15Sept06 Update
2006/07 Rules and Vehicle Design
Rules Posting: 16 Aug 2006
Revised: 15 Sept 2006
Entry Deadline: 31 Oct 2006
The contest rules may be augmented/supplemented at any
time during the competition.
During the period from the rules posting up to the entry deadline the FAQ will
be used to document any changes.
Following the entry deadline changes will be e-mailed to each teams contact
e-mail address.
Questions may be submitted at any time, answers will be provided ONLY as
outlined above.
Summary:
The AIAA through the Applied Aerodynamics, Aircraft Design, Design
Engineering and Flight Test Technical Committees and the AIAA Foundation
invites all university students to participate in the Cessna
Aircraft Company/Raytheon Missile Systems - Student Design/Build/Fly Competition. The contest will provide a
real-world aircraft design experience for engineering students by giving them
the opportunity to validate their analytic studies.
Student teams will design, fabricate, and demonstrate the flight
capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio controlled aircraft that
can best meet the specified mission profile. The goal is a balanced design
possessing good demonstrated flight handling qualities and practical and
affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle
performance.
To encourage innovation and maintain a fresh design challenge for each new year, the design requirements and performance objectives
will be updated for each new contest year. The changes will provide new design
requirements and opportunities, while allowing for application of technology
developed by the teams from prior years.
Check the rules package carefully as items and approaches that were
legal in past years may not be legal for this contest year. Only the
contents of this Rules package, the 2006/07 FAQ, and 2006/07 Q&A documents
hold bearing on the requirements and/or allowances for the current contest year. It is the
responsibility of the teams to know and follow all provided rules, the FAQ, and
all contest day briefings.
Questions may be addressed to the contest director as outline in the
communications section below.
Cash prizes are $2500 for 1st, $1500 for
2nd and $1000 for 3rd place. The winning team will be
invited to present their design at an AIAA conference hosted by the sponsoring
technical committees.
Judging:
Students must design, document, fabricate, and demonstrate the aircraft
they determine to be capable of achieving the highest score on the specified
mission profile(s). Flight scores will be based on the demonstrated mission
performance obtained during the contest.
Each team must also submit a written Design Report. A maximum of 100
points will be awarded for the team design report. Scores for the written
reports will be announced at the beginning of the fly-off.
Each aircraft will have computed a Rated Aircraft Cost, reflecting the
complexity/technology of the design.
The overall team score is a combination of the Design Report, Rated
Aircraft Cost and Flight scores. The team with the highest overall team score
will be declared the winner.
Scores will be FINAL 7 working days after the completion of the
contest. This period will allow for review of the scores in a timely
fashion following the contest.
All submitted reports are the property of AIAA, Cessna and Raytheon and
may be published or reproduced at their discretion.
Contest Site:
Host for the competition will be Raytheon Missile
Systems. The fly-off is planned to be held near their facilities in
Team
Requirements:
All team members (except for non-student pilots) must be full time
students at an accredited University or College and student members of the
AIAA. At least 1/3 of the team members must consist of Freshman, Sophomores or
Juniors. The pilot must be an AMA (
There may be a
maximum of two (2) teams entered from any one educational institution. For schools with multiple campuses in
different cities/parts of the state, each campus will be considered as a
separate entity.
Past Year
Reports:
The top scoring report from the past year’s competition will be
available for reference on the contest web site. The team with the top scoring
report from this year’s contest will be required to submit an electronic copy
of their report following the competition, which will be placed on the contest
web site for the next year’s competition.
Sponsorship:
Teams may solicit and accept sponsorship in the form of funds or
materials and components from commercial organizations. All design, analysis and fabrication
of the contest entry is the sole responsibility of the student team members.
Schedule:
A completed electronic entry must be RECEIVED
by the contest administrator by 5 PM local time on 31 October 2006. Entry forms may be submitted at any time
after 1 October 2006
Note: The DBF entry form is different from the one used
for other AIAA student competitions. The DBF entry form is a MS-Word file
and can be found on the contest web site. It must be submitted by e-mail to the
contest administrator at greg.page@nrl.navy.mil
. Be sure to include the Phone and FAX number for your team advisor and at
least one student contact so we may reach you in case of any last minute
problems or changes. All teams are required to provide two
point-of-contact e-mail addresses with their contest application, one of which
must be the teams advisor. It is the teams responsibility to make
sure the e-mail contact addresses they supply remain active during the entire
period from entry to the close of the competition, as e-mail will be the
primary means to provide information and updates. Do not use an internal team correspondence
e-mail list server as your point of contact e-mail address.
Please Note: The Entry Name may not be changed once the
form is submitted, but must be retained and used on all reports and
correspondence during the competition year.
Written reports (5 hard copies, electronic
reports will not be accepted), must ARRIVE
at the Chief of Scoring address by 5 pm local time on 6 March 2007. Reports will be judged “as
received”, no “corrections/additions/page changes” will be made by the
organizers so check your reports carefully before sending them.
(A note primarily for foreign entrants but also allowed for domestic
teams. If sending the report by courier is prohibitive you may send it
electronically to a commercial printer (KINKO’s
comes to mind) local to the report submission address and have them
print/collate and DELIVER the reports to meet the deadline. No deadline
exceptions will be made, but this may be easier than international courier
service.)
The contest is scheduled for 20-22 April 2007. The competition will run from Noon to 5PM on
Friday, and 8AM to 5PM on Saturday and Sunday. Final awards will be
presented at the end of Sunday's competition. All teams should plan their
travel so that they may stay for the awards presentations on Sunday.
Please note that tech inspections will be available on Friday 20 April. All teams are encouraged to be prepared
to have your plane inspected on Friday. Inspections will also be available on
Saturday, but waiting until Saturday to go through tech may mean that your team
will miss one or more rounds through the flight sequence. If we have a full
turnout you may not be able to get in a full set of scoring flights unless you
are "ready to fly" at every opportunity.
Late entries will NOT be accepted. Late report submissions
will NOT be judged. Teams who do not submit the required written reports
will NOT be allowed to fly. It is the team’s responsibility to
assure that all deadlines are met, as they will be strictly enforced.
Communications:
The contest administration will maintain a World Wide Web site
containing the latest information regarding the contest schedules, rules, and
participating teams. The contest web
site is located at:
http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/aiaadbf
Questions regarding the contest, schedules, or rules interpretation may
be sent to the contest administrator by e-mail at:
greg.page@nrl.navy.mil
Questions received prior to the official entry submission date will not
be answered directly. Select questions “may” be answered in the FAQ prior
to the entry submission date. Official questions and answers received
following the entry submission date will be provided by e-mail to all teams of
record.
Written reports (only) should be sent to the Chief of Scoring at:
Gregory Page
AIAA Design/Build/Fly Contest
ITT Corporation
Aircraft
Requirements - General
- The aircraft may be of
any configuration except rotary wing or lighter-than-air.
- No structure/components may be dropped from the
aircraft during flight.
- No
form of externally assisted take-off is allowed. All energy for
take-off must come from the on-board propulsion battery pack(s).
- Must be propeller
driven and electric powered with an unmodified over-the-counter model
electric motor. May use multiple motors and/or propellers. May be direct
drive or with gear or belt reduction.
- Motors may be any
commercial brush or brushless electric motor.
- For safety, each
aircraft will use a commercially produced propeller/blades. Must
use a commercially available propeller hub/pitch mechanism. Teams
may modify the propeller diameter by clipping the tip, and may paint the
blades to balance the propeller. No other modifications to the
propeller are allowed. Commercial ducted fan units are allowed.
- Motors and batteries
will be limited to a maximum of 40 Amp current draw by means of a 40 Amp
fuse (per motor or battery pack) in the line from the positive battery
terminal to the motor controller. Only ATO or blade style plastic fuses may
be used. (e.g. "Maxi" size Slow Blow, 1.15"x0.85".
Available online www.Mcmaster.com part #7460K51)
- Must use over the
counter NiCad or NiMH batteries. For safety,
battery packs must have shrink-wrap or other protection over all
electrical contact points. The individual cells must be commercially
available, and the manufacturers label must be readable (i.e. clear
shrink wrap preferred). All battery disconnects must be "fully
insulated" style connectors.
- Maximum
propulsion battery pack weight is 3 lb. This battery pack
must power propulsion systems only. Radio Rx and servos MUST be on
a separate battery pack. Batteries may not be changed or charged between
sorties during a flight period.
- Aircraft and pilot
must be AMA legal. This means that the aircraft TOGW (take-off gross
weight with payload) must be less than 55-lb, and the pilot must be a
member of the AMA.
- Since this is an AMA
sanctioned event, the team must submit proof that the aircraft has been
flown prior to the contest date (in flight photo) to the technical
inspection team. Contest supplied qualified pilots will be available to
teams who require them.
Aircraft
Requirements - Safety
All vehicles will undergo a safety inspection by a designated contest safety
inspector prior to being allowed to make any competition or non-competition
(i.e. practice) flight. All decisions of the safety inspector are final. Safety
inspections will include the following as a minimum.
- Physical inspection of
vehicle to insure structural integrity.
- Verify all components
adequately secured to vehicle. Verify all fasteners tight and have
either safety wire, locktite (fluid) or nylock nuts. Clevises on flight controls must have
an appropriate safety device to prevent their disengaging in flight.
- Verify propeller
structural and attachment integrity.
- Visual inspection of
all electronic wiring to assure adequate wire gauges and connectors in
use.
- Radio range check,
motor off and motor on.
- Verify all controls move
in the proper sense.
- Check general
integrity of the payload system.
- Structural
verification. All aircraft will be lifted with one lift point at each
wing tip to verify adequate wing strength (this is "roughly"
equivalent to a 2.5g load case) and to check for vehicle cg
location. Teams must mark the
expected empty and loaded cg locations on the exterior of the aircraft.
Special provisions will be made at the time of the contest for aircraft
whose cg does not fall within the wing tip chord. This test will be made
with the aircraft filled to its maximum payload capacity.
- Radio fail-safe check.
All aircraft radios must have a fail-safe mode that is automatically
selected during loss of transmit signal. The fail-safe will be
demonstrated on the ground by switching off the transmit radio. During
fail safe the aircraft receiver must select:
Throttle closed
Full up elevator
Full right rudder
Full right (or left) aileron
Full Flaps down (if so equipped)
The radio Fail Safe provisions will be strictly enforced.
- All aircraft must have
a mechanical motor arming system separate from the onboard radio Rx
switch. This MUST be the contest
specified "blade" style fuse. This device must be located so it
is accessible by a crewmember standing ahead of the
propeller(s) for pusher aircraft, and standing behind the
propeller(s) for tractor aircraft (i.e. the crew member must not reach
across the propeller plane to access the fuse). The "Safety Arming
Device" will be in "Safe" mode for all payload changes.
The aircraft Rx should always be powered on and the throttle verified to
be "closed" before activating the motor arming switch.
Fuses MUST be accessible from outside the aircraft and act as the "safeing" device.
Note: The aircraft must be “safed” (arming fuse removed) any time the aircraft is being manually moved, or while loading/unloading payload during the mission. The arming fuse must be removed anytime the aircraft is in the hanger area.
Teams must complete the missions as outlined in the mission matrix
below. Teams will have a maximum of 5 flight attempts. The best Single Flight Score
from each of the different mission types will be summed for the
team's Total Flight Score. Note: Ground tasks are separated from their
related flight task for safety of flight and to speed the contest flow. However, this is a “Design/Build/FLY”
contest, so the ground task scores will not be included in the Total
Flight Score until the aircraft has obtained a valid score on at least
one of the two flying tasks.
In the event that, due to time or facility limitations, it is not
possible to allow all teams to have the maximum number of flight attempts, the
contest committee reserves the right to ration and/or schedule flights. The
exact determination of how to ration flights will be made on the contest day
based on the number of entries, weather, and field conditions.
Each team's overall score will be computed from their Written
Report Score, Total Flight Score, and the Rated Aircraft
Cost using the formula:
SCORE = Written Report Score * Total Flight Score
Rated Aircraft Cost
|
General
Mission Information ·
Payloads must be securely restrained in the aircraft by mechanical
means. Tape and Velcro are not allowed restraining methods. ·
On all flight laps the aircraft must complete one 360o
turn in the opposite direction of the flight pattern. ·
Take-off distance is 100 ft wheels off the runway. ·
There is no timed-repair of damage allowed in this year’s
competition. ·
There will be no 2 minute preparation time this year. ·
Maximum mission time is 10 minutes. There will be a new flight order procedure in use this year. ·
A mission order list will be generated and posted at the beginning of
flying on Saturday. Teams will always
rotate in this order. The mission
order will be repeated continuously. ·
Each teams position in the mission order will be determined from
their written report score, highest report score goes first. ·
There will be four staging box positions near the
flight line. While in the staging
box teams can make any final preparations and checkout required prior
to flight. ·
If you are not in place in a staging box when your
rotation number is called you will miss your opportunity for that rotation. ·
Electing to enter one of the staging box positions on your turn
in the rotation order will constitute using a flight attempt. If you must leave the staging box for any
reason you will forfeit that flight
attempt. If you go to the flight
line and are not able to begin your takeoff when instructed you will forfeit that flight attempt. ·
Once you have a score for a particular task you may only make 1
attempt to better that specific task score. |
|
Contest aircraft must comply
with all aspects of the following specification: |
|
Reconfigurable
Sensor Platform General
System Specifications:
Air Sampler
System Specifications
Camera Ball
System Specifications
|
Aircraft Cost
Model:
Rated Aircraft Cost (RAC) =
MEW*SPAN
|
Coef. |
Description |
Value |
|
MEW |
Manufacturers
Empty Weight |
Actual airframe
weight [lb] WITH all
flight and propulsion batteries but without any (either) payload. |
|
SPAN |
Wing Span |
Greatest possible
measurement [inches] perpendicular to the aircraft flight axis from the tip
of any wing or aerodynamic surface to the tip of any other wing or
aerodynamic surface. |
General Mission
Specification and Notes:
· The aircraft propulsion system(s) must be disarmed or "safed" during any time when crew members are preparing
the aircraft.
· Maximum flight support crew is: pilot, observer, and 3 ground
crew. Only the designated ground crew may reload the aircraft payload . Pilot
and observer may be members of the ground crew, provided total ground crew size
remains 3 people.
· Observer and all ground crew must be students. Only the pilot may be a non-student.
· The upwind turn will be made after passing the upwind pylon. The
downwind turn will be made after passing the downwind pylon. Upwind and
downwind pylons will be 500 ft from the starting line. Aircraft must be
"straight and level" when passing the pylon before initiating the
turn.
· Aircraft must land on the paved portion of the runway. Aircraft
may "run-off" the runway during roll-out.
· After landing, aircraft may taxi
back to the starting line. Alternatively, aircraft may be carried back to the
starting line; however, the team may not leave the pit area to retrieve the
aircraft until the aircraft has come to a complete stop, and they are signaled
it is "Ok" to retrieve the aircraft by the flight line judge. Aircraft with “significant” damage will not receive a
score for that flight. Determination of
“significant” is solely at the discretion of the judges.
· Flight altitude must be sufficient for safe terrain clearance
and low enough to maintain good visual contact with the aircraft. Decisions on safe
flight altitude will be at the discretion of the flight line judges and all
rulings will be final.
Additional information is included in the FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions).
Protest Procedures
Submitting a protest is a serious matter and will be treated as such.
Teams may submit a protest to the Contest Administration at any time during the
competition. Protests must be submitted in writing and signed by the team
advisor, designees are not allowed for protest submissions. If the team
advisor is not present, he may FAX a signed protest to the team for them
to present. Protests may be posted for review at the decision of the
administration.
Protests and penalties (up to disqualification from the contest for
deliberate attempts to misinform officials, violate the contest rules, or
safety infractions) will be decided by the Contest Administration. The decision
of the Contest Administration is final.
Design Report:
Each team will submit a judged design report as outlined below. The
submission date is contained in the schedule section of this document.
Reports must be bound. Simple spiral bindings are sufficient and
preferred; 3-ring binders are not allowed. Paper clips or clamps are NOT sufficient.
Unbound reports will not be scored. Stapled reports are discouraged and
will be penalized 10 points. Report paper may be no larger than 8
½ inches wide by 11 inches long with the exception of the drawing
package. A4 paper may be used ONLY if it is cut to a maximum length of 11
inches. The drawing package may be on 11 inch long x maximum of 17 inch
wide pages. A 10 point penalty will be given for
the use of oversize paper.
Absolute maximum page count for the report is 60 pages, inclusive of all pages of any type,
printed or blank, including the front and back covers. Reports exceeding the maximum page count will be given a 10
point penalty for each additional page.
All reports should be at least one and one
half line spacing, 10-pt Arial font. Tables and figures will also be at
least 10-pt Arial font. Margins should be at least 1 inch on all
sides. All figures and tables should be clear and readable for the
judges. The reports will be judged on format and readability.
Reports will be scored on a 100 point basis following the guidelines
outlined below. All information used for scoring must be in the outlined
sections, content that is out of sequence, including the drawing package, will
be treated as missing and scored accordingly.
Report scores will not be available prior to the contest weekend.
Please note that the judges will be using this same report outline for
evaluating reports. ALL items listed will be expected to be present,
easy to locate and identify, and be well documented in the report for a maximum
score.
Please do not ship reports packed in “packing
peanuts”. The scoring judge must redistribute the reports to up to 40
individual judges for review so please keep your packaging recyclable and as
compact as possible.
Report scoring is based on the reports AS SUBMITTED. Final
proofing of the report printed copies (ALL) prior to submission is STRONGLY
encouraged.
Design Report
All sections will be
weighted for format, completeness and readability
1. Executive Summary: (5 points):
Provide a summary of the development of your design. This should be a narrative
description highlighting the major areas in the development process for your
final configuration and a broad description of the range of design alternatives
investigated.
2. Management Summary (5 points):
Describe the organization of the design team. Provide a chart of design
personnel and assignment areas. Include a (single) milestone chart showing
planned and actual timing of major elements of the design process, including as
a minimum the conceptual design stage, preliminary design stage, detailed
design stage, flight testing and report preparation periods.
3. Conceptual Design (20 points):
Describe the key elements of the mission requirements (problem
statement). Document the alternative configuration concepts (e.g.
biplane, canard, flying wing, pusher -Vs tractor, number of engines etc.)
investigated during the conceptual design stage and the reason why each concept
was considered. Describe and document the numerical figures of merit (FOM's) used to screen competing concepts, and the mission
feature each FOM was selected to support. Rated
Aircraft Cost (RAC) MUST be one of the FOM’s used during the screening process, teams should
generate a sufficiently accurate RAC estimate to differentiate between design
concepts. Numerical data need not be extensive at this stage, but should
include as a minimum: a final ranking chart giving the quantitative value of
each design for each FOM.
4. Preliminary Design (30 points):
Document the design parameter and sizing trades investigated during the
preliminary design stage, and why each was felt to be important to the mission.
Describe the analysis methods used. Describe the mission model used and the
predicted performance. Provide estimates of the aircraft lift, drag and
stability characteristics. Document the design optimization and trade
studies conducted and their results.
5. Detail Design (15 points for discussion items, 10 points for
drawing package, 25 points total for the section):
Document component selection and systems architecture selection. Include your
final competition aircraft's Rated Aircraft Cost using the
contest supplied cost model. RAC table should include all input
parameter, intermediate and final computation.
Include a table giving data for the sized aircraft. The table should
include;
Geometry: length, span, height, wing area, Aspect Ratio, control volumes
Performance: CL max, L/D max, maximum Rate of Climb, stall speed, maximum
speed, take-off field length (two sets, empty and gross weight)
Weight and Balance Statement (airframe, propulsion system, control system,
payload system, payload, empty weight, gross weight, Center of Gravity)
Systems (radio used, servos used, battery configuration used, motor used,
propeller (nominal), gear ratio (if used))
The Drawing Package will be included with this section and must contain
drawings of the design in sufficient detail to indicate aircraft size and
configuration; primary structure component size and location; payload size,
location and restraint method; and location of propulsion and flight control
system components.
6. Manufacturing Plan and processes (5 points):
Document the process selected for manufacture of major components and
assemblies of the final design. Detail the manufacturing processes
investigated, and describe the FOM's used (including
but not limited to: availability, required skill levels and cost) to screen
competing concepts. Describe the analytic methods (cost, skill matrix,
scheduling time lines) used to select the final set of manufacturing processes.
Include a manufacturing milestone chart showing scheduled event timings.
7. Testing Plan (10 points):
Detail testing objectives, schedules, check-lists, results and any lessons
learned for component and full aircraft testing, both static and dynamic (ie. in flight). Realistic test schedules and
expectations, ability to measure any key mission/design parameters.
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