5-24-2010

Heli UAV Project Meeting

Attendance:

• Eric Sarmiento

• Gregory Cortese

• Eric Miller

Disucssion:

System Concept

Equip an off-the-shelf RC model helicopter with the sensors, electronics, and

software necessary for it to fly autonomously.

Subsystem Breakdown:

o Aircraft Group (ACX)

 Airframe / Component Selection

 Structure/Vibration Analysis

 Component placement, mounting

 Variable-DOF Flight test rig

 System Identification

o Electronics Group (ECX)

 Inertial Measurement Sensors

 Controller board hardware

 Wireless communication / telemetry

 Interfaces

 Ground station / telemetry display

o Flight Control Group (FCX)

 Kinematic Analysis

 System identification
  Stabilization Algorithm

 Autopilot Implementation

 Ground station / telemetry display

Schedule/Logistics

• ACX would finish sourcing / component selection early in first semester

• ECX team would finish main electronics subsystems by first semester, then
possibly add payload integration 2nd semester (camera, etc)

• FCX would implement algorithms for at least a basic hover by first semester,
then work on advanced flight maneuvers 2nd semester

Phase Milestone Timeline

Project Planning / Team Proposal for Dept Chairs Now – June 25
Recruitment
Background Research Research Outline / Meeting June 1 – July 30
Preliminary Design Preliminary Design Report / Aug 1 – Aug 20
Proposal
Subsystem Development Subsystem Demonstrations Aug 23 – Oct 29
System Integration Flight Testing / Nov 1 – Dec 15
Troubleshooting

Funding:

Three main sources in mind:

• Corporate sponsors (Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Atomics, etc.)

• Industry Advisory Boards (each dept has one, they sometimes donate to
projects)

• Research Grants (NSF, etc.)

Next Steps:

• Meet with everybody who’s interested and start distributing research tasks

• Draft project proposal and meet with department chairs to figure out logistics

• Assign project leadership roles (3 group leaders, secretary, fundraising lead,

others?)