Course syllabus

Course-PM

TRA370 Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), Study periods 3-4, 2024, 7.5 hp. This course is offered by the Tracks initiative, in association with teachers from the Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences.

Contact details

Course coordinator: Arion Pons, arion@chalmers.se

Examiner: Carlos Xisto, carlos.xisto@chalmers.se

A range of guest lecturers and supervisors will be present as needed.

Course purpose

The aim of the course is to develop students' ability to solve challenge-driven, interdisciplinary, and authentic problems relating to uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) design and application.

Course design and schedule

Course schedule document:

TRA370-25_Timetable_2025-02-07a.pdf

Note that certain guest lectures and visits will have precise dates fixed closer to the time. The course schedule can also be found in the Canvas Calendar, and activities with Chalmers room bookings (= not all activities!) on TimeEdit.

Course literature

There is no mandatory reading list. Reading suggestions will be provided over the course of the course.

Course design

The course is centered around a research and development (R&D) project on UAV technology: a group (or, in special circumstances, individual) project, supervised by a researcher at Chalmers, on a novel aspect of UAV technology. You'll assemble yourselves into project teams, and, over the course of the project, present your work via two presentations (progress and final) and a short report. You'll also organise your project data/materials for future projects on your topic. Your supervisor will guide you on your project, and you'll have access to the Chalmers FUSE lab/makerspace, including the new flight test facility. The idea behind the project is to give you hands-on experience with UAV technology development in a context which mimics that of industrial R&D.

To support your project work, the course also involves a series of lectures and study visits. These lectures/visits will expose you to different aspects of UAVs: design, history, application, impact. As we have guest lecturers coming from around Sweden and internationally, some of the dates and times for these lectures/visits will be fixed during the course.

Changes made since the last occasion

Initial course content has been refocused towards basic skill trainings, and lab training sessions have been moved to very early in the course (first three weeks).

Learning objectives and syllabus

After completion of the course the student should be able to:

General learning outcomes for Tracks courses:

Master problems with open solutions spaces which includes to be able to handle uncertainties and limited information.
Lead and participate in the development of new products, processes and systems using a holistic approach by following a design process and/or a systematic development process.
Show insights about and deal with the impact of architecture and/or engineering solutions in a global, economic, environment and societal context.
Orally and in writing explain and discuss information, problems, methods, design/development processes and solutions

Course-specific learning outcomes:

Develop an understanding of uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies, their constituent parts, behaviour, and application context.
Follow analysis-driven design methodologies for UAVs and UAV components. Work in UAV development teams in pursuit of complex multidisciplinary objectives.
Be able to characterise social-environmental risks and impacts associated with UAVs and their use, and develop strategies for managing these risks and impacts.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen: syllabus

Examination

Assessment will occur through five compulsory tasks relating to the central group – or, rarely, individual – project of the course:

(1)	Project team template A fill-in of a template for project teams: rough project scope, members, roles, and expectations. This template is due Friday 14^th Feb 11:59pm, and will be graded as pass/fail, according to the criterion of whether the template is complete.
(2)	Progress presentation A 20-minute group presentation on project progress, during Week 11 (10^th-14^th March) – nominally, Friday 14^th March, through flexibility on presentation dates is available in the event of schedule clashes. The presentation will be graded on a scale of 1-5, where 3 is a passing grade. The assessment criteria will be: a. Individual contribution to group progress b. Clarity of thought, logic, and intent c. Understanding of project technical details d. Creativity and/or efficiency in overcoming project challenges e. Presentation skills
(3)	Final poster presentation A 30-minute final group project presentation, during Week 22 (26^th-30^th May) – nominally, Friday 30^th May, through flexibility on presentation dates is available in the event of schedule clashes. The presentation will be graded on a scale of 1-5, where 3 is a passing grade. The assessment criteria will be: a. Individual contribution to group outcomes b. Clarity of thought, logic, and intent c. Understanding of project implications d. Creativity and/or efficiency in overcoming project challenges e. Presentation skills
(5)	Final short report A short project report, based on a report template, with the specification that this report should concisely communicate relevant information regarding the project to future users of project results. The report should be submitted in PDF format and is due Friday 6^th June, 11:59pm. The assessment criteria will be: a. Fulfilment of report specification b. Technical report-writing skills, including conciseness
(6)	Data / material handover A dataset (and, set of physical material, if relevant) from the project, organised logically and with a handover document, based on a template, to enable easy future use of project data. Due Friday 6^th June, 11:59pm. The assessment criteria will be: a. Organisation of dataset b. Appropriate handover document

Grade limits and requirements: Grades of pass on assessment (1) above, and grades of three (3/5) on assessments (2)-(6) above, are required to pass the course.

Aids permitted: Use of AI assistants within report writing and/or preparation of presentation materials are allowed, provided AI usage is credited in a short acknowledgements section in the respective report / presentation. External assistance in the project from technicians, research engineers, doctoral/postdoctoral researchers, etc. should also be credited in this acknowledgements section.

Contribution to final grade: The final grade is the rounded mean of the four grades on the proportionally-graded assessments, (2)-(6) above.

Reassessment: Students failing assessments may, at the examiner’s discretion, be asked to resubmit them with corrections.