Sep 22, 2026

KFUPM Reclaims 1st Place at SUAS 2026

This year’s Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) competition, held on September 14–17 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, saw KFUPM reach 1st place for the second time. The university’s interdisciplinary team, ASCENT, returned to the top after defeating 64 teams representing 10 countries in one of the largest international university competitions in drones and AI.

Held annually since 2002, SUAS challenges students to apply and develop their technical knowledge through complex operational scenarios. This year’s theme, “Storm Response,” examined the role of uncrewed systems in disaster relief and recovery. In addition to the overall 1st place award, Ascent received 1st place in the Sponsor Award - MathWorks Simulation for its technical work and also placed 5th in Website Design and Content.

Together, the students designed, built, and demonstrated an AI-powered aerial system that integrated autonomous navigation, onboard computer vision, target geolocation, and precision payload delivery. Their submission also included detailed engineering design documentation. ASCENT finished ahead of teams from Cornell University, Monash University, the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Hacettepe University, Warsaw University of Technology, United International University, AGH University of Krakow, and many more.

The “Beat the Globe” program by KFUPM’s Deanship of Student Affairs was an important step in preparing the team for the international competition. Through the program, university student teams connected with prestigious international competitions and benefited from mentorship and capability development, along with funding pathways. Additional preparation involved demanding flight tests in temperatures reaching approximately 45°C, as well as daily journeys of around 200 km to and from the testing site.

Adding to those challenges, visa denials and repeated appointment cancellations allowed only five team members to attend the competition onsite. However, the remaining members continued providing technical and operational support remotely.

This was KFUPM’s fifth consecutive participation in SUAS. In 2024, the university also won 1st place in the competition, for the first time, with students having to rebuilt their drone from scratch only hours before the contest. Each new participation expanded the university’s experience, as every team passed their knowledge, expertise, and lessons to the next one.

Since 2024, two different KFUPM teams have also secured top positions in the competition, specifically third place in 2025 and first place again in 2026. These consecutive results demonstrate the university’s strength in aviation and particularly, its expertise in UAS.

This year’s student team was led by Omar Zuhayr Najm, an Aerospace Engineering student, and included students from multiple departments such as Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Among them were Abdullah Alghazal, Ahmed Nasser, Ahmed Hanafy, Ahmed Alsayegh, Abdulkarim Alghannam, Turki Alrasheed, Abdulrahman Akram, Mohammed Almasri, Jassim Alsayegh, Ali Althuwaini, Ahmed Abuzaid, Mohammed Alqahtani, Akram Hussein, and Ibram Wadee. Faculty from the Aerospace Engineering Department, namely Mr. Mohammed Aves and Mr. Jaber Ibrahim Sahli, mentored the students throughout their preparation, ensuring both technical and moral support.

For the students, the competition isn’t the end of the story; they are already considering the project’s next stage. In their own words, “We plan to develop the drone into a rescue drone and to further develop the remote-operation system we built. The project has grown into a research topic aimed at rescuing people lost in the desert.” This ambition further reflects two of the 7 Habits of KFUPM Students, namely self-reliance and high aspirations. As the winning team puts it, “Always trust that you are capable of being the best in the world, then go and achieve it.”