VCU engineering students to showcase senior design projects April 30

By Mike Frontiero and Barton Cregger

Engineering students at Virginia Commonwealth University will unveil their senior design projects Friday, April 30 at the VCU School of Engineering, 1-5 p.m.

Nearly 30 student teams will participate in Senior Design Showcase 2004, an opportunity for engineering students to participate in their chosen field of engineering by completing a high-caliber, hands-on design project. The annual event is the culmination of eight months of effort for students representing the departments of Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical and Computer Engineering.

This year's entries include:

* The construction of a radio controlled model airplane designed to fly with the weight equivalent of two 14-pound bowling balls. The plane - the School of Engineering's first - was constructed using balsa, plywood, carbon fiber, fiberglass and radio components. Out of 30 teams, the VCU team's airplane placed 17th in the annual Society of Automotive Engineers 2004 Aero Design competition and topped many schools with aerospace engineering programs.

* A flight control system that allows a model airplane to fly itself to pre-programmed GPS coordinates for the purpose of taking photographs on high-risk military reconnaissance missions. The design team used commercially available equipment to build the Unmanned Air Vehicle and used an actual MIG 27 drone provided by NASA to house the flight control system. The project will be entered in the 2nd Annual Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Student UAV Competition.

* Automated mini blinds that monitor and adjust for external light conditions to minimize heat gains and glares through windows, improving comfort levels in homes and offices. Using a photovoltaic cell, motor and microcontroller, the blinds open and close according to the intensity of light.

* A motorized guitar tuner that automatically adjusts the tension of a guitar string so it is in tune. The LMN Tuner uses a Programmable Logic Controller to measure the frequency of the string and determine if the motor needs to be turned on to tighten or loosen the string.

* A system to detect air turbulence that is undetected by radar and weather patterns. Between 1981 and 1996, two deaths, 63 serious injuries and 863 minor injuries on airplanes were attributed to so called clear air turbulence. Based on work by VCU engineering students in 2002 and 2003, the NASA Langley Research Center has developed a way to detect clear air turbulence by using special microphones to measure low frequency infrasonic waves.

The event is free and open to the public. Engineering students will be available to demonstrate and discuss their projects.

The School of Engineering enrolled its first undergraduates in 1996 and moved into its new $40 million facility in fall 1998. The class of 2004 is the fifth graduating class. The School's biomedical, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering programs are accredited by the Engineering Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). And the computer science program is accredited by the Computer Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB). In 2003, the School was inducted into the nation's only honor society for engineering - Tau Beta Pi, which recognizes students of distinguished scholarship and exemplary character.