Running the project
I was the overall project manager. That meant owning the schedule, the split of work across the team, and the decisions where two subsystems wanted different things. On a UAV those trade-offs are constant: every gram the structure gains is a gram the aircraft has to lift, and every simplification that makes a part easier to manufacture usually costs stiffness somewhere.
Concept and structural design
Alongside the management role I led the structural design of the wing, and contributed to the initial concept design of the aircraft. The wing went through the full route: concept, CAD, FEA to support the sizing decisions, then manufacture.
- Initial concept design work on the aircraft
- Wing structural design in CAD
- FEA used to support the design decisions rather than to decorate them
- Manufacture of the wing and the gimbal system
Carrying a design from CAD all the way to a part you have physically made is the part of this project I would point at. The FEA tells you what the structure should be; the workshop tells you what it can be, and those two answers are rarely the same on the first attempt.
Outcome
The aircraft was successfully flight tested, and the project was awarded a first.
