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Concordia TAs with Blue Heron drone (right) and Flame Wheel F450 drone kit (left)

2019-2020 MN Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC) Intercollegiate Quadcopter Challenge

The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC), led from the Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics (AEM) Department at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMTC) (Director, Professor Demoz Gebre, and Associate Director, Professor James Flaten) is funding the 2019-2020 MnSGC Intercollegiate Quadcopter Challenge. This program is designed to enhance student and faculty capability at colleges and universities in Minnesota in STEM areas of interest to NASA - in this particular case, for un-crewed RC multi-rotor drones (AKA quadcopters). Oversight of this challenge is being organized by Professor Thelma Berquo and two undergraduate student teaching assistants at Concordia College, Moorhead.

Quadcopters are being used for this challenge because quadcopter kits are readily available. Compared to fixed-wing, radio-controlled airplanes, students can quickly learn to pilot quadcopters and they can be operated in small spaces (including indoors) with limited infrastructure (which is not the case with fixed-wing, radio-controlled airplanes). Each student team will start by building and learning to fly a basic quadcopter from a commercially-available kit (each team will use the same brand of kit, for uniformity). Students will then significantly modify their kits in order to mount sensors, actuators, and electronics necessary for the "exploration challenge." This will also involve some mechanical design and fabrication, giving the students experience with computer-aided design (CAD) software for design, documentation, and (potentially) fabrication with 3-D printing and laser cutting. In addition, the students will have to learn microcontroller programming and integration of electronics, sensors, actuators, and data-logging to ensure that their modifications function properly.

NEW: Snyopsis of overall challenge.

U of MN / MnSGC Contacts Quadcopter Challenge
Demoz Gebre-Egziabher, Director of the MN Space Grant Consortium                           gebre@umn.edu
James Flaten, Assocociate Director of the MN Space Grant Consortium                          flate001@umn.edu
Thelma Berquo, Physics Department, Concordia College, Moorhead                               tberquo@cord.edu
Ben Bogart, Concordia College student assistant                                                               bbogart@cord.edu
Jamie Van Overschelde, Concordia College student assistant                                            jvanove1@cord.edu

Participating Institutions and Faculty Advisers
Century (Community) College, Mahtomedi                                                           Megan Jaunich
Concordia College, Moorhead                                                                                Matthew ArchMiller
Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter                                                                    Charles (Chuck) Niederriter
Hamline University, St. Paul                                                                                   Kevin Stanley
Leech Lake Tribal College, Cass Lake                                                                   Eric Kuha
Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead                                                 Linda Winkler
Normandale Community College                                                                            Susan (Sue) Kasahara
University of Minnesota - Crookston                                                                      Christine Bakke
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities                                                                    James Flaten

Document archive for Quadcopter Challenge
Soldering vocabulary
Lean to Solder slides (from the Colorado Space Grant)
Learn to Solder comic
LiPo battery charging general safety suggestions
Provided parts list for 2019-2020.
NASA Media Release Form (i.e. photo release form) (required of all student and faculty participants)

Kick-off documents for "student kick-off by videocon" on Oct. 27. 2019
Kick-off slides
Kick-off Zoom videocon recording

Link to TA notes (an evolving document, so check back regularly)

Additional Documents for Year 2 (coming soon - things like templates for Preliminary Design Review, Oral Presentation, etc.)
TA video with advice about how to fly the Blue Heron Drone
TA video with advice about how to fly the kit drone

Template for Preliminary Design Report (PDR)
Notes about Oral Presentations
Notes about Post-Challenge Video Report

Overall distribution of points for Quadcopter Challenge
Rubric for judging the PDR written report

Nov. 10, 2019, update videocon with Hamline, Moorhead State, and U of MN - Crookston
Nov. 11, 2019, update videocon (partial recording) with Gustavus, Leech Lake, and U of MN - Twin Cities
Nov. 12, 2019, update videocon with with Century, Concordia, and Normandale

Nov. 24, 2019, update videocon with Hamline, Moorhead State, and U of MN - Crookston
Nov. 25, 2019, update videocon with Gustavus, Leech Lake, and U of MN - Twin Cities
Nov. 26, 2019, update videocon with with Century, Concordia, and Normandale

Dec. 8, 2019, update videocon with Hamline, Moorhead State, and U of MN - Crookston - NO RECORDING
Dec. 9, 2019, update videocon with Gustavus, Leech Lake, and U of MN - Twin Cities
Dec. 10, 2019, update videocon with with Century, Concordia, and Normandale - NO RECORDING

Jan. 7, 2020, update videocon with Moorhead State, Normandale, U of MN - Twin Cities, U of MN - Crookston, and Hamline
Jan. 8, 2020, update videocon with Concordia and U of MN - Crookston

Jan. 21, 2020, update videocon with Normandale and Century
Jan. 23, 2020, update videocon with Hamline, Moorhead State, and U of MN - Twin Cities
Jan. 23, 2020, second update videocon - NO RECORDING

Feb. 4, 2020, update videocon with Normandale, Century, and Gustavus
Feb. 6, 2020, update videocon with Hamline and U of MN - Twin Cities
Feb. 6, 2020, update videocon with Crookston, Moorhead State, and Leech Lake

MORE TO COME - check back regularly

Additional Documents from past quadcopter challenges (whose rules and reports-expectations were somewhat different)
MnSGC Quadcopter Challenge - 2015-2016 website
MnSGC Quadcopter Competition - 2014-2015 website