While still in the design phase, the project has produced significant progress towards the goal of having a design for the UAV established by the end of the quarter. However, this progress has not been without its own set of issues.

The most immediate and prevalent issue that has arisen is the handling of budget. Due to a few small but serious miscommunications, a majority of UAV Forge’s budget for this quarter has been spent. While all the components purchased with this money were for the UAV and were directly necessary for completing the mission, it still creates a significant hurdle to address when other, similarly important components or materials must be purchased. Knowing this could and has become and issue, Project leads Ariel Louie and Kristen Okano filed for UROP to address the burgeoning problem. It was submitted before the deadline with the personal statements of a few members of the team.

In addition to UROP, Gabriel Mendez, the Financial Officer, will begin contacting possible sponsors with the intention of finding opportunities for supplies and/or funding. Securing sponsors may or may not immediately help the team’s financial situation but may strengthen the team in following years.

In terms of strict progress, the Aerodynamics team has begun work with the software X-Foil to test the efficiency and usability of possible airfoils. The team is also researching how to optimize the current plane design., but due to there still being some uncertainty in whether the project will modify a kit plane or build one from scratch, it has been difficult for the Aerodynamics team to choose which of its tasks to prioritize. The Propulsion team however has finalized its decision to commit to a fully electric plane. An electric motor and ESC has also found and the team is only waiting on the green light, due to funding, to file the purchase.

Structures will be responsible for manufacturing the UAV and has thus been practicing different manufacturing processes including 3-D printing, laser cutting, and conducting wet layups. With collaboration between the Structures, Aerodynamics, and Propulsion teams, a model kit has been found that will give Structures some practice with assembling a plane and allow Propulsion to test the proposed motor and ESC.

The Ground Station team is nearly finished with their handmade GUI that will communicate and control the UAV. Their next tasks include creating and uploading a flight plan based off of given way points and working with the Avionics team to implement a system to identify targets with the Sony a6000 digital camera.

The Avionics team filed their purchase orders which is the leading cause for the draining of UAV Forge’s funds, but nonetheless, with the orders finalized and approved, the team is waiting for the orders to arrive so that testing and production can begin in earnest.

While the project has encountered its fair share of issues regarding communication, financing, and progress, lessons have been learned and for the finality of this quarter and from the start of the next, these issues will be faced head on and resolved leaving the team stronger and ready to compete and succeed in Maryland this June.

– Kenzo Spaulding                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 UAV Forge Documentation Officer