This past Friday, we were able to participate in the Engineering Senior Design Peer Review and present our project as well as explore other projects. Reviewing other projects’ posters gave us insight to team structure conditions, timelines, budgets and some intellectual properties set forth by various teams. It also gave us a moment to ponder what has been done and what can be done with our project. From late Spring 2016 until this point, many strides in aerodynamic design and educational experience with power systems and avionics have been made. We have completed a preliminary aircraft design, fully suited with solar cell integration, performed necessary calculations and designated materials that will all come fully together to assemble a complete airplane next quarter. Moving forward we look to improve our team’s structure by meeting deadlines more efficiently, devoting research and fabrication time effectively and proving our knowledge through this project. We also may consider adding more members with fabrication experience and adapting the team structure to fit the needs of the project. By the first few weeks of next quarter, we will have most of our materials and will begin the fabrication process and testing of various avionics and power systems equipment.

Thank you for reading and following our progress and I hope to keep everyone interested updated.

Blake Theilacker
btheilac@uci.edu