Small UAVs Student Design Team at NCAT
Abstract
Our armed forces, particularly, the Army, are trained to perform reconnaissance missions within all types of environments and conditions. But, as we continue into the future, these environments are predicted to constantly evolve and increase in complexity. This ever-changing environment presents a challenge to the Army field units utilizing their equipment within all environments. How do these units adapt to the real-time environmental changes if their reconnaissance equipment is no longer appropriate or functional in this new environment? To address this challenge as it relates to small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), a process/procedure will be developed which will allow the Army to design and fabricate low-cost small-scale UAVs in the field in real-time. With the use of carbon fiber composite filament in addition to conductive filament, 3D printing will be utilized to create a modular drone with no wires. The frame, body, propellers, and wiring will be 3D printed as one unit. The motors will be modular and inserted manually onto the frame. The flight controller, power distribution board and battery will be as one modular piece called the Core-Housing which will be inserted manually onto the 3D printed frame. The net result of this innovative solution will be that the Army reconnaissance units will have the ability to fabricate mission-driven low-cost small-scale UAVs in real-time. The reaction time of the Army to changes in the complex and dynamic environment will be minimized. In addition, this capability will be possible at a low cost and via a fairly simple procedure/process.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 18, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1910192
Entities
People
- Kory Bennett
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
- United States Army