The motors are spinning! The avionics have been assembled onto the test bed and we’ve been testing via a power supply in the lab. We’ve been working closely with the Structures team to support the introduction of foam into the drone chassis. It’s been a semester of lots of activity in Flight Dynamics the biggest accomplishment is laser cutting all of the ribs in preparation for mounting them onto the spars. Working from the prototype gears from semester 1, we decided to optimse them further to manufacture a second prototype, these gears will be housed in a bespoke gearbox which is in the process of being manufactured. We have also started desinging a payload system, looking at different mechanisms for deployment. We’ll be pushing forward with the rest of the vacuum forming over the next few weeks. Vacuum forming has been a huge part of our work over the last 6 weeks the foam for the mould of the former has been constructed, and some parts for both the Avionics and Flight Dynamics team have been finalised.

We’re looking forward to showcasing Falcon at the ‘Get Up To Speed’ exhibition later this month too. Having welcomed the new members, we’re continuing to work on developing the current aims as well as expanding our place in the community. Since the start of the semester, we’ve expanded our team and are working on our new apparel.

Flight Dynamics are working tirelessly in the iForge to finish the final wing for our flying prototype. With the completion of the test fuselage by the structures team, and finalising of the motor control system by the avionics team, electronics integration is the next big step in getting Falcon off the ground. Ideally, the completed prototype will provide us with enough information and data to start the integration process and there’s hope to have Falcon’s maiden flight between June and September. We’re heading back to the workshop to continue working on the drone! Most of our attention is going to be focused on optimising the avionics systems, which will be an exciting time going forward. What are the next steps for showcasing and developing the project? I believe we were able to pull through with an amazing display in the end, as the team brought the fuselage prototype, 2 finished wings, with one attached to the drone, the motors attached to a power supply to provide a live display as well as our finished avionics testbed complete with propellers. The preparation of GUTS went fairly well, although we weren’t able to finish the drone to show functional wing control and a fairing. How was preparation for GUTS and what did the team need to bring together? Across the day, we spoke to over 1,000 individuals, which wasn’t only great to spread the word but also showcase what Falcon is all aboutĪs project lead, my job was to coordinate and manage the setting up of our stand as well as guide the conversations with those who visited us, ensuring we made the most of the opportunity. Project Falcon were invited to attend the event to showcase our cutting edge technology that could revolutionise the aerospace industry in the near future. The Get Up To Speed Event (GUTS) in Rotherham was aimed to introduce, inform and inspire students, parents, teachers and others from industry.

We’ve high hopes of beating teams from other participating universities across the country. Our aim is to split the sub teams (avionics/missions, flight dynamics and structures) so part of the team can focus on our research drone, whilst the rest can concentrate on our new competition drone. We’re trying our best to fix our variable winged drone so we can get up and flying skyward, to start collecting data in the hope of writing a research paper on it in the future.

We planned to have Falcon’s maiden flight by September this year, however, we now anticipate this taking place in March 2023. The competition will also involve us creating a Ground Control System to interact with the drone and receive live telemetry and health data from the drone. The challenge involves creating a fully autonomous drone which will complete a set of tasks, such as navigating to various waypoints, dropping a payload, and a specialised image recognition mission. We’re branching out to enter the UAS challenge, which will kick off this month ending with a final fly-off event in June 2023.

3 falcon projects tasks