REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (July 1, 2024) – There are some new competitors in the world of vertical flight and they are aiming high, figuratively and literally.
With the assistance of a grant issued by the DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, a team of mechanical engineering students from North Carolina Agriculture and Technological State University recently competed in the Vertical Flight Society’s 4th Annual Design Build Vertical Flight competition. And they did not go home empty-handed.
The challenge was to create an unmanned aircraft system that would serve as a subscale technology demonstrator for advanced air mobility concepts. Their team, the “Hover Hounds,” delivered, winning Best New Entrant for ingenuity and resilience in combatting the weather and fourth place out 11 teams, establishing the historically black college and university as a competitor against programs from Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland.
“Ours is a hidden jewel,” said Dr. John Kizito, faculty advisor for the Hover Hounds.
The team consisted of students Aaron Suggs, Jeremiah Lang, Branden Esquivel, Jelani Jackson, Hannah Johnson, Abbas Mohamed and Nyaaisjah Samuel, with Simon Esau as the team’s capstone advisor.
Spearheaded by Center team members Matt Clark and Delaney Jordan, the grant through FirePoint Innovations, aims to provide engineering students from HBCUs and smaller schools – with smaller budgets – the same opportunities as their contemporaries at larger universities. Sometimes they can be overlooked, Kizito said, and opportunities like these can only benefit and deepen the talent pool.
"HBCUs are a key resource for AvMC to expand the talent pool both for the Department of Defense workforce and for our science and technology community,” said Dr. Mark Robeson, AvMC’s chief of Aviation Technology Programs & Plans for the Technology Development Directorate. “The collaboration benefits AvMC's contributions to national security and strengthens the school's research capabilities. I've been familiar with NC A&T since the 1990s, and it's good to see the ongoing collaboration."
The project encompassed two semesters with the team working on the design of their drone in the fall and building in the spring. But successful laps were only part of it; during the competition, the judging team asked the Hover Hounds to program their drone to perform an autonomous capability – and they passed with flying colors.
Clark said that although they did participate in the kickoff for the program and served as a sounding board, the project – and its success -- was solely on the students’ shoulders.
“We wanted to give them free reign on the project,” Clark said.
Buoyed by their success, the Hover Hounds will again be preparing for the next competition in the fall with a new round of students, but their eyes set on the number one spot for their next VFS competition.
“We will be sending our best and brightest,” Kizito said. “Hopefully, they will raise our flag high and very soon A&T will be counted among the best.”
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The DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the Army’s research and development focal point for advanced technology in aviation and missile systems. It is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. AvMC is responsible for delivering collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development and life cycle engineering solutions, as required by the Army’s strategic priorities and support to its Cross-Functional Teams.
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