Project more than a blimp on the horizon
by Vincent Ciccarello
A group of young engineers is switching high school students on to their discipline with a dream project – to build their own airship
It is poetry in motion – a 3.5 metre-long airship, controlled remotely using a Sony PlayStation controller, effortlessly negotiating obstacles in the foyer of a University building at Mawson Lakes.
But behind the graceful moves are some sophisticated electronics, an enthusiastic team and a unique education initiative.
The Airship Telemetry project, is sponsored by Tenix Defence and brings together engineering students in UniSA’s School of Electrical and Information Engineering and students from Salisbury High School.
It’s designed to develop and foster interest in engineering among the high school students and give valuable project management experience to the University students by developing a concept demonstrator airship for intelligent aerial surveillance.
Emilio De Stefano, Simon Calleja and Ashley Keep are in the final year of a double Bachelor of Electrical and Mechatronic Engineering and a Bachelor of Management degree. They have each taken on responsibility for one aspect of the airship project and for mentoring one of the three high school students.
And to guide them and to help solve some of the trickier problems, Tenix Defence allocated aerospace, computer systems and software engineers to the project.
Every week since the beginning of the year, SACE Extension Studies Year 12 students Natasha Reddy, John Coaby and Simon Klaassen-Smith have met with their UniSA mentors to work on the airship’s propulsion and control systems, gondola (component housing) and envelope (balloon).
"We started by determining the system requirements and specifications, creating a project schedule, allocating roles and responsibilities" Emilio De Stefano, the airship project manager, said.
The next stage involved comparing the range of components available by testing and rating them to settle on the best components for the blimp.
"There were a few interesting problems – ensuring the motors and propellers didn’t weigh too much; figuring out whether we should make our own envelope or buy one off-the-shelf; programming the control system using unfamiliar software; and getting the wireless Bluetooth controller and camera system to work," De Stefano said.
The technical problems have almost been totally solved, giving valuable knowledge and skills to the group who will present their airship at an engineering industry day next month.
The project has also given the UniSA students unique insights into project management.
"It’s been great to work with the high school students because we’ve not only developed further our technical skills but also learned valuable project management and people skills", De Stefano said.
Their supervisors, Zorica Nedic and Professor Andrew Nafalski from the School of Electrical and Information Engineering said it was very encouraging to see the school’s engineering program had equipped the students so well.
"Our students have demonstrated in the project their maturity as professionals and their technical proficiency," they said.
Tenix mentor and senior engineer Chris Basheer said the company chose to be involved with this program to encourage interest in the various engineering fields and to "give students a taste of the exciting projects that engineers are involved with".
"We are very impressed with the engineering skills the students have demonstrated. They have worked great as a team to develop a fully-functional airship exceeding the project’s requirements," Basheer said.
Salisbury High senior school assistant principal, Debra Turley said the project was an excellent opportunity for the students to get hands-on engineering experience.
"There wouldn’t be any school in the State that could provide that engineering experience without some engineering expertise which the University students provide," she said.
"Apart from the knowledge and skills they acquire, the year 12 students get to mix with university students and start to see a bit of what university can offer. The students taking part this year all want to go to university; it reaffirms in their minds that they’re able to do it because they see the young people they work with are not that different to who they are. It gives them that bridge to university."