Fourth-year students of the Department of Software Engineering at Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) have attained a distinguished success within the scope of the SAYZEK Program administered by the Presidency of Defence Industries. The project entitled “A Multilayer Threat Detection and Autonomous Avoidance System for Autonomous Aerial Platforms Based on Image Processing” has been granted official support, demonstrating a high level of technical competency and methodological rigor.

The study aims to perform real-time detection of airborne entities—including unmanned aerial vehicles, airplanes, helicopters, and missiles—through camera-based sensor data and advanced image processing techniques. The system implements an artificial intelligence-driven classification model to execute friend-or-foe identification and employs a UDP-based positional data-sharing mechanism to ensure multilayer verification. In this context, the proposed approach offers a cost-efficient alternative to conventional high-cost sensing technologies such as radar and lidar.

Conducted under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Serkan Gönen, the project is being developed through the integration of a domestically designed software architecture and high-performance computational models. The students contribute to the enhancement of autonomous aerial system safety while simultaneously supporting national efforts aimed at reducing external technological dependence in the defense sector.

The university administration notes that this achievement reflects the institution’s research-oriented engineering education framework. It is emphasized that the active involvement of students in qualified research and development processes is generating substantial contributions to the advancement of defense technologies. The project is further expected to provide a scalable technological foundation adaptable to various autonomous system platforms in future applications.