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Humanitarian UAV Mission (HUM)
We have partnered with Air Serv International to provide them with an unmanned aerospace vehicle for them to
expand their reach in sub-Saharan
Africa. We were tasked to create
a vehicle that could carry as large of a
payload as possible, with a long range and
the ability to land on unpaved runways. This project
gives us the ability to design, build, and test an aircraft
of our own making that has real-life applicable uses.
This project runs through the full lifecycle of an aircraft, from manufacturing to certification, giving us a wide breadth of
skills and opportunities to optimize a design.
About Air Serv International
Air Serv International is a non-profit humanitarian relief organization that provides aviation services. They are based out of sub-Saharan Africa, a key component for us to consider when building and designing our aircraft because we must consider the heat and debris. One of their key aviation services that M-SAAVE will be helping them with include the transportation of goods, medical supplies, and relief workers. They currently use Cessna Caravans to transport these supplies, and we hope to widen their reach across the country by providing a smaller, unmanned aircraft that can land
in areas that do not have paved runways unlike Cessna's. They also
do medical evacuations with their current fleet of vehicles and even
repatriate displace persons. M-SAAVE HUM hopes to help Air Serv to the best of our ability by providing a craft that can have the longest flight range possible, be able to takeoff in a small distance with no paved runway, and carry as heavy of a payload to drop in
the current unreached areas. This is our first project partnered with
Air Serv and if there is a need in the future, we hope that they consider us for help in their current mission.
HUM Subsystems
Performance
Design and test control surfaces of the aircraft such as the wing, flaps, ailerons, tail, rudder, and elevators. Helps design landing gear, run simulation software (AVL, star-ccm), and verify control surface sizing through physical tests!
Leads: Kabir Kwahja & Elise VeCasey
Avionics & Controls
Configure all the electronics and software components including the radio communication, controlling servos & motors for manual and autonomous control, integrating sensors, using cameras for surveillance
and mapping. Focus a lot on testing and integrating components to accomplish flight!
Lead: Alyssa Taylor
Payload Design & Delivery
Design and manufacture all parts of the modular payload system including the package delivery system and all parts (release mechanism, door opening mechanism, delivery box), and the surveillance system and all parts (gimbal and RGB camera, search and rescue, gimbal and IR camera).
Lead: Sebastian Rojas
Power
Ensure that all power system requirement are met for Propulsion, Payload, and Avionics components (motors and ESCs for propulsion, control surface servos & telemetry components, payload cameras and gimbals). Also in charge of determining flight trajectory and payload capacity. Conduct full system testing with Avionics and design the entire electrical system architecture for the aircraft
Lead: Mya Enzer
Propulsion
Design, test, and integrate electric propulsion system components such as brushless electric motors, carbon fiber propellers, electronic speed controllers (ESCs). Now working on optimizing propulsion configuration, full system testing with power/avionics, manufacturing structural components
Lead: Sid Makkar
Structures
Design and manufacture internal components including the wing box, fuselage nose, wing attachment point, and wing and control surface ribs. Also conduct FEA on craft including on wing and tail spars and landing gear. Now manufacturing a test wing to put into the wind tunnel this year!
Leads: Niko Economos and Lewie Lawrence
Certification
For our project to be feasible, we need to adhere all FAA regulations that have to do with unammed aerial vehicles. Certification requires a technical understanding and an ability to communication professionally and complete all documentation necessary for the FAA and the university.
Lead: William Thorborrow
