Plan of Action
Nur Harell, Tyler Jordan
In the following, team SPAERO presents its preliminary Plan of Action for the mission-driven project to design, build and test an autonomous Aircraft.
The final Goal is to efficiently create a robust aircraft that accomplishes the given mission without superfluous detail. The design process has a special weight in the early stages of the project in order to avoid unnecessary iterations and poorly performing prototypes.
Until a functioning prototype is ready to fly, the Bixler 2 is used as a reference airplane during the design process. A configuration freeze is set for 4/14/15, after which the basic aircraft configuration (Flying Wing, Canard, tail configuration, etc.) is set. This will allow the teams to concentrate on the design, avoiding unnecessary setbacks due to basic configuration changes, throughout the project. Regardless of the chosen configuration, having a dynamically stable aircraft under normal flight conditions is a priority.
A Design Freeze is set for 4/21/2015 in order to allow sufficient time to manufacture the first prototype. The prototype has to be ready to fly by 4/27/2015 in order to collect the data required for Problem Set 2. At this point, it is planned to build only one prototype in order to not waste time and energy and concentrate on enhancing the capabilities of the built aircraft. This approach results in the emphasis on a solid and efficient design process as mentioned above.
However, the team is aware of the possibility that additional prototypes may still be necessary. In this case, a final prototype date is set for the 5/20/2015, by which the final prototype has to be ready to fly. This ensures adequate time to redesign and tune the control system and mission planning well before competition day.
The Control System Design runs parallel to the design and manufacturing process. As the project advances, dummy data and reference data from the Bixler 2 can be replaced by actual data from the prototype. After manufacturing, the control system can be tuned to the actual aircraft to ensure the desired flight dynamics and performance.
The mission planning and path-finding task spans nearly the entire project because all of the other tasks feed into this one.
Our Problem Set milestones are set a few days before each due date to give the team flexibility and allow team SPAERO to under-promise and over-deliver. The basic philosophy of the team is that it is not an airplane that has to be built, but a mission that must be completed. This attitude sets the focus of all sub-teams and design principles on the end goal.
Team progress meetings are held twice weekly in order to ensure good communication within the team to adjust the schedule as necessary.