Comment by Trent at MyGeekShow on August 25, 2012 at 9:42am

Thank you Monroe! I think half the fun is turning everything on and see it all come to life...

Comment by Alex Lee on August 25, 2012 at 10:22am

Trent definately need to get a set of fat sharks.

Comment by Harry on August 25, 2012 at 1:05pm

Under the hood, over the hood.  a couple of air conditioned gypsies, you guys are Mobile.

Comment by Gerard Toonstra on August 25, 2012 at 2:12pm

It's great fun, but I'm wondering if the first cop isn't going to pull you over or impound all the equipment given the way you've modded the car. The back window is taped shut and if I'm not mistaken you need to allow at least 25% of light to enter the car through windows, if these are fitted. Not sure if there are exemptions when you have side mirrors fitted on both sides, but you seem to have checked according to the disclaimer.

You're operating the 2.4 transmitter within the car, reducing your range significantly. Any metal body around electronics is going to affect RF propagation.

I think you do need to rethink your modus operandi. The likelihood of the foam plane causing damage is pretty low, but a driver distracted from his main driving task (like controlling a video camera, looking out for planes on all sides and under some stress of achieving success with a different vehicle) is a serious danger on the road.

Have you thought about where the plane returns to if RTL kicks in?  Will it make it back there on the battery level it has at the time it kicks in?  How do you handle motor or throttle failure along the way?  What are your ditching points?

Comment by John Hestness on August 25, 2012 at 10:12pm

Great test flight guys.  That looks like so much fun!  I wonder if there will be an instrument rating for RC planes in the future?  You are setting a responsible example for others by learning, pushing the envelope, and having fun but being careful.  Keep up the good work.  Maybe another person to be a camera operator would be a good idea, like Gerard said, when you leave the parking lot.  

Comment by Gerard Toonstra on August 26, 2012 at 12:34am

I may've been a bit moody yesterday, but I just want to make the point that you shouldn't trade in driving safety for the car to be able to gain flying safety / capability for the uav. The severity of accidents or incidents with the car is much higher than those with the uav, also in terms of probability. To remove the required attention for safe driving from the car is a dangerous proposition. I've also indicated that you are already in a situation I think where a cop can pull you over and call you on that.

You guys are thinking a lot about technology, but some of this is process. The interaction / communication between Nick and Trent is the key thing to think about. You need to define and separate responsibilities clearly and think through the key information items you need to generate during planning. If you define the level of attention that the driver needs and how you're going to interact and on which key items of information, you can execute this a lot safer. Also notice how Nick now needs to verify the navigation of the uav (yet in known territory), but from within the constraints of a mobile platform, so navigation task where the point of reference is dynamic in nature. You'll want to know where the uav is "on-the-map", but also in reference to the car as not to lose the control link or a sense of where it is in relative terms.

You thus also need to consider the actions you're going to take if the car can't keep up with the uav (traffic lights, traffic jams, etc.). Are you going to stress out in the car, probably pushing the envelope of safe driving, or do you have a backup plan to keep the uav in loiter mode. What happens if you're in a traffic jam and the battery is slowly going towards empty. Is Nick able to draw out a landing point within the radius of control that you have where you can recollect the uav?  Is the uav able to autonomously navigate to an intermediate point or do you allow it to fly through outside of the limits of your control?  If that happens, will it RTH because you lost the control link and what happens then?

This time Nick seemed to be flying manually, but the autopilot suggests you're going to do this autonomously and use the car as a mobile station for flight tracking. Those tasks are a lot easier and require less strain on communication. Define a couple of waypoints along the route that are significant milestones and what your strategy is when the car is in a situation that it needs to take a detour and not travel along the planned route. These could also be ditching or intermediate points of control where you're going to bring the craft back to if anything happens to the mobility of the ground station.

Anyway, you could take this as comments from a nasty bugger trying to destroy the fun, but the intention is to point out that with a couple of changes this can be made a lot less stressful and controlled. If a cop pulls you over then, they're going to be more impressed rather than shocked :).

A mobile ground station is new by the way and you shouldn't exclude that this may be a new feature to add to the APM that you need to request.?

Comment by Carl La France on August 26, 2012 at 9:07am

I was watching FPV From Germany about a month age the guy was going about 60 miles anhour down tge road the guy kept buzzing the car it was pretty cool There was a guy in the passenger seat witha video cam taking in the plane out side and the guy in the back seat flying the plane with goggles on they kept cutting back and forth ftom what thr guy could see  flying the plane and the guy with the video camer a  I think the plane hit a road sign

You guys can turn on the amp and put it in "loiter mode" while you go into  Mac Donald's for a big mac ! Have agood day!

Comment by Veikko Vierola on August 26, 2012 at 11:17am

Cool, maybe Mission Planner could also have an option to show the ground station position over map (usb gps or similar), so that when the Mission Planner is on moving platform you'd always know where you are and where the plane is?

Comment by quadrocopter on August 26, 2012 at 2:19pm

Its hard flying from a moving vehicle and flying at the same time.

I have actually done this sitting in a passenger of a race car !!!

https://vimeo.com/36950009

Simon

remember that 2.4 will be limited from inside a car !!!

Comment by Carl La France on August 26, 2012 at 4:13pm

Pretty Cool! how were the "G"s going around the corners Simon?

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