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FPV and Auto Pilot 2 Replies
Started by Jesse in Aircraft platforms. Last reply by Jesse 5 minutes ago.
for Draganflyer X4?
Started by zhou in Aerial photography 59 minutes ago.
White Paper for Ardupilot 15 Replies
Started by Wolfgang Feichtner in ArduPilot. Last reply by Earl 1 hour ago.
Planned QUADROcopter UAV, please look over my setup before I buy 12 Replies
Started by Ravi Gaddipati in Newbie. Last reply by Ravi Gaddipati 1 hour ago.
Learning to fly - the teachin approach and the Kohonen call
Started by Natalius Kiedro in Aerial photography 1 hour ago.
ArduPilot Firmware Version 2.5.1 175 Replies
Started by Doug Weibel in ArduPilot software version 2.5.1. Last reply by Doug Weibel 3 hours ago.
Are there IMUs that output absolute position? 6 Replies
Started by Mike Mogenson in Sensors & IMUs. Last reply by Doug Weibel 3 hours ago.
Getting started-newbie- 39 Replies
Started by James ehwould jablome in Aerial photography. Last reply by Ahmed 3 hours ago.
Ardustation - not displaying values 37 Replies
Started by Sean O'Connor in ArduStation. Last reply by johnny klinner 4 hours ago.
Power Supply 4 Replies
Started by Daniel Nugent in Autopilot hardware. Last reply by James ehwould jablome 4 hours ago.
Conventions/Seminars/Meets...California? 1 Reply
Started by Chris Durkee in Events/contests. Last reply by Chris Anderson 5 hours ago.
AR7212: A programmable 12-channel receiver with autopilot extensions for those flying Spektrum DX7 11 Replies
Started by Natalius Kiedro in Autopilot hardware. Last reply by Natalius Kiedro 8 hours ago.
Discussion forum for UAVDevBoard, Sparkfun's 3-axis IMU-based autopilot board 594 Replies
Started by Chris Anderson in UAV Dev Board. Last reply by Riccardo Kuebler 15 hours ago.
The Feeling of Flying
Started by Emma Chen in Aircraft platforms 22 hours ago.
A basic quadrotor ?? 3 Replies
Started by Nesh G in Quadcopters. Last reply by Nesh G 1 day ago.
How does ArduIMU and IMU in general work? 16 Replies
Started by Scott Lencl in ArduPilot. Last reply by Scott Lencl 1 day ago.
UAV on the cheap 3 Replies
Started by Ranger B in ArduPilot. Last reply by Sgt Ric 1 day ago.
Lack of Serial Ports 4 Replies
Started by Will Coffey in Autopilot hardware. Last reply by Will Coffey 1 day ago.
Wind estimation without an airspeed sensor 30 Replies
Started by William Premerlani in UAV Dev Board. Last reply by Jose Julio 1 day ago.
Kalman Filtering code for ArduIMU (flat) 41 Replies
Started by Jamie Ahmed in ArduIMU. Last reply by Jamie Ahmed 1 day ago.
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ArdupilotMega IMU test
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RJX1 Take of
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All content is free to use under a Creative Commons attribution license.
Welcome!
This is a site for all things about amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): How-to's, videos, discussion and more (you can read more about us here). Please use the tabs above to navigate the site.These are our Arduino-based open source autopilot projects:
* ArduPilot, a very low-cost (the basic board is just $24.95!) autopilot
* BlimpDuino, an autonomous blimp with both infrared and ultrasonic guidance
Other UAV/autopilot projects and code, by processor and OS type, are here.
Earlier DIY Drones projects, including Lego and cellphone autopilots, are here
FAQs:
* I'm new to all this--where do I start?
* Are amateur UAVs legal?
* Can you explain how IMUs using gyros and accelerometers work? Do I need both?
* I'm confused by all these terms! Is there a glossary? (yes!)
You can find a list of external UAV resources, including commercial UAVs and other open source UAV projects and code here.
Contests
The fifth round of the DIY Drones Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. This round is a "virtual Sparkfun competition". Deadline is March 14th. Enter here.Blog Posts
Maiden Ardu-Flight for me
It was my first flight with an Ardu-anything today. Working towards getting an ArduIMU/ArduPilot working.
So far it was just a data logging flight. I had a GPS and ArduIMU installed in my Stevens Aero Edge 540 along with an OpenLog from Sparkfun.
After downl
… ContinuePosted by Tom Hastie on March 19, 2010 at 1:21pm — 3 Comments
This week in aerospace
ATTITUDE ESTIMATES MEAN, LAST WEEK'S VIDEO FLIGHT
PROP ADAPTOR TERRORISM
These aluminum GWS prop adaptors are ridiculous. Lately they started stripping before getting anywhere near the required tension. Down to threadlock on plastic again.
… Continue
Posted by Jack Crossfire on March 19, 2010 at 11:18am — 2 Comments
USB DSM2 Transmitter for my Blade MSR helicopter
Today i flew my Blade MSR using a joystick, my PC, and the 2.4ghz LP4DSM transmitter which used to be in the tx controller. The serial protocol is best documented here, but in
… ContinuePosted by Jeff on March 18, 2010 at 6:17pm — 3 Comments
Interesting
Posted by Gary Mortimer on March 18, 2010 at 3:00pm — 12 Comments
Introduction and UDB mode switching question
I've been silently following the progress of the UAV Dev Board team for a while now, and want to congratulate Bill Premerlani and his great team for their amazing accomplishments.
This is my first posting, so please let me introduce myself. I'm relatively new to RC flying, and have very little experience with micro programming, but do have some background in aerospace and software engineering. Anyway, after crashing a few planes, it's exciting to see that such a capable and inexpensive… Continue
Posted by Philip Giacalone on March 18, 2010 at 2:28am — 14 Comments
Voice controlled heli UAV
From BotJunkie:
"This little helicopter is able to understand you when you tell it what to do. No pushing buttons, no using spec… Continue
Posted by Chris Anderson on March 17, 2010 at 9:42pm — 8 Comments
ArduPilot Mega sensor shield testing report
Posted by Jose Julio on March 17, 2010 at 10:30am — 17 Comments
Is this Epson 6-axis sensor useful for DIY drones?
http://www.epsontoyocom.co.jp/english/info/2010/0223.html
It's intended for game machines but it comprises 3-axis gyros,
and 3-axis accelerometers. It's tiny: 0.4 x 0.3 x 0.15in. (10 x 8 x 3.8mm),
… Continue
Posted by Alex Arevalo on March 17, 2010 at 9:21am — 5 Comments
A public thank you to Caleb from CH Robotics
As some people might know there is a team hard at work on OpenPilot and we are making some progress, like every complex project things don't go as fast as you like but progress is happening. One of the things we are working on now is the low level infrastructure for the AHRS, this makes
… ContinuePosted by David Ankers on March 16, 2010 at 9:30pm — 9 Comments
A small blog tracking our progress...
http://uavproject.wordpress.com
Any help or advice/feedback would be appreciated :)
Posted by Irfan Mohamed on March 16, 2010 at 1:14pm — 1 Comment
Lab View Ground Station time lag cut to less than 1/2 second.
After playing with lab view and the ArduPilot with the ArduIMU I have finally managed to get the time lag from the plane to the displayed… Continue
Posted by Earl on March 16, 2010 at 12:00am — 10 Comments
Great Article on how 'robots think' (or more accurately, how robots SEE)
Posted by Jonathan Lussier on March 15, 2010 at 11:48pm — 1 Comment
UAV flying in/around New York City?
I'm in New York City (Brooklyn to be exact) and I'm really interested in building and flying a UAV. However, I'm wondering whether it's a good idea, or rather if it's even possible to fly an RC plane here. Obviously I'm not planning on flying around skyscrapers or anything, I just want to fly something and take a few camera shots or videos.
… Continue
Posted by Robert Godlewski on March 15, 2010 at 7:51pm — 10 Comments
Inexpensive Online Machine Shop
Have you asked yourself "It would be great if I could get this part, but smaller" or "i could use this but it needs extra flanges or tubes or whatever" then you're in luck
check it out - you get instant part price quoting from the ***FREE*** CAD software program
A little patience goes a long way!
Posted by Robert White on March 15, 2010 at 10:05am — 5 Comments
Air Force Academy had to wait for full COA, how can our best minds learn when they can't test fly?
Posted by Mark Colwell on March 15, 2010 at 9:30am — 25 Comments
March Robot Giveaway to Celebrate GoRobotics’ 10th Birthday
Leading up to the 10th anniversary of my robotics blog, GoRobotics.net, I'm doing a series of robot prize giveaways. This month's giveaway features $250 worth of prizes from our sponsors… Continue
Posted by William Cox on March 15, 2010 at 7:41am
Ardupilot as OSD WITHOUT additional hardware (NO LM1881)
BaroneOSD is a PAL video overlay impression WITHOUT additional hardware required (NO LM1881 Sync generator).
Use only 3 pin:
D1 (USART TX) used to pump pixel in the video connected with a 330Ohm resistor to D6
D6 (AIN0) Video in/out, connect here you camera or radio TX.
D7 (AIN1) 0.3V Voltage reference (you can use a partitor resistor)
http://www.elenafrancesco.org/arduino/
… Continue
Posted by Francesco Ferrara on March 15, 2010 at 2:30am — 22 Comments
What's your screen resolution? - help GCS desing
640x480
800x600
854x480
960x1200
1024x640
1024x768
1152x864
1280x720
1280x768
1280x800
1280x960
1280x1024
1360x768
1366x768
1400x1050
1440x900
1600x900
1600x1000
1600x1024
1600x1200
1600x1280
1680x1050
1792x1344
1856x1392
1920x1080… Continue
Posted by automatik on March 15, 2010 at 1:00am — 33 Comments
March 14 flight report: testing ArduPilot 2.5 RC 2 code
Jason Short and I had great day of testing and improving code (and putting in a pretty good T3 contest time!). Once again we were at the RC club in Point Richmond, across the Bay from San Francisco. Jason was just back from a skiing vacation where he tangled with
… ContinuePosted by Chris Anderson on March 14, 2010 at 10:00pm — 19 Comments
No podcast this week
Posted by Tim Trueman on March 14, 2010 at 8:48pm — 1 Comment
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News from Flight Global
German Heron UAV damaged in ground collision
Germany's deployment of Heron 1 UAVs in Afghanistan has suffered an early setback, with one of its aircraft damaged on the ground ...Untethered hover flight for Mule slips to mid-year
Urban Aeronautics has delayed the first untethered hover of its AirMule ducted fan propelled unmanned air vehicle until mid-year to ensure that all systems are functioning.Boeing restarts A160 production before receiving new orders
Boeing has restarted production of its A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter, despite the lack of a new order for the type ...Rafael: NATO nations interested in Recce-U sensor
Germany and the Netherlands are evaluating whether to equip their Israeli-made unmanned air vehicles in Afghanistan with Rafael's Recce-U payload: a downsized version of its Reccelite tactical reconnaissance podPICTURES: New Aerostar UAV makes first flight
Aeronautics Defense Systems' Aerostar-C unmanned air vehicle has performed its first series of test flights in Israel.News from AUVSI
AUVSI Asked to Testify on Capitol Hill
The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs has scheduled a hearing entitled, “Rise of the Drones: Unmanned Systems and the Future of War.” The hearing is scheduled to take place on 23 March at 1400 in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Chairman John Tierney (D-MA) extended the invitation to AUVSI and Mike Fagan, Chair, AUVSI’s UAS Advocacy Committee will testify on behalf of AUVSI. The hearing will feature two panels; the first [More]House Passes H. Res. 1055 to Designate National Robotics Week as An Annual Event
On March 9, the House of Representatives passed H. Res. 1055 by a voice vote. The resolution supports the designation of ‘National Robotics Week’ on the second week in April each year, recognizing the accomplishments of Isaac Asimov, who immigrated to America, taught science, wrote science books for children and adults, first used the term robotics, developed the Three Laws of Robotics, and died in April, 1992. H. Res. 1055 which at the time of passage had 20 cosponsors, was introduced by Representative [More]Congressional Representatives Speak at AUVSI's Unmanned Systems Program Review 2010
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), Congressional UAV Caucus Co-Chair and Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee spoke at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems Program Review 2010 Conference in February. Mollohan said there are plenty of civilian applications for unmanned aircraft. "Law enforcement needs them … homeland security and the Coast Guard need them … the Forest Service needs them, FEMA needs them … in the civilian world, we see not just potential for UAVs, but real demand [More]FAA Announces New UAPO Manager
Inspector Richard J. Prosek was recently announced as the new manager of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Program Office, Unmanned Aircraft Safety Branch, AFS-407. With thirty-four years of aviation safety experience serving in the military, airlines and FAA, Rick is well suited for the challenges ahead. As a retired Air Force Brigadier General, Rick served as the Commander, District of Columbia Air National Guard and he also commanded an F-16 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron during Operation Northern [More]Standards Development for FAA Regulations
The FAA announced they will be creating a Special Federal Aviation Regulation that will provide a systematic approach for regular access to parts of the NAS for small UAS (sUAS). To support the development of this regulation, the FAA recently announced that they have selected ASTM International and SAE International as the standards development organizations that will develop the sUAS standards. ASTM International’s Committee F38 on Unmanned Aircraft Systems will be kicking off their effort during [More]© 2010 Created by Chris Anderson
