STWing blimp is ready to take off

After years of planning and months of hard labor, members of the Science and Technology Wing Blimp Project have released their creation into the open air. Careening clumsily around the Hollenbach Annex, the 30-foot, helium-filled monster of an aircraft took its third test flight on Monday. Aside from a few bugs, the blimp's creators say, it is in perfect working order. "It's been smooth sailing," said Mike Bruni, Engineering senior and executive director of the blimp project. The blimp's creators say that it will eventually be able to function with autonomy -- without a human pilot on the ground -- using sensors to locate itself on a map in the computer and following navigation commands. "It's sort of like a robot that floats," STWing faculty advisor Jorge Santiago said. "It can go by itself and make decisions." Currently, the blimp is semi-autonomous -- it can be guided on the ground through either remote control or a wireless LAN connection to an on-board laptop. The blimp initiative was conceived by Bruni in 1998. Collaborating with his freshman roommate Benjamin Tang, now a master's student in electrical engineering, Bruni drew up the prototype for the blimp during his junior year. "It was a no-one-knows-how-to-do-it project," Tang said. "None of the professors knew. They said, 'people have built blimps before, I know what a blimp is, but don't ask me how to build one,'" Tang added. There are currently 30 students working on the project in three teams -- electrical engineering, computer science and business. The 30-foot blimp is a prototype for a larger one that STWing members plan to construct in the future. This future blimp will be twice as large, and designed and fabricated entirely by the STWing students. "If the freshmen want to implement my design, which is a cross between a blimp and a Zeppelin, I think it's going to be freaking awesome," Tang said. While the blimp's creators said they undertook the project because of the novelty of the idea, opportunities for practical applications for the blimp have emerged. Many of these applications will generate revenue -- $60,000 in profit by Spring 2002. "We're currently set up for banner advertising," said Diana Hong, Wharton and College sophomore and business director for the blimp project. Hong said that once all budget issues are worked out, the business team will begin looking for corporate advertisers. She added that student groups may be able to use the blimp for advertising at a reduced price. "The profit idea is sort of a side idea that makes this project feasible," Bruni said. "Because we can generate revenue, we can support ourselves." But the blimp is equipped to do more than just advertise. In addition to sporting banner advertisements, the blimp will garner revenue by taking aerial photographs for real estate companies. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University contacted STWing advisor Jim Ostrowsky about contracting the blimp for environmental surveys this summer. Ostrowsky, several students and the blimp will travel to Pittsburgh to test carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Originally projected to cost more than $33,000 -- most of which was funded by the Engineering School -- the blimp project has hit a speed bump in its budget. The blimp is only insured under the University emergency insurance policy until July. After that date, the blimp will not be allowed to fly without a new insurance policy, which will cost the team at least $20,000, but probably more, Hong said. "We've been told by risk management that it will be very pricey," Hong said.

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