Abstracts & Posters

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Fault-Tolerant Multirotor via Active Disturbance Rejection

Luis Hector Manjarrez Muñoz – Center for Research and Innovation in Aeronautical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Autonomous University of Nuevo León

The use of drones in civil applications has accelerated over the past 15 years, increasing the need for safe operations. However, their reliability still falls short of that of manned aircraft. This work presents a fault-tolerant control scheme for a hexarotor with tilted rotors that integrates three blocks: an Active Disturbance Rejection–based controller, a fault detection and isolation strategy, and a control allocation module. Simulations show that the proposed strategy maintains stability and enables control of all rotational dynamics of the vehicle even under the complete loss of one rotor.

Design and Robust Flight Control System of a Quadrotor Tilt-Wing Convertible Drone

Martín Alejandro Ríos Juárez – CINVESTAV

This work presents a robust control strategy for a Tilt-Wing Convertible Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (CUAV), designed to ensure smooth and stable transitions between vertical and horizontal flight. The proposed method is based on integral sliding mode control, providing compensation against internal and external disturbances across all flight regimes while addressing the nonlinear dynamics of the aircraft. Attitude is represented using unit quaternions to avoid singularities, and flight-mode transitions are handled through spherical linear interpolation.

Numerical Simulation of UAV Aerodynamics and Structural Performance via ANSYS and Python

Miguel Angel Morales Acosta – UANL

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) require reliable methods that integrate aerodynamic and structural analysis to optimize their performance. In this project, CFD simulations were carried out in Ansys Fluent to determine pressure distributions and lift and drag coefficients, while structural analysis with composite materials was developed in Ansys ACP, representing an innovative alternative in aeronautics due to their high strength and low weight. Additionally, a Python-based digital tool was designed to calculate aerodynamic forces, stresses, and moments, with the purpose of validating the results obtained in commercial software. The results showed a correlation with error margins below 5%, confirming the accuracy of the model. This integration of CFD, composite materials, and digital validation constitutes an innovative proposal that contributes to the development of more efficient, resistant, and reliable UAVs.

SLM-Processed AlSi10Mg/SiC Nanocomposites for High-Performance Drone Structures

Adriana López Flores – Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and drones demand materials that are simultaneously lightweight, stiff, and durable to withstand demanding flight conditions. In this study, an AlSi10Mg nanocomposite reinforced with SiC nanoparticles was fabricated via Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and compared with the base alloy. The incorporation of nanoparticles, combined with T6 heat treatments, was investigated in terms of microstructure, density, porosity, microhardness, and tensile behavior. The results demonstrated that nanoparticle reinforcement enhanced stiffness, hardness, and reduced surface porosity, highlighting its innovative potential for UAV and drone components. This approach underscores the relevance of nanoparticle-reinforced alloys as next-generation materials for lightweight, high-performance aerial platforms manufactured through additive technologies.

Experimental Validation of a 3D-Printed Quadrotor: Structural Analysis, Mathematical Modelling and Intelligent Parameter Estimation

Alejandro Jimenez Flores – Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon

In recent years, 3D-printing has become popular for creating polymer structural components, such as quadrotor frames. On the other hand, mathematical modelling of unmanned aerial vehicles with the help of intelligent algorithms has also been a topic of study at present. However, few contributions with experimental data have been carried out to validate the structure, mathematical model and parameters of a 3D-printed quadrotor. Therefore, the objective of this work is to present a methodology to experimentally validate the structure of a 3D-printed quadrotor frame, its mathematical model and parameters using neural networks. Results show appropriate performance of the quadrotor for flight condition.

Flapping-Wing Drone Inspired by the Motion of a Hummingbird

Danna Astrid Cortina Ramirez – Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Ingenieria Mecanica y Electrica, Centro de Investigacion e Innovacion en Ingenieria Aeronautica

This project presents the design and simulation of a flapping-wing drone inspired by the motion of a hummingbird. The model is created in SolidWorks and is validated in Gazebo to analyze aerodynamic performance, lift generation, and stability. The results show controlled movement and partial lift, although several improvements are still required to achieve efficient and sustained flight. Future work focuses on optimizing the wing mechanism, integrating an autopilot system for autonomous control, and continuing with the real construction of the prototype.

Chattering-Free Attitude Control for Quadrotors via Fourier-Based Continuous Sliding Mode

Efrain Ibarra Jimenez – Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Durango

This work demonstrates the application of the Fourier-Based Continuous Integral Sliding Mode Control (C-ISMC-Fourier) to quadrotor attitude control. By implementing the novel Fourier series approximation, we achieve chattering-free operation with instantaneous and continuous disturbance compensation from initial time. The approach provides smooth control signals for UAV actuators while maintaining robustness against wind gusts and uncertainties, aligning with the latest advancements in robust control for unmanned systems [5].

Analysis of the impact of vortex generators on a fixed-wing UAV

Pedro Genaro Pérez López – Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

Small fixed-wing UAVs often operate within restricted operational envelopes. Since these aircraft operate at relatively low Reynolds numbers, the stall phenomenon can lead to undesired flight characteristics during high angle of attack maneuvers. On the other hand, vortex generators have been proven to help mitigate the adverse effects the wing presents during the stall by re-attaching the boundary layer by means of an induced vortex over the wing. The main drawbacks of these devices are the reduced aerodynamic efficiency as well as the lack of established design procedures or analytical theory behind their operation. This work presents an analysis of different vortex generators configurations on a fixed-wing UAV. Each vortex generator tested varies in location and geometry, so the effects on the wing can be studied. To evaluate these effects, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses were conducted on the clean wing, as well as in the modified wing with the vortex generators. The latter showed that, despite the loss in aerodynamic efficiency, there are configurations of vortex generators that can improve the stall characteristics of a wing, even at low Reynolds-numbers flight regimes.

Structural Analysis of 3D Printed Rigid and Flexible Flapping Wings

Pablo Alfonso Tellez Belkotosky – Aerospace Engineering Research and Innovation Center, Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon

The mimetic of natural flyers is rapidly advancing from small insects to big birds such as eagles. The most challenging part of mimicking living things is the accuracy using science and mechanical skills. In this work, a study of the flapping wing mechanism of a mimetic eagle bird is presented by analyzing the mechanical properties of 3d printed material selected and detecting the differences between a rigid flapping wing and a flexible flapping wing.

Design of a short take-off remotely piloted aircraft for the 2025 AERODESIGN Micro category competition

Diego Rubén Rodríguez Aguilera – Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica - UANL

Aeronautical engineering students face a significant challenge during their studies: the limited opportunity to participate in the complete design process of an actual aircraft. In order to bridge the gap between the design theory and a real implementation, one of the best options available is participating in aeromodelling competitions such as AerodesignMX. This makes it possible to apply not only design concepts, but also the development of multidisciplinary project organization procedures, as well as time and resource management. As a part of the AerodesignMX competition, the “Micro” category represents an important design challenge from the aerodynamics, flight dynamics and structural perspective. The latter since the dimensions are constrained to very specific limits, making the design choices go towards a design optimized to fly at low Reynolds numbers, and the use of constrained structural elements. On the other hand, the 2025 competition rules introduced a strict take-off distance limitation, which added another layer of complexity to the design, mandating the implementation of a short-take-off approach. This work presents the design process of the aircraft developed for the AerodesignMX Micro 2025. While the project was comprehensive, this poster focuses on specific key aspect: 1) the aerodynamic design considering ideal theoretical approaches, as well as low-Reynolds- number corrections; 2) an analysis of the control and stability of the proposed aircraft; 3) an overview of the structure and materials used for the construction of the aircraft. The airplane’s performance was validated using Flight Simulation testing and successful mission completion in the competition flights.

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