EGH450 Advanced Unmanned Aircraft Systems


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Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Gardens Point, Internal

Unit code:EGH450
Credit points:12
Pre-requisite:EGB346 or Admission to (EN50, EN55 or EN60)
Assumed Knowledge:

EGB349 is assumed knowledge

Coordinator:Felipe Gonzalez | felipe.gonzalez@qut.edu.au
Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.

Overview

This unit further develops your knowledge, skills and application of aerospace concepts, building on aircraft systems and flight and Unmanned Aircraft systems (UAS) and Systems Engineering. The unit focuses on experimental design, integration and test of a UAS. You will also gain skills in setting design specifications and carrying out detailed design analysis to design, build and flight test a UAS.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

  1. Apply principles and advanced knowledge of manned and unmanned aircraft systems to design, build and test innovative Unmanned Aerial Systems at a mastered level.
  2. Make and justify decisions considering safety, risk management and sustainability using a process aligned with professional engineering practice, at a mastered level.
  3. Incorporate social, cultural, environmental factors and sustainable engineering practice when designing your UAS, at a mastered level.
  4. Compose a technical report on an aerospace systems engineering project including design calculations and simulations, at a mastered level

Content

  • Unmanned Aircraft System Design
  • Unmanned Aircraft System Operations
  • Systems Engineering
  • Unmanned Aircraft System autopilots
  • Verification and Validation of Aerospace Vehicles
  • Advanced Aircraft Navigation Systems
  • Unmanned Aircraft and applications
  • Advanced Command and control
  • Communications protocols limitations and networks

Learning Approaches

This unit includes formal lectures from experienced professional aerospace engineers to give you insight into
professional engineering knowledge, skills and attributes

This is a highly team oriented unit and much emphasis is placed on simulating project conditions seen in the
aerospace workplace. 

The lectures will be based on industry practice and experience and these will be underpinned by demonstrations,
reading and the application of knowledge to solving problems.

Tutorial sessions will involve individual questioning as well as group work and student-centred learning rather than
guided problem solving, with feedback coming from the whole group. This will enhance the group nature of systems
design.

You will have opportunities for real world learning experiences through laboratory exercises and flight testing around
unmanned aircraft systems.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Formative feedback will be provided throughout the discussion and workshop sessions. Review of submitted assessment items will provide both summative and formative feedback. Feedback will also be provided through:

  • Regular interaction with tutors and demonstrators in the weekly collaborative learning sessions
  • Comments on summative assessment work in addition to criteria sheets
  • Generic comments back to the cohort via QUT Canvas
  • Feedback from peers within your collaborative learning sessions

You are encouraged to view your group as a learning community and to share and discuss emergent ideas in the design process.

Each assessment submission will be marked against criteria and standards which will be shared with you at the beginning of semester through Assessment Task Descriptions and Marking Rubrics.

Marked assessment will include feedback from markers, against the criteria.

Assessment

Overview

Assessment in this unit has been designed to give you the opportunity to show your learning against the unit learning outcomes.
The assessment for this unit is designed to measure your acquisition of key concepts and your ability to apply and implement theoretical developments to contextualized aerospace engineering problems. You will be working individually as well as in small teams solving problems using a variety of analytical, hardware and computer based techniques. A project based approach to assignment design will be utilized.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Project (applied)

This assessment involves submission of the final prototype of your final design.

Weight: 50
Individual/Group: Group
Due (indicative): Weeks 6 & 13
Related Unit learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4

Assessment: Report

This task specifically ask to submit project documentation including design, test reports, validation and verification.

Weight: 30
Individual/Group: Individual
Due (indicative): Weeks 6 & 13
Related Unit learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4

Assessment: Presentation (Oral or Group)

This consists of a series of weekly critical design reviews with the tutor and a more formal critical design review presentation in front of an industry and an academic panel in week 13.

Weight: 20
Individual/Group: Individual
Due (indicative): Week 13
Related Unit learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Resource Materials

Recommended text(s)

Austin, RegUnmanned aircraft systems: UAVs design, development and deployment

Fahlstrom, Paul Gerin and Gleason, Thomas J , Introduction to UAV systems, 2012, 4th ed.,ISBN 1119978661, xxv, 280

Reference book(s)

Angelov, Plamen, Human Factors in UAV

Eskandarian, Azim Handbook of intelligent vehicles

Macke, David C; Watkins, Steve E; Rehmeier, Thomas, Creative Interdisciplinary UAV Design

Maza, Iva´n and Ollero, A Multiple heterogeneous unmanned aerial vehicles

Risk Assessment Statement

You will be required to undertake practical sessions in the computer lab under the supervision of the lecturer/tutor/technical staff of the School. The School's occupational health and safety policies and procedures will apply to these sessions.

You will undergo a health and safety induction and will be issued with a safety induction card. If you do not have a safety induction card, you will be denied access to laboratories.

In any laboratory practical you will be advised of requirements of safe and responsible behaviour and will be required to wear appropriate protective items (e.g. closed shoes or steel capped shoes).

Students will also need to develop a risk management plan for their project.

Course Learning Outcomes

This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.

EN01 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)

  1. Make decisions ethically within the social, cultural, and organisational contexts of professional engineering practice.
    Relates to: ULO3, Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  2. Engage stakeholders professionally and communicate the outcomes of your work effectively to expert and non-expert audiences using appropriate modes.
    Relates to: ULO4, Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  3. Engage with and apply regulatory requirements relating to safety, risk management, and sustainability in professional engineering practice.
    Relates to: ULO2, Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  4. Demonstrate coherent knowledge and skills of physical, mathematical, statistical, computer, and information sciences that are fundamental to professional engineering practice.
    Relates to: ULO1, Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)

EN55 Master of Professional Engineering

  1. Apply advanced and specialist knowledge, concepts and practices in engineering design, analysis management and sustainability.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  2. Critically analyse and evaluate complex engineering problems to achieve research informed solutions.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  3. Communicate complex information effectively and succinctly, presenting high level reports, arguments and justifications in oral, written and visual forms to professional and non specialist audiences.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  4. Organise and manage time, tasks and projects independently, and collaboratively demonstrating the values and principles that shape engineering decision making and professional accountability.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)

EN60 Graduate Certificate in Communication for Engineering

  1. Demonstrate and apply specialised knowledge and technical skills in at least one Engineering discipline.
    Relates to: Project (applied)
  2. Critically investigate real world engineering issues and solve complex problems drawing on specialised creative skills, analysis, evaluation and synthesis of discipline knowledge, theory and practice.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report
  3. Employ effective written and oral professional communication skills across social, cultural and discipline domains.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  4. Exercise responsibility and accountability in applying knowledge and skills for own learning and effective practice including working independently, ethically and collaboratively.
    Relates to: Project (applied)

EV01 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)

  1. Make decisions ethically within the social, cultural, and organisational contexts of professional engineering practice.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  2. Engage stakeholders professionally and communicate the outcomes of your work effectively to expert and non-expert audiences using appropriate modes.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  3. Engage with and apply regulatory requirements relating to safety, risk management, and sustainability in professional engineering practice.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)
  4. Demonstrate coherent knowledge and skills of physical, mathematical, statistical, computer, and information sciences that are fundamental to professional engineering practice.
    Relates to: Project (applied), Report, Presentation (Oral or Group)