Blimp will soar over Penn skies

Former Hindenburg technicians need not apply -- the 30 Penn Engineering students building a blimp seem to have things under control. And the group, sponsored by the Science and Technology Wing of Kings Court/English College House and the Penn Engineering Department, expects to be finished in time for the blimp to fly over Commencement. The members of the Blimp Project will build a device capable of transporting research equipment and providing live Penn campus video feeds from the air -- either during football games, the Penn Relays or graduation. "It actually started out as a joke," said Engineering senior Mike Bruni, the project's executive director and creator. "But after a while we started thinking, 'Why not?'" Bruni said he decided to pursue the construction as his senior design project, an Engineering school graduation requirement. Bruni and Blimp Project Business Director Diana Hong began looking for both funding and a place to start construction. The two negotiated with Tom Lussenhop, the University's top real estate official, before settling on a warehouse at 40th and Filbert Streets last week. "Over the last two years we've been coming up with ideas for [the blimp], and working out the design plans," Bruni said. He and Blimp Project Technical Director Benjamin Tang, a first-year Engineering graduate student, have devised some unique features. "There's a lot to this blimp," Bruni said. The blimp will be able to achieve an airspeed of up to 20 knots, propelled by two 23-cubic centimeter gasoline engines The structural setup is a cross between a Zeppelin design and that of a simple helium balloon. A powerful laptop computer on board will control the blimp's communication system. Through a wireless Ethernet system, a computer program -- developed by Bruni and the project's computer science staff -- will control the navigation. Mechanical Engineering Professor James Ostrowski, a faculty advisor for the project, is currently researching a self-navigation control algorithm, allowing the blimp to pilot itself. In addition, the blimp will be one of the few student research projects that actually generates its own revenue. By selling advertising space on the sides of the blimp, the project can earn a profit of over one thousand dollars per flight. As a senior, Bruni is not only heading up the project, but preparing to pass on the torch as well. He will be entering the work force next year, leaving the project in the capable hands of his junior and sophomore successors. "This is just the beginning," Bruni said.