Systems / Sprinter
Sprinter — high-speed airframe testbed.
Sprinter is the Track 2 hardware: a Gen-3 rocket-profile aero testbed—built, electronics integrated, finishing electrical configuration before manual propulsion and stability trials. Guidance work happens on Scythe. Parameters on this page are design targets—not qualified field specs. Sprinter is not flying autonomously.
Sprinter · Gen-3 High-Speed Aerodynamic Testbed — Ithaca Flight Lab
Track 2 · Hardware
Sprinter (Gen-3) high-speed aero testbed.
Purpose-built projectile-profile flight article: swept quad layout, modular nosecone bay, rigid composite construction. Electronics are integrated; once electrical configuration is complete it will validate low-drag aerodynamics, motor thermals, and high closure speeds under manual flight.
- Status · Electronics integrated / pre-flight configuration
- Control · Manual — autonomy payload later
- Convergence · After tethered rates on Scythe
Autonomy stack (YOLO + IBVS on Pi 5) stays on Scythe until Sprinter envelope work is complete.
Loading airframe model…
CAD model
Sprinter Gen-3 CAD twin.
The same geometry as the built airframe above. Drag to rotate around the vertical axis.
Gen-1 → Gen-3 design lineage →
Structural study
Gen-1 airframe FEA concept.
Earlier notional interceptor studied in simulation—stress and load paths for structural iteration. Informed later airframe geometry; not the flight article above.
FEA / concept render only.
Simulation · SITL
Recorded intercept scenario.
PX4 / Gazebo software-in-the-loop run shown on a plan position indicator display. Simulation only.
Simulation · design parameters
Gen-1 design targets.
Notional parameters for a high-agility airframe model used in closed-loop guidance simulation against maneuvering UAS and mobile ground-target trajectories—stated as design targets, not qualified or field specifications.
90mph
Notional speed (sim)
12km
Notional range (sim)
<90s
Time to acquisition (sim)
~30Hz
Control loop design target
Status
Sprinter and Scythe milestones live on one development timeline.