One of AeroTEC’s main focuses is flight testing, and they are continuously looking for ways to improve the process. Trailing cones have long been used to measure static pressure accurately away from the local disturbances caused by the aircraft. Some issues with typical trailing cone systems are broken pressure lines, pressure lag, and position inaccuracies in dive conditions. The student team worked to develop a more accurate trailing cone system.

AT&T has an existing tethered drone solution with onboard LTE radios and antennas to provide temporary cellular coverage to first responders and to the public after a natural disaster or other network impacting events. Payload weight and space are limited on drones, so AT&T would like to explore the potential of long wire (aka random wire) antennas integrated into the existing tether in place of traditional LTE antennas mounted on the drone. The student team worked to research, develop, test, and evaluate a long wire antenna to provide public LTE transmit and receive services from a drone.

The New Glenn 1st stage booster will land down range autonomously on a vessel out at sea. After landing, it will need to connect to the vehicle for power, communications, and nitrogen supply. Ideally, these connections would happen as soon after landing as possible to minimize the need to carry these commodities onboard. For safety reasons, the landing vessel will not have people on it during the landing operation. Some amount of time is required to safe the vehicle prior to transferring personnel back onto the vessel. The team worked to create a robotic system that can approach the vehicle and make these connections shortly after landing to significantly increase operational capability.

The team set out to design a Hybrid-Electric STOL air taxi. The entry into service (EIS) is 2028 for a STOL 4-seater with 400 nmi of range. The intent is to have energy storage to supplement takeoff, climb, go-around and emergencies via batteries and electric motors with an engine providing additional power and/or direct propulsion for cruise to extend the range and recharge the batteries during cruise. The team worked to create a white paper design report, to be improved upon by future teams to eventually create a proof of concept UAS demonstrator.

The student team set out to design a method of electronically sensing Angle-of-Attack that is suitable for a medium sized UAS (55-500 pounds). Sensing aircraft Angle-of-Attack is of interest in the field of Unmanned Aerial Systems, specifically at low speeds, for enhancing autonomous landing capability. The team created a feasibility prototype that demonstrates the capability of their designed method.

The student team set out to identify techniques and technologies to detect and track poachers in Africa and elsewhere. For example, poachers use cell phones, drive in trucks, and deploy barbed wire to indiscriminately snare roaming animals (spooling and storing this material in large piles when not in use). Discovering these anomalies and forwarding this data in real time to authorities will deny materials and territory to poachers and produce evidence of their activities. The team developed a final system, using aerospace expertise to complete design tradeoffs, determine the difference between expected and delivered performance, fabricate experimental hardware, and create performance test plans.