GitHub Repository

Needs Assessment:

My Senior Design project has several aspects that require a Computer Engineering problem-solving effort.

• Objective: Build a functional prototype involving a disposable, water-tight, 8" cubed capsule, and a quadcopter drone to fit inside capable of completing a mission.

  • The mission involves remote deployment, delivery of a 2lb payload to a preset destination, and landing at a third location.

  • An interface must allow destination changes before and during the mission.

  • The capsule must survive underwater for a significant amount of time.

  • The quadcopter must fly autonomously to its destinations without human interference.

• Background: This project is sponsored by General Dynamics Mission Systems and is primarily a proof of concept. If successful, this idea could be tested thoroughly and developed into a proper product.

• Methodology: My team is in the process of developing ideas and testing calculations to determine the best course of action for this objective. We plan on having a firm, properly tested idea and parts ordered by the end of the semester. Next semester we will assemble and test the prototype, and integrate our project with the necessary software.

• Expected Results: We expect our prototype to meet most, if not all of the project objectives. Further, we expect our prototype to be robust, repeatedly successful, and efficient.

• Costs: We expect our project to cost approximately $1000, and we have a maximum budget of $5000 from our sponsor. We will have a better idea of our costs once we decide on a final design and begin drafting a bill of materials.

Problem Formulation:

KT Problem Analysis (more to come later):

-Link in case website integration isn't working

Solution Development:

My Senior Design project is split up into modules that must meet certain requirements to be successful. They are as follows:

Each modules has several submodules. They are:

• Capsule

  • Base / Lid

  • Hinge / clasp

    • Clasp release / spring / other opening mechanism

      • Power system / solenoid / other release electronics

  • Platform / interior separation between drone and electronics

• Drone

  • Quadcopter frame

  • Motors / propellers

  • Flight controller / flight computer / GPS / communication system

  • Sensors / camera / downward distance sensor

  • Payload clasp / payload release mechanism / payload

Lesson 5:

Patents of similar devices

• https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2019207263A1/en?q=underwater+quadcopter+deployment&oq=underwater+quadcopter+deployment&page=1

  • This patent relates to a system for deploying an autonomous underwater drone from a ship. The main difference between this and my project is that it involves deploying an underwater device and mine deals with deploying an aerial drone.

• https://patents.google.com/patent/JP2012503167A/en?q=underwater+quadcopter+deployment&oq=underwater+quadcopter+deployment&page=1

  • This patent is for a buoyant enclosure deployed by a marine vessel containing resources such as a drone that can be deployed from the enclosure after it floats to the surface. This is heavily related to my project, although its form factor is must smaller, preventing it from carrying a high-capacity quadcopter like my project involves.

Lesson8: Ethics and Liability

Ethics: The ethical concerns with my project come mostly from the unknown applications and uses it could have in the real world. The project is a proof of concept for a product that General Dynamics could eventually produce and sell to the military with various adaptations for various uses. It's possible that our prototype could inspire a product that's weaponized, which could be used in questionable ethical situations.

Liability: Concerning liability, the most important part of our project is ensuring that our capsule is watertight and doesn't damage the drone. Additionally, we need to ensure that a connection to the user is always maintained and reliable. Finally, the product must be easy to use with a simple interface, and the drone must be stable enough to fly autonomously without any risk of damage.

Lesson9: Failure and Hazard Analysis

The main solution to the ethical concerns is confirming the use-cases for the product and ensuring that it is optimized for ethical uses. Beyond that, there isn't any control we have over what the product could evolve to or the militaristic uses the military might find for it, but it at least ensures that the product can be used ethically. Reducing misuse of the product can be done by ensuring that the user-interface is intuitive and safe to use. Ensuring that our drone is stable, reliable, and will follow instructions given to it, avoiding collisions, accidental drops or damages, will help avoid any misuse scenarios. This also helps reduce liability. If the product is safe to use and reliable, we have little liability to the issues that may develop as the product evolves or is used for different use cases than we originally designed it for.

Lesson10: Design Analysis

Revisiting morphological chart from exercise 7. The following are weighted kT analysis that we used in our presentation to GDMS last week:

Progress Update

The following presentation is our last progress update to GDMS: GDMS Presentation 2