Design, fabrication and testing of a novel UAV: Capstone project

This paper describes one recent multi-year Capstone project in the Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MMET) Department at Arizona State University Polytechnic. Specifically, the project involves the design, development, construction, and testing of a prototype Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). After either an air or ground launch, this UAV will fly as a fixed wing aircraft, but it is also capable of transforming to autogyro mode in flight for slower flight or for near vertical landing. Students from the department's Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing programs are participating in the project, conducted over three years. The project is funded by an entrepreneurial engineer with the intent of attracting funding and support from industry or the military. The project has required students to perform a broad range of engineering activities, and to document their work well enough for succeeding classes to continue the work, and it has served as the core of a faculty sponsored grant proposal to the Air Force.