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They discuss their achievements to date, challenges encountered and the lessons they have learnt in their quest to design and build an aircraft that could operate in a humanitarian aid mission.
Q: Could you briefly tell us about your team – any interesting facts or background information?
Mora Avions (MA): We are team of ten undergraduates from the University of Moratuwa who have teamed up to compete in this year’s UAS Challenge. We hope to do our best in the competition with our courage, passion, determination and teamwork. As engineering undergraduates, we are trying to improve the world through engineering.
SDU Eagles (SE): The SDU Eagles team started last year, by student initiative. We are self-taught when it comes to aircraft design, and strive to each year challenge ourselves by building “out of the box UAVs”! We love to be unconventional! For example, last year we built the first blended-box wing UAV in the world.
Q: Could you tell us about the design and innovation aspect of your aircraft?
MA: The Mora Avions UAV is a fixed wing aircraft, with straight un-tapered wings. The wings will be attached in a high wing configuration and have the S1223 aero foil as its profile. The tail will have an inverted H-tail configuration which is connected to the fuselage using twin booms and will have a NACA 0012 aero foil profile. A tricycle configuration fixed landing gear will be used where the steering is done through the front wheel.
The propulsion is provided by a push-type propeller mounted on the rear of the fuselage and will be driven by a 1000kv brushless DC motor which will be powered by six-cell lithium polymer battery having a voltage output of 22.2v with its power source being 5500 mAh. The Pixhawk 2 Module is used for the flight control functions. The UAV also has three control surfaces. All of these surfaces are controlled by servo motors that are powered by the Pixhawk module. Autonomous flight activity is done using Mission Planner software with ArduPilot mission planner being used for our mission planning tasks. A camera module is used for capturing photos, and a Raspberry Pi 3 single board computer is used for image processing.
SE: We have built upon our very own box wing design and improved its operability, by implementing vertical take-off. To vertically take-off our new UAS, it uses two electric ducted fans. With their combined thrust of 11kg and an innovative control system, the UAS takes off like a rocket in a tail sitting position, and then transits to horizontal flying.
Q: How could your UAV be used to help vulnerable people and fight against COVID-19?
MA: This pandemic has changed the lifestyles of people across the world. Including ourselves, we know people were expecting a stunning 2020 but unfortunately everything has changed. Since human contact accelerates spread of factor of this disease, more people have understandably turned to UAVS which can be used to deliver test samples to and from people’s homes, and food donations for those hit hardest economically.
SE: Denmark has many small islands and using our UAS to deliver COVID-19 test kits or potential vaccines to local communities removes the need to travel into medical hubs and risk bringing the virus back.
Being a VTOL aircraft means our UAS can easily land in any terrain. The electrically open cargo compartment doors make the removal of cargo easy and fast, not requiring the items to be dropped on the ground.
Q: What are the key skills you learnt from this project and what were the challenges you faced?
MA: By working on this project, the team has become very close-knit. We identified the strengths and weaknesses of every team member and identified the courage, ability, determination and passion we have for aeronautics. With obeying our team leader and managing our time and team effort efficiently, we were on the way to making our spectacular UAV.
From the beginning, we had a lot of challenges as a team. Even with the passion, the lack of experience of building UAVs was a major challenge. However our strong team spirit along with guidance from academic staff meant that we were able to overcome this issue. There were also financial obstacles but we managed to find local sponsors and the Sri Lanka Group at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers has provided great support for us in many ways including mentoring.
SE: Taking part in this year’s UAS Challenge has taught us to think outside the box, work effectively with people from different studies, create innovative designs, realise our ideas by turning theory into practice and to take responsibility for individually-assigned tasks.
To recognise the efforts of teams to date, the UAS Challenge Organising Committee has agreed to host a virtual ceremony at 2:30pm BST, 19 June 2020, to present teams with the following awards for:
- Design
- Safety
- Innovation
- Media and Engagement
- Business Proposition
- Highest-Placed New Entrant
Registration for the event is now open!