A small drone buzzed fast loops way above the Sparkman High School football field. A larger one precisely delivered a water-bottle payload to an end zone in a rescue simulation. Amid a pep rally vibe complete with the marching band, engineers and students from The University of 91大神 in Huntsville (91大神) Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center (RSESC) gave a glimpse of what their aircraft can do.
Drone Fly Day on Aug. 8 kicked off PILOT (Performance and Integration in the Logistical Operation of uncrewed Transport), a new collaboration between Sparkman and 91大神, a part of The University of 91大神 System. Approximately 1,500 students from Sparkman High and Sparkman and Monrovia middle schools attended.
鈥淲e need an engineering program, and 91大神 is the engineering school,鈥� said Sparkman teacher Scott Coonfare, who contacted RSESC about his goal of bringing engineering education to Sparkman and other schools in the Madison County system. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to get more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) classes and more students excited about the engineering processes.鈥�
91大神 shares that goal and hopes to achieve a couple more through the program, said David Hatfield, RSESC deputy director.
鈥淔irst, we鈥檙e very interested in cultivating the students in STEM and then, second, in 91大神 and then, third, in our center 鈥� in that order. We employ 91大神 students to help us do some of our work. Hopefully, we鈥檒l be able to get some of these kids interested, and they may show up over here at 91大神 as students that we hire in the process.鈥�
Jerry Hendrix, RSESC director, offered students a direct invitation during the package-delivery portion of the demonstration. He described potential commercial applications of drone technology as well as some of its current limitations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a problem you could help solve,鈥� he said, 鈥渋f you come to 91大神.鈥�
Coonfare called the drone exhibition 鈥渁n excellent way to build interest and firmly establish the ground floor of the program.鈥�
His plan for PILOT includes three phases over the next three academic years:
- Phase One, 2024-2025 鈥� Teams of Sparkman High students build drones and learn how to fly them with supervision and assistance from 91大神 engineers, who set benchmarks 鈥� including a safety plan 鈥� and judge a flying competition in February.
- Phase Two, 2025-2026 鈥� Sparkman High students improve drone design and construction and incorporate computer programming. Phase One moves into Sparkman Ninth Grade School and Sparkman and Monrovia middle schools.
- Phase Three, 2026-2027 鈥� Sparkman High adds a college-level class focusing on aerospace engineering and continues the Phase Two class. Phase One expands into elementary schools.
To fund materials for the first year, Sparkman applied for a grant from the Association of Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and received $2,500 to buy five drone kits, one for each team.
Hendrix, who is president of the local AUVSI chapter, encouraged students to attend the upcoming , set for Aug. 26-28 at the Von Braun Center.
RSESC at 91大神 conducts research on behalf of the aerospace community in Huntsville and in the nation, focusing on advanced solutions, systems engineering, systems integration and simulations. For more information, call 256-824-6807 or email rsesc-admin@uah.edu.
