Hardware Design Page
Below are some examples of my professional and personal design projects that are basically not software related, and thus, I’m calling them all ‘hardware’ since nowadays I primarily develop software.
A while back a debate raged on whether or not to adopt multirotor airframes for civilian UAV applications in agriculture or to stick with the simpler, more reliable fixed wing configuration. This airframe explored the possibilities of using low-aspect ratio planforms combined with high-camber airfoils to achieve very steep landing trajectories with a rigid airframe that could handle the impact of such a landing.
This airframe is a flying crash-test dummy used to carry a UAV’s electronic systems on a test flight without having to worry about damaging the electronics in the event of a crash. This airframe was humorously inefficient but saved thousands of dollars in what otherwise could’ve been catastrophic crashes.
The TestWing above was eventually re-configured into the PeshWing below and actually performed pretty well in terms of crash suitability and flight endurance.
I am a big 3D printing nerd and love to make all sorts of 3D printed mechanical widgits on my MakerBot. This is a GoPro camera mount that features a servo-actuated pan capability for carriage on small UAV’s.
3D printing entire airframes was unfortunately cost prohibitive and brought with it significant weight penalties. This meant using off the shelf airframes to build our systems on and carry or cameras. Here I have made modifications in the form of taping shut the existing elevon control surfaces and expanding the wing area by adding on my own. These ‘elevon extensions’ provided more surface area needed at higher angles of attack that allowed for lower takeoff & landing speeds. The cruising attitude also saw reduced AoA and thus we got extended flight times as well. This approach would normally incur a weight penalty on a full-scale aircraft built out of wood or aluminum, but at this particular scale, the extra weight of the elevon extensions was negligible.
My professional career began in architecture where I designed floor plans and coordinated with electrical, mechanical, and plumbing engineers as well. The link below has some excerpts from construction documents I produced.
