Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Senior Design Projects
Mechanical Engineering students complete their education with a two-semester capstone experience designing, testing, building, and verifying a product for a real client. Students will leverage their individual strengths to best contribute to their team, learn how to learn by confronting the unique challenges of their project, and navigate satisfying customer requirements through regular interaction with their client. By completing the capstone experience, students not only prepare themselves for success at their first jobs after graduation, but also build relationships that can last a lifetime.
DBF OTIS
This project tackles the design and fabrication of the aerodynamic and payload subsystems of the radio-controlled aircraft OTIS. The resulting aircraft will be entered into a competition hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and judged against other vehicles across three missions that test its ability to complete a designated course, carry and deliver payloads, and more.
Dumbo Fliers
The African Elephant population faces significant and devastating harm from poachers. This project develops our Dumbo Fliers blimp drone, which will aid park authorities in monitoring elephant herds in order to prevent poaching incidents and catch poachers, a solution that can ideally be expanded to deal with poaching throughout the continent.
Evaluation of Thermal Matls
This project addresses the critical challenge of developing thermal protection systems capable of withstanding extreme temperatures while directing heat in controlled ways, primarily relevant for high-speed aerospace applications. We explore different material configurations and their thermal properties to create optimized protection systems that enhance performance and longevity of high-speed aerospace vehicles while resisting structural failure.
Fresh Impact Farms
Fresh Impact Farms, an indoor farm in Arlington, Virginia, delivers flavorful, hyper-local produce to the Washing, DC area. However, the energy demands of operating year-round air conditioning systems to counter the heat generated by artificial grow lights conflicts with the farm’s sustainability goals. To address this, this project aims to develop a solution that reduces the cooling load on the farm’s air handler unit.
Reeflex/ByteBlazer [IXD - CS x ECE x MAE]
Invasive lionfish pose a threat to coral reefs. Traditional methods of controlling lionfish populations are ineffective or too costly. We are proposing an autonomous submersible capable of removing invasive lionfish.
RTX UAV – [IXD - ECE x MAE]
For the annual Autonomous Vehicle Competition, sponsored by Raytheon, students in STEM disciplines are encouraged to find original solutions for a series of timed challenges. Our solution tackles this year’s challenges, which include autonomous missions, drone-to-drone communication, and efficient search and delivery. RTX UAV is an interdisciplinary project across ECE and MAE.
SkyHarvester
The objective of this project is to develop an energy harvesting module (EHM) for use in the airline industry that reduces reliance on single-use coin cell batteries for powering preflight “internet of things” sensors. The EHM is designed to be compatible with a variety of aircraft and will improve both the environmental effects and labor costs associated with maintaining and/or replacing sensor batteries.
URF SmartSpot
The goal of this project is to develop an environmentally durable “smart” spotlight for use in maritime vehicle operations. The spotlight will autonomously illuminate channel markers with the aid of a chart plotter, track the last known location of victims in “man overboard” scenarios, and self-stabilize to account for choppy conditions, all dramatically reducing the need for manual operation.
Warming All-Purpose Sock (WAPSAP) [IXD - BME x MAE]
5.6 million individuals in the United States have limb loss or limb difference, and many of them experience decreased circulation. Working with a client in Maryland, our project seeks to develop two medical devices to address the cold discomfort stemming from circulation issues: one warming sock to be worn around the house and one warming prosthetic sock to be worn when working. WAPSAP is an interdisciplinary project across BME and MAE.