2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Undergraduate students need to receive exposure, initiation, motivation, and guidance to have an orientation towards research that will benefit them not only in their capstone projects but also in their future careers. Such an opportunity was made available to the rising junior and senior students of Engineering Technology program at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). Fourteen rising junior students were selected to participate in the summer bridge program and four rising junior and senior students selected to participated in summer internship program at Coast Guard that was conducted under the NASA grant. ECSU has strong Aviation and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) programs. Hence it was decided to engage students in the design and fabrication of UAS and related topics.
For the summer bridge program, two groups were formed. One group focused on the structure design and fabrication of a fixed-wing UAS while the other worked on the air frame design and fabrication of a quadcopter. The design was accomplished in two stages. In the first stage, students used SIMNET as the software tool for configuration of models in SIMNET that also has the capability to fly it virtually with a remote control attached to the computer. After the design was altered to make it maneuverable with all acceptable flight characteristics, it was imported to SolidWorks CAD software where the structure design was refined to have it 3D printable. The students were trained on STRATASYS 3D printer to make the components.
The other group of four students attended a five-week internship program at Coast Guard to simulate and analyze safety of connection between the Search and Rescue (SAR) Litter V-Ring and the Triton Harness to the Rescue Hook simultaneously. Force analysis on the Rescue Hook’s Gate and Slide Latch, and the corrosion potential of the Gate’s Torsional Spring were part of this analysis.
The paper presents details of the work carried out and concludes with directions for future development of the projects. It also reports the assessment and outcomes of the project.