// LUC DESAUTELS · ENGINEERING PORTFOLIO

Engineering
portfolio.

The engineering work of Luc Desautels.

Twenty-eight sub-projects across three programs. Start with the programs below — each one breaks down into the techniques behind it — or skip to the full grid and filter by discipline.

Currently

Engineering

Based in

Toronto, Ontario

Focus

Robotics & Aerospace

Total

28 sub-projects

// Scroll — skills by program ↓ // Experience by project ↓↓

// Skills by program

Three programs, and what each one took

The grid further down lists everything. This is the same work grouped by the program it belongs to, with the technique behind each piece called out. Click any row to read it in full.

// Program 01 / 03 2022 — 2025

FIRST® Tech Challenge

Team 16366 · Mechanical design

Four competition seasons with the TFS Robotic Unicorns, most of it on the mechanical side — drivetrain, manipulators, and the fixturing needed to make each part twice. FTC deadlines are unforgiving, so the work is biased toward parts a student can machine on a school 3-axis and repair between matches.

04 techniques Full write-up →

FTC — COMPETITION ROBOT — // Team 16366 · competition build

// Program 02 / 03 2024 — 2026

Project Sailfish

Altum Robotics · Team Lead

A low-cost autonomous marine search-and-rescue drone, built to cut the time and cost for rescue crews to make first visual contact with a person in the water. Three generations of airframe, and with them most of the disciplines below — composites, RF, propulsion, CAD, and the software that ties them together.

13 techniques Full write-up →

SAILFISH GEN.3 — AIRFRAME — // Sailfish Gen.3 · field test, Lake Ontario

// Program 03 / 03 2022 — present

Uncategorized

Standalone builds & side quests

The work that doesn't belong to a program. Some of it is infrastructure I run because I wanted to understand it, some of it is hardware built for a specific evening. It's here because the skills are real even when the project isn't part of anything larger.

06 techniques

STANDALONE — WORKBENCH — // Standalone builds

// Engineering Project Portfolio

Here's what I've been working on

Hover to preview · click a tile to lock it as selected.

// 01 / 28

Advanced 3D Design & Assembly

Sailfish · —

Exploded CAD assembly

Full CAD assembly of the Sailfish airframe in Fusion 360 — every part, sub-assembly, and joint modeled before it was cut.

Dozens of individual part designs across hundreds of iterations, built up into a large assembly and sub-assembly structure with joints constrained to realistic movement bounds. Kept under version control with a consistent naming convention, and rendered as exploded animations for presentation.

CADMechanical

// 02 / 28

Aerodynamic Analysis (CFD)

Sailfish · —

CFD pressure distribution

Localized CFD on the VTOL-to-forward-flight transition arms and the wing, to find and cut high-drag areas.

Ran computational fluid dynamics on the tilt arms during the VTOL-to-forward-flight transition and on the wing in forward flight, isolating the areas producing the most drag.

AeroResearch

// 03 / 28

Exotic Polymer 3D Printing

Sailfish · —

3D-printed part, exotic polymer

Placeholder — not yet written up.

Manufacturing

// 04 / 28

Composite Layup — Fiberglass

Sailfish · —

Fiberglass layup

Hand-laid fiberglass composite parts, a materials-engineering side of the build separate from the 3D-printed structure.

Placeholder — not yet written up.

ManufacturingMaterials

// 05 / 28

Waterproofing Innovations

Sailfish · —

Waterproofing detail

Placeholder — not yet written up.

MechanicalMaterials

// 06 / 28

Power-Train Propulsion Testing

Sailfish · —

Power-train bench test

Bench-tested and characterized the motor/prop power train — also the subject of a Physics IA.

Detailed write-up lives on LinkedIn and hasn't been transcribed here yet. This work also became the subject of an IB Physics Internal Assessment.

ResearchElectricalMechanical

// 07 / 28

Power Distribution & Monitoring Electronics

Sailfish · —

Power distribution wiring

Motors, ESCs, PDB, dual-battery switching, and current/voltage monitoring, wired into one power system.

The core electrical build-out — motors, ESCs, a power distribution board, dual-battery switching, and battery monitoring with current and voltage sensing.

Electrical

// 08 / 28

Custom Battery Pack Fabrication

Sailfish · —

Custom battery pack

Placeholder — not yet written up.

ElectricalManufacturing

// 09 / 28

Gimbaled Drone Sensor Array

Sailfish · —

Gimbaled sensor array

4K colour and low-light infrared cameras on a gimbal, plus optical flow and lidar for close-to-ground landings.

The gimbal carries a 4K colour camera and a low-light infrared camera together, with an optical flow sensor and a lidar unit added specifically to handle landings close to the ground.

ElectricalMechanical

// 10 / 28

VTX Stack — Avionics Packaging

Sailfish · —

VTX stack, nose cone open

Dual VTX stack — digital 5.8GHz for the 4K feed, analog 5.8GHz for infrared — actively cooled and vibration-isolated.

4K colour goes out over a digital VTX on 5.8GHz RHCP; the infrared feed goes out over an analog VTX on 5.8GHz LHCP. Both modules have their own custom active-cooling setup, are vibration-isolated, and route waste heat back toward the battery cells.

Electrical

// 11 / 28

Long-Range Video Transmission Systems

Sailfish · —

Video transmission range test

Long-range 5.8GHz video transmission engineering, also the subject of a Physics Extended Essay.

Detailed write-up lives on LinkedIn and hasn't been transcribed here yet.

ResearchElectrical

// 12 / 28

Autonomous Flight Electronics

Sailfish · —

Autonomous flight electronics

Placeholder — not yet written up.

ElectricalSoftware

// 13 / 28

Autonomous Flight Software — Configuration & Simulation

Sailfish · —

ArduPilot failsafe simulation

Redundant failsafe configuration and simulation testing for autonomous flight, on ArduPilot.

Configured and simulation-tested redundant failsafes for autonomous flight in ArduPilot, so a single sensor or link failure doesn't turn into a lost aircraft.

Software

// 14 / 28

Advanced ESC Harmonic Notch Filtering

Sailfish · —

Notch-filtered vibration graph

Tuned harmonic notch filters on the ESCs to cut motor-noise vibration from the flight-control loop.

Placeholder — not yet written up.

ElectricalSoftware

// 15 / 28

Optimized Search-Pattern Modeling

Sailfish · —

Search-pattern model

Mathematical modeling of an optimized search pattern for marine search-and-rescue coverage, also the subject of a Math IA.

Detailed write-up lives on LinkedIn and hasn't been transcribed here yet.

ResearchSoftware

// 16 / 28

Antenna Tracker

Sailfish · —

Antenna tracker array

A self-tracking directional antenna array that points itself at the aircraft using GPS, compass, and redundant accelerometers.

Runs a flight controller with GPS and compass, flashed with ArduPilot's antenna-tracking firmware, driving gimbal servos to keep the array pointed at the aircraft. It auto-calibrates its own location and heading and cross-checks angle with redundant internal accelerometers. Digital VRX feeds an HDMI output; analog VRX drives its own screen and HDMI output. The array is four high-gain 14dBi triple-feed directional patch antennas (2 RHCP, 2 LHCP) plus four medium-gain dual-patch antennas (2 RHCP, 2 LHCP), on a two-servo gimbal mount and tripod.

ElectricalMechanicalSoftware

// 17 / 28

Portable Ground Station

Sailfish · —

Portable ground station

Placeholder — not yet written up.

ElectricalMechanical

// 18 / 28

Arm & Transfer Mechanism

FTC · —

Arm & transfer mechanism

Placeholder — not yet written up.

MechanicalCAD

// 19 / 28

Custom CNC Chassis

FTC · —

CNC chassis

Placeholder — not yet written up.

ManufacturingMechanical

// 20 / 28

Mentoring Technical Skills & Onboarding

FTC · —

Mentoring session

Mentored technical skills to younger members of the team as part of onboarding.

Ran mentoring sessions covering technical skills — CAD, machining, and assembly practices — for newer, younger members of the team.

Leadership

// 21 / 28

Local Girl Guides Group Events

FTC · —

Girl Guides outreach event

Placeholder — not yet written up.

Outreach

// 22 / 28

Lighthouse Database

FTC · —

Lighthouse database

Placeholder — not yet written up.

Software

// 23 / 28

Electroplating Graphite (Chemistry IA)

Standalone · —

Electroplated graphite

Electroplated graphite as the subject of a Chemistry Internal Assessment.

Placeholder — not yet written up.

ResearchMaterials

// 24 / 28

Free Little Library

Standalone · —

Free little library

Built a free little library as a Scouts project.

Built and installed a free little library as part of a Scouts community project.

ManufacturingCommunity

// 25 / 28

Self-Hosted Private Server

Standalone · —

Home server rack

A home server behind a reverse proxy, running Nextcloud, Syncthing, private comms, and a few hosted sites.

Everything runs behind a reverse proxy: Nextcloud, Syncthing, and an Obsidian vault, alongside private communications and a few hosted websites and utilities.

SoftwareElectrical

// 26 / 28

Stationary-Bike Generator

Standalone · —

Stationary-bike generator

A generator that attaches to a stationary bike, built with a business plan for SHAD — won the prototype award.

Built for SHAD: a generator that attaches to a stationary bike, backed by a business plan pitching it to gyms. Like most human-power alternative energy, the physics works, but it doesn't come close to competing with solar on cost.

MechanicalResearch

// 27 / 28

MBot Pickup Arm

Standalone · —

MBot with scoop and flipper

Outfitted an MBot with a scoop and flipper to pick up objects — self-taught, without a team or guidance.

The first robotics project done solo, without a team or guidance. Self-taught 3D printing, CAD in Onshape, design for manufacturing tolerances, and moving-part design, as a project for tech class.

MechanicalCAD

// 28 / 28

Wind-Powered Fan

Standalone · —

Wind-powered fan

A handheld wind-powered fan — and a joke about greenwashing in consumer marketing.

A propeller captures rotational energy from the wind and transfers it with a timing belt to a second propeller that blows air into your face. Built as a spoof project at the University of Waterloo Catalyst summer program.

MechanicalResearch