The AIAA DBF Competition is an annual international remote-control airplane contest with over 80 participants from all over the world. The contest rules are released in September and teams have until April to finalize the plane designs. The competition is divided into three flight missions and one ground mission, often requiring multiple types of payloads to be carried. The plane must be designed to complete these missions and must adhere to multiple other constraints and safety regulations. The written design report is also a major aspect of the competition. The 60 page design report documents the entire project, from design to manufacturing to testing.

As a senior design project and engineering club, DBF is meant to be a channel for students to apply analytical knowledge taught in class to real life applications. Fluid mechanics, structures of materials, programming, computer-aided design, and more are utilized in the design process of the plane. The project also provides the opportunity for students to learn information usually not taught inside the classroom. This includes extensive composite manufacturing, iterative design processes, airplane assembly, and documentation. Students are given more hands-on and practical experience, compared to the theoretical and conceptual focus of the engineering curriculum.

Objective 1 – Design Plane for DBF competition
The UCI DBF team participates in the annual international RC airplane competition. There is a different theme every year with three flight missions and one ground mission. The team must design a plane based on the contest rules, going through several iterations until an optimal design is achieved.

Objective 2 – Write Design Report for DBF competition
The AIAA DBF competition requires documentation of the design process in the form of a 60 page written report. The report is divided up into multiple sections: executive summary, management summary, conceptual design, preliminary design, detail design, manufacturing plan, testing plan, and performance results. A CAD package is also required for the report.

Objective 3 – Documentation of Manufacturing Process
The UCI DBF team has multiple years of composite manufacturing experience. In order to pass on this knowledge to future years, a dedicated team was formed to document the entire fabrication process for each plane component: motor mount, landing gear, etc. The documentation contains pictures and detailed, step-by-step directions.

Objective 4 – Senior Design Project/Student-Led Engineering Organization
While the main objective of the team is to compete in the DBF competition, the project is also a senior design project and student organization. Students of all majors and academic level are encouraged to join. The project encourages students to apply analytical knowledge to real-life applications, participate in design and manufacturing, and learn how to lead others.

Project Definition

100%

Project Specification

100%

Test Plane

100%

Prototype 1

10%

Prototype 2

Report Outline

Report Rough Draft

Report Final Revision

Competition Plane

Backup Plane

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Advisors

Robert Liebeck
Professor

Colin Sledge
Safety Manager

Project Team

Michael Lau
Project Manager

An Do
Team Leader

Enrique Gurrola
Team Leader

Jocelyn Pedroza
Project Manager

Violeta Ismailyan
Team Leader

Karla Marron
Team Leader

Charles Poblete
Chief Engineer

Alex Kwok
Team Leader

Arlen Magtoto
Team Leader

Justin Kerr
Team Leader

Laliphat Kositchaimongkol
Team Leader

Kunal Deshpande
Pilot

Design Build Fly

Project Definition

Project Specification

Test Plane

Prototype 1

Prototype 2

Report Outline

Report Rough Draft

Report Final Revision

Competition Plane

Backup Plane

Advisors

Project Team

Project Poster

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