AEM Senior Design team invited to compete in SAE Aero Design Competition
An AEM Senior Design team has been selected to attend the SAE Aerospace Collegiate Aero Design Competition this spring. Team members, Stephen Beck, Jason Adlam, Ben Garstecki, Wilson Lau, Stephen Link, and Ilya Zubarev, will be participating in the competition in Fort Worth, Texas on March 10-12, 2017.
The AEM Senior Design team is designing an aircraft for the Micro Class category of the SAE competition. The objective of the Micro class is to design a light-weight, micro UAV style aircraft that can be quickly deployed from a small package. Reliability to perform the mission is measured by an operational availability bonus. The first assembly of the competition is a timed event. Payload fraction is still at the core of the class and will be the main measure of performance.
The SAE Aero Micro design team was given the following design requirements:
- Hand launch from launch circle within 60 seconds of timer
- Fly around track, making two 180-degree turns
- Touch down in landing zone
- Must carry 1.5”x1.5”x5” payload that is fully enclosed
- Aircraft must be carried in 6” diameter container
- Must be electric powered, controlled by 2.4 GHz controller
- Score maximized for design with highest payload fraction
The group will be expanding upon the work they did in the fall semester of the senior design class in preparation for the competition in March. The Department wishes the team the best of luck!
Below: flight requirements and aircraft design
