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Modularity: focus on common mounting solutions and existing standards for electronics and software so our system can adapt easily to new requirements and objectives. i.e. Mounting Hole & Patern Pattern Specifications and Frame Airframe Design.
Testing: testing new systems early and often has been extremely beneficial for us, let's keep this going for every subsystem! See Iterative Design Process for more details.
Competition Advantage: programs should be explicitly separated between learning only design projects versus projects we need to put significant resources toward validation on.
Affordable/Repairable: We will be crashing, let's keep stuff affordable, use budgeting effectively.
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