Getting Started

Welcome to our team! If you are reading this, it might mean that you are either a potential member or new member of our team. Outlined in this page are the basic steps for joining.

Please note, general meetings are held over Zoom on Wednesday's at 8:00PM CST and in UNL Nebraska Hall W347.

Join Zoom Meeting https://unl.zoom.us/j/98614962923 Meeting ID: 986 1496 2923

https://unl.zoom.us/j/98614962923

For any additional questions, please check out the Contact Us page!

Team Communication

Most team communication is done through Slack on the UNL Aerospace #uav-general channel. Team meetings will be held either in person or remote or both during the year. To make sure you are the most up to date with current communication, please download Slack and Zoom as outlined below.

To track progress, a progress management and Kanban board tool, Quire is used.

Slack

To download slack, please visit the Slack Download Link. After downloading slack, request to join the Aerospace channel at unlaerospace.slack.com or by sending an email to one of the club leads on the Contact Us page.

After joining the UNL Aerospace slack, request to join the #uav-general channel, and any other UAV specific channel you might be interested in, whether it be hardware, software, etc.

Quire

To join the Quire board, use the link https://quire.io/c/unl_uav or reach out to a team lead. Quire supports Mac, Windows, and Android and iPhone apps as well.

Quire is the software we use for project tracking. Weekly objective information will be posted to Quire on a Kanban style board. Learn more about what Quire is Here.

Zoom

General meetings and subteam specific meetings will be held during the week to update on progress and to work. These meetings will be held in person or over Zoom. To download zoom go to the link here Zoom Download.

Zoom meeting invites will be sent out in the slack channel to attend remotely.

Mission Rules

Now that you have downloaded and are part of our primary means of communication, the next step in the process is being knowledgeable of the mission rules and organizer website. Please read the What is AUVSI IARC subheading to know what our organizer is and does, in addition to the Mission 9 Objective to understand the rules under the Home page.

After reading these sections, make sure to visit the Mission 9 Rules Link to download and view the mission rules. Understanding the mission objectives, rules, and story is very important in understanding the scope of what type of work you will be doing, so make sure to read this document!

IARC Mission 9 has challenged us to build and program a fully autonomous aerial system that is capable of performing tasks in mid-air. Below is a gist of Mission 9 objectives:

  • Fly fully autonomous
  • Use ONBOARD Computing (no data links except for kill switch and safety pilot override)
  • Avoid other aerial robots
  • Avoid physical obstacles
  • Conduct the mission successfully (replace a communication module and return home) under 9 minutes

Administrative

Unless specified, all forms should be send via email to the aerospace-uav@unl.edu email

Dues

Dues are $20 and can be directly paid to the club treasurer, or any one of the team leads. Contact Khawm Mung on the People page. Cash is preferred.

Outreach Requirements

This year, due to policies put into effect because of Covid-19, completing the two hours outreach requirements is temporarily not required. Members can and will have the opportunity to participate in outreach events, if desired. This usually entails advertising the Aerospace club at a club fair or volunteering with kids as an aerospace ambassador.

Lab Safety Trainings

Safety training can be completed independently, however, there will be an opportunity to knock out safety training in one sitting. Upon completing safety training, lab access agreement form, and dues, members are granted lab access.

To complete club safety training, visit this website: https://ehs.unl.edu/web-based-training

Once there, you will need to click on the four hyperlinks for

  1. Core – Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP)
  2. Core – Emergency Preparedness Training
  3. General Electrical Safety Awareness
  4. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

You will be provided material to read for each one and then a quiz to take after you have read it. Once you pass the quiz, you should receive an email from the site saying that you have done so.

When you receive this email, please forward it to unl.aerospace.safety.training@gmail.com

Forms to Submit

Other Information

Team Structure

The team is loosely divided into hardware and software. The hardware group is responsible for designing and constructing the drones needed for design decisions. They are responsible for developing the drones’ autonomy, supporting the hardware requirements for the software, and maintaining the telemetry feed. The software group is responsible for developing the on-board computer vision systems that receive commands and transmit parsed images to the operator.

Funding

The UAV team gets its primary funding from two sources: NASA Nebraska and eSAB. NASA Nebraska is the largest source of funding, usually granting us between $6,500 - $8,000 each year. This year the grant award amount is capped at $7000. eSAB funding is reimburse-only, meaning members would need to make the initial purchase and then get reimbursed for the amount later. We are usually granted between $3,750 - $5,000 from eSAB.

Travelling

For Mission 9, IARC is hosting the competition at Front Royal, Virginia. The competition is usually a three days event and occurs during the first few weeks of August. To travel, members must have paid their dues, completed safety training, and completed their outreach requirements.