Comment by Stephen Rayleigh on June 11, 2012 at 1:37pm

We're using the Radian (not pro), so only rudder and elevator control.  The Radian certainly gets blown around in the wind, but only took minimal tuning to fly well and crosstrack.  APM goes in a carbon fiber tray we built that fits in the canopy space, and the GoPro fits in the belly next to the servos (that took some carving). A turnigy 2.2 mAh battery fits nicely without carving out the plane, and we're getting about 30 minutes of endurance.  That was plenty for this competition, which requires us to fly to a search area and get imagery in a 20-40 minute window. The Radian would have easily taken a 3.3 mAh battery if necessary.

We'll be heading to Maryland in the morning. Thanks to everyone for the support!

Comment by Tim O'Brien on June 11, 2012 at 1:58pm

Are you streaming the gopro's video back via an analog radio and doing computation on the ground station from that feed? What kind of hardware do you have on board (other than the autopilot)?

Comment by Stephen Rayleigh on June 11, 2012 at 4:09pm

We have the equipment to stream the photos, but they don't fit in this aircraft. We designed and built an aircraft from composites, but it crashed a few days before the competition. So, we quickly integrated our equipment into the Radian so that we'd have something to compete with. 

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