Airdrop Solutions

Airdrop Solutions is a project team contract by UCI’s UAV Forge to assist in designing and refining UAV Forge’s current design of components. UAV Forge participates in a yearly competition called AUVSI SUAS and is required to deploy a UGV and land on a 12.192 m (40 ft) circular target as one of its tasks (i.e. the Airdrop task). A UAV would fly on the course, passing through waypoints, and then complete the Airdrop task inside the designated boundaries to do the Airdrop task. Airdrop Solutions was tasked with the objective to improve the current design of the UGV and deployment system to help aim the UGV more accurately and safely towards the center of the target.

Overview: The AUVSI SUAS competition involves developing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a ground vehicle (UGV) capable of delivering a payload to certain locations and navigate around imaginary obstacles autonomously. 

Introduction: Airdrop Solutions’ is centered around the design and implementation of subsystems relevant to the Airdrop task highlighted by the competition rulebook. The subsystems would be subject to the following circumstances:

• An autonomous UGV capable of navigating relatively flat terrain and dropping a package
• Safe and accurate landing of the UGV from an altitude of ~100 ft
• UAV can be in motion 
• Other constraints for the subsystems were determined by UAV Forge Senior Design Project team leadership:
• Weight, size, and cost
• 4 wheel drive
• Guided descent drop mechanism:
  • Active Guidance: an active hybrid/closed-loop control system to ensure accurate landing
  • Passive Guidance: an open-loop control system based on analytical models

Objective: Design a system that will allow our UAV and UGV to execute the Airdrop task.
Challenge: When the UAV position is first passing the Airdrop location during the waypoint navigation task that will not require our UAV to (1) deviate from our flight path between waypoints and (2) navigate to the Airdrop location a second time.