RWDC NATIONALS 2016
Oct 2015 - May 2016
The 2016 Challenge
Back again for a second year, the Aeronautical Dolphins tackled another challenge proposed by the Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) program. This year's challenge was to design an unmanned aerial system (UAS) that is capable of precise moisture detection.
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The Cruiser
My Role
Once again, I was the Lead Aircraft Design Engineer for the team. Driven by my desire to learn engineering, I spearheaded the aircraft design process, which led me to work on various aspects of aircraft design:
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Analyzed multiple aircraft to determine the optimal design for the challenge by comparing their air-frame efficiency.
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Calculated aerodynamic quantities (ex. coefficient of lift, coefficient of drag) using JavaFoil to analyze airfoil performance and MathCAD to create the calculator.
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Conducted wing loading simulations through PTC Simulate to test that aircraft can fulfill the flight requirements listed in the challenge.
Results
After another year of hard work, our team took home a National Merit Award from the FY 2016 National Competition. It was a tough competition, where we faced other teams with outstanding designs. We learned a lot and we want to use these skills to improve ourselves as innovators.
Photo of team with PSS Officials and Saipan's Governor.