Jaynine was born and raised on Saipan, an island of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. She moved to Honolulu, Hawaii to pursue a college education. From there she received an Associates in Natural Science with a concentration on Physical Sciences at Kapiolani Community College (KCC). At KCC she was also a member of the Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW). Jaynine plans to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her academic interests include aerospace technology as well as renewable energy. On her free time, she enjoys aquascaping, photography, playing the piano and reading.
Home Island: Big Island
Institution when accepted: Kapiolani Community College
Akamai Project: Designing and Constructing a Constant Tension Reel for UAV Tether
Project Site: PISCES – Hilo, Hawai’i Island HI
Mentors: Christian Andersen & Rodrigo Romo
Project Abstract:
Within the last 2 years, PISCES has been working on a County project, from the Hawaii Department of Research & Development, to reduce populations of Little Fire Ants (LFA). These LFA’s are classified as an invasive species in Hawaii and are prevalent here on the Big Island. LFA’s are an ongoing problem to local nurseries and negatively affect local agriculture, ranching, and tourism industries. In addition to their painful sting, they are known to nest in tree canopies and other inconvenient places such as potted plants and irrigation lines. Utilizing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) offers a simple solution for aerial delivery of LFA pesticides. The current UAV is capable of carrying up to twice its weight, but payload may require additional support, such as a tether system. In order to offload payload mass, the UAV will need a grounded tether system that retrieves/feeds pesticide and provides constant tension while in flight. Managing the UAV and ensuring that the tether is not kinking or tangling can be problematic. In order to compensate for tension or slack on the line, we have designed a reel that functions through a PID controller written in C and C++. Prototyping involved a simple spool attached to a motor on one end and a hose swivel joint on the other. The motor is controlled via Arduino, motor driver (H-bridge) and a current sensor. These devices help incorporate PID functionality for both input and output data. As tension increases or decreases on the line, this affects motor torque which proportionally increases or decreases the voltage across the motor. A successful design of the constant tension reel will not only function for LFA control but can provide solutions for UAV deployment on biologically and culturally sensitive caves or even the moon where unknown areas such as lunar lava tubes are safer to assess via drones. These drones will have to be connected by a tether system (as GPS and communications systems are not readily available on the moon nor terrestrial caves and lava tubes) for power and communication access.