Comment by Earl on July 13, 2009 at 1:53pm

Chris or Jordi...
An operational question here.
When in RTL or AP mode, shouldn't the RC sticks over ride the autopilot ?

Comment by bGatti on July 13, 2009 at 2:11pm

Some reasonable people might argue that the infrared gradient is a physical property of the globe, and not the proper subject for a claim of personal innovation. As to the construction of a sensor for same, the bimetallic junction was discovered in the 1800's - so that's out - finally as to this particular sensor, all the IP rights are included in the purchase price, the final question is the use of these physics in the context of an airplane.
What is the innovation? Sensing orientation of an object in relation to light? - bees have been doing this for millennium. - in relation to this particular wavelength?
I'm just suggesting that this patent smells of obviousness and of basic physics, and a reasonable person may not be breaking a law if the idea is obvious, but rather that the patent office may have broken the law in approving the patent. (remember the patent office is "Paid" to approve patents; they have motive and opportunity.)

3D Robotics Comment by Jordi Muñoz on July 13, 2009 at 4:22pm

Earl,
in 2.1 yes! in 2.2 not (for security), only in stabilization mode (no GPS plugged). Because if you go out of range in 72mhz the servo moves like crazy! and you will crash.

3D Robotics Comment by Jordi Muñoz on July 13, 2009 at 4:33pm

bGatti,
The IR sensors are to measure the difference of temperature between earth and sky. Good enough to know the orientation of the aircraft respect to ground, even in dark. Is a clever idea.
The worse part is that this technology was develop by NASA (and later abandoned), not by the person who patent it. That is an opportunist and there's nothing we can do here in the US. My idea was to offer modified version of paparazzi sensors. But if we do that they may proceed legal against us (and only us).

Admin Comment by Thomas J Coyle III on July 13, 2009 at 6:00pm

Jordi,

If this technology was developed by NASA, then the design is in the public domain because NASA is a government entity. bGatti is probably right. There was probably an insufficient patent search done prior to the granting of the FMA patent.

This is similar to the US Patent Office granting a patent to a company in San Diego a number of years ago that essentially covered all search engine theory and algorithms. The Patent Office later had to recind the patent because it covered theory and algorithms that were already in the public domain. The US Patent Office knows a few things, but it doesn't know much!

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

3D Robotics Comment by Chris Anderson on July 13, 2009 at 6:34pm

You are all probably right, but this is water under the bridge. Better to pay the licence fee now and innovate to migrate to non-patented technologies. As far as I'm concerned, patents are just an incentive to obsolete that technology as soon as possible. FMA won't have long to enjoy its monopoly.

Comment by Pokoleo on July 13, 2009 at 8:38pm

So, people talking about gyros got me thinking... Couldn't you have 2 sets of xyz sensors spaced at a known distance, same xyz orientation, and known positions, and yuse the average x/y/z to determine accel, and the difference to determine spin?

Sorry if it's in an irrelevant
thread, but this seemed the closest to the topic...

Comment by Pokoleo on July 13, 2009 at 8:42pm

They might be able to be on the same chip (sorry for the appendage) it would go well with a custom diydrones plane to have it built in.

Sorry for the posthumos addon....

Comment by Pokoleo on July 13, 2009 at 8:46pm

It could be done with three xy sensors...

Comment by Todd Berk on July 14, 2009 at 10:42am

Are these sensor designs open source as with everything else? I would be interested to see the schematic of how they are designed. You say we can make our own, and provide a link to digikey, I would like to see the schematics if all possible. Also, which patent are you paying royalties on? I've just completed a graduate course on intellectual property and would be interested in looking at it.
Cheers,
-Todd

Comment

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next ›
• Page