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The University of Southampton
Aerospace

New ways to build an aircraft win a prize

Published: 10 December 2012Origin: Engineering

An innovative proposal to design an aircraft by computer and produce it through 3D printing has won an Engineering PhD student a £3,000 prize.

Chris Paulson won a runners-up prize at the NEMODE (New Digital Methods in the Digital Economy) competition at the 2012 Digital Economy All Hands conference in Aberdeen. He presented his concept, developed with Dr Andras Sobester as part of the ASTRA (Atmospheric Science Through Robotic Aircraft) initiative, at the Dragon's Den workshop on new business models.

"I work with this technology as part of my doctorate, designing unmanned aircraft, which can carry out experiments at heights up to 30 km," he says. "I plan to use his prize money to build a prototype and give talks on its development in the USA."

NEMODE is part of the Research Councils UK Digital Economy research programme to bring together new inspirational ideas.

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