W23 Startup Guide - Suraj

Owned by Aidan Bowers (Deactivated)
Last updated: 2024-04-22 by Tong Zhang
6 min read

Welcome

We’re happy to have you on board as our new Technical Project Manager! To aid your first few days here at WARG, we have created a startup guide that you can refer to to see what you will be working on, key contacts, and some steps you’ll have to take.

About WARG

The University of Waterloo Aerial Robotics Group (abbreviated as ‘WARG’) is a student design team affiliated with the Sedra Student Design Centre at the University of Waterloo.

The principal objectives of WARG are:

  • To enable students to learn about robotics and develop innovative new aerial robotic solutions through collaboration and non-classroom instruction.

  • To expose students to all aspects of project management, fundraising, marketing and exposure to various mechanical, electrical and controls challenges.

  • To provide an opportunity for students (of all backgrounds) and experts to work together in an effort to accomplish these goals.

This year, we are seeking to meet these objectives through attendance at the AEAC student competiton. WARG is currently developing a hybrid fixed-wing VTOL aircraft (project Icarus) to compete in the competition.

A photo of PROJECT ICARUS

The competition revolves around passenger transport solutions for barbie dolls - more information about the competition can be found in the CONOPS (concept of operations) link in #info on our discord. Please review the CONOPS at your earliest convenience.

Our key project threads revolve around developing ICARUS and the surrounding infrastructure to make it a reality.

  • Project ICARUS airframe

    • This is the airframe we are taking to competition and an early CAD revision is pictured above.

  • Zeropilot 3 (ZP3)

    • Zeropilot is our next-generation custom autopilot controller that WARG develops. We plan, manufacture, and develop our own autopilot from the ground up.

  • Integrated Monitoring and Command Station (IMACS)

    • IMACS is our ground station solution for making it seamless to talk to our aircraft and deploy it anywhere for use.

The Systems Integration subteam is responsible for managing cross-sub-team projects. We consist of project managers and people interested in UAVs. We are fundamentally inter-domain experts who are knowledgeable in the systems that exist across WARG, and can be called upon to integrate subsystems.

Key Contacts

Manager: @Aidan Bowers (Deactivated) / @Dhruv Upadhyay

  • Go-to for all administrative concerns regarding your internship here

Mentor (if applicable): @Aidan Bowers (Deactivated)

  • Your mentor will be the person you interact with daily and guide you through your internship

Team Directors: @Dhruv Upadhyay (Executive), @Jinghao Lei (Executive), @Sahil Kale (Technical)

  • The team directors are those who run the WARG organization as a whole. They are in charge of the overall operation of the team and can be reached at any time over discord should the need arise.

Team Cadence

Your subteam, Systems Integration (SysInt), meets on a weekly basis. You’ll also be expected to attend general meetings, and other relevant meetings as needed. Our meeting schedule can be found in our google calendar, linked in #info on discord.

First Day Items

All first day items are expected to be completed by the end of Jan. 11

All other action items have an associated due date. You should be able to complete these items before that date

Safety Training

Before you can come into the bay on your first day, you should have the following courses completed:

SO1001 Employee Safety Orientation
SO1081 Workplace Violence Awareness
WHMIS 2015
SO1010 Laboratory Safety
Engineering Machine Shop Training

You can access these courses by going to learn, selecting “Self Registration,” and enrolling in these courses.

Once you are done these courses, please fill out the PDF found here https://uwaterloo.ca/sedra-student-design-centre/sites/default/files/uploads/files/coop_information_form_dec2018.pdf and send it to your coop mentor.

Joining Discord

The team uses discord to communicate!

https://www.uwarg.com/join and introduce yourself in #introductions, Set your server nickname to your full (First + Last) name.
Coordinate with your manager to schedule an onboarding meeting, typically on your first day
Add yourself to the team roster. The link for this can be found in discord.

Joining Management Softwares

We use Asana to manage tasks and timelines and Confluence to handle documentation. You should use your uwaterloo.ca email. If you do not have access to these services, ask your manager to provide you with an invite.

Sign into Asana (https://app.asana.com/)
You may also find instagantt (https://instagantt.com/) easier to view timelines than Asana, just sign in with your Asana account.

First Week Items

Complete Coop Information Form Jan 11, 2023
Arrange 1:1 meeting times with your mentor Jan 11, 2023
Review the team charter Jan 12, 2023
Read the articles in the SysInt Knowledge Base Jan 13, 2023
Review the articles in the 2022-2023 Program Outline Jan 16, 2023
Read the competition CONOPS Jan 16, 2023
Review all sub-team bootcamps (you don’t need to do them all, we just want you to have an idea of what the minimum skill level of team members are). You can find them here: Bootcamps Jan 18, 2023

Your Projects

IMACS Management

IMACS (or Integrated Monitoring And Control System), is the ground control system (commonly GCS) that will be used for the 2023 competition, and has been developed over the year. More information is available on Monitoring and Command Station. The system handles display of critical aircraft information such as location, radio communication, and monitoring of the overall system. It includes the ground station computer, antennas, controllers and the equipment to store and transport itself.

You will be responsible for:

  • Managing the project’s timelines

  • Communicating with stakeholders to ensure all parties are aware of project statuses,

  • Ensuring regular testing of sub systems with each other

  • Providing assistance or guidance to team members when their work is not well defined, by outlining clear project requirements and giving technical assistance where required.

To get started, you will need to:

Read available documentation on the project, and familiarize yourself with the current timelines and deadlines that were outlined in Asana. Jan 16, 2023
Meet with @Aidan Bowers (Deactivated) to go over the project at a high level Jan 16, 2023
Determine the current status of each item outlined in Asana. This will require communication with various project managers and sub team leads Jan 19, 2023
Arrange a meeting with all appropriate stakeholders to review these deadlines, revise them as necessary, and ensure that everyone on the project has a coherent vision for the final project. Jan 20, 2023

Flight Staging

As a team, WARG attempts to follow the principles of the iterative design process. This means we want to test frequently, and revise our work based on the results of these tests. One of the primary mechanisms we use to do this is Flight Tests. In general, we would like to perform flight tests on a weekly basis to validate our systems, and to practice setting up, flying, and troubleshooting aircraft.

Before each flight, various components of the aircraft that need to be set up. This includes:

  • Assembly of aircraft, if applicable

  • Binding radios and receivers

  • Charging radios and batteries

  • Collecting all necessary equipment for easy transport

In order to prepare for this, you will need to:

Firmware Development

The embedded flight software team has various tasks related to ZeroPilot 3 bring-up and completion. Once you are up to speed on other tasks, you can discuss with the EFS leads some tasks they have planned that you can take on.

To get started with this, you should complete the bootcamp, which will give you the required background to start completing tasks for the team.

Appendix

Useful links