I've been working on some UAV stuff and thought I would share a little bit about I'm doing, and also see if anyone would be interested in getting together and working on a joint project.My end goal is to do a solar-powered, high altitude, high speed UAV with a wifi-based ground station (possibly another protocol like zigbee 900mhz, if wifi proves to be impossible). I would be happy to break any of the following: Flight above 30k feet, Breaking 400mph, 10 hour flight time, wifi-based fpv and my pie in the sky goal is to fly at 100k feet @ 900mph, which is the orbital speed at that height. While technically possibly, I doubt its feasible. :)I have a couple of RC planes, a 400-sized electric trainer (currently smashed, heh) and have a 2.6 meter "Super Easy Fly" powered glider that is on the way. In the end, due to the speed goal, I'd like to have a custom designed plane that will probably resemble the X-43A hypersonic scramjet test plane.For the ground station, I have a telescope mount ordered that will be here next week that has drive motors, a 24dBi parabolic dish antenna, a laptop, wireless routers (one for the plane, and possibly one for the ground station), usb wifi adapters (5 of them, so that I can compare power levels and automatically point the dish antenna), and a surprisingly good IP-network camera. The camera and router run from 5v, so I also picked up a Castle 10amp BEC that I can use to power everything.I've also got a couple LiPo batteries on the way, a 14.8v 5000mAh and a 11.1v 4400mAh.This weekend I intend to cobble together some of the parts and put the the router, network camera, BEC, and a small LiPo battery in a plastic container at the top of Mission Trails park and test the range of the wifi setup that I've got. I can see the top of the mountain from my apartment, which is about 1.5 miles away, so that makes it an easy target. :)If anyone would be interested in collaborating, please send me a message or post a reply. Also, feel free to ask any questions or note any concerns.
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Sounds like a neat project, though I think your goals may be set a tad high. I'd love to collaborate on UAV stuff, I'm in the general area. I'm just starting with UAVs but I have robotics experience.
I know someone who has built a solar-powered RC plane. It flew, but structural failure brought it down. I'm not sure I should give the name out, but I can give you a general overview of the telemetry and solar systems. The whole wing (~3M wingspan) was covered in research-grade cells. The controller had (I think) airspeed, IMU, and GPS. I believe control was done over a 900Mhz serial modem.
400mph - I think the current RC speed record is a sailplane doing DS at 392mph. Obviously solar = light and therefore slow. 30K Feet - Definitely doable, but I think the regulatory challenges will be an issue. Hook up with model rocketry associations. There are a very small number of special airspace areas in the CA desert where you can get high airspace clearance without needing to get FAA approval of your plane. I can help you get in touch with one once you're capable of getting up there. 100K Feet in a plane is not feasible.
I think a reasonably difficult, but attainable goal on a high hobbyist budget (<$10K) would be an autonomous solar flight over 48 hours. I think it has been done before, but not really by a hobbyist. 48 hours proves that you are capable of unlimited loitering, which is impressive and would definitely get huge financial attention. Getting to 30K is probably easily within the reach of anybody with a large gas powered RC plane and the appropriate radio gear, and shouldn't be a big problem, though it might take a while for a solar plane to get there.
I am in Amarillo TX but would be interested in possible collaborations. I am currently working on so many projects that it is daunting. I have lots of ideas and lots of solutions already implemented and in place. I currently already do civilian applications with my company. Please feel free to write and I will try to help in any way that I can.
Just wanted to post and say that I hooked up the LiPo, BEC, router, and network camera. It worked perfectly. :) I hooked up the router & camera through a Kill-A-Watt meter and it shows 5 - 8 watts usage, which with a 2500mAh 11.1v LiPo that I've got will run for 3.5 - 5.5 hours. I ran it for 3 hours (didn't want to drain the battery too much) and it worked fine. Afterwards, my charger showed that the battery still had about 11.5v, so it probably still had quite a bit of juice left in it. 3 hours is more than enough time to do a range test, so I'll try and get around to that tomorrow.
Replies
I know someone who has built a solar-powered RC plane. It flew, but structural failure brought it down. I'm not sure I should give the name out, but I can give you a general overview of the telemetry and solar systems. The whole wing (~3M wingspan) was covered in research-grade cells. The controller had (I think) airspeed, IMU, and GPS. I believe control was done over a 900Mhz serial modem.
400mph - I think the current RC speed record is a sailplane doing DS at 392mph. Obviously solar = light and therefore slow. 30K Feet - Definitely doable, but I think the regulatory challenges will be an issue. Hook up with model rocketry associations. There are a very small number of special airspace areas in the CA desert where you can get high airspace clearance without needing to get FAA approval of your plane. I can help you get in touch with one once you're capable of getting up there. 100K Feet in a plane is not feasible.
I think a reasonably difficult, but attainable goal on a high hobbyist budget (<$10K) would be an autonomous solar flight over 48 hours. I think it has been done before, but not really by a hobbyist. 48 hours proves that you are capable of unlimited loitering, which is impressive and would definitely get huge financial attention. Getting to 30K is probably easily within the reach of anybody with a large gas powered RC plane and the appropriate radio gear, and shouldn't be a big problem, though it might take a while for a solar plane to get there.
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Cheers,
Toby