UAV Forge Spring Week 4: Prototyping and Flight test

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

This week was largely a continuation on the work being done in the previous week. The most significant to emerge was the mounting of avionics components for the flight test on Sunday. This comes with some difficulty as the plane was damaged in an accident earlier this week. It sustained damage in the tail in the form of a hairline …

UAV Forge Spring Week 2: Beginning the Quarter Strong

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

With the quarter underway, work has begun again in earnest. With this as the final quarter to complete work, having deadlines for important documentation like the technical report and such closing in, there is not much time for dallying. Each team has quickly turned around following the break and is jumping into action to get their respective tasks and systems …

UAV Forge Spring Week 1: Structural Changes and a New Quarter!

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

The Winter Quarter was overall a success. With the Sig-T prototype achieving a full autonomous flight, take-off, and landing, all while taking photos of the ground. An almost ready to fly kit was also purchased and was constructed over the Spring Break, and already achieved manual flight. But despite the significant progress, the next two months will be packed with …

UAV Forge Winter Week 9 : Nearing the end of the quarter

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

Despite being only a week from final, UAV Forge has seen some significant progress towards reaching the goals set by the project towards accomplishing the mission task. That being said, the project does not currently have the funds to make it to Maryland. As a possible solution to the problem, a ZotFunder profile is in the works to generate funds …

UAV Forge Winter Week 8: Nearing quarter terminus

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

UAV Forge placed in the top four teams in the Winter Peer Review. As a result, the team will present at the Winter Design Review to the Dean of Engineering, alumni, and industry representatives. Preparations and plans for traveling to Maryland for the competition. Due to the large expense of travel, fundraising plans are being drafted to allow team members …

UAV Forge Winter Week 7: Remote Image Capturing

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

Progress as always at UAV Forge! This week a kit to be used as a competition plane has been found after a week of continuous research. The chosen plane was the AeroWorks 20cc-30cc Trainer. Its 88″ wingspan and 12lb flying weight allows it to have a wing loading of only about 20 0z/sq ft which would allow the the team …

UAV Forge Winter Week 6: Gathered Telemetry

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

After a successful flight test last Sunday (February 11) which collected telemetry and tested the fly-by-wire functionality of the PixHawk on the Sig-T, the team has been preparing for further testing on the Sig-T and are researching the many kit planes and their potential to be modified to better suit the mission presented by Auvsi Suas. Also, the project partnered …

UAV Forge Winter Week 5: Dummy Weights and Test Flights

kdspauld 2017-2018 UAV Forge

This past week at UAV Forge saw some significant progress in the use of the Sig-T test plane. At Black Star Canyon, the team tested the Sig-T with a 33W battery and a dummy payload. This was to test the safety and viability of mounting the avionics components on the Sig-T. It was discovered that while the plane could take …