Last week, after a visit for other reasons, I got dragged into yet another university "UAV lab" - actually, like every other I've seen, it was basically a toy aeroplane workshop. Collections of lightweight foam vehicles, with a standard model engine and undercarriage, and a janet-and-john microprocessor autopilot.
And yet again, the academics were deeply enthusiastic about the benefits to the students, and the huge research opportunities.
Except that I just can't see it. I'm all in favour of university aeronautical engineering students getting some direct contact with hardware, getting them out of the lecture theatre and computer room. But, every single one of these setups I've seen is carefully ignoring...
- Realistic powerplant design.
- Any form of design certification
- Any formalised testing methodology
- Any form of design or configuration control
- Any manufacturing techniques we'd use in the real world.
- An obvious mission requirement
In other words, most of the big complexities that make *real* flight vehicles what they are.
So I end up, every time, concluding that these things are, just about every time, a bunch of academics playing with toys, and in doing so, deluding themselves that they understand real aeroplanes. I think that the only exception I've met that does come close to providing real educational benefits, is the
Heavy Lift Challenge.
Or am I missing something?
G