Drone Launch & Landing System

The project began from how wildfires behave and spread, and from the fact that early detection is the single largest lever on the damage they cause. A large fixed-wing drone carrying an infrared camera can patrol for ignition — but a fixed-wing aircraft needs a runway, and the terrain where it is most needed offers none.

Greece was taken as the case, with its ecosystem, topography, fire economics and working regulations framing the requirements. The task was to design a matched pair of systems: one to accelerate the drone to flying speed, and one to catch it on return.

The initiating problem was narrowed through problem analysis into a case, then a formal problem statement. Each system got its own function analysis with primary and secondary requirement specifications, and concepts were generated and filtered through a morphological analysis, a reference selection matrix, and a weighted decision matrix before a concept was committed to.

A runway was explicitly evaluated against a launch-and-catch system as alternatives, rather than assumed away — mobility of the equipment was itself one of the deciding criteria.

A long rail carrying the drone, with a pair of front legs for stability. An electric motor and belt pulley accelerate the drone along the rail to release speed.

Two tall towers with a bungee cord strung between them, which the returning drone flies into and which absorbs its energy. The towers are stabilised with support cables.

Both systems are built predominantly from 5083 aluminium, selected for being inexpensive, malleable and light — the last of which matters directly, because equipment that has to be moved to the fire has to be movable.