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ArduPilot Firmware Version 2.5.1 183 Replies
Started by Doug Weibel in ArduPilot software version 2.5.1. Last reply by Chris Anderson 1 hour ago.
Ardustation - not displaying values 41 Replies
Started by Sean O'Connor in ArduStation. Last reply by johnny klinner 2 hours ago.
for Draganflyer X4? 8 Replies
Started by zhou in Aerial photography. Last reply by zhou 2 hours ago.
Power Connection 6 Replies
Started by Nate in ArduIMU. Last reply by Nate 2 hours ago.
Planned QUADROcopter UAV, please look over my setup before I buy 30 Replies
Started by Ravi Gaddipati in Newbie. Last reply by Ravi Gaddipati 5 hours ago.
UAV companies in the US 3 Replies
Started by M in Uncategorized. Last reply by M 6 hours ago.
Discussion forum for UAVDevBoard, Sparkfun's 3-axis IMU-based autopilot board 599 Replies
Started by Chris Anderson in UAV Dev Board. Last reply by William Premerlani 6 hours ago.
Flight Termination 5 Replies
Started by Tod Rippin in Autopilot hardware. Last reply by Chris Anderson 8 hours ago.
Picking An Aircraft 6 Replies
Started by Jesse in Aircraft platforms. Last reply by Jesse 1 day ago.
Getting started-newbie- 40 Replies
Started by James ehwould jablome in Aerial photography. Last reply by Daniel Nugent 1 day ago.
MIT Lidar
Started by Diarmuid Wrenne in Quadcopters 1 day ago.
Navigation Problems 2 Replies
Started by Winfried Uphues in Aerial photography. Last reply by Winfried Uphues 1 day ago.
White Paper for Ardupilot 20 Replies
Started by Wolfgang Feichtner in ArduPilot. Last reply by Wolfgang Feichtner 1 day ago.
Need all the sensor connected to aquire GPS lock? 6 Replies
Started by Mike Tassey in ArduPilot software version 2.5. Last reply by Mike Tassey 1 day ago.
battery voltage displays as “1236.0000000000” 1 Reply
Started by johnny klinner in ArduStation. Last reply by Jonathan Lussier 1 day ago.
Starting with 1st IMU : a 9DOF Razor 21 Replies
Started by GillesW in Sensors & IMUs. Last reply by GillesW 1 day ago.
Adding XBee to ArduIMU+ 6 Replies
Started by Stephen Wong in ArduIMU. Last reply by Stephen Wong Mar 20.
Learning to fly - the teachin approach and the Kohonen call 2 Replies
Started by Natalius Kiedro in Aerial photography. Last reply by Morli_ Mar 20.
FPV and Auto Pilot 5 Replies
Started by Jesse in Aircraft platforms. Last reply by Morli_ Mar 20.
Are there IMUs that output absolute position? 6 Replies
Started by Mike Mogenson in Sensors & IMUs. Last reply by Doug Weibel Mar 19.
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ArdupilotMega IMU test
Added by Jose Julio
Site license
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
A little side project...
Posted by Scott Plunkett on March 21, 2010 at 8:24pm — 1 Comment
Just for fun, the finals of the ROBO-ONE competition
Nothing to do with UAVs, but here's some Sunday night fun in lieu of our normally scheduled podcast. Shown is "the final, suspense filled match featuring Super Dygar (the red robot that starts off on the right side of the ring) and Neutrino (on the left with the large paddle hands.)" Read more at Robot Dreams. Continue
Posted by Chris Anderson on March 21, 2010 at 7:00pm — 1 Comment
What is the preferred elevator & throttle control laws for Fly By Wire
Jason Short came up with a great flight mode, FLY BY WIRE, in ArduPilot 2.5. This mode differs from STABILIZE. In STABILIZE the autopilot constantly tries to return the plane to 0 pitch and roll, while you give stick inputs that tell the plane to do something else. It feels a bit like you are arm wrestling against the autopilot sometimes. With FLY BY WIRE if you move the right(*) stick half way to the right then the plane will ba… Continue
Posted by Doug Weibel on March 21, 2010 at 6:30pm — 10 Comments
Sorry everyone, no podcast this week.
Posted by Tim Trueman on March 21, 2010 at 5:35pm
Commercial Quadrotor Recommendations?
I would like to buy 6-8 commercially available trirotor or quadrotor helicopters in the $1000 - $1500 price range that would be similar in capabilities to the old Draganflyer V Ti. I've looked around and I would be very happy using Parrot AR Drones, but they have not set a date for releasing them or published a pri… Continue
Posted by Garry Qualls on March 21, 2010 at 9:24am — 6 Comments
F-35B STOVL flight tests
What could be the last US manned aircraft project has just had it's STOVL
capability proven this week on its flight tests.
Here are some videos.
BF1_10P03140kntAppraochandLanding_ppt.wmv
… Continue
Posted by Paulo Geraldes on March 20, 2010 at 5:30pm — 6 Comments
New ArduPilot Mega boards off the production line!
That's Nathan Siedle, CEO of Sparkfun, handing me the very first ArduPilot Mega board to come off the Sparkfun production line. We were at an Arduino planning meeting in NYC; that's Massimo Banzi of the Arduino project in the back.
… ContinuePosted by Chris Anderson on March 19, 2010 at 11:00pm — 19 Comments
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 — 4 Comments
Interesting
Posted by Gary Mortimer on March 18, 2010 at 3:00pm — 17 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 — 10 Comments
ArduPilot Mega sensor shield testing report
Posted by Jose Julio on March 17, 2010 at 10:30am — 20 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 — 15 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
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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
