June 2009 Blog Posts (83)

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Energy Harvesting for UAVs

The Wired Way:



The Solar Way:
AFRL News Release

-Steve

Added by Stephen Carlson on June 30, 2009 at 11:49pm — 6 Comments

Ardupilot Success Stories

At this point, the only way to get my plane flying with Ardupilot is to buy a different FTDI cable which may or may not work with my setup(I don’t have the programming skills to bypass the configuration utility and add waypoints directly into the code). I’m running Windows Vista on my laptop and have the latest Ardupilot board with the shield kit as shown below. I’ve also installed the latest code, configuration utility and the newest version of the Arduino IDE.

Before I invest any more… Continue

Added by Bryan Cuervo on June 30, 2009 at 6:30pm — 11 Comments

Dead multiplexer?

Wondering if anyone might have experienced a problem that I'm having. My ArduPilot has been working fine, but yesterday, the servo outputs suddenly quit working. After doing some troubleshooting, I think I've narrowed the problem down the the multiplexer (74ACT157). It gets power, and gets a proper signal from the failsafe, and I found a 50 Hz signal on the inputs. However, the outputs are always low, at 0V.



I've been using a 4-cell, 4.8V receiver battery to power my setup. When… Continue

Added by Damon Pipenberg on June 30, 2009 at 8:17am — 28 Comments


Moderator Great UK source for Xbee tracking and Ardupilot.

Here ya go if your in UK, or Europe come to that.

http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=295

I enquired about their Xbees and mentioned the simple tracking, they decided to bundle it all.

Very very impressed.

G

Added by Gary Mortimer on June 29, 2009 at 3:00pm — 3 Comments

VicaCopter 4



After spending 3 hours waiting for web pages to load, VicaCopter 4 is finally available for download. If U ever succeeded in building your own VicaCopter, U still probably wouldn't know half of what she can do.



The idea with VicaCopter is to have a reference design that works but not to have you copy it exactly. It's mainly our own… Continue

Added by Jack Crossfire on June 29, 2009 at 1:42pm — 11 Comments

Pros and cons of the Ardupilot Configuration Utility

I first started flying with Ardupilot before the configuration utility (CU) was created. At the field, I’d pull up the Arduino IDE on my lap top, make the changes I wanted in the code (waypoints, altitude, tuning parameters, etc.), upload to my Ardupilot, then fly. After seeing how the flight was affected, I’d go back to the IDE make another change and fly again.

Then the CU was created and it looked cool but, at the field, it just created another step to go through before flying. I now… Continue

Added by Bryan Cuervo on June 29, 2009 at 4:24am — 29 Comments

Simple way to use Google Earth as ground station.

I am looking for use google earth as ground station.

i have download this program.





http://goopstechnologies.com

it is easy to interface to any application:

GooPs can receive data from other applications via a TCP/IP socket. GooPs listens on port 51234 for messages containing NMEA data.



and another similar program:

http://mboffin.com/earthbridge/



it demostrates it is possible but

Where can… Continue

Added by Jose Luis Cortes on June 28, 2009 at 9:26am — 6 Comments

I Heart Robotics UAV Crosspost



While not all of the information on the I Heart Robotics blog is related to UAVs, there is a significant amount that should be of interest here. I would like to highlight a few specific posts.…

Continue

Added by I Heart Robotics on June 27, 2009 at 12:00am — 9 Comments


Moderator Government Grants 100,000 handed out to secret types

How do you win a Government Grant for something that is largely illegal in your country??



Helen Greiner's Droid Works Wins First Gov't Grant for Flying Bots



Helen Greiner's stealthy new start-up, The Droid Works, has said almost nothing about what they're up to, except that they're working in the field of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles.) So far, Greiner has been funding the Framingham-based company herself, so there aren't any VCs to blab about what they're working on. And… Continue

Added by Gary Mortimer on June 26, 2009 at 12:00pm — 10 Comments


Moderator Ummm


http://www.u-nav.com/3550.html

Added by Gary Mortimer on June 26, 2009 at 8:14am — 7 Comments


3D Robotics DIYDrones Store: New Products Available!



Hello everybody. I have some news here:



1.-The shipping system right now is a nightmare for everybody (including me). Finally i found a good solution that will let me ship overseas for less than 5 dlls (under 4 oz). Yes i will accept First Class Mail soon, YEAHHH!!! It will be ready in… Continue

Added by Jordi Muñoz on June 25, 2009 at 8:00pm — 39 Comments


3D Robotics ArduStation Assembly Instructions





What you will need:

-ArduStation Kit

-Soldering Iron:…

Continue

Added by Jordi Muñoz on June 25, 2009 at 2:00pm — 89 Comments

Electronic Valve and Ignition Timing For Model Gas Engines

Via Hack-A-Day, here is an electronically controlled RC gas engine. With more development, this could lead to more efficient RC engines by skipping power cycles. This would allow longer flight times while at cruising… Continue

Added by Wayne Dancer on June 25, 2009 at 10:22am — 1 Comment

Student UAS

Just got back from this years AUVSI Student UAS Competition. My team (Utah State University) took 1st place this year using a paparazzi based platform. We recorded the highest score in the history of the competition. It was a very fun event and my hats off to all those who put it on each year.

Added by Danstah on June 24, 2009 at 8:48pm — 9 Comments

UAV Dev Board on Multiplex Twister

I decided that I wanted to graduate from a thermopile based autopilot to a full IMU based system and the UAV DevBoard looked like it was going to scratch my itch. In the end, I wound up with it on my Multiplex Twister, an elapor foam electric ducted fan rc aircraft. Here's what I've done -



One of my motivations starts with the fact that I have flown an FPV Telemaster with an Ardupilot quite succesfully but use it primarily as a failsafe. I did, however, test the waypoint system to… Continue

Added by smguest on June 24, 2009 at 5:46pm — 9 Comments


Moderator Off topic but lots of fun

Shooting the breeze with Keith McLellan





Very lucky to be allowed to fly with these… Continue

Added by Gary Mortimer on June 24, 2009 at 3:46pm — No Comments

Inputting LAT LONG /manually

I failed to get the waypoint utility to read and write to the board, and read the comments on the blog.

So I want to put them in manually, but the manual says to put them where it says "wp-lat wp-long I cant find these in the code. I am running 2.2.3

Added by Paul Har on June 24, 2009 at 2:46pm — 1 Comment

Biological Dangers to Drones

With more and more small drones being put into the air by the military, companies, individuals like us we will start to see more incidents like this one;



Raptor attack! from Billwhit on Vimeo.



Granted, the owner of this RC plane also designed it to look like a hawk, but the military will probably start to camouflage small drones to look like… Continue

Added by Wayne Dancer on June 24, 2009 at 9:29am — 8 Comments

Easy Star Clone





AXN Floater



Not sure if any of you have seen this, but there's a decent looking easy star clone for what appears to be a pretty good price. Here is a review.



The shipping will be a little steep at about $35-$40, but considering it comes… Continue

Added by Brian Wolfe on June 23, 2009 at 2:11pm — 9 Comments


3D Robotics New Schematics and Board Diagrams!



Hello there, i been working a little bit in the store and improving some stuff, somebody requested good diagrams? Well here it is! Now i have new ones for all our products in PDF:



ArduShield:

Ardupilot_shield_v15_sch.pdf…



Continue

Added by Jordi Muñoz on June 23, 2009 at 12:00pm — 7 Comments

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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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