The Airship was designed and constructed as my M.Eng Fourth year project at Oxford University. The craft belongs the Engineering Department's Mobile Robotics Group and is used as a research vehicle. See the group's vehicle page.

The airship has two individually throttled and positioned main propellers, a rear tail fin propeller and an instrumentation arm that can pan and tilt. The arm is fitted with a wireless (2.4Ghz) video camera. Sensors and actuators coupled to two PID controllers allow regulation of altitude and direction.

 I designed a light-weight aluminum chassis that was machined by the  engineering department's precision mechanical workshop. The CAD designs are available on the menu to the left, and the chassis can be seen below in a test-rig in the robotics lab:

The airship maintains serial communications with a command computer using a Bluetooth II radio module, with a range of 100m. The control board contains driver circuitry, back FM 27Mhz radio control gear, a compass module and Rabbit microprocessor. Electronics were first prototyped on strip-board, then a custom PCB was designed to minimise weight and footprint.

The 'Atrium' of the Information Engineering Building provided an excellent (wind-free) environment to test the airship. Above, I'm  pictured at the bottom left with supervisor Paul Newman (centre). 

The Blimp received the 'Best Hardware' Project Prize at the 2006 Project Exhibition held by the Society of Oxford University Engineers (SOUE). This was a brilliant day of students demonstrating their hard work and was very interesting. 

One final surprise was to be awarded the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers (WCSIM) occasional Prize by the Head of Department. I understand this is awarded occasionally when a candidate demonstrates the art of intricate scientific instrument making in a project. More information on the 2006 Prizes awarded by SOUE.  

I am extremely grateful to the organisations above for the accolades received. The prize monies were put towards a memorable trip to New York and an Apple Macbook Pro laptop.