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Captain’s Message

The aerospace industry is among the fastest-growing industries worldwide. In 2025, the market size was estimated at 373.6 billion USD and is projected to double by 2035.

At Queen’s Aerospace Design Team (QADT), we are dedicated to pushing boundaries with the development of high performance & autonomous UAVs for national and international competitions in Canada, Europe, and the United States. With the continued growth in industry aerospace applications in recent years, QADT has seen an unparalleled expansion, and our dedicated team of more than 150 undergraduate students has not disappointed.

Last year, the technical team developed 2 brand new UAVs from the ground up to compete at the AEAC 2025 student competition hosted in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Including a fully carbon fiber fixed wing aircraft with a two-axis gimbal to find and map wildfires, as well as a heavy-lift quadcopter designed to pick-up and drop-off water for autonomous fire extinguishing. While in parallel, the QADT research team wrote two research papers for submission to the IMAV conference paper call and the VFS student design competition. Respectively, these papers focused on the application of DBD plasma actuators to reattach airflow separation and a hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft design to maximize loitering time.

This year, we are going even further with new designs and initiatives as we prepare to expand our technical capabilities and compete in not just the AEAC 2026 student competition, but also the AIAA Design, Build, Fly competition hosted in Wichita, KS, while continuing to publish leading edge research papers.

QADT offers a unique opportunity for development and growth for students in any discipline, including gaining technical experience in Aeromechanics, Electrical, and Software, and the opportunity to conduct research in a variety of unique fields, as well as the chance to gain experience in business and management. QADT is looking to continue its rapid growth and expansion by taking on like-minded and motivated individuals to not just continue the development of advanced drone technology, but push the boundaries of what student teams are capable of.

We eagerly await your application.

‘Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.’

— Eddie Rickenbacker, WWI flying ace

Queen's Aerospace – Electrical Engineering Team Member

The AEAC Electrical Subteam is responsible for designing and implementing the propulsion system and avionics on our AEAC aircraft for the competition in Ottawa in the spring of 2026. In previous years, the nature of the competition has required teams to design aircraft capable of load bearing, endurance flights punctuated by precision maneuvers. For general members on the Electrical Subteam, this means a careful design and selection of propulsion and avionics components to support the requirements of the competition. General members will attend avionics and/or propulsion subteam meetings and will work on projects delegated by the avionics and propulsion managers. They will also have the opportunity to attend workshops held by the electrical managers or by different subteams on QADT to improve their skills in certain areas.

In 2024, the Electrical Branch made substantial progress with designing and manufacturing a custom Power Distribution Board (PDB), 2-axis gimbal, and power system for the eVTOL aircraft. It continued by designing and implementing an avionics and power system for a Quadrotor and fixed wing aircraft, for the 2024 - 2025 season. The Electrical subteam has laid a strong foundation for the future and looks to continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible for QADT in the 2025 - 2026 season.

Members looking to join the Electrical Team will have the choice of joining one of two subteams listed below:

Propulsion Systems:

The propulsion team is responsible for designing the power systems for the UAVs used in the AEAC competition. Power systems are responsible for the supply and management of energy to optimize flight endurance, payload capacity, and overall reliability of the UAVs. This encompasses the design of custom power distribution boards (PDB), component selection (propeller, motor, and battery), and circuitry. Members of this team will gain technical skills in areas such as power electronics, energy management, and circuit design, while testing the hardware performance. The team will work in tandem with the Avionics and Aerodynamics teams to create a reliable and high-performance UAV.

What to expect:

• Electrical Design with Digital Tools: Use CAD software to design and simulate power distribution boards (PDB) for systems. Analyze circuits with LTSpice, observing voltage and current behaviour across components.
• Physical Hardware Testing and Fabrication: Build and solder custom circuit boards, verify system performance with lab equipment such as oscilloscopes and multimeters, and install hardware in UAVs. Analyze real-time system operation through flight testing.
• Component Evaluation and Selection: Research, compare, and simulate motors, propellers, batteries, and other electronic components. Optimize component sizing using tools like QAPOT in collaboration with aerodynamics.
• Learn Essential Electronic Concepts: Learn fundamentals of power electronics, including use of software tools and key concepts and applications of various components (i.e. step-down converters, diodes, amplifiers).
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Work with Avionics and Aerodynamics teams to design power systems based on overall requirements, such as component installation and power supply.

Avionics:

The Avionics sub-team is responsible for designing, integrating, and testing the electronic systems that allow our aircraft to navigate, communicate, and complete the mission objectives for AEAC. Avionics ensures reliable aircraft performance in real-world competition conditions through the application of GPS modules and flight controllers to cameras and communication links. As a member of this sub-team you will gain hands-on experience with UAV avionics, mission support and system-level testing, to deliver a fully integrated, high performance UAV.

What to Expect:

• Component Evaluation and Selection: Research and analyze avionics components data sheets to determine suitability and compatibility for the mission.
• Avionics Integration: Install and integrate GPS modules, inertial navigation modules, actuation servos, cameras, telemetry systems, and QGroundControl compatible components for both fixed-wing and multirotor UAVs.
• Autonomous Flight Planning: Configure Pixhawk/Ardupilot flight controller and QGroundControl software to enable autonomous navigation and payload delivery.
• Control System Development: Learn and apply PID tuning techniques, analyze mission data logs, trouble-shoot flight control stability issues, and evaluate system performance through live flight tests.
• System-Level Testing: Conduct bench tests, sub-system integration tests, and full flight trials to validate component reliability, robust integration, and overall performance. Following successful system-level testing, work closely with the flight testing team to support pre-flight calibrations and ground control set up, as well as continuous communication with pilots about wind conditions & selected flight modes, implementing any required avionics system updates as needed.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Work alongside the software and propulsion teams to ensure seamless integration between avionics, control algorithms and power systems. Work with the aerodynamics team to optimize avionics component physical installation and post-installation access.

Application & Interview Details

We do not look at your resume as a deciding factor. We weigh it the least compared to your written application and interview.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: September 11th, 2025 (11:59 PM EST)

Interviews will occur online after the deadline. We are happy to provide accommodations for these interviews, so please reach out to us and let us know how we can make the process more accessible for you!

Contact Information

Please email any questions or concerns to aero @engsoc.queensu.ca or text @queensaero on Instagram!