2022-2023 MISSION
Project Iris
ASPiRE’s first attempt at an aeronautics project!
Its main goal: taking part in the 2023 UAS Challenge in the UK.
ASPiRE Aeronautics Project
Aerospace Research Engineering UOWM
- 10 members
- 2 subteams
About the project
Project Iris is ASPiRE’s first attempt at an aeronautics project! It started in 2022, with a team of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science students. The project’s scientific supervisor is Dr. Kyriakos Vafiadis, an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, UOWM.
The projects main goal is taking part in UAS Challenge, an international competition organized annually in Buckminster, UK by the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMECHE) of the United Kingdom. It is one of the largest international student competitions, with participating students from Universities all over the world!
Iris, the plane created by ASPiRE for the 2023 UAS Challenge, is a fixed wing aeroplane, designed and manufactured from the ground up by the team members. The project is divided into two groups: the mechanical subteam and the avionics (aviation electronics) subteam.
The two subteams
The main goal of the Avionics Subteam (aviation electronics) is the design, programming and assembly of all the electronic systems of the aeroplane, on both hardware and software levels.
The Avionics System comprises of:
- The base station, that is responsible for controlling the aeroplane, as well as the visualization of data relevant to the aircraft status.
- The autopilot system, that is responsible for the completing the mission autonomously.
- The flight computer, that makes all calculations pertinent to the team’s mission and the correct function of all subsystems.
The mechanical subteam has been divided in two departments, Structural and Aerodynamics.
- Structural is responsible for designing and constructing the inner skeleton of the aircraft. Its members design all of the aircraft’s parts performing structural analyses to ensure the assembly’s structural integrity during the flight.
- Aerodynamics is tasked with the aircraft’s aerodynamic design and its flight performance. The members design the aircraft’s aerodynamic surfaces and study their aerodynamic characteristics. The goal is optimal flight characteristics to be achieved in order for the mission to be executed successfully.
