kontrol ettiğimde birinci olduğumuzu gördüm. Çok şükür, büyük bir mutluluk yaşadım. Ama hissettiğim en güçlü duygu mutluluktan çok rahatlamaydı çünkü gerçekten çok çalışmıştık.

Osama

Uses and goals

Osama said they shared their success in department and university WhatsApp groups after winning and received very positive responses. He said he believes the project could contribute especially to the defense industry. He noted that detecting people and vehicles could be used in security and traffic management, and that the technology could help locate drones when GPS signals are cut in war conditions.

Saying he aims for a career in the defense industry, Osama announced he won an internship and will start at Baykar next week. He said working at Baykar is a particularly important goal for him.