All I had access to was foam and laminate - much heavier than composite materials. I got around this problem by innovating a new construction method that yielded better crash protection with minimal weight penalties by making a derivative of a stressed-skin design.

Ideally, for this application Li-Ion would be the battery of choice due to their high energy density and minimal weight. Due to budget constraints, LiPo batteries were used which weigh more but are better suited to high amperage applications and cost less than Li-Ion.

In order to generate sufficient lift but cruise efficiently, a compromise was chosen in aerofoil design that used a thicker, washed-out, high camber aerofoil close to the wingtips, while a skinnier, more symmetrical aerofoil was chosen for the wing root and “fuselage” to reduce drag.

A student budget severely limits the affordable components to use in the design. At the time of construction, no major drone companies had begun shipping an off-the-shelf long-range FPV system. This meant a clean-sheet design for the control and video transmission systems - an interesting challenge.

With this project, failure was not an option. Using three onboard batteries created redundant power sources to protect against mid-air failures. The autopilot and control circuits were also electrically isolated from the motor power circuit, further decreasing the likelihood of catastrophic system failures.

Using a well-known RC flight computer combined with some custom coding, I designed a full-capability autopilot that could follow waypoints, headings, and even return home automatically in the event of a video or control-link failure. This system also handled all the onboard mixing for the flight controls, making an inherently unstable flying-wing design operate completely hands-free.