MORSE Corp.
Engineering serviceable, mission-ready hardware for autonomous aerial systems.
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Overview
Engineering serviceable, mission-ready hardware for autonomous aerial systems.
At MORSE, I designed and fabricated mechanical hardware for the DARPA Albatross fixed-wing aircraft and powered-paraglider programs, spanning avionics packaging, payload deployment, recovery systems, and test infrastructure.
Engineering Constraints
Each mechanism had to fit within tightly coupled aircraft requirements around mass, center of gravity, packaging, serviceability, manufacturability, and deployment reliability. Small mechanical decisions could affect the performance and integration of the entire vehicle.
Ownership
I developed avionics mounts and payload-release hardware, owned a dual-parachute recovery and line-retraction system, built a center-of-gravity measurement rig, and improved DFA processes that reduced unit build time by 67%.
Packaging Constraint
The vehicle had to remain compact through transport and aircraft exit while maintaining stability, then transition into a repeatable operational geometry once deployed.
Deployment Architecture
I developed the folding arm architecture, pivots, interfaces, and retention features around stowed packaging, deployment clearance, structural alignment, and repeatable assembly. The project taught me that deployment mechanisms are system-level interfaces—the stowed and deployed configurations have to be engineered simultaneously.
Measurement Challenge
Asymmetric airframes and off-axis component placement made conventional CG measurements sensitive to datum definition, fixture geometry, and angular error. The system needed a repeatable way to convert physical weight measurements into usable CG offsets.
Measurement System
I built a scale-based CG rig with custom 3D-printed supports, defined repeatable aircraft datums, and developed a web tool to calculate CG offsets from scale readings. Evaluating tilt, fixture geometry, and error propagation reinforced that measurement hardware and the underlying math have to be designed together.
