Operations between Small Satellites and sUAS (small Unmanned Aircraft System), more commonly known as the Drone Project, is one of many projects that has a focus in Aerospace Technologies. I was apart of a 5 person VIP student team who contributed to the Hawaii Space Flight Labratory by debugging Xbee communicators to running and testing drone communications for demonstrations utilizing programs such as Dune and Cosmos. In the next month, the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory plans to launch a small satellite at the University of Hawaii. This satellite is an essential part of this project, for it will give us the means of communication between satellite and drone. The small satellite is being launched with the purpose of observing Earth. The drone project has worked on establishing a working drone, and preparing it for flight. Many parts break down so we have to replace and reprogram it. Most programs for flight control were already previously worked on, so we are tasked to keep the software and parts up to date. We are also tasked with coming up with ways for improving the flight characteristics of drone. We constantly think of new ways to accomodate for unexpected conditions such as rainfall. One task that is being worked on is having a 3D print model box that will sit on top of the drone, that can secure parts that previously sat on top of the drone with no protection such as the Raspberry pi. Additionally, the box will prevent any damage sustained during flight and keep parts in position (so it doesnt fall off).
Project Summary: https://github.com/nzenger/VIP-Drone-Project-UH-Manoa