Analysis of The Hub – UAS Design Application

This was my first time working with The Hub application created by ERAU for design and testing of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). I found the system to be highly entertaining and relatively user friendly. What I found most challenging was the knowledge base on UAS designs themselves. I was making selections that others would probably have laughed at. However, I did come up with several modified designs, some that were successful and others that were not. During this trial I stuck with one model so I could make adjustments and compare those adjustments with previous designs in attempt to tweak it to perfection. Perfection was far from achieved but the system was still great to work with. 

 

The most successful design was a Tern fixed-wing UAS and a man portable ground control station (GCS). When making these selections, the system was very user friendly and allowing the engineer to make selections and adjustments while providing an up to date calculation of the effect of those selections on aspects such as payload and communication. The remote sensing equipment that was available for selection seemed to be modern equipment however, for a novice designer, providing information windows on the equipment to understand their functionality and benefits would have been helpful. In fact, on all the selections there would have been benefits to providing information as to those options and their uses. 

 

The missions that were tested were the agriculture field and the “Missing Hiker” mission. Both missions were appreciated and allowed for the designer to properly test out the sensors as well as review the data from the flight afterwards. The “Missing Hiker” mission did not provide any clearance height requirements that I was aware of to avoid terrain and trees and this proved to be an issue on many flights. With the required altitude unknown, the capability necessary of the UAS was more of guess work. 

 

Lastly, for performance data, the system provided users the option of exporting any data acquired during a flight, test, or design. Which, with more training, seems to provide valuable data that can assist the user with making adjustments. A user could potentially benefit from the knowledge of standard performance numbers to be able to work from during the design phase. I’m sure many experienced UAS engineers are very versed in these performance numbers but a novice designer may have to put more hours in to developing an understanding before this system can be used efficiently.