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2016 ASEE Rocky Mountain Section Conference
Technology (ETH Zürich). After the presentation, Professor Santiago had one exceptional and
self-motivated MSEE student who built a 3D Printed Quadcopter that took three quarters to
complete. The student did some market research showing the cost savings on the use of
quadcopters to monitor the hot-spots following the devastating fires in Colorado currently done
with helicopters and boots-on-the-
ground firefighters. Other drone
applications he found were law
enforcement and search and rescue.
From a technical merit and systematic
testing perspective, the 3-D Printed
Quadcopter Project illustrates this
nicely. In this project, the student
learned how to build a 3-D printed
quadcopter and taught himself about
control theory not taught in the
Master’s Program, and then
implemented it using an Arduino
microcontroller (not taught in the graduate courses). During the course of this project, the student
developed a temperature control system to uniformly build 3-D printed parts for the quadcopter.
After building the 3D-printed parts and integrating the motors and Arduino controller, he tested
his control algorithm to orient and stabilize the quadcopter at fixed and various angles based on
user selected inputs. One phase involved tethering the controller to test for one dimension so
that the quadcopter can fly stably at various user-selected angles. Figure 4 shows the quadcopter
testing the controller for a fixed angle. Then, the student tested his control algorithm in two-
dimensions and then successfully flight-tested the untethered quadcopter in three-dimensions.
As suggested by Professor Santiago, the
student uploaded several videos of his
testing on YouTube. Professor Santiago
plans to upload the videos to the
Department’s Engineering Channel,
‘STEM Videos for the Flipped Classroom’.
The student’s playlist of videos shows the
flight testing for one-, two- and three-
dimensional control.
Remote Control Unmanned Vehicle
(RCUV). Another MSEE student during
the Winter Quarter of 2015 tackled a
technically complex project that uses a
cellular network for controlling an RCUV,
where a system block diagram is depicted
in Figure 5. The student provided further
details down to the component level for
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016
Technology (ETH Zürich). After the presentation, Professor Santiago had one exceptional and
self-motivated MSEE student who built a 3D Printed Quadcopter that took three quarters to
complete. The student did some market research showing the cost savings on the use of
quadcopters to monitor the hot-spots following the devastating fires in Colorado currently done
with helicopters and boots-on-the-
ground firefighters. Other drone
applications he found were law
enforcement and search and rescue.
From a technical merit and systematic
testing perspective, the 3-D Printed
Quadcopter Project illustrates this
nicely. In this project, the student
learned how to build a 3-D printed
quadcopter and taught himself about
control theory not taught in the
Master’s Program, and then
implemented it using an Arduino
microcontroller (not taught in the graduate courses). During the course of this project, the student
developed a temperature control system to uniformly build 3-D printed parts for the quadcopter.
After building the 3D-printed parts and integrating the motors and Arduino controller, he tested
his control algorithm to orient and stabilize the quadcopter at fixed and various angles based on
user selected inputs. One phase involved tethering the controller to test for one dimension so
that the quadcopter can fly stably at various user-selected angles. Figure 4 shows the quadcopter
testing the controller for a fixed angle. Then, the student tested his control algorithm in two-
dimensions and then successfully flight-tested the untethered quadcopter in three-dimensions.
As suggested by Professor Santiago, the
student uploaded several videos of his
testing on YouTube. Professor Santiago
plans to upload the videos to the
Department’s Engineering Channel,
‘STEM Videos for the Flipped Classroom’.
The student’s playlist of videos shows the
flight testing for one-, two- and three-
dimensional control.
Remote Control Unmanned Vehicle
(RCUV). Another MSEE student during
the Winter Quarter of 2015 tackled a
technically complex project that uses a
cellular network for controlling an RCUV,
where a system block diagram is depicted
in Figure 5. The student provided further
details down to the component level for
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016
