SDSU California Unmanned Aerial Systems Competition (C-UASC) - Team Quetzal, a Joint ME/AE/ECE Team

 SDSU Team Quetzal successfully completed the California Unmanned Aerial Systems Competition (C-UASC) this weekend at the Mojave Air and Space Port.  This event, hosted by CSU Los Angeles, has now become an international competition with teams from the United States, Canada, Italy and the Netherlands, and an impressive high level of design sophistication.  

Team Quetzal is composed of five ME, five ECE and four AE students (now graduates) who researched, designed, analyzed, fabricated and tested their aircraft solution during the 2025 to 2026 Academic Year (see their 2026 Design Day poster).  Their competition aircraft stood out amongst all the other competitors as it was not a traditional drone (quad copter or similar) that the other teams used, but rather an innovative, Bi-Plane Tail-Sitter Vertical Takeoff and Landing UAS aircraft.  Creating such a design and taking flight in just nine months was the result of this team following a structured Systems Engineering/Project Management Senior Design Capstone framework, along with employing their engineering knowledge, applied skills and using Computer Aided Engineering tools coupled with extensive lab and flight testing. 

The atmospheric winds this weekend at Mojave were excessive (often 17+ knots and gusting to well over 20 knots).  On the first day that we competed, the winds exceeded safe operating limits by lunchtime, which resulted in the competition shutting down for the day and therefore prevented our team from flying.  On the second day, the winds were improved, but still marginal.  Our team did manage to fly twice, but we decided to end each flight early due to wind driven stability limits and safety considerations.  As a result, our SDSU team did not win an award.  Nevertheless, our aircraft was no doubt the most unique and "coolest" design at this year's competition - Team Quetzal's aircraft drew a lot of attention from participants and event organizers.

This interdisciplinary SDSU team of ME, AE and ECE students demonstrated remarkable dedication, team spirit and operated as a completely integrated product team.  Their level of teamwork was critical to their success and impressive to witness firsthand at the competition.   

In the picture below, Dr. Nancy Warter-Perez, the Dean of the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology (ECST) at California State University, Los Angeles is briefed by Team Quetzal inside the hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port.