I was wondering if anyone has used a 450 size helicopter as a UAV platform. I was thinking of getting a RTF helicopter and taking off the receiver and gyro and putting in an Arduino nano with a separate gyro instead. Has anyone done something like this?
Thanks,
Sam R.
Replies
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/unveiling-the-robot?xg_source=a...
check out this link http://groups.google.com/group/uavheliboard?pli=1. The UAVDevboard group is currently flying Trex450's with the UAVDevBoard. It's not an Arduino system but it is pretty easy to get up and running.
Many have tried but few have succeeded. You should check out the arduCopter project links http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/announcing-arducopter-the
The team is currently working on making quadCopters work and then this will become the base for the "traditional helis" project which will be built using a Trex450.
Some advice if you're going to start on such a project:
1. learn to fly the helicopter yourself! I can tell you it's much easier to learn to fly than to build something that can fly itself and you'll learn a lot about what needs to be done, how your transmitter works etc.
2. buy/borrow as much as possible from others. I.e. check out DCM for attitude estimation. Also check out the ArduPilotMega from sparkfun and accompanying oilpan from this site. Making a helicopter UAV is far more difficult than it first appears.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9710
http://store.diydrones.com/product_p/br-0012-01.htm
3. measure and resolve vibration issues as soon as possible. This is the final hurdle that most people *never* get around. When you have your helicopter built attach a simple gyroscope and accelerometer - check out how much the sensors jump around when you fire up the motor. You should quickly see that the sensor values jump around quite a lot which is not a good thing. If you don't have vibration problems then you're in much better shape.
Good luck and keep us updated on your progress!
-Randy