Aero Senior Design
California wildfires are becoming an
increasingly pressing issue and the mobilization of resources can be difficult
while fighting wildfires. As such, it is necessary to develop more options for reducing
mobilization time. CSUN Aero Senior Design students try to develop solutions to
this issue by designing more efficient aircraft and ground vehicle system that
autonomously fights wildfires.
The Aero Senior Design course is a
two-semester capstone project at Mechanical Engineering department to design,
manufacture, assemble, and test a radio controlled airplane. In this project,
senior undergraduate students apply engineering fundamentals, analysis skills,
and software to design, manufacture, and test an innovative remote controlled
primary aircraft to deliver and release humanitarian payloads into a targeted
area. In addition to the primary aircraft, the students design, manufacture,
and test a Powered Autonomous Delivery Aircraft (PADA) and an autonomous Ground
Transport Vehicle (GTV). This three vehicle system models a scaled down
firefighting operation.
The project is a hands-on experience
emphasizing the importance of educational values and the technology advances.
In this multidisciplinary project, sub-teams of Aerodynamics, Structure,
Avionics, and System & Integration work together to achieve the project
goals. In the first phase of the project, the emphasis is on the application of
engineering fundamentals to a comprehensive design project utilizing
computer-aided design and analysis tools. In the second phase of the project,
the students manufacture, assemble, and test the designed primary aircraft,
PADA, and GTV. The design is then improved through an iterative process leading
to high performance products. In the final phase, the team participate in
various competitions, including International SAE Aero Design Competition, CSUNPosium, and Senior Design Project Showcase (SDPS) held
by the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
The Aero Senior Design project
provides an opportunity for students from different departments (Mechanical
Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science) to
apply the fundamentals and knowledge they have acquired during their
undergraduate studies. In the Aerodynamics sub-team, the students employ
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools, semi-empirical methods, and
experimental tests to design the configuration of the primary aircraft and
PADA, while investigating the flow field characteristics, stability, and
control. In Structure sub-team, the structural analysis, material selection,
manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing are performed. The Avionics
sub-team works on flight control, data acquisition system, tracking, autonomous
flights, computer vision, machine learning, target detection, and software
development. System & Integration sub-team is responsible for
well-organized communications between the sub-teams, risk analysis, system
integration, performance improvement, and addressing the competition
regulations. Throughout the project, the students practice team-working,
systematic design, and time/cost/resource management. During two semesters of
the project, the students present preliminary and critical design reviews,
prepare reports, and participate in the competitions. Similar to professional
engineers in industry, the students design and develop a project from
conceptual design to manufacturing. That provides an opportunity for students
to better understand the fundamentals, apply the knowledge, overcome management
and technical challenges, and develop critical communication skills.
Over the years, the Aero Senior
Design project has performed a continuous improvement. The project helps the
Mechanical Engineering department to meet the ABET accreditation criteria by
design and development of a complex engineering system.
Faculty
Advisor: Dr. Shadi Mahjoob
Email:
shadi.mahjoob@csun.edu
For
more info about the team, please check:
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Fall 2023-Spring 2024
The
2023-24 Aero Senior design team has 29 students from Mechanical Engineering,
Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science departments. The team
plans to participate in a couple of competitions including 2024 International
SAE Aero Design, 2024 CSUNPosium, and 2024 Senior
Design Project Showcase (SDPS).
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Fall 2022-Spring 2023
2022-23 Aero Senior
Design team designed and manufactured an innovative aircraft with flying wing
design in addition to fully autonomous PADA and GTV. The team participated in 2023
International SAE Aero West Competition:
·
2nd Place Standing for Technical
Presentation
The team participated
in the Advanced Class which is the most challenging category in the
competition. The team also received 2 awards in 2023 CSUNPosium:
·
1st Place, "Aerodynamic analysis of a flying wing aircraft", Raphael
Perez, Sahil Keniya, and
Ivan Ayon
·
1st Place, "Quantification of carbon fiber
interference with radio waves between receiver and transmitter for RC planes in terms of concealment and
percentage of signal loss", Brenda Rios and Daniel Lu
Primary Aircraft, PADA, and GTV
PADA
GTV
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Fall 2021-Spring 2022
2021-22 Aero Senior
Design team won 2 awards in 2022 International SAE Aero West Competition:
·
2nd Place Award for Mission Performance
·
3rd Place Award for Technical Presentation
The team participated
in the Advanced Class which is the most challenging category in the
competition.
In addition, the Aero Senior Design team won two awards in Senior
Design Project Showcase, held by the college of Engineering and Computer
Science on Thursday May 5th (https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/SDPS2022Brochure5May22FINAL2-lk.pdf):
College Top Senior Design Project Display (Grand Prize, Award: $1000)
Top Overall Oral Presentation of Mechanical Engineering
Department (Award: $500)
The team also received 3 First Place awards in 2022 CSUNPosium.
·
1st
Place, "Aerodynamic Characteristics of Horizontal and Vertical
Tails", Hamza Abdullah and Erick Navarro-Hernandez.
·
1st
Place, "Optimization of Electronic Control Systems", Christopher
Gonzalez.
·
1st
Place, "Aerodynamics Analysis of a Powered Autonomous Delivery Aircraft",
Sara Khan and Noe Diaz.
CSUN Today: CSUN Team Soars at SAE
International Aero Design West Competition
CSUN Today: Engineering
and Computer Science Seniors Showcase Their Innovations
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Fall 2020-Spring 2021
Aero Senior Design
2020-21 team won the First Place in Mechanical Eng. in Senior Design
Project Showcase (SDPS).
The team won 4th Place in
presentation in 2021 International SAE Aero competition (Advanced class).
The students also
received 3
Awards (1st and 2nd places) in 2021 CSUNPosium:
·
1st
Place- Poster Presentation, Aero Senior Design: “Performance
Study of Low Reynolds Number Eppler 423
Airfoil”, Presented by Isaac Chavez
·
2nd Place- Ten Minute
Oral Presentation, Aero Senior Design: “Performance Study of a
Lifting Fuselage”, Presented by Lorenzo Quijas
and Tahir Quettawala
·
2nd Place- Three Minute
Oral Presentation, Aero Senior Design: "FEA Analysis on the Colonist
Delivery Aircraft Hook Mount”, Presented by Calvin Lau
The 2021 SDPS team
presentation can be found in the following links:
https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/SDPS_Brochure_7May21_with_video_links.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkjSwmTVtyE
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Fall 2019-Spring 2020
SAE Aero Competition 2020
CSUN Aero senior design team
participated in SAE International Aero Design East Competition in Lakeland,
Florida, March 6-8, 2020. The competition consists of 3 classes and the team
participated in Advance class which is the most challenging class. The SAE Aero
Design competition is to design, manufacture, and test a radio controlled
aircraft that can take off, land, and optimally meet the mission requirements.
The designed primary aircraft in this project is equipped to deliver 14 Habitat
Modules and 7 water bottles along with 3 CDAs each carrying 30 colonists. The
guiding philosophy of the design process centers on mission-specific
requirements. Integration of supply payload and CDAs was a cornerstone of this
philosophy. Closed-form solutions were used to optimize design variables
through iteration.
Details
of competition and regulations can be found in https://www.sae.org/attend/student-events/sae-aero-design-east.
CSUN Senior Design Project
Showcase (SDPS 2020)
The primary goal for CSUN Aeronautics is to safely
deliver the maximum amount of colonist onto the surface of Mars while
maximizing the total days of habitability, based on the Final Flight Score.
This aircraft sacrifices a conventional structure for a payload oriented design
driven by the SAE Aero Competition- Advanced Class mission objectives.
Aerodynamics, structures, avionics, systems and integration, and manufacturing
teams worked together to design an aircraft capable of meeting and exceeding
mission expectations. Design constraints laid out by SAE Aero Design East
Advanced Class include a maximum wingspan of 11 feet, 750 watt power limiter
and a maximum take-off weight of 55 pounds. Final flight score is achieved by
systematically releasing first the payload, consisting of water bottles and
nerf howlers, followed by the autonomous gliders at specific altitudes onto a
50 foot radius target zone. This hands on experience emphasizes the importance
of blending together teamwork, knowledge, and dedication.
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Fall 2018-Spring 2019
Mission
Statement
“The Red Genesis
mission is to design and optimize an electric aircraft to transport colonists
in autonomous gliders while also dropping food, shelter, and other supplies
within a target area in order to make a terrain habitable.”
Design Philosophy
The
design philosophy seeks to minimize the operating empty weight to ensure the aircraft
can house the static payload, water supply, habitats, and the mounted Colonist
Delivery Craft. The project requires the abilities and concepts learned from
the foundational mechanical engineering program while necessitates experience
working with composites and machining. Autonomous Colonist Delivery Craft also
needs the understanding of GPS guidance systems, programming, and Mechatronics.
The team members must be committed to a strict budget and task deadlines.
SAE Aero Competition 2019
CSUN
Aero senior design team participated in SAE International Aero Design West
Competition in Van Nuys, CA, April 5-7, 2019. The competition consists of 3
classes and the team participated in Advance class which is the most
challenging class. CSUN Aero team got 4th position in Technical Design Report,
4th position in Technical Presentation, 8th position in Mission Performance
through flight, and 12th position in overall.
Details
of competition and regulations can be found in https://www.sae.org/attend/student-events/sae-aero-design-west/.
2019
SAE Aero Design rules can be found at http://www.saeaerodesign.com/cdsweb/gen/DocumentResources.aspx.
CSUN Senior Design Project
Showcase (SDPS 2019)
Project
Description: The objective of the 2018-2019 CSUN Aero Senior Design Project is
to apply engineering fundamentals, analysis skills, and software to an
extensive design project with an emphasis in aerospace engineering. Some of the
main topics that are addressed in the project are aerodynamics and aircraft
design, aircraft structure, stability, propulsion, and flight systems. In this
multi-disciplinary project, a new remote controlled aircraft is designed and
manufactured to deliver some humanitarian payloads, including water bottles,
nerf howlers, and autonomous gliders, into a targeted area. The aircraft is
designed to fit the design constraints set by the SAE Aero West Advanced Class
Competition, including Maximum 12 ft wingspan, 750
watt power limit for propulsion, and maximum take-off weight of 55 lbs. The
payloads are used to achieve a score by systematically releasing them from
specific altitudes onto targets. It is a hands-on experience emphasizing the
importance of educational values and technology advances. For more info visit:
https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/sdps2019.pdf
