Module 4: Illuminated Landings – Engineering Challenge

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Illuminated Landings

Module 4 · Engineering Challenge

UC Merced Drone Workshop · Paper Circuits & Light-Up Landing Pads

Real runways and helipads guide pilots in with lights. Today you become an electrical engineer: build a working paper circuit, then design and build your own light-up landing pad with a switch you invent.

💡 Light Up a Message

Your goal: complete the template with a working LED light. This is your warm-up circuit.

🧰 Materials

Cardstock/paper • copper tape • LEDs • 3V coin cell battery (CR2032) • clear tape, scissors, decorating supplies

Step 1 — Plan the circuit

Find the + and − sides of the battery. On the LED, the long leg is + and the short leg is −.

Step 2 — Construct

Stick copper tape firmly along your planned paths.
Bend the LED legs flat. Place the long (+) leg on the positive path, the short (−) leg on the negative path. Secure with more copper tape.
Add the battery so the correct sides touch the copper paths. A small paper flap or tape can hold it.

Step 3 — Test, fix, decorate

Light on? Great. No light? Check the battery direction, the LED legs, and that every tape connection is tight. Then add your artistic touches and share.

🔀 Level up

Add a switch, like the cards that light up or make noise when you open them. Learn the lever switch here.

🛬 Build a Landing Pad

The challenge: design and build a light-up landing pad, and give it a switch so the light turns on when you want it to.

🧰 Materials

Cardstock (landing-pad base) • copper tape (your "wires") • 1 LED (your landing light) • 1 3V coin cell battery • scissors • tape • pencils/markers

Step 1 — Sketch your pad

How big? What shape? Where does the LED go? Then solve the key design question: how does your pad switch on? You need a way to complete the circuit.

Pressure switch: a flap with copper tape underneath presses down onto another strip when something "lands."
Manual connection: leave one part of the path open and press it closed by hand to light the LED.
Your own idea? Think creatively!

Step 2 — Build it

Cut or tape your cardstock into the shape you want.
Lay two separate copper paths from the battery to the LED. Press firmly; overlap pieces slightly to connect them.
Connect the LED: secure the + leg to one path and the − leg to the other, with good metal-to-metal contact.
Add the battery & switch: one battery side touches one path; your switch connects the other side to the second path when activated, completing the circuit and lighting the LED.

🔧 Test & troubleshoot

No light? Engineers troubleshoot all the time. Check every copper connection, the LED orientation (+ to +, − to −), the battery contact, and whether your switch actually closes the circuit.

🤔 Think Like an Engineer

What was the trickiest part of this challenge? How did you solve it?
How could you make your landing pad even better — brighter, multiple lights, a different switch?
Where are light-up signals used in the real world? Think airports, helipads, emergency vehicles, everyday electronics.
What careers involve designing circuits or systems like this? Electrical, aerospace, and robotics engineers, for a start.

★

✨ Showcase Your Landing

Once your illuminated landing pad works, show it off and explain how your design works — especially your switch. Post a photo or video to The Wall with your name or team name in the Subject line.

Career Connection

A circuit with a switch is the heart of nearly every device you own. Electrical engineers design them, aerospace engineers build the lighting and landing systems for aircraft and helipads, and robotics engineers wire the sensors that tell machines what to do. Engineering programs at community colleges and at UC Merced start first-generation students on exactly this path.

You Built a Working Circuit

You designed a circuit, invented a switch, and troubleshooted it until it lit. That is real engineering. Next up: Module 5 — Drone Dance Party.

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