One of the tasks for the SUAS competition is to drop a payload, an LED beacon, onto a designated target. To do so requires may components including, but not limited to, the servo used to pull and push a pin used to drop the payload, the hatch that closes after the payload has left the aircraft to decrease drag after drop, and the mechanism used to slow the payload down upon decent by increasing drag while maintaining stability and direction.
The servo mechanism uses a servo arm to pull a pin that is attached to the payload, this pin once pulled detaches the LED beacon from the plane using gravity. Using the Venturi effect, the hatch on the bottom of the plane that is propped open by the payload, closes automatically after the payload leaves the aircraft by using the high speed and low pressure air to suck the hatch closed, decreasing pressure drag of the aircraft. The stabilization and velocity reduction of the payload is paramount to ensuring a slow and accurate landing of the LED. This stabilization and high drag component of our payloads coincide with each other because the high drag on the top side of the payload stabilizes the LED while also slowing it down enough not to break on impact.