Aero | Devpost

This is a map of american airlines flights on Novemeber 29th 2022
Side bar menu to run flight simulations
The amount of American Airlines flight data that is used in this web application. (usually at a given timeframe its is around 300+ flights)

Inspiration

Modern aerospace and engineering problems are increasingly data-driven, but many existing tools are either overly complex, inaccessible, or not built for rapid iteration. Aero was inspired by the idea that powerful tools shouldn’t require users to dig through raw code or static outputs to understand what’s happening.

What it does

Aero is a full-stack web platform that allows users to interact with a backend system through a clean, intuitive web interface. User actions on the frontend trigger backend processing in real time, and the results are immediately visualized in the UI.

How we built it

We built Aero using a decoupled architecture, with a backend service responsible for all core logic and data processing and a web-based frontend that communicates with the backend through APIs and presents results visually. This structure allowed us to develop and test components independently while keeping the system cohesive. We also documented the project and demo flow directly in the repository to make the pitch and usage reproducible.

Challenges we ran into

When we tried to move from our simple map to the more user-friendly iteration, we had to rewrite the majority of the code due to odd frontend/backend splits.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of building a true full-stack system within the time given, especially given our need to essentially restart with only a few hours to go.

What we learned

We learned the importance of architecture and design choices, especially when building under time pressure. A clean separation of concerns made development faster and debugging easier.

What's next for Aero

We hope to add more recommendation features for gate agents and other staff who may need to explain the best options for travelers and allow for operations staff to simulate swapping planes, crew, etc to mitigate the domino effect of delays.