The design report

Executive Summary 1
iSpy is a twin fuselage EP-UAV powered by two electric motors and two 4-cell batteries
with aerial photography and video capturing capabilities from a range of altitudes. The
design requirements set out by the course outline was set as the minimum performance
requirement for this project.
The initial design ideas that were discussed involved various configurations, which
ranged from complicated, challenging concepts to extreme simplicity which involved
considering nothing outside the course requirement for this project. Some of these
sketches are shown below in figures 1.01 to 1.06
Figure 1.01 Figure 1.02
Some of these designs were scratched at initial discussions itself due to their lack of
ingenuity or design brilliance. Sketches shown in figures 1.04 and 1.05 are examples of
these. Others were left out due to the lack of time, money and man hours required to
complete this project, such as the design shown in figure 1.06.
The final design that was chosen, however, was the idea based on creating the Virgin
Galactic’s Global Flyer replica. The idea blossomed with discussion and soon the basic
sketches grew into many drawings with minor details and the final decision was made.
A twin fuselage design with a high aspect ratio wing and an H-tail that can carry a pod in
the middle that can be modified to be used as spy plane with an onboard camera was
the team’s favourite. The payload may also be this pod with additional space within to
hold metal blocks or sand bags.
Figure 1.03 Figure 1.04