Posted by kitemaker Ken on January 23, 2009 at 1:07am
An old friend developed a nice Rogallo winged RC plane which he calls the Hawkeye. If interested, you can read about it at his site- http://electricflights.com/hawkeyemainpage.htmlI test flew the Hawkeye last summer into the fall, until the rains returned to the northwest. It is very portable, easy to fly and designed to carry a camera. Shot lots of video and then realized that I want an autopilot to increase my odds of getting the shots I'm after. I'm game to try an ArduPilot, as its design and open platform appeals to me.
The Hawkeye flies fine with its rudder and throttle controls, being quite stable and impossible, in all my experience, to invert. So, can I assume that I won't need to use a FMA IR stabilizer? Wouldn't know what to control with the FMA Co-Pilot, as there's no elevator or ailerons on this bird. Has anyone successfully flown anything with the ArduPilot and no FMA Co-pilot? Will the current ArduPilot firmware work as designed without a FMA Co-pilot on board, or will I need to rewrite some of the code?All questions, comments, advice or fore warnings will be read, appreciated, and answered, thanks!
Excellent news! I have been seriously considering this platform for my video/photo aspirations. I also was wondering if this platform could be fitted with an auto pilot system. I am so excited to learn more!
Yes, on the Hawkeye the altitude is gained and lost via throttle control. As the ArduPilot does this as well, I'm good to give it a go. Thanks Chris and Jonny for your comments and advice.
I'm not familliar with your platform but it looks as though altitude is controlled with throttle settings, ie, more power to climb. If so then you are correct, there is nothing that you can do with Co pilot. As far as I'm aware Ardu pilot has altitude control so you should have no problems here, then its down to trial and error! Install everything as per Chris's instructions on the home page, manualy climb your wing to at least two mistakes high and start to experiment and have fun.
I've been thinking of something a bit similar but the main issue would be to get the altitude control to work I think.
From what I gather (still waiting on my own ArduPilot) it only controls direction based on rudder signals, but no throttle control based on altitude.
I have been thinking of using a simple 2CH throttle/rudder only airplane but not sure how to solve the altitude issue.
Just in theory there should be a way to alter the ArduPilot firmware to control the altitude based on GPS data but I do not know of anyone having done it yet.
Comments
I'm not familliar with your platform but it looks as though altitude is controlled with throttle settings, ie, more power to climb. If so then you are correct, there is nothing that you can do with Co pilot. As far as I'm aware Ardu pilot has altitude control so you should have no problems here, then its down to trial and error! Install everything as per Chris's instructions on the home page, manualy climb your wing to at least two mistakes high and start to experiment and have fun.
Good luck
From what I gather (still waiting on my own ArduPilot) it only controls direction based on rudder signals, but no throttle control based on altitude.
I have been thinking of using a simple 2CH throttle/rudder only airplane but not sure how to solve the altitude issue.
Just in theory there should be a way to alter the ArduPilot firmware to control the altitude based on GPS data but I do not know of anyone having done it yet.