Team Indus-Luft Dynamics, from Aeross: The Aerospace Society,participated in the 2022 edition of the Real World Design Challenge (RWDC). The team of 6 members: Aadil Faisal Saiyed XII-H (Team Leader/Design Engineer)
Avihan Jain XII-L (Co-Team Leader/Business Analyst)
Amartya Bagchi X-E (Director of Operations)
Pradyun Rudra Patra XII-W (Physicist)
Shaurya Gambhir X-M (Avionics Engineer)
Mana Sharma X-I (CAD Specialist)
bagged the 1st position in the National Round of this competition held in January. They then went onto the world stage, competed with 50+ teams from USA, China, Philippines, Canada, Kenya etc and placed 1st internationally to become the International Champions in April.
The International round is usually held in Washington DC however due to Covid concerns it was held online this year. Indus-Luft Dynamics put their best foot forward with the C-25 ‘Sigma’ UAV, which is based on a vintage gyrodyne aircraft design. Some key highlights of the aircraft are its cutting-edge avionics, ducted propellers, distributed electric propulsion system and a low carbon footprint. Overall, the team was able to maximise efficiency in all aspects of their submission. Thus making their UAV the best solution to the challenge statement.
Each member of the team has been offered a $50,000 Scholarship from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University along with certificates and a trophy for the school. The team is grateful to the Principal Ms Padma Srinivasan , Mr. Ajay Goel (Physics Faculty), Mr. Robert Sprayberry (Federal Aviation Administration) and senior members of Aeross : Siddhansh Narang, Aryan Goel and Ahaan Sinha for their mentorship. Lastly, the team would also like to thank former members Raghav Chaudhary XII-J and Khushi Mishra XII-D for their contributions to the project in the National Round.
The Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) is an international Aviation design challenge annually organised by the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The competition provides high-schoolers a platform to apply concepts learnt in the classroom to address real problems faced by industries, while working in a team environment. Teams are tested across multiple arenas: they must come up with a disruptive and feasible solution to a real world problem, learn to use industrial CAD/CAM and simulations softwares, engage with mentors employed in diverse STEM-related fields, and justify their design choices to prove their solution is practical and profitable enough to solve the task at hand.
In addition, they must also demonstrate proficiency in writing and convincingly presenting the value in their solutions, demonstrating industry level work ethic.
The competition adjudges teams on both technical and soft skills, making it necessary for students to deploy efficient skill specialisation, time and work management and leadership.
In recent years, the competition has focused on utilising Unmanned Aerial Systems to run a delivery service. Teams are tasked with designing UAVs capable of ferrying packages, creating a theory of operations, and developing a feasible business plan to commercially operate a fleet of such UAVs.
