CubeSat nanosatellites have a standard chassis size of 10 by 10 by 10 centimeters to allow low-cost space missions through the use of standardized components and launch systems. Many CubeSat missions, however, still cost tens of thousands of dollars because they use expensive “space-rated” components, creating a cost barrier for many CubeSat projects. The team was asked to develop a CubeSat infrastructure design costing less than $5,000 that uses off-the shelf components, including a miniature transceiver, 3-D printing for the internal structure. Off-the-shelf components include a Teensy 3.2 microcontroller and Arduino MicroModem for recording telemetry such as CubeSat surface temperature, system acceleration, attitude, and functionality; and a Yaesu VX-3R FM transceiver that uses amateur radio frequency for communications. The 3-D printer saves cost and mass, improves strength, and permits greater creativity in design beyond the standard CubeSat stack format.

Taxiing aircraft cause an estimated $100 million worth of damage per year. To prevent such damage, Meggitt Securaplane has designed a forward-facing wingtip camera that acts much like backup cameras on cars. The complex curvature of the wingtip and its orientation with respect to the camera’s optic axis cause an ordinary window to produce unwanted optical aberrations. The project’s objective is to design a window that reduces aberrations in the final image from the camera. The team designed a window that was conformal with the aircraft wing on the outside, while changing the shape of the inside surface to remove the most aberrations. The window design includes a heating element to prevent mist and frost from accumulating on the window. Because installing the camera wire feed through the wings to the cockpit is extremely costly, the design includes an antenna to transmit high-quality images directly to the pilots.

Continental Automotive Systems seeks to incorporate collaborative robots, designed to work side by side with human workers, into its existing assembly lines to increase plant efficiency and effectiveness. The design team was charged with designing and constructing a mounting frame for use in a collaborative manufacturing cell that can be integrated into current Continental assembly lines, where components are manually transferred from one stage to another. The team’s collaborative manufacturing cell consists of a robotic arm, a MicroRAX frame, multiple pneumatic grippers, and a proximity sensor for safety. The manufacturing cell automatically transfers components from one location on the assembly line to another. The frame was designed so that the robotic arm could attach multiple grippers, which allows the manufacturing cell to transfer multiple components at once. The implementation of a collaborative assembly line robot will improve productivity, save space, and reduce cost.

The goal of this project is to improve Continental’s manufacturing efficiency and reduce human error by designing and building Virtual Companion, based on Vuzix M100 Smart Glasses, for assembly-line workers, who use multiple data sources to inform decisions and execute tasks. Several locations on the assembly line contribute to errors that lead to downtime and reduced efficiency. The team designed algorithms and a user interface to help operators prioritize multiple upcoming tasks on the assembly line, enabling them to select the most important task for the effective functioning of the line. The system receives data from the assembly line modules and processes it to help the operator with real-time decision-making. The system also forewarns the operator of potential failure points in the upcoming assembly line process.

High-density polyethylene, or HDPE, pipes are typically installed 18–36 inches below ground, where summer temperatures can exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. Southwest Gas is interested in quantifying the cooling effects of air moving through small-diameter HDPE pipes, and the goal of this project is to design and build a prototype system for testing 1-inch and 2-inch HDPE pipes. The test system varies the surrounding air temperature and the flow rate of the air moving through the pipe to user-defined values. Data is collected on volumetric flow rate, surrounding air temperature, and internal pipe pressure and combined with fundamental heat-transfer and pipe-flow knowledge to derive a temperature gradient denoting the cooling effect across the wall of the pipe.

The project requires the team to design and test a telecentric optical system with autofocus capabilities for machine vision. The design integrates a liquid lens into an existing telecentric lens system, and incorporates both optical components with a control algorithm. The liquid lens provides the autofocus function without the use of mechanics to adjust the focus. The team had to solve problems such as camera selection, thermal stability, autofocus, maintaining object space telecentricity, and minimizing magnification change with focus. The algorithms accurately report to the user a view of the current focus and provide metrics for the user to decide how much to adjust the focus. The system was tested to meet optical specifications in a mounted environment with the test objective back-illuminated by a sodium source. Images captured of the test objective are processed against the magnification and modulation transfer function requirements and an adjustment to the focus of the system is patched to the liquid lens driver. Automating the focusing of this system allows for more efficient monitoring of any manufacturing process in which machine vision is a tool for qualitative analysis.

The team was asked to review alternative cooling technologies for office buildings and single-family homes in Phoenix, Arizona. The typical structures selected for study were a 50,000-square-foot office building and a 2,500-square-foot single-family residence. Alternative cooling technologies were compared with respect to their energy efficiency, installed cost, and energy cost savings based on a typical utility company electric rate. The baseline cooling system is a standard efficiency direct-expansion cooling unit. The analysis used realistic building models to obtain cooling loads for input into the financial model and a cooling load model for each building type.

The team was asked to design and develop an assisted launch and capture system for unmanned aerial vehicles that can decrease takeoff and landing distance by 10 percent. The team tested the concept by designing and building a subscale prototype that uses compressed air to provide extra thrust sufficient to decrease the launch distance. For capture, the system slides the launch box from the center of the runway and uses a cable to catch the plane as it touches down. The cable provides the resistance to slow the plane down and stop it within the decreased landing limit. The modular design allows the system to launch and capture the plane efficiently without damaging it. The design can be scaled to accommodate full-size unmanned aerial vehicles and used for future testing.

Universal Avionics sometimes receives incorrect or inconsistent data from external inertial measurement and magnetic sensing units installed in its own attitude and heading reference system. The externally sourced units consist of gyros, accelerometers, and magnetometers and are classified as microelectromechanical system sensors. The sponsor has no way to test the external systems in-house and has to return them to the supplier. The team’s objective is to create a test system that enables the sponsor to validate the functionality of the external units in-house. The system design includes communication with the units via a software interface, electrical power and communication, and a mechanical test system that simulates the environment of the unit installed on an aircraft. The environmental test system can be calibrated in the pitch, roll, and yaw directions and is strapped to a cart for mobility. The roll and pitch are adjusted using a precision tilt and turntable with the sensors mounted on top of the structure. The desired yaw direction is achieved by aligning pins on the cart with the sponsor’s sight compass. Communication with the sensors is regulated via a graphical user interface and based on a custom circuit board containing three microprocessors and power regulators.

The purpose of this project was to develop portable remote sensor module to aid in troubleshooting by sensing real-world signals and recording the information over a selectable time period. The sensor module detects and records electrical current, temperature, light interruption, motion, and the presence of fluids. Recorded information is downloaded to a portable device such as a laptop or notebook, where users can view the data on an easy-to-understand graphical user interface. The sensor module uses the Texas Instruments MSP 430 microcontroller and several more of the company’s precision operational and instrumentation amplifiers. The team designed the module to be marketable, with 15 percent profit margin as a minimum goal.