G'day all from Western Australia!
I am building my first UAV. It's for no other reason than for my personal enjoyment. (at first)
Maybe if I have the "right stuff" and UAVs become more mainstream commercial I might change careers but for the moment, I am just trying to see if this is beyond me.
I currently fly (if fly is the correct term) ROV submersibles for various oil companies operating off the northwest shelf of Australia but my trade background is as an aircraft maintenance engineer (mechanical) so hopefully I should be able to get my head around flying, building and maintaining one.
I am basing my UAV around a huge 11ft wingspan high wing design called the Payload Master from AMR. It has a payload capacity of 30-ish pounds and is designed for training and model glider towing so should be a stable camera platform.
Engine wise I have decided to go for a Desert Aircraft 120cc twin cylinder to minimise vibration and have enough surplus power for payload (ie. cameras/sensors) and for an onboard power generation system.
Endurance is the name of the game with this UAV. I want to be able to spend a long time over a target area so I want my air-time to be limited only by my fuel supply. Ideally I would have liked to go 4 stroke as the fuel consumption is so much better but the cost and weight disadvantages were too great.
The area of greatest interst for me is the Autopilot system. Ardupilot seems too good tro be true! I recently purchased an arduino board for completely unrelated reasons and then found out you can base an autopilot system around it!
I love the idea of a forum to share experiences and information and hope to keep you all updated with my progress. If anyone has any tips or advice, it would be greatly appeciated.
If you live in Perth, even better. Send us a reply and maybe we help each other out with resources/contacts etc.
Anyway, great to be here.. Fantastic site!
Replies
I've been working lots lately so not much progress, but the stunned boxer (Taz) gives an idea of the size of this thing!
I'm glad the wings pull apart or i'd never be able to transport it anywhere...
Hi John
That's quite the airframe! I have downloaded the CASA regs fir here in Australia. There are quite a few conditions, but as you said, they do seem to be mainly for safety and are leaning very much to encourage good UAV production and operation.
The two documents I take to the rules are AC101-3(0) and AC 101-1(0). They don't really say you have to be a licenced Pilot but an approved operator. the regs for that are enough to make you want to walk there rather than fly.
Look forward to seeing your first flight!
It sound like you have put a lot of throught into what you are doing BUT a UAV is for gathering intelligence not to be seen or heard and have the ability to operate as a VTOL to get the best results of course silent, is very important so Electric aircraft I would think is the way to go. Towing gliders what is it a glider towing aircraft or a UAV you have to make the choice .
Arthur Boyd, Bullengarook, Victoria