Team Whale Watching UAV
The Whale Watching UAV Team is dedicated to making an unmanned aircraft to aid in the observation of a population of whales off the coast of Argentina. The aircraft will have the ability to complete a 10 mile roundtrip course controlled by remote control and/or computer programming. The aircraft will also be equiped with dynamic camera mount(s) to optimize the observation process.
Members
Andrew Christensen (Andy)
Andrew Clark (Drew)
Dustin Gorringe
John Harris
Heather Hulse
Ryan Snelson
Individual Projects
Attach:Groupfinal.pdf
Attach:Groupfinalappendix.zip
Project Summary
In the waters off the coast of Argentina there is a very unique group of whales that have been fascinating biologist for years however observing these whales is very difficult. Boats disturb the whales and man made aircrafts introduce safety risks that are unacceptable. This has led to the design of a UAV.
This project consists of five sub projects: 1) Design and implementation of a control system to guide the plane when out of sight using a live video feed, 2) Integrating necessary sensors (accelerometers, altimeters GPS etc) to give complete control of the UAV, 3) Design, install and troubleshoot, a still camera and video preview mounting device that will give the ability to scan the ocean looking for the whales and take high resolution pictures 4) Radio communication system to wirelessly send all video and control information to and from the UAV 5) Parachute, waterproofing and flotation for recovery and protection.
This project is considered a good senior design project because it requires the implementation of controls systems for several mechanical devices. Also included in the project will be the modeling of several systems including fluids, dynamic, and strength of materials.