Results you can touch: The interdisciplinary aerospace engineering design project

Abstract

Within the Interdisciplinary Design Project in Aerospace Engineering, students design unmanned aerial systems for search and rescue tasks. This includes the preliminary design (e.g. aerodynamic design), detailed design (e.g. structural design) and, so far, implementation in a simulation environment. In the current semester, the design is to be brought from the computer into the air. The Chair of Flight Mechanics and Flight Control is providing the electronic and mechanical components (motors, flight computer, etc.) for this purpose. The aircraft structure is to be manufactured by the students themselves. A state-of-the-art laser cutter is available to them for this purpose, which the Chair was able to procure as part of the tender for teaching/learning projects of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. This allows the structural parts to be cut quickly and efficiently in wood. The self-built flight system is being evaluated in the wind tunnel and flight tests.