Who Are We?
Our team consists of 40 members and is divided into the following technical specialties: mechanical, aerospace, electrical, weather, control and navigation. There is also a non-core (business) subdivision with 10 members. The hierarchy within the organization is as follows: team lead, system lead, senior engineer, and engineer. These roles are not based on years of experience.
The core team meets daily on weekdays to discuss the development of sustainable air transport using airships, which are lighter-than-air aircrafts filled with hydrogen (H2) or helium (He). The focus of the team is on energy efficiency and the airships are designed to be silent and highly durable, with performance superior to that of traditional aircrafts and drones. In addition to working on the software codebase, the team also engages in hardware engineering and conducts literature reviews to inform their plans for the future.
The mechanical team is responsible for fabricating the hull or envelope of the airship, as well as all other parts of the airship. They focus on ensuring that the materials and structure used in the airship are mechanically strong and durable.
The aerospace team performs CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis to determine the aerodynamic shape of the airship and designs the gondola, which carries the payload. They work to minimize drag and address weight issues.
The electrical team handles the circuitry, power electronics, and battery management for the airship. They work closely with the control and navigation team to integrate components such as electronic speed controllers (ESCs), motors, controllers, batteries, and flight computers. They also work on developing GPS capabilities for future airships.
The weather team studies wind patterns in the locations where the airship is intended to fly. They use predictive models or neural networks to forecast weather patterns, including wind direction and speed, which can make or break the success of the airship's flight. This work is mainly focused on software.
The control and navigation team is responsible for creating a navigation path for the airship and developing algorithms for autonomous flight, altitude maintenance, and automatic speed adjustment. They also handle the integration of remote control (RC) capabilities into the airship. This includes working with flight controllers, flight computers, and GPS.
The non-core team is involved in marketing, design (including video and graphic art), web development, media, and public relations. They work to secure sponsorship deals, pitch the airship at expos, design promotional videos, posters, and social media posts, and maintain the organization's website and social media handles.
What Have We Done So Far?
Professor Rajkumar Pant is the faculty advisor (FacAd) for our aerospace engineering project. He was also in charge of organizing the Deltas conference, where we received verbal appreciation and a promotion from our professor. We also received international recognition following the competition results. When the project began in 2021, it had roughly 20 members. However, many people left after one to two months due to a lack of guidance and the unexplored territory of airship development. The team also struggled with a lack of motivation due to the extensive reading required to learn about the topic. The COVID-19 pandemic also presented a major setback. Since the beginning of 2022, however, the pace of the project has been good and the team size has doubled. There are now a lot of third-year students on the team, as well as a few MTechs and PhDs. These are the active members of the team.
In June 2022, Team SPART participated in the Deltas (Design and Engineering of Lighter-Than-Air Systems) International Conference, which was organized by the LTA Systems Lab at IITB. There were participants from 11 countries. Following the conference, there was an airship regatta, which was a race of airships competition held in an indoor khokho court. The competition featured indoor RC airships and there were 18 teams participating. This was the first time we flew our airship in a competition, and we placed 5th! In October 2022, Team SPART also took part in an R&D tech expo organized by ITC, where we displayed our RC airship.
What is our Vision?
The ultimate goal of SPART is to revitalize the use of airships as a sustainable means of air transportation. Airships are more energy efficient than traditional aircraft and drones, and have very high endurance, being able to stay aloft for long periods of time. They are also virtually silent and stealthy, able to evade detection by radar. The team plans to utilize solar-powered airships for various purposes, such as advertising and flying banners at events like MoodI and Techfest. We also plan to investigate potential defense-related applications for their airships. In the long term, within the next 5-10 years, the goal is to develop manned airships for use in tasks such as goods delivery.
We don't want the team to grow beyond 50-60 members, as we believe that a larger team would not be necessary. After a year or so, we plan to implement a year-wise recruitment process and establish leadership roles within the team. This will involve changing the recruitment patterns to prioritize individuals who have the ability to teach new members about airships and their specific areas of technical expertise, as well as those who are leaders within the organization in their specific skills. The goal is to break the "new tech team" label and establish a more experienced and well-rounded team.
By June 2023, our team plans to implement an autonomous system for their airships. The system will be solar-powered, with the possibility of integrating fuel cells using hydrogen (H2) or other fuels, depending on weight considerations. The organization is looking for creative ways to utilize the payload capacity of the airships, including surveillance and military applications (defense). The airships could also be used for transport in hilly areas where helicopters cannot reach. In addition to participating in airship races like the World Sky Race and other races that involve circumnavigating the globe, the organization also plans to create miniature non-race versions for commercial use. We also aim to develop aerostats, which are airships that can remain in a fixed position for extended periods of time and could be used for surveillance purposes, like a watchtower.
Who are we looking for, and what's in it for you?
A member of each subdivision can acquire these skills:
Mechanical: Structural mechanics, mechanics of materials, designing using CAD software (such as SolidWorks), CFD (computational fluid dynamics)
Aerospace: CFD, studying the aerodynamics of airships and the effect of wind on aerostability, designing the shape of the hull, understanding different configurations of airships
Electrical: Integrating solar PV (photovoltaic) cells, battery management systems, power electronics (including microcontrollers, chips, ICs, and power converters)
Weather: Understanding atmospheric patterns at both local and global levels, knowledge of machine learning and neural networks, developing accurate predictive models
Control and Navigation: Programming, navigation, understanding pitch, roll, and yaw, developing algorithms for generating setpoints and controlling thrusters to navigate to them, exploring the use of vision for navigation with machine learning models, communication with satellites
Non-core: For marketing, good communication skills, the ability to convince people, and spontaneous decision-making; for design, proficiency in software such as Photoshop, Premier Pro, After Effects, and Lightroom to create appealing visual content; for media and PR, handling social media accounts, strong writing skills, creating catchy captions, and representing the organization in a way that preserves its reputation.
Some of the quaalities we look for in new members:
- A desire to work in the field of airships, either as part of their institute studies or as a career
- The ability to take on challenging tasks and tackle them with determination
- Self-motivation and the ability to work independently
- A combination of interest in the field and existing knowledge or expertise
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to think creatively
- Good communication and teamwork skills
Contact Us
Team Lead: Atmuri Mahesh Sreshti - Phone: 8074035933 - Email: spartiitb@gmail.com
Senior Controls Engineer (Third year): Harshita Agarwal - Phone: 7620505323