Dbf 2005

[annihilator]

Hey guys, I noticed there is not a DBF 2005 thread going and I figured that we might as well start one up! For those of you who are reading for pleasure and are not involved in the contest the rules can be found here : http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/aiaadbf/ .

Things are under way and for the sake of being fair I just want to post some pictures for everyone to enjoy and discuss without getting too involved. I'll gladly answer any questions you have.

[annihilator]

No problem moving the thread please tell me where so i can refer the people i have sent links to.

[davidfee]

Thank you very much for starting this thread! I was only minimally involved with SDSU this year, so it will be great to see and hear more. I wonder if the mods would prefer to see this in the aerodynamics forum??

Thanks for the posts and pics!
-David

[DaveSawers]

I wonder if the mods would prefer to see this in the aerodynamics forum??

This one would :)

[davidfee]

More please! :)

[Sparky Paul]

And a link to the rules, and results..????

[davidfee]

Rules:
http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/aiaadbf/2005_rules.html

Results:
(*not yet posted*)

Dedicated "independent" website:
http://www.terrabreak.org/

[annihilator]

We won! OSU Black team took first place. OSU orange took second. Washington State in third (they had an awesome plane)! Here are some more pictures. If there are any more specific things that you would like please reply and ask and i will sift through the 500 (literally) pictures I have of the contest and see if i have anything. Be sure and check out www.terrabreak.org

[davidfee]

Congratulations on your victory! I can honestly say that I know how it feels ('03 SDSU). :)

Wow... am I understanding the scoreboard correctly... that only ~43% of the teams posted scoring flights? What were some of the biggest difficulties teams experienced? Was there any part of the task that ended up being easier than you anticipated? Harder than you anticipated? Obviously you guys did your homework and came up with a winning combination.

Congrats!
-David

-David

[annihilator]

Most had difficulty with the external mission. You had to carry 3 lb payloads on your wingtips and drop them into boxes on the runway, the detailed description of this mission can be found in the rules, its the sensor reposition mission. Most teams either could not control the large moment created by having the payloads at their tips, some broke their gear on landing because of the added weight, and some could not drop their payloads after they got down because their latches failed or their airplane tipped over while taxiing with an asymetric load.

It was very hard to design a release mechanism that is reliable and quick to latch onto the payloads. Our mechanism allowed a click on attachment with a servo activated detachment and there was no way it was going to go anywhere in flight.

Not much came easy, but the one thing that didn't take much math or extra thought was the internal mission. If you deisgn for the external mission then your plane should be able to carry the payloads internally also since its the same weight in a better location in your aircraft.

I know it looks like many teams didn't score, and while some teams didnt even show, the teams that did had excellent aircraft and i found it very interesting just to see their ideas and how others approached the problem.

I just noticed that i dont have a picture of usc's airplane on here, that thing SCREAMED in the air, it was really beautiful, they had problems with their gear though.

[davidfee]

Cool. Yeah, I know SDSU's plane had serious trouble taxiing with the assymetric load the day I saw them testing it a month ago. It basically couldn't do it. I think this year's mission (payloads external, anyway) was the most challenging I've seen from a design standpoint.

I remember from when I was involved that nothing was easy... every last detail was important and everything had to work perfectly to get through the contest... including the team members.

Again, great job!
-David