2014-15 Aircraft Design Project Memorandum

8 September 2014
Aircraft Design Project Team
Prof. Andrei Artemev, Project Manager
4th Year Aerospace Engineering Project (Aircraft) 2014-15
Course AERO 4907A-14

Date:
To:
From:
Subject:

1 General
This year, the 2014-15 Carleton UAV Team will undertake a conceptual design of a
small uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV will be designed for a variety of short
range surveillance missions, such as crops observations for farmers, and forestry and
animal observations. The UAV will have a takeoff weight of approximately 35 kg, speed
of approximately 50 kph and the range of at least 50 km. It should be able to carry a
payload of approximately 1-2 kg. The exact values of the takeoff weight, speed and
range will be determined by the market needs analysis, which will be performed by the
team. The important additional considerations are: low cost, good manufacturability and
easy maintenance, short takeoff in the absence of a well prepared air-strip and ability to
operate under the autopilot control, however, without true autonomous flight capability
(no autonomous obstacle detection and avoidance capability).
In this project, after identifying the system requirements for the UAV, the team will be
split into two sub-teams, which will work on two competing designs: UAV-1 and UAV2.
A list of the most important tasks identified to date by the Lead Engineers is provided in
Annex A. Additional tasks will be identified by the team members as they prepare the
2014-15 project plan during the first two weeks of the Fall term.
The team will also continue the work of the previous teams on three previously designed
and manufactured UAVs:
1.
2.
3.

Geosurv II
Corvus Demonstrator
Avionics Test Beds

The work on these UAVs will include the manufacturing of several damaged or
incomplete components, finishing the assembly, preparing for tests flight and running test
flights (at least test flights of the Avionics Test Beds). These test flights will be used for
the development of the conceptual design of the avionics and control systems for the
UAV-1 and UAV-2.

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2 Project Planning
To prepare for the work associated with the UAV-1 and UAV-2 systems and three
previously designed UAVs described above all groups will carry out the following
activities during the month of September:
o Under the Lead Engineers direction, the team will become familiar with the results
of the work of the previous teams completed prior to 2014 and accessible from the
2010-2011 project web page (housed at WordPress) and the new cuLearn site.
o Data for the 2012-13 year and onwards have been and will be stored on the project
cuLearn site. This site will be accessible to all students and Lead Engineers.
o The team will produce a market needs analysis, finalise the system requirements
document (SRD) and determine a possible mission(s) (PM) and corresponding
mission profile(s) (MP) for UAV-1 and UAV-2.
o The team will also identify the main tasks that will be performed for Geosurv II,
Corvus Demonstrator and Avionics Test Beds.
o Each design group (Aerodynamics and Propulsion, Structures and Mechanical
Systems, Avionics and Flight Test, Design Integration and Mission Analysis) of both
sub-teams will define plans for both terms including tasks and milestones. The plans
shall be compatible with the stated project objectives and shall include preparation of
a high level project schedule, work breakdown structure (WBS) and necessary
purchases. Lead Engineers will support the identification of the milestones
compatible with the objectives. The Design Integration group will collect input to
prepare the master schedule, WBS and budget.
o Accurate and timely formal and informal communication is critical to the success of
projects such as this. The means of formal team communication will be provided to
the students and it is their responsibility to use these means in a professional manner
to maintain open and timely communication.
o Additional Pro/E, CFD and FEA training will be provided as required.
This years baseline Project Plan (Tasks, Schedule, Budget) will be developed over a
three week planning period with the Lead Engineers that will start during the first
meeting on 8 September 2014. As the first deliverable in this process, on Monday 15
September 2014 each group will present its summary task list to the entire team. Then,
during the meeting on 29 September 2014, the Team will present the first drafts of SRD,
PM and MP and high level project plans for the Fall and Winter terms. Final decisions
on the direction of the project will then be made by the team and development work will
proceed iteratively during the two terms. Internal team reviews will be held regularly to
ensure that the design meets the requirements and the project is on schedule. The Project
Plan is a document that is to be updated based on the project progress and experience.
While the Integration team will be responsible for maintaining the Plan, each group is
responsible for reviewing it and updating as needed.

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3 Project Organisation
The design team will be divided into two sub-teams, which, in turn, will be divided into
four Design Groups during the first project meeting on 8 September 2014. The Lead
Engineers, working with the student group members will define the breakdown of
individual responsibilities within the Groups. The Integration Group will prepare a
contact list for the team. The Groups and their respective Lead Engineers are as follows:
Design Integration and Mission Analysis (INT) Prof. Artemev
o 3 students in each of two groups
Aerodynamics and Propulsion (AER) Prof. Nitzshe
o 4 students in each of two groups
Structures and Mechanical Systems (STR) Prof. Tan
o 4 students in each of two groups
Avionics and Flight Test Mr. Bauer
o 2-3 students in each of two groups (5 students max in both groups
together)
Students will be expected to communicate and work across group boundaries. Many
major project tasks and systems will be worked on by the teams of students from across
multiple groups. This emulates some aspects of a matrix organization in industry.
The general responsibilities of the various project Groups should be reasonably clear
from their names. However, some students may not be clear about the Design Integration
and Mission Analysis Groups (INT) responsibilities; they apply across the project and
include:
Coordination of compliance documentation and special flight operations
certificates
Configuration management
Design integration: mission selection (with the participation of the whole team),
conceptual sketches (with contribution from all team members), aircraft solid
models and drawings (models and drawings of components shall be supplied by
the team members), iterative aircraft sizing, performance and stability analysis,
databases, register of documents and (e.g. Design Reports and drawings)
Organizing flight tests the development of specific Flight Test Plans is the
responsibility of the appropriate technical groups and the Flight Test Group.
Mission analysis and simulation
Air vehicle documentation and weight control, weight and balance, system costs
Organization of the air vehicles assembly and integration
Project web page updates, preparation of Minutes of meetings, integration of
project schedule from group inputs
Pro/E training for the team members
After the first meeting, each group shall appoint a liaison engineer to work with the
corresponding Design Integration Group on the issues of conflict resolution,
configuration management, inter-group communications and certification. Additionally,
if another group is unsure of the specific point of contact within another group for a
particular topic, they should contact the liaison engineer first. The liaison engineers will
also share the responsibility for preparing the Group Progress reports, managing the DR
database and compiling Group Plans with the Design Integration Group.
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4 Major Project Milestones

The team, as mentioned in the Introduction, shall prepare the overall work schedule for
the project incorporating the milestones below. The following milestone dates must be
met for the project. Additional specific deliverable dates may be established as the
project progresses. At the Fall Design Review, all groups undertaking new designs or
detailed designs will be expected to present their proposed designs for approval for
manufacturing or to proceed to subsequent design phases.
Fall Term
o Project Kick-off Meeting
8 September 2014
o High level task outline from each Group:
15 September 2014
o Baseline Project Plan, SRD and MP
29 September 2014
o First Design Report to LEs for review
End of October 2014
o Fall Design Review (FDR)
28 November 2014
o Hand in all Fall term work
8 December 2014
Winter Term
o Winter Term Kick-Off Meeting
5 January 2015
o MAE Engineering Design Forum
4 April 2015
o Final Report Draft for LE Review
30 March 2015
o Final Project Deliverables (group submission) 8 April 2015

5 Communications
Good communication within and between groups is essential as emphasised above. As in
previous years, we will be using weekly team meetings, a web-based memo system,
shared project drive and a site hosted on Carletons Learning Management System cuLearn. The project drive will be discussed in further detail below.
There are two project meetings per week:
Team meetings will be held on Mondays from 08:35 to 11:25 in Room
3103CB, to review progress, identify problems and decide on courses of action.
Each meeting will begin with opening remarks by the Project Manager and Lead
Engineers, followed by brief presentations by one (occasionally more as needed)
representative of each group to discuss major work packages (progress reports,
problem reports and technical presentations).
While there are no set time limits for these presentations, each group should
focus on technical progress and problems. The work status shall be presented
with reference to each groups project plan and schedule. Integration groups will
lead the meetings and keep a record of decisions and action items arising from the
main meeting to be posted on the project website each week. Following the main
meeting, the groups will have breakout meetings as needed.
A second 3-hour group meeting timeslot (Fridays 08:35-11:25) is to be used for
technical work and group meetings. Each group may move this slot to a different
day/time if desired.

Attendance of all team members at both weekly meetings is mandatory.

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6 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Each group will develop and present a high level task breakdown as part of the project
plan review on 29 September 2013. The "charge" numbers or WBS codes open for this
phase of the project will be posted on the web page once the WBS is complete. Only the
listed numbers can be used. Additional numbers can be requested as the work progresses.
Until the full WBS is complete, all team members shall use the following WBS codes for
tracking their time on blank timesheets which can be found on the project website:
1.0 Project Management and Administration
1.1 Team and group meetings
1.2 Review of previous work
1.3 Planning
1.4 Pro/E training
Following the development of the project plan each group will track its work under major
WBS headings corresponding to each Work Package:
2.0 UAV-1 or UAV-2
3.0 Corvus Demonstrator
4.0 Avionics Test Beds

Safety and Project Facilities

Members of the team working on the project must follow the posted safety rules of the
facility they are using (e.g. MAE Machine Shop, Composites Shop, etc.). Additionally,
since some groups work with carbon fibre composites on this project, there shall be
no infusion, cutting, sanding or drilling of carbon fibre composites in the UAV room
or main MAE Structures Lab. This is both for personal safety and to prevent damage
to sensitive electrical equipment by conductive carbon fibres. Any work of this type with
carbon fibre composites must be done in the MAE composites shop following the posted
safety procedures. The Department has implemented a new policy only students who
have completed training with composites will be allowed to use these facilities. The
Project Manager will organize the training for UAV project students expected to use the
facilities.
The Team has at its disposal the following dedicated facilities:
MAE Meeting Rooms - 6065MC, 3149ME, 3103CB, 3124ME: These are large
meeting rooms that can be booked by students and Lead Engineers for meetings
as needed. A smaller room, 3131ME, is also available for smaller groups. See
the MAE Office for bookings on a first come first serve basis.
UAV Project Workspace - 2360ME: Structures Lab within which there is a
UAV Project Room. This room is used for work on the various Avionics Test
Bed Aircraft, storage and maintenance of UAV equipment and hardware and
mechanical assembly work.

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8 Deliverables
There are several types of documents that team members are responsible for submitting
throughout the year, in electronic and/or paper format.
8.1

Fall Group Progress Reports

Each Group shall submit at the end of the Fall Term, a group progress report. Each
Group will submit one combined report outlining Summary of Fall Term Plan, Tasks
Accomplished, Problems Encountered, Summary of Hours and List of Design
Reports for the Fall Term.

8.2

Design Reports (DRs), Solid Models and Drawings

All the work shall be covered by design reports prepared to the requirements of [1]
and especially the design report notes on the web page. Lead engineers will require
each team member to submit a design report on a specified topic by the end of
October 2013. These reports will be reviewed by the Lead Engineers for compliance
with the DR requirements on the Project website and feedback will be provided [1,2].
DRs shall be prepared using MSWord or Mathcad, with standard templates provided
on the project website. It is also required that any supporting files (in the
appropriate format) be submitted to INT with the DR (e.g. Mathcad files, Excel
worksheets, computer code and documentation, drawings (in dxf format), etc).
All DRs are assigned a report number by Group Liaisons. Detailed DR writing
guidelines can be found on the project website.
All approved solid models will be assigned a unique ID number by Integration and
must follow the applicable standards for the type of drawing, e.g. composite part,
metal part, assembly, etc. Format of two-dimensional drawings not derived from the
solid models should be discussed with the relevant Lead Engineer. Shop drawings
must meet the requirements of [3].
Integration will maintain the Pro/E solid model and its associated database and
exercise configuration control over the solid model.

8.3

Individual Timesheets
Every team member shall keep track of the time spent on project work, and shall
submit a timesheet for weekly approval by their Lead Engineer. Students will use the
WBS codes to charge their time against. All timesheets must be handed in at the
end of the term. A timesheet template can be found on the website you must have
your Lead Engineer initial each weeks total hours.

8.4

Fall Term Project Deliverables

On 8 December 2014 by 16:00 each group will submit to the MAE Department
Office a single work package for marking consisting of the following:
Group progress report
all completed and checked design reports for each student in the Group
completed and fully initialled timesheets for all students
Any other work completed throughout the term including Design Approval
Packages, Design Change Requests and Test Plans (these should all be
captured and numbered as DRs).

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9 Formal Fall Design Review

A formal Fall Design Review will be held on 28 November 2014. During the review,
each team member will be allowed 8 minutes plus 2 minutes for questions, to present
her/his term work.

10 Filing System
The documentation system for this project is a mixture of paper and electronic records as
is typical in industry and government organizations. An electronic folder structure will
be established by Integration on the shared UAV Project network drive. The INT Group
will provide instructions on how to map to the current network drive and to the read
only archives of previous years. Do not make a copy of the entire previous years
drive only copy the files you need for your present work.

11 Marking
Performance of each team member will be individually assessed on the basis of the work
accomplished in the assigned area of responsibility.
Each team member will be required to make two oral presentations of her/his work at the
two formal reviews in November and March. The two term performance evaluations by
Lead Engineers and will include attendance, quality and quantity of work, contributions
to technical and non-technical activities and meetings, team performance and leadership.
The fall term evaluation will consider the work packages defined in Section 8. At the end
of the winter term, the team will submit a formal report in addition to all the design
reports for both terms. The total (two terms) marking scheme is as follows:
Design Review presentations
20% (10% Fall, 10% Winter)
Performance evaluations
40% (20% Fall, 20% Winter)
Written reports (DRs and formal report)
35%
Group self-assessment (entire project)
5%

12 References
1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Project Management Manual
Issue No.1, September 2000, posted on cuLearn
2. DR Writing Notes, posted on cuLearn,
3. 2D Drafting Notes and Common Errors, posted on cuLearn

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Annex A: Top Level Project Task List for 2014-15
The following is a list of the major objectives to be completed by the 2014-2015 UAV Project
Team. It will be up to the individual Groups to identify the specific tasks and steps required to
meet these objectives by the end of the project year. The Design Integration Group will work
with the technical groups to create a Work Breakdown Structure (see cuLearn for a sample)
listing group tasks and subtasks based on the list below. The list provided below is a starting
point and tasks will be added or removed as the term progresses.
UAV-1 and UAV-2
o Perform a market needs analysis and prepare the first draft of PM and MP (both subteams work together).
o Produce draft SRD (can be different for UAV-1 and UAV-2).
o Develop conceptual sketches that introduce the basic concepts of UAV-1 and UAV-2
(multiple sketches should be developed and reviewed at team meeting).
o Make a preliminary selection of propulsion and a first estimate of specific fuel
consumption (SFC) for UAV-1 and UAV-2.
o Perform a conceptual sizing based on the statistical data and estimated SFC for UAV-1
and UAV-2.
o Revise the SRD(s).
o Chose the airfoil and planform for wings, empennage, and control surfaces and fuselage
shape for UAV-1 and UAV-2.
o Evaluate the thrust-to-weight ratio and wing loading.
o Chose materials and produce a structural concept (including launch and recovery
systems) of UAV-1 and UAV-2.
o Integrate the propulsion and fuel system into a structural scheme of UAV-1 and UAV-2.
o Evaluate possible manufacturing methods and supplier sources for the developed
structural concept.
o Develop a principal scheme for avionics and the electrical system. Evaluate the electric
power consumption (including payload).
o Produce a refined sizing for weight and geometry.
o Re-estimate the takeoff weight on the basis of the current status of the projects.
o Perform the stability and performance analysis.
o Revise the UAV-1 and UAV-2 projects (may include the SRD(s) revision).
o Start a detailed design of major components and systems (including mechanical systems).
o Start a comprehensive aerodynamic analysis
The list will be continued in the Winter Project Memo.
Geosurv II, Corvus Demonstrator and Avionics Test Beds
o Inspect and evaluate the current status of the UAVs
o Determine components requiring re-building and complete them
o Complete avionics and mechanical systems on Geosurv II and Corvus
o Perform ground tests of avionics and mechanical systems on Geosurv II and Corvus
o Perform engine test and ground test on Gosurv II
o Get UAVs to the flight ready state
o Apply for the SFOC
o Prepare test fly plans
o Run the test flights
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