SAE Aero

Interdisciplinary Fun

Designing a lightweight autonomous glider requires both a knowledge of autopilot systems and sensor suites, as well as a knowledge of fluid mechanics, mechanics of materials, and material properties to build airframes with high lift, high stiffness, low drag, and low weight. Below are some images of a testbed airframe used to test an open-source autopilot using RTK GNSS for localization, as well as a picture of the craft in flight with hands off the controls.

(The aircraft is the small spec above the controller in the photo on the right)