First, we needed a realistic mission.
For our final-year group project, we’re designing a solar-powered fixed-wing UAV. We’re still at the concept stage, working out what we can realistically build with the time and budget we have.
The target budget is £800. Our supervisor’s guidance was to make a credible aircraft that could take off, cruise for roughly 20 minutes, collect a few images or temperature measurements and return safely, with the decisions backed by analysis. That’s the demonstration we’re working towards. We haven’t flown the aircraft yet.
What is the mission actually asking of us?
I researched disaster-response applications, particularly wildfire early detection, while the team explored other missions including communication relay and search and rescue. We also looked at existing solar aircraft, including NASA Pathfinder, for motivation and lessons.
The research helped frame the questions we needed to answer: how far the aircraft should travel, what it should carry, how much energy the mission needs and where a safe demonstration could take place. The mission and design are being refined together.
My part: propulsion and coordination.
I lead propulsion work and assist aerodynamics. That means working from mission objectives towards thrust, power and mass requirements, then supporting motor, propeller and energy-system decisions with first-principles calculations.
I can’t choose the propulsion system on its own. I need the mass and aerodynamic assumptions, and the energy team needs to know the power demand. I also prepare our meeting agendas and help keep those connections clear across the team.
We’re defining the mission, working through the concept and agreeing the requirements between the different parts of the team. The aircraft hasn’t reached flight testing yet.
What we’re working on next.
The next steps are to bring the departmental assumptions together, refine the mass and energy budgets, and develop the propulsion choices alongside the aircraft concept. The project will move through design, analysis, refinement and manufacture as the work develops.
I’ll keep this page updated as we work through the design and start building. I want to show how the decisions develop as well as the final aircraft.