Vertical Flight Society 7th Annual MAV Student Challenge (Philadelphia, PA)
For the 7th Annual MAV Student Challenge, I took responsibility for designing the airframe for the micro air vehicle (MAV). This was in conjunction with members of the Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology’s UAV team.
Vaughn College won second prize in both categories: Vaughn UAV Club for piloted and Vaughn Aerial Robotics Team for autonomous.
The Task
This year’s challenge centered on a package pickup and delivery set in a key moment of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware River, which took place just north of Philadelphia on Christmas night 1776. The electric-powered MAVs task was to deliver a bag filled with pamphlets, fly to a second location to pick up another bag f illed with supplies and return it to the original starting point. Meanwhile, the air vehicles also had to navigate a complicated obstacle course to avoid British encampments and lookouts.
– Joseph Gillman & the Unmanned VTOL Committee
The Competitors
- Penn State University
- Drexel University
- University of Maryland
- Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology
The Teams
From left to right:
- Chamathke Perera ’19 (Vaughn UAV Club and Vaughn Aerial Robotics Team)
- Dr. Amir Elzawawy (Professor at Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology)
- Jairo Andrew Ramos ’21 (Vaughn UAV Club)
- Syed Misbahuddin ’21 (Vaughn Aerial Robotics Team)
- Peter Kalaitzidis ’21 (Vaughn UAV Club)
- Sagufta Kapadia ’21 (Vaughn Aerial Robotics Team)
- Muhammad Galib ’19 (Vaughn UAV Club)
- Kevin Gonzalez ’23 (Vaughn UAV Club)
- Dr. Hossein Rahemi (Chair and Professor at Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology)
The MAV
Snowflake
CNC Carbon Fiber Frame
Thanks to the recent acquisition of Vaughn College’s CNC router, we were able to quickly prototype and test our designs. The following video shows us cutting a carbon fiber plate for a functional prototype of the Snowflake on a Stepcraft CNC machine.