The Aeronautical Society of India

National Aerospace Conceptual Design Competition (NACDeC)

Background:
The Aeronautical Society of India has recently set-up a Design Division, which shall be the torch bearer
for aerospace design professionals to help them scale the professional heights by offering a platform for
inter-organisational exchange of ideas, to report professional contributions, to meet, interact and learn
from professionals from across the world, and to update and augment professional knowledge.

One of the mandates of this Division is to encourage and nurture Aerospace design related activities in
the country, especially among the engineering college students, and encourage them to apply their mind
to address challenging aerospace design problems that are relevant to the needs of our country. With
this in mind, the Design Division has decided to conduct a National Aerospace
Conceptual Design Competition (NACDeC) for students.

The competition will be open to teams of undergraduate students of Aeronautical or Aerospace

Engineering department from IITs, IIST, or any NAC or UGC accredited institutions in India. Each institute
can nominate only one team consisting of max. 05 (five) members, and one Faculty mentor. The role of
the Faculty mentor is purely administrative in nature, and to liaise with the competition organisers on
all policy matters. The Faculty mentor is not supposed to be an active member of the team, or to carry
out any specific tasks related to the project.

Schedule of activities:
NACDeC will be conducted in two Stages, as per the following schedule:

Stage-I Stage-II
Deadline Task Deadline Task
(2017) (2018)
31st Aug Launch of NACDeC 28th Feb Mid-Term Review
30th Sep Submission of Letter of Intent 30th April Final Report Submission
30th Oct Overview Webinar 30th May Shortlisting of teams for Final
30th Nov Submission of Initial Concept 30th June Final Presentation
31st Dec Shortlisting Teams for Stage-II 31st July Declaration of Winners

Host Branch:
The competition will be hosted by the Mumbai Branch of The Aeronautical Society of India. A committee
consisting of members of Executive Committee of Design Division and Mumbai Branch will carry out the
overview webinar, evaluation of initial concepts, shortlisting of the teams for the final presentation, and
declaration of the winners.

Prizes and Certificates:

Description Prize Money
First Prize INR 20000
Second Prize INR 15000
Third Prize INR 10000
In addition to the above prizes, a Trophy will be awarded to each institution to which the top three
teams belong.

The members and Faculty mentors of all teams shortlisted for Stage-II of the competition will be given
commendation certificates. Further, their return travel expenses for participation in the final
presentation will be reimbursed (upto 2AC rail fare for the shortest distance to and fro the location of
final presentation), and suitable accommodation will be provided.

Overview Webinar:
The Overview webinar is planned to be conducted sometime in October 2017, via a video conferencing.
This Webinar will allow the participating teams to interact with the representatives of the organisers of
NACDeC. The aim of this Webinar is to clarify any doubts that the teams may have related to the rules
and regulations of NACDeC, mission requirements, or to seek information and guidance on carrying out
the various tasks.

NACDeC Notifications:
All notifications related to NACDeC will be release via the following webpage:

http://www.aerosocietymumbai.org/events/.

In addition, a specific e-mail address will also be created for all communications exclusively related to
NACDeC. Emails sent to any other address will be ignored.

NACDeC Problem Statement:

The problem statement for NACDeC is listed vide Appendix-I

Evaluation Criteria:
The competition will be conducted in three stages. The evaluation Criteria for each stage is listed vide
Appendix-II. The decisions of the NACDeC organizers about the results will be final and binding on all
the competitor teams, and no objections will be accepted.
 Appendix-I

Request for Proposal (RFP) for multi-purpose amphibian aircraft

Motivation
India has more than 200 lakes, reservoirs and ponds, several of which have the potential to be utilized
for operation of amphibian aircraft. Several cities along Indias coastline and in the Lakshadweep and
Andaman and Nicobar Islands do not have access to much airport infrastructure. In the island territories,
the only effective mode of transport is ferries, which have long journey times. Air transport services
could extensively improve connectivity between the islands and the mainland. Since the coast and the
islands have access to large bodies of water, amphibious aircraft can be used as they have a minimum
of infrastructure requirement. Niche markets such as shuttle services from Mumbai to tourist
destinations, and remote area connectivity in the North-East of India will also benefit from this type of
aircraft being pressed into service. The current crop of commuter aircraft includes the Cessna C208
Caravan, Kodia Quest 100, Twin Otter DHC 600 and the C206H Stationair, which are landplanes
modified with floats and limited to less than 19 passengers. They are also not optimized for water
operations.

Aside from civilian operations, the scope of military applications is also immense for an amphibious
aircraft. The Indian Navy is extremely interested in procuring such aircraft for Air-Sea Rescue (ASR) and
littoral warfare operations, and is contemplating purchase of the ShinMaywa US-2 aircraft from Japan.
Accommodating design variants of the new aircraft which will have the capabilities of a US-2 will
intensify the relevance of such an aircraft for the Indian market.

Problem Statement
This Request for Proposal (RFP) is for the design of an amphibian aircraft capable of multiple missions,
viz., Passenger mission (Pax) and Air-Sea Rescue (ASR) mission. The aircraft is to be based and operated
out of Juhu Airport (ICAO Code: VAJJ) in Mumbai. The Pax mission would involve two daily return flights
to Pavana Lake (Ref. Fig 1 a). The ASR mission would involve a three hour search over the off-shore rigs
located in the DCS Block and Panna-Bassein Blocks of Bombay High Oilfield (Ref. Fig. 1 b)

a) Passenger Mission b) Air-Sea Rescue Mission

Fig. 1 Area of operation of the multi-purpose amphibian aircraft
In most cases, the aircraft designers prefer to develop an aircraft that has the potential to be easily
modified and adapted to meet many other likely missions and markets for which it can be utilized. The
present aircraft, though mainly targeted for the two primary missions mentioned above, is no exception.
It is desirable the design team identify other potential applications of this aircraft, and work out the
modifications to be made to the baseline airplane to meet the likely requirements of these missions.

Specific Requirements
The specific requirements for the two baseline missions are listed in in Table 1.

TABLE-I Specific Requirements for the PAX and ASR mission

Requirement PAX Mission ASR Mission

Typical Mission VAJJ to Pavana Lake and back VAJJ to DCS & Panna-Bassein Block of
Bombay High and back
Reserve Fuel 60 minutes @ optimum loiter speed
Cockpit Crew 02 @ 65 kg + 20 kg baggage
Cabin Crew 01@ 65 kg + 10 kg baggage 04 @ 65 kg with 10 kg baggage
Pax. Capacity 10 @ 90 kg + 10 kg baggage 04 @ 90 kg with no baggage
Pax. Amenities 500 ml of bottled water per 400 kg rescue & life support equipment +
occupant 04 stretchers
Operational Limit WMO Sea State 03 WMO Sea State 04

Flight Duration 30 minutes 180 minutes

Atmosphere Indian Reference Atmosphere
Service Ceiling FL100
Certification FAR 23 Commuter Category
 Appendix-II

Evaluation Criteria for NACDeC

Stage-01

In the first stage, all registered teams will submit a report describing their Initial Concept, examined by
a panel of judges decided by the NACDeC organizers. The aim of this review will be to check if the teams
have carried out sufficient literature survey and background study about the type of aircraft being
designed, identified the critical requirements and desirable features, and have a clear-cut roadmap for
the tasks to be done in the next stage. Based on this review, ten teams will be shortlisted for the second
stage.

Stage-02

The second stage will consist of a mid-term review, and the final review.

Mid-Term review: This will be in the form of evaluation of a report, in which each team will be required
to submit a summary of work done so far, and the proposed plan of action. Based on a critical review of
these reports, some teams may be disqualified from further stages of the completion, if not enough
progress in the project work is seen and/or the proposed action plan is assessed to be illogical,
impractical, or unsustainable.

Final Review: This will be in the form of an evaluation of a report, followed by a detailed presentation.
The review of the report will be based on the following criteria.

A. Technical Content (40 points)

Does the submitted design meet RFP requirements?
Are the assumptions clearly stated and logical?
Does the team have a thorough understanding of the analyses tools used?
Are all major technical issues and points considered in the analyses?
Have proper trade studies been performed during the design process?
Is the report well balanced, and are all important systems and sub-systems properly
elaborated?
Are all technical drawings clear, descriptive, and represent a feasible design?

B. Application & Feasibility (25 points)

Is there a proper justification and substantiation of all technologies proposed?
Are critical technological issues appropriately emphasized?
Have affordability considerations influenced the design process?
Have safety, reliability and maintainability features been incorporated in the design?
Have the constraints from materials and manufacturability been considered in the
design process?
Have the operational issues adequately addressed in the final design?

C. Originality (20 points)

Does the concept demonstrate originality and aesthetics?
Does the proposed concept contain innovative solutions to address the problems?
 D. Organization & Presentation (15 points)
Does the report meet all format and content requirements?
Is the Executive Summary self-contained, and contains all the pertinent information?
Is the proposal is well organized and information readily accessible and in a logical
sequence?
Does the report contain clear and uncluttered graphs and drawings?

Final Presentation: The teams shortlisted for the final round will be invited to make a detailed
presentation on their project. Instructions for the presentation will be communicated nearer the time
of presentation.

Tasks to be (and not to be) done:

Table-I lists down the tasks that the team is expected to focus on, and also the tasks that are not
expected to be carried out in this exercise.

TABLE-I List of Tasks that are (and are NOT) expected to be carried out

Tasks that are expected to be carried out
Survey of existing aircraft
Initial Sizing
Configuration Selection
Aerodynamic Analysis
Constraint Analysis
Power-plant selection and Sizing
Structural Layout and Sizing
Performance Estimation
Range-Payload Diagram
Alternative Missions & Applications
Tasks that are NOT expected to be carried out
Acquisition Cost Estimation
Operating Cost Estimation
Estimation of demand for travel or use
Airline operation related issues
Operational Profit / Loss estimation
Financial viability of the project
Fare to be charged to the passengers
Arriving at maintenance schedules
Possibility of licenced production
Commercial and non-technical analyses