Explorer Post 1010: UAS 2019 Project

Explorer Post 1010
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) 2019

Explorer Post 1010 signed up again for the 2019 UAS4STEM (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) competition again in March. We were not certain we wanted to compete again. We looked into other competitions and reviewed our resources. We decided to register and use a refreshed and revised quadcopter.

Previous
     2018
     2017
     2016

UAS4STEM requires the students to build and fly a mid-size quad-copter through a competition course in a limited time. A team is limited to 8 members, who must complete an on-line training session. The regional tournament is in spring, and if selected, the national competition is in August. Every member of the team needs to be a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). A free youth membership is available at https://www.modelaircraft.org/joinrenew.aspx.

We reused the paint balloons dropping mechanism, but made big changes to the electronics. We did not want the crash problems from last year.

Here is a Slideshow for the whole project.

The Mission (2019 Rulebook)

"A small group of people are stranded after a flash flood. While rescuers have determined a search area, they are unsure of the exact whereabouts and conditions of those stranded. Your team has been called upon to provide rapid response, via an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), that can support the Search and Rescue (SAR) mission. In order to support this mission, your UAS must comply with Special Instructions (SPINS) for departure and arrival procedures, and then remain within assigned airspace. It will be tasked to search an area for items of interest and to conduct point reconnaissance."

Our Team: Some Assembly Required (all new members)

  Visesh Uppoor
  Nicholas Azarm
  Gunvir Lubana
  Lucas Perkins
  Timothy Chu

- Primary Pilot in Command
- Mission Planner Specialist/Alternate Pilot
- Scoring Captain
- Aircraft Specialist /Safety Specialist
- Strategic Technician

The team was fortunate to have Tom May return as our adult mentor. He pointed out some of the problems with the system from last year. He and his wife Beth were key to the success of this project.

We practiced at the King Farm farmstead as we did last year. Here is a map to the test site. We got ready for the regional competition with a presentation and lots of successful practice.

Regional Competition

On Saturday, April 27, 2018, we traveled to Hollywood MD for the regional competition. The presentation went well but we could not finish the flight missions. Here is the presentation (pptx).

So we travelled back the next Saturday, May 4. The missions were on the mark. We hit the center of the target with one balloon, We completed the competition, Here is our score sheet.

Some other teams needed to come back again the following week. When all was over, we ranked first and were invited to the Nationals. We won the right to hold the trophy until next year, but didn't want to drive the two hours to Hollywood MD to pick it up.

National Competition

On Saturday, August 17, 2019, our team competed in the national competition in Muncie Indiana. We had two vans, 5 team members, and 4 adults that travelled from Rockville. The team arrived the day before and were able to practice on the field.

Our presentation (pptx) went well (we were first). Our flights were a little disappointing. We missed some way points in autonomous, and only got the Lat/Lon for 3 out of 8 targets. We dropped two balloons on target. Here is our score sheet and a spreadsheet analysis with comments on our performance.

Flight Videos:
Auto (52MB), Search 1 (82MB), Search 2 (179MB), Drop (179MB),