Latest Activity

Johann Van Niekerk replied to Johann Van Niekerk's discussion APM 2.0 Died overnight! Flased both Mega2560 and PPM encoder and still dead !!!
"Soren half the questions you asked is answer in the original post if you apply common sence. but furthermore please see correspondence between myself and 3DRobotics tech support.    [5/24/2013 8:46:58 PM] Rogelio Nunez: Yes…"
9 minutes ago
Alex Hills commented on Joshua Ott's blog post B go Beyond Quadcopter/Car convertable
"I've had this idea for so long now, couldn't resist, had to get me one."
34 minutes ago
LanMark commented on Joshua Ott's blog post Thirty Days (#18):NIR camera conversion
"Tatracam is $7k+, 3MP sensor and a USB 1.0 interface.. A lot of the specs seem like 10 year old technology... Plus I wouldn't fly a $7k+ camera. Cameras like this are 12MP or more.. USB2.0 and/or SDHC cards... And more like $700. sorry not a…"
38 minutes ago
KAZUFUMI SUZUKI commented on Randy's group Japan ArduCopter Group
"いま中国ではDJIとその周辺機器がとてもよく売れています。 それもS800とか高額商品が主流でもちろんPhantomなんかも売れていますが10万以上もするリトラクタブルランディグギアや6万くらいのブラシレスジンバル、無線システムがどんどん海外に送られています。 中国国内でも盛んに実験されていたり、やはりDJIが今のとこと独走状態ですが、次第にいろいろなところが新製品を発表しています。 http://www.aeryon.com/?gclid=CNu1jvqusLUCFWQC4godcC8ANQ…"
44 minutes ago
Eagle replied to Andrew Tridgell's discussion ArduPlane 2.73 released
"I came from ArduPlane....  I visited Arducopter.  But returning.... I prefer Planes over Copter. iskess. I also have bad dreams regarding vibrations. :)"
47 minutes ago
Vishnu Rao left a comment for Andrew Tridgell
"Hey Andrew! I'm flying an X8 with APM 2.5. I have quite struggled trying to tune the bird to the right PID settings. Lately I have been using the X5 Param file posted in the Common config website. I noticed the X8 in your display picture, can…"
54 minutes ago
Eagle replied to Andrew Tridgell's discussion ArduPlane 2.73 released
"...again?....last time was last april :) If you can please post a Blog regarding: How To Flash APM with ArduPlane 2.73 directly over ISP. -Eric "
55 minutes ago
Alfred Alan jr commented on jim C.'s blog post mapping with condor drone and apm 2.5
"Impresionante lo que estas desarrollando con tu ala, es algo que para mi todavia es como un suenno el cual no tengo idea de como llegar a cumplirlo pues es algo totalmente nuevo para mi y eso es emocionante. Tengo que sacar el tiempo y empezar…"
58 minutes ago
Jared S commented on Joshua Ott's blog post Thirty Days (#18):NIR camera conversion
"Josh, what is the difference between this and a professional multispectral camera (tetracam)."
1 hour ago
Christopher Bero replied to Christopher Bero's discussion X Plan 9.70 + ArduCopter 2.9.b1 No Takeoff
"Thanks Martin, I have tried changing that setting. When the gain is lower, around 1500, the copter will take off. But even then the throttle range is extremely narrow, and I have y"
1 hour ago

Moderator
David Anders commented on Joshua Ott's blog post Thirty Days (#18):NIR camera conversion
"Good point Mark re shooting in RAW.  But I think that really should be the standard if you're doing anything with aerial photography (IR or not).  With storage space being so cheap it's not really a problem anymore."
1 hour ago

Wiki Ninja
Gary McCray replied to iskess's discussion Looking for best laptop screen to see in the sun in the group ArduPlane User Group
"There were some Toshiba Portege laptops made a few years back with Transflective LCD screens and these are the best affordable daylight full color LCD screens, they are back lit in normal light and reflective in sunlight. I have a friend who has one…"
1 hour ago
Masafumi Miwa replied to KAZUFUMI SUZUKI's discussion Arducopter- 3.0-rc3 in the group Japan ArduCopter Group
"これはすごいなあ。 今日の徳島はこれくらい風吹いてるから、 3.0必要ですね。"
1 hour ago

Admin
Thomas J Coyle III replied to Mike Wilson's discussion Mike's ArduRover Build Log in the group ArduRover User Group
"@Mike, There are two parameters in the Advanced Parameter List that affect how the rover turns when an object is detected. One parameter is the steerig angle (default of 45 deg) and the other is how long the steering deviates from straight ahead. A…"
1 hour ago
Eagle commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Sorry to be off topic for a moment... I do return to this Post topic at the bottom of my comment so I hope the community will forgive me.And please forgive my bad english writing... Drone Savant, how about trying to be more positive and less…"
1 hour ago

Wiki Ninja
Gary McCray commented on Joshua Ott's blog post Thirty Days (#17): 12-rotor close up
"I agree Joshua, our US air carriers solved the food problem a long time ago."
1 hour ago

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Forum

ArduPlane 2.73 released

Started by Andrew Tridgell in ArduPlane 2.x software. Last reply by Eagle 47 minutes ago. 88 Replies

X Plan 9.70 + ArduCopter 2.9.b1 No Takeoff

Started by Christopher Bero in Simulations. Last reply by Christopher Bero 1 hour ago. 2 Replies

APM Mission Planer Source Code Question

Started by B. Sargent in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Michael Oborne 4 hours ago. 1 Reply

Alt_hold and loiter acting crazy

Started by Frank Thingelstad in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Oliver 4 hours ago. 18 Replies

Anyone need a ride to the Sparkfun AVC?

Started by Thomas J Coyle III in Events/contests. Last reply by R. D. Starwalt 5 hours ago. 1 Reply

Creating a switch to set "home".

Started by Eddie Furey in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by iskess 5 hours ago. 56 Replies

Damaged winding, motor still runs?

Started by Andrew Chapman in Engines/Motors/Props. Last reply by Dan Banks 6 hours ago. 6 Replies

FTDI cable: 3.3v or 5v

Started by redge regis in 3DR Radios. Last reply by Eric S. 6 hours ago. 3 Replies

Mission Planner source code

Started by Shyam Balasubramanian in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Nate Miller 6 hours ago. 5 Replies

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Welcome to DIY Drones!


This is the home for everything about amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Use the tabs and drop-down menus above to navigate the site. (About us/Site rules)

This community created the Arduino-based ArduPilot, the world's first universal autopilot (planes, multicopters of all sorts and ground rovers). The APM 2.5 autopilot hardware runs a variety of powerful free UAV software systems, including:

  • ArduPlane, a pro-level UAV system for planes of all types.
  • ArduCopter, a fully-autonomous multicopter and heli UAV system.

I'm new to all this--where do I start?                    Are amateur UAVs legal? (yes)

Examples of civilian uses of drones                   Glossary of confusing terms

Blog Posts

An Open Source Project to Change the World!

Posted by Joshua Johnson on May 24, 2013 at 6:30pm 0 Comments

http://thesparkfilm.com/

This film is something that motivates me to use technology and open source collaboration to better my local community and to use technology to change the world!  When agriculture was first introduced into human culture it revolutionized the way we live.  We no longer had to follow herds of…

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First test of targeting system.

Posted by vis.asta on May 24, 2013 at 3:30pm 3 Comments

First test of targeting system. All calculations are done in the air.

Camera provides two streams. Highly compressed (rigth window) and detailed (left).

3 axis BL gimbal. In low light conditions and excessive vibration.

 

test at…

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Thirty Days (#18):NIR camera conversion

Posted by Joshua Ott on May 24, 2013 at 3:30pm 5 Comments

John modified a point-and-shoot camera to capture near infrared images. This is half the puzzle in building NDVI images for analyzing crop health.

Information on the conversion can be found here: …

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Understanding Fly-By-Wire B Mode Altitude Behaviour

Posted by Bill Bonney on May 24, 2013 at 2:44pm 2 Comments

A couple months ago I was testing ArduPlane and some of the different modes. I was not getting on very well in FBW-B* mode. If you look at the image below. You will see the purple track. I was loosing altitude and I couldn't understand why. You can see just before the path goes red, I'd lost a lot of…

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My two birds...ready for flight now

Posted by Euan Ramsay on May 24, 2013 at 1:30pm 3 Comments

Nicknamed "Laurel and Hardy", for reasons that should be obvious.

Everything calibrated...time to get the PID's done! Well..once it stops raining and snowing here in Switzerland. :-(

Some build annoyances, which I'll go into in an additional post.

 

 

 

Laurels bits…

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mapping with condor drone and apm 2.5

Posted by jim C. on May 24, 2013 at 8:30am 9 Comments

Because the latter one of condor drone tests went very well in the navigation, I decided to mount the camera aboard the condor photography for mapping and the results appear promising.

 

 …

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Interesting-sounding drones conference in NYC in October

Posted by Chris Anderson on May 23, 2013 at 10:27pm 3 Comments

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Roofs inspection test with VR Brain Pro on GolaKele Frame

Posted by Roberto Navoni on May 23, 2013 at 10:00pm 2 Comments

Dear Friends,

on VirtualRobotix we are working in new advanced platform based on GolaKele Frame and VR Brain Gold and PRO configuration.

This is first example of service where we use the our multicopter for roof inspection.

In the test use also Wookong DJI on other Hexa for doing some comparison on two different kind of…

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Afterflight: A browser-based system for analysis and annotation of video and sensor data from UAVs.

Posted by Aaron Curtis on May 23, 2013 at 9:00pm 5 Comments

Several months ago I started working on a system called Afterflight to organize and browse my tlogs and dataflash logs, sync them with video, and view them along with a map GPS display. It still has a long way to go, but there is a fair amount of working functionality so I figured I'd get it out there…

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Contests

Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.

A list of all T3 contests is here

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UAV news from sUAS News

Google acquires kite-power generator

Google acquires kite-power generator

Well I did’nt see this coming. Using lots of UA tech Google invests in yet more cutting edge stuff (ed) Google has acquired a US company that generates power using turbines mounted on tethered kites or wings. Makani Power will become part of Google X – the secretive research and development arm of the search giant. The deal comes as Makani carries out the first fully autonomous flights of robot kites bearing its power-generating propellers. Google has not said how much it paid to acquire Makani, but it has invested $15m (£9.9m) in the company before now. In a statement posted to its website, Makani said the deal would “provide Makani with the resources to accelerate our work to make wind energy cost competitive with fossil fuels”. Rather than use fixed turbines to generate power, Makani has been experimenting with “flying wings” adorned with several smaller turbines that act as propellers as the craft takes off. Makani claims that mounting the turbines on a wing is more efficient as large numbers can be built with fewer materials than traditional tower-based turbines. In addition, the robot wings can land to avoid damage if wind speeds are too high or during bad [...]

Unmanned aircraft can protect crops from locusts

Unmanned aircraft can protect crops from locusts

by Gabino Martinez Serrano The world population is growing at a rapid pace. Today we are almost seven billion people and it is estimated that the figure will exceed 10 billion in 15 years. The world’s need for food will double, but the world’s arable land remains the same. Experts say that to increase performance, it is important to plant each crop where it can best develop, increase the yield potential of plant varieties and to reduce adversity posed by pests which have become a real problem. Failure to protect crops from pests would reduce harvests to just over half. Locusts are unique because they undergo a phase change. This means that under certain circumstances related to climate and population density, their behaviour changes and they move, eat and behave as a group, forming gigantic clouds and can travel great distances devouring crops in their path. These pests can affect 20 per cent of the surface of the earth, spreading through Africa, the Near East, and Southwest Asia. More than 65 countries may be at risk of swarms, invasion and reproduction. The last powerful plague occurred in 1988-89, threatening as many as 43 countries, one fifth of the world as [...]

ESCC to use donated unmanned aerial vehicles for science

ESCC to use donated unmanned aerial vehicles for science

Ted Shockley MELFA — Launching unmanned aerial vehicles from the Eastern Shore could be a financial plus for the area, and Eastern Shore Community College is positioning itself for an associated educational and training partnership. A link between the two was seen recently when an Aerosonde aerial vehicle donated to the college was unveiled in front of a gathering of staff members and industry experts. “We have something tangible, real, that the students can see,” said College President Linda Thomas-Glover of the unmanned airplane, which from wing to wing was bigger than a typical dining-room table. The particular model was used for years out of Wallops to gather weather data and has flown into hurricanes, said Jon Borcik, a program manager for AAI Corp., which oversees the Aerosonde program. He called it a “coming home mission” for the plane, a fitting place for an aircraft based at Wallops to continue its ­service. The plane will be used to stimulate an interest in science and also be studied by various college classes. The donation was arraigned by Peter Bale, board chairman for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and a former program manager for Aerosonde North America at Wallops. At a [...]

Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems Achieves Milestone C Approval

Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems Achieves Milestone C Approval

Insitu announced today that RQ-21A reached Milestone C under the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) contract with Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The achievement will enable the program to transition from the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) phase to a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase and enter initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E). “This milestone represents the dedication and commitment of the entire government and industry team to executing a challenging and fast-paced EMD program,” said Ryan Hartman , Insitu’s senior vice president of Integrator Programs. “I couldn’t be more proud of the Insitu team. Our greatest asset is our engineering talent and this event represents yet another significant engineering achievement for them.” “This milestone and the LRIP decision is a great accomplishment for our NAVAIR and Insitu team. The rapid development, systems engineering and testing has been superb. The sense of urgency and driving force behind our NAVAIR and Insitu team has been, and continues to be, the simple fact that the RQ-21A UAS will be the first organic & dedicated multi-intelligence UAS for U.S. Marine Corps and Navy tactical commanders.  The real-time, actionable intelligence and maritime domain awareness coming from multiple sensors off an expeditionary and ship-capable Group [...]

NM drone testing center could soon face competition

NM drone testing center could soon face competition

Dan Mayfield New Mexico could lose its lead on unmanned aerial vehicle development when the Federal Aviation Administration lays out a new set of rules that allow more airfields to test UAVs, a state leader in the industry said. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Test Center, an airfield run by New Mexico State University and the FAA, is the only FAA-approved UAS, or drone, flight test center in the nation. The center logs data from about two flights daily of commercial drones, which weigh anywhere from 15 ounces to 600 pounds. But last year the FAA said it will authorize six more sites for drone testing. “As soon as the FAA opens the door, there will be an explosion,” said Dennis “Zak” Zaklan, the director of the UAS FTC. “At this point, nobody knows. It depends on the FAA. It creates competition.” http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2013/05/22/drone-test-center-could-face-competition.html Bookmark It Hide Sites

UAV news from Flight Global

Maritime Heron UAV supports European airspace trial

Europe has advanced a project to prove the feasibility of using satellite communications to enable UAS operations in non-segregated airspace ...

Brazilian navy begins UAS evaluation

The Brazilian navy has begun to evaluate two Israeli-made unmanned air systems for maritime surveillance missions ...

Indian air force to launch micro UAS evaluation

The Indian air force is to evaluate several micro unmanned air systems from around 10 companies in early May ...

VIDEO: Eurocopter demonstrates unmanned EC145

Eurocopter has unveiled an optionally piloted vehicle (OPV), based on its EC145 light twin, which has been in development since September 2011.

Israeli F-16 downs another Hezbollah UAV

An Israeli air force Lockheed Martin F-16 has shot down an unmanned air vehicle launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah militants ...

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