SAE Aero Advanced Event Team Project and Competition Overview

SAE Aero Lift is an intercollegiate competition where mechanical and electrical engineering students from Union College design and build a dual remote-controlled/autonomous aircraft system to meet a specified set of mission objectives. A competition is held where teams and their aircraft compete against engineering students from universities around the world. The objective of Advanced Class is to design a system that can deliver objects representing "colonists", "habitats", and "supplies" to a location representing the surface of Mars. The colonists (ping-pong balls) are to be delivered using autonomous drones, and the habitats (Nerf footballs) and supplies (water bottles) are to be dropped from the remote-controlled plane and land in a predetermined target location. Our approach is focused on mission success through an understanding of diverse requirements, system-level engineering, and robust execution. Our project was divided into three major components: structures, autonomous drops, and electronics. Three students were responsible for the main airplane structures, one student was responsible for the autonomous drone programming and design, and another student was in charge of all the plane's electronics. This year our Advanced event team planed to travel to Fort Worth, Texas for competition during the first week of April, but the event was cancelled due to COVID-19. Our presentation will consist of a discussion of the design and construction of the aircraft.