Week 9 Capstone Project Update

Week 9 Capstone Project Update

The C-Astral came in today! The team thought it would be in our best interest to take it out and set it up like we were preparing for a mission, so that we could learn about the set up and be better prepared for missions. Set up takes away with platforms this advanced and we have to be very careful to go through the checklist thoroughly.

(Figure 24: The case for the C-Astral)

The C-Astral came in two cases like the one above for easy mobility and transportation. Both the platform itself, pay load, and launching mechanism fit into these two cases.

(Figure 25: The Wings of the C-Astral in their case)

(Figure 26: The launching mechanism it it's case)

The first thing we set up was the launching mechanism which is a catapult for the C-Astral. The team was careful setting up this catapult and followed instructions closely. If not properly handled, the catapult could do serious damage to the platform, objects around it, and our team. We did not put any tension on the elastic pulleys for our catapult because dry firing could damage the catapult and taking down the catapult after tension is added is difficult to do without injuries. 

(Figure 27: The team pulling out the catapult into an open area.)

(Figure 28: Professor Hupy and Ryan setting up the elastic bans making sure not to get any of the bans twisted. If twisted, the catapult could fail and damage the C-Astral.) 

(Figure 29: The safety pin and launching mechanism for the catapult. It is very important to double check the safety is armed and working properly  before trying to set up the C-Astral.) 

After setting up the catapult safely and making sure that the integrity looked okay, we pulled out the C-Astral and put it together, running through the checklist. 

(Figure 30: The C-Astral with wings attached)

(Figure 31: Working on making sure the parachute is packed, and attached to the C-Astral.)

(Figure 32: The C-Astral mounted on the catapult.)

As we put together the C-Astral we examined and checked all of the important parts of this pay load. We checked to ensure the pitot tube was clear and working properly. We made sure the flaps moved the correct directions. We checked that the parachute was packed and would pop out correctly when deployed. We connected the battery to ensure the connection was good and electronics were working properly. We check the props to make sure they wouldn't fly off and that they spun freely. We checked the payload camera that was installed earlier. 

(Figure 33: The tablet we will be using to plan out flights with the C-Astral. On it you can see the interface of the mission planner we will be using.)

(Figure 34: Kyle explains some of the key elements on preflight work with the tablet.)

(Figure 35: The underbelly of the C-Astral where the payload is located.)

Week 8 Capstone Project Update

Week 8 Capstone Project Update

More work has been done on the CRM in UAS Applications poster. Research was done comparing the mobile applications made by Measure and Drone Log Book. Measures mobile application appeared superior to Drone Log Books, because of it's capability to plan flights and fly them in the app.

(Figure 18: Measure mobile app home page.)

As you can see from the home page above, the mobile application has the capability to check surrounding airspace, plan flight missions, and then fly these missions as well. All of the flight data will then be automatically connected to their website and saved there for later review. 

(Figure 19: Drone Log Book mobile app home page options.)

Drone Log Book's mobile app is also great for reviewing flights and other information such as your equipment, maintenance, and incident reports, but does not have a built in flight planning and flying application of its own.

(Figure 20: Measure mobile rules and advisories section)

(Figure 21: Measure mobile airspace map used for planning flights.)

The in app flight map helps users visualize where the flight is taking place, and assure that there are no advisories in the area. The interface for Measures mobile app was easy to learn and worked well on my mobile device. 

(Figure 22: Measure mobile app flight planning)

(Figure 23: Measure mobile app flight mode.)

Measure's Grid Flight was easy to learn and was easy to plan out a flight with. There were many options for adjusting the flight to fit the needs of the user such as adjustable flight path shape, speed settings, cross hatch settings, and others. After planning the flight, using the flight mode was simple and effective. I didn't fly a real mission (the weather has been terrible) but I was still able to look at the options I had if I was going to use the Measure mobile app to fly. 

Drone Log Book has useful information on the mobile app, basically everything you can find on their website, but is lacking the capability to plan and fly a mission using their application. In order to fly missions you need another application to plan and fly, and then transfer the date to Drone Log Book. Measure on the other hand, can do the entire process all the way through from start to finish, planning, flying, and storing data all in one application.  

Week 7 Capstone Project Update

Week 7 Capstone Project Update

This week we have been focused on our posters we will be submitting for SATT Student Poster Symposium. My group has been working hard to gather information we will be using on our CRM poster. We are working on a title but so far we have CRM in UAS Applications. The two applications we are focusing on are Drone Log Book, and Measure. (Figures 14 and 15 below).

Figure 14: The home page of Measure. 

Figure 15: The home page of Drone Log Book. 

Just from looking at, and comparing the home pages, my group was able analyze a few things. Measure looks a little more clean and is more user friendly. It is easier to find information on what you are looking for, and to keep organized. Drone Log Book is a little more cluttered and not as user friendly. It has more of a learning curve and is a little harder to find the information you are looking for. It does have a few more features and applications that Measure has not added yet. 

Purdue Drone Log Book

Pros:

• Lots of features
• Has Mobile App
• Has document section
• Integrates with other manufactures
• Bulk importing of flight data

Cons:

• Clustered Format
• Hard to find certain tools

Measure

Pros:

• Able to plan flights
• Has mobile app
• Clean looking application.

Cons

• Has no document section
• No maintenance section
• Not many features

Figure 16: Above is a Nexus that Drone Log Book as created about their application.

My group had started to format our information into a power point presentation. We have chosen a Purdue themed layout and started plugging in some figures we would like to include in our power point.

Figure 17: The layout of the CRM in UAS Applications Poster.

Week 5 and 6 Capstone Project Update

Week 5 and 6 Capstone Project Update

Our group has done a much better job being productive through the terrible weather we have been having. We have come up with 3 more class logos we will use for our documents and presentations. Our head author Krysta collected more sources for our paper, and worked on the outline as well. We did a class activity led by Kyle, our operations manager. We wanted to do a hypothetical dry run of a mission to see if we could think of all the factors and problems that could arise. As a class we went through this activity and took notes on Google Docs so that we could look back later and be prepared for real missions (Figure 12).


 We went into as much detail as possible, discussing what we wanted to mission to be about, what type of sensor and drone we would use for this mission, who would be flying, when we would be flying, and where the mission would take place according to our shape files. I think that the class prospered from a dry run mission like this because sometimes we don't think about important aspects of a mission until the day of the mission, which means we are not properly prepared for what we need to do.
Dylan, our GPS specialist has been finishing up the EMLID Reach survey checklist which we will need before flights. We have continued to do work on getting the M600 ready for flight, integrating payloads and preparing other aspects of the drone as well. The parachute team has been contently practicing their packs for the chute, perfecting the art. I believe they will be making a tutorial video soon with their knowledge they have gained in the past few weeks.
Because of the weather, we wanted to start work on our display case that I mentioned in last weeks update. But, we have been presented with another  opportunity which the class is excited to participate in. We have been invited to submit posters about our capstone project for a SATT Student Poster Symposium on Friday, 4/26/19. As a class we are planning on submitting 3 to 4 posters. I will be working with the operations manager Kyle, to make a poster on Crew Resource Management, and a comparison of applications used for UAS, specifically Drone Log Book and Measure. We have been taking notes and preparing information for what we want on our poster, which we are planning on working on in class next week (Figure 13).
  

Week 3 and 4 Capstone Update

Week 3 and 4 Capstone Project Update

These last few weeks have taught our team how to handle obstacles and hurdles that get in our way. Bad weather has been the theme, from 6 inches of snow over night, to temperatures so cold they shut down Purdue University for the first time in my college career, we've seen it all. Despite this we as a team are still making forward progress. Krysta has been hard at work working on our class logo. with a few adjustments and tweaks we should have something that perfectly captures our UAS team. She has also started writing the rough draft and outline of our research paper which is our whole goal of this project. We also have been working in class to finish checklist for the M600, and are finalizing mounting the X5 to the M600 (Figure 9,10,11).




We have been focusing a lot on checklists and platform setup for the M600 because I think this is going to be the first platform we utilize in our missions. Professor Hupy also went over some great information with Arc Collector. We have been utilizing that application, which we can also link to our mobile phones which will help in the field! I have a personal goal to start getting ready some material for one of our display cases here at in the NISW building. We as a class have been lucky enough to receive a reserved space where we can show off our work to the rest of the airport. I want to start planning out what we will be showing off, and get ideas from the class about what they would like to see in our display case. Hopefully, I can start updating this blog with photos of a display case that is slowly filling up!