FIELD STATION · mobile autonomous drone base · engineering dashboard

Mobile Autonomous Field Station

Container-based autonomous drone spraying base — simulation-first engineering. System v0.1 space-claim model + energy model + first FEM case, all gated.
1. CadQuery model2. dock cell part3. 45 pytest gates4. energy simulation5. FEM gmsh→CalculiX6. FreeCAD validation7. site build

Headline results (machine-written reports, build 9bab627)

14,570 kg
total mass, stowed
limit 26,000 kg
0.56 x/L
centre of gravity (length fraction)
window 0.35–0.65
1235 mm
CoG height
limit 1400 mm
17 / 18 solids
model stowed / deployed
FreeCAD verdict: PASSED
180 ha/day
spray throughput (worst month)
floor 150 ha/day
0.73 kWh/ha
energy cost per hectare
0.21 L/ha
genset fuel, worst month
bound ≤ 0.5 L/ha
40.8 MPa
tank-beam stress (2g transport)
allowable 177.5 · util 0.23
0.329 mm
tank-beam deflection
allowable 3.6 mm
45 tests
gates passing
geometry · clearance · mass · interfaces · energy · FEM · dock cell
68 s
dock-cell swap cycle (worst path)
target ≤ 90 s · verdict PASS

The prototype — real geometry (CadQuery → Blender, build 9bab627)

deployed isometric render
Deployed state — solar wings out as awnings (2 000 mm), 18 solids
stowed floor plan render
Floor plan (roof/solar hidden) — dock cell → drone bay → fluid LEFT / electrical RIGHT, service aisle between

Renders import the exact .glb exported from the gated assembly (cad/export_visual.py → blender/render_station.py, Cycles CPU) — never a separate model. More views + zone color legend: Model v0.1.

What this system is

A sea-container field station: 6 spraying drones, automated battery/tank swap dock, 120 kWh battery bank, 18 kWp deployable solar, 3 000 L water + 6-channel chemical bank — designed for zero-human field operation. The engineering pipeline is parameters-first: YAML → CadQuery geometry → automatic gates → simulation. The model rejects its own bad designs; see Changes for the defects the gates caught.

Key design finding so far

Genset is co-primary, not backup. Worst-month solar (18 kWp ≈ physical roof/wing area cap) delivers ~66 kWh/day against ~132 kWh/day campaign demand. On spray days the genset runs 7.83 h/day ≈ 0.21 L/ha (bound 0.5). Solar fully carries standby/aux days. Recorded as ADR-0002 amendment. Details: Energy.
sources: cad/exports/station_v01_report.json · simulation/energy/energy_report.json · simulation/structural/tank_beam_report.json · cad/exports/freecad-validation.json