Unmanned Aerial Systems Prototyping
The MIX Drone prototyping workshop series is back for Spring 2024! For the last three semesters, the MIX has hosted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) prototyping workshop series that brought in local industry partners that were first responders.
For Spring 2024, and different from previous semesters, participants will build the drone airframe "from scratch" instead of assembling an off-the-shelf frame where students will learn the skills to create their own, in part using the resources available at the MIX.
Working in small teams of six, in Sessions 1-3 students will assemble a baseline drone and learn the basics of working with the technology. By session 3, students will have assembled their baseline drone and test flown it indoors in the MIX. Sessions 3-6 will introduce topics related to extending the assembled drones. Sessions 7-8 will focus on testing activities in pursuit of recording their accomplishment of "mini-challenges".
The final Session 9 will be a "poster session"/"science fair" where each team will have a display to showcase their work.
In past semesters, this has been an interdisciplinary program, in which there were 30 students representing 19 different majors. Enthusiastic participants from all majors, departments, and schools are encouraged to apply.
The workshops, held on Thursdays at the MIX, will begin for the Spring semester on Thursday, February 15 and will be held every Thursday from 5:00-7:00PM, and run for 9 weeks with final presentations held April 18. Some sessions may end early, but will use the full length of time for the build sessions.
Applications are open with a deadline of Thursday, Feb. 8, at midnight. A notice of acceptance to chosen students will be sent by the end of day, Friday, February 9.
“I had so much fun learning all about drones and having this wonderful experience!”
Spring 2024 9 WEEK COURSE OUTLINE:
February 15 - Week 1: Kickoff, intro Drone technology and history, Lab: Intro to Arduino, PWM with a servo, Ultrasonic distance measurement (2 hours)
February 22 - Week 2: Intro to proportional–integral–derivative controllers (PIDs), Intro to IMU sensors, Lab: Build a balance beam to demonstrate PID’s, Arduinos/ Servos (2.5 hours)
February 29 - Week 3: Power system of a drone, Lab: Soldering, begin drone assembly
March 14 - Week 4: Flight controllers and how it integrates, Lab: Assemble drone frame, Integrate ESC’s to controller (2 hours)
March 21 - Week 5: Radio & flight controller programming, Lab: Radio Pairing with drone, Load software on the flight controller, test (2 hours)
March 28 - Week 6: Safety briefing, Lab: Final drone preparations and test flights (2 hours)
April 4 - Week 7: Testing and flight training (2 hours)
April 11 - Week 8: Practice demonstrations, pitch presentations to fellow teams
April 18 - Week 9: - Poster Session with judges (2 hours)