November 24, 2015

Branch Activity Report

Student Branch: Western Michigan University

Region: III- Central Section: Michigan

Web Presence (Facebook, Website, Twitter, etc.) Facebook

When do you hold your elections: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall (highlight one)

Old Branch Officers New Branch Officers

Student Branch Chair Student Branch Chair

Name: ___Tyler Wall _____ Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Student Branch Vice-Chair Student Branch Vice-Chair

Name: ______Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Secretary: Secretary:

Name: ______Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Treasurer: Treasurer:

Name: ______Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Other officers: Other officers:

Name: ______Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Name: ______Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Name: ______Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Old Faculty Advisor: New Faculty Advisor:

Name: ______Member Number: ______Name: ______Member Number: ______

Do you have a tax id number under the AIAA umbrella? If yes, have you completed your IRS form 990-N (online only) for the latest tax year? No tax ID number

Please indicate responses below:

1. Did your branch participate in local section events? Yes No

2. Did any members of your branch participate in any AIAA conferences? Yes No

3. Did you have any members participate in the following student programs?

Scholarships / Yes / No
Design, Build, Fly / Yes / No
Design Competitions / Yes / No
Student Paper Conferences / Yes / No

Tell AIAA what your branch has done!!! Have you held an event for your community? Did you win a competition not hosted by AIAA? If you would like to provide more details regarding your branch activities please submit an additional page(s)

Group Summary:

Design-Build-Fly Competition

The competition this year was sponsored by Raytheon Missile Systems and Cessna Aircraft Company, and took place in Tucson, AZ. The three missions were an empty payload timed air race, a heavy 5 lb payload mission, and finally a wiffle ball drop mission.

The aircraft this year followed the standard design and construction process that the WMU DBF team has developed over the years. Though in past years there had been some experimenting with foam core wings, this year the wings were made from traditional balsa construction. Approximately 10 students, including several freshmen, were involved in the design process, of which three went to Tucson to participate in the competition.

The WMU aircraft performed well in the first mission despite sustaining damage during takeoff due to faulty wiring. However, the resulting repairs increased the weight of the aircraft and prevented a successful second (payload) mission takeoff. Overall, the WMU DBF team placed 25 out of 84 teams.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)

This division of AIAA at WMU continued its work in developing aircraft equipped with imaging technology. In particular, students’ senior design projects were used as testbeds, allowing members of the AIAA chapter here to learn about unmanned aerial systems and the techniques of their construction while senior year students completed their required capstone design project. Three aircraft were constructed this year, two as part of senior design projects and one separately. Of the senior design projects, one crashed due to an electrical systems failure. The other senior design project was a large hexacopter outfitted with a Kinect; the goal of this project is to develop an aircraft that can map its surroundings and navigate through a new environment to a designated target. Due to its large size and complexity of the software, this project will continue to the next year. The third aircraft built was a model MQ-9 Reaper drone which has been outfitted with an extended battery pack and optimized motor to allow for aerial photography with a live feedback ground station which will fly for over thirty minutes. As of the end of the semester, this project is still awaiting flight, and is also a project that will carry over to the next year.

The Rocketry Division

This was the first year with an official Rocketry Division as part of AIAA at WMU. As the newest division at WMU, this branch concerned itself mostly with attracting interested students and gain a wider support base, with the goal of starting the 2015-2016 year with a solid group of committed students to begin the process for Level 1 high-power rocketry certification. Planning for this process and the eventual construction of a launch pad, as well as research into competitions and manufacturing capabilities, were the main products of the Rocketry Division during this year.