monthly NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2015 Copyright 2015 M-Fly

IN THIS ISSUE M-Fly spent the summer prototyping advanced class systems and becoming experienced with composite manufacturing. As members returned, the team started off the school year with its usual recruiting events: Festifall, Northfest, and a Mass Meeting. Recruitment went very well, and the team is excited to welcome lots of new members who are anxious to have a part in the design of this year s two aircraft. The design process is now well underway as subteams work toward the Preliminary Design Review scheduled for the last week of October. M-Fly also recently participated in E-Rade, a parade on North Campus for engineering students and other engineering design teams. The team had a lot of fun decorating a teammate s car and participating in the parade with other Wilson Center teams! 2 October 2015

AERODYNAMICS Selecting an airfoil The Aero sub-team has been testing various airfoils for our next aircraft using X-Foil. Members used online databases to select model airfoils and choose the best suited option for the team. The aerodynamics team has been hard at work modelling the aircraft design for this year s competition! The first two meetings mainly consisted of acquainting new members with the modelling software used to analyze aerodynamic properties of the plane. The software that is used is X-Foil, a program specifically designed to analyze airfoils of aircraft, and AVL, a program that is used to analyze the aerodynamic properties of the basic geometry of the aircraft. After getting acquainted to X-Foil commands during the first week, new members were introduced to AVL s geometric analysis and specifically analyzed flow around the aircraft model. certain properties such as Coefficient of Lift, Lift to Drag Ratio and the Maximum Angle of Attack. Preliminary results have shown that the airfoil used last year is looking to be a viable option to be the next airfoil. Members have recently started using AVL to test wingtip and tail configurations. Several tails were modelled, including H-Tails and V-Tails. While no tail has been finalized, the aero team is on track to complete the design on time. Additionally, the team engaged in airfoil trade studies to help determine which airfoil to use in the design. Members picked out sample airfoils from online databases and used X-Foil to analyze 3 October 2015

S&S New team on the block As a new subteam this year, sensors and systems members are currently working on different areas to the advanced class plane requirements including sensors, ground station computer, drop system for the payload, and a first-person view camera to guide the pilot in the dropping of the payload. Members are going through datasheets of many different types of sensors, looking for certain performance specifications suitable for the plane. Code has been written for the ground station to receive the telemetry data from the plane and calculate the required time to drop the payload accurately on the target, and the team looks to improve the initial iteration. Two possible options for the drop system have been sketched in CAD and are being evaluated. Also, the team will be attempting to put all of the components required for sensors and the microprocessor into a compact and lightweight form factor by designing custom PCBs. M-Fly is emphasizing reliability, and hope that by designing a PCB, the team can get reliable performance out of the electronics. 4 October 2015

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Choosing a propeller. The research and development team, R&D for short, has been tasked with choosing this year s propeller. Similarly to the AERO team, R&D will be using software to analyze various candidates. The research and development team started the year by learning Motocalc, a software the team uses to compare combinations of electric engine models and differing propeller sizes. Through this, the team will be choosing an engine and a propeller size by the end October. In the past, M-Fly has picked the structural sizing of the aircraft before choosing a propeller size. Because of the heavy lifting nature of the aircraft, the team typically picks a plane with a small height off the ground in order to maximize the wingspan while still staying within the dimension constraint. This has restrained the options for the propeller size greatly, which in turn restrains the thrust output. In an effort to try something new, this year M-Fly is not restraining the R&D team to a specific dimension, which opens up a lot more options for propeller sizes. The team is hoping that this possibility for an increased propeller dimension will greatly improve our thrust outputs and lead to a better performance at competition! 5 October 2015

STRUCTURES Out with the old Structures design is in full swing. Members completed tutorials in Solidworks to get up to speed, then applied their new skills to develop conceptual fuselage designs. Taking inspiration from the M-7 and other designs, members explored their own ideas to develop unique designs and concepts. Leads and members then evaluated each of the submitted designs, highlighting the strengths. Beneficial features will be incorporated into the fuselage designs of the new planes. The structures team plans on continuing with a similar design process for the year to find new solutions and foster innovation within the team. 6 October 2015