I have a friend that would like to monitor his land from the air. He owns a ranch in the middle of the high desert. Here is our criteria for an aircraft:- Range of 25+ Miles- On board camera, either streaming back to site or ability to playback easily after landing- Automated programmed route, most likely via GPS- Enough weight capability for extra equipment such as Wi-Fi gear (Est 5 lbs)I prefer to hear about what is good before I hear about what is cheap. I really appreciate you taking the time to look. Thanks!GT
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For the video problem you mentioned earlier. You don't need to review an hour of tape every day. Since the gates don't move (they have a fixed coordinate) you can just have the UAV take a single photo of the coordinate, then review that series. That would lighten the load since you won't need to transmit video.
I just wanted everyone to know that I'm still interested in hearing some thoughts on this project. I'm in the research stages trying to test the viability and economics. Thanks!
hmm, that sounds too complicated... you seem to want to check that regularly... like multiple times a day. taking care of a plane that does this will need quite some maintainance... you'll also need review the videos, manually start and land the plane, charge/exchange batteries, etc...
i would recommend simple sensors/switches, that check if a gate is open or closed. if it isn't closed in some preset time, send and alarm with some radio or cable.
now you could drive to the gate and close it... with the plane you'd also have to drive there...
you could maybe even add some simple motors that would close the gate again.
it could easily be battery driven, since the mcu would be in standby most of the time (only waken up by the gate-switch). it would only need more power when it needs to send the alarm. so it could run for years like that without any maintainance.
This large piece of land has quite a few areas with livestock. They have many gates that are frequently left open by off-roaders and travelers. We would like to monitor the gates visually by aircraft on a set schedule.
The temperature varies between 0 F and 100 F.
I like the idea of multiple devices on a schedule. Reliability and low maintenance are very important.
Given the remote nature of the area, the long range capabilities are important.
When you mean High Desert are we talking as in "Barstow/Victorville" high desert or more "Palmdale/Lancaster" high desert?
Also, what's the problem he is really trying to solve? Is there a problem with off-roaders intruding, rodents or coyotes getting on there - or more likely again if it's San Bernardino County high desert - someone setting up a meth lab?
Why I think this is important is it would really help us to flesh out the full requirements. It might even make sense to have multiple light, low cost units actually patrolling on a schedule...and it's that sort of stuff that makes it fun to think about.
Replies
GT
i would recommend simple sensors/switches, that check if a gate is open or closed. if it isn't closed in some preset time, send and alarm with some radio or cable.
now you could drive to the gate and close it... with the plane you'd also have to drive there...
you could maybe even add some simple motors that would close the gate again.
it could easily be battery driven, since the mcu would be in standby most of the time (only waken up by the gate-switch). it would only need more power when it needs to send the alarm. so it could run for years like that without any maintainance.
The temperature varies between 0 F and 100 F.
I like the idea of multiple devices on a schedule. Reliability and low maintenance are very important.
Given the remote nature of the area, the long range capabilities are important.
Thank you for taking the time on this post!
GT
Also, what's the problem he is really trying to solve? Is there a problem with off-roaders intruding, rodents or coyotes getting on there - or more likely again if it's San Bernardino County high desert - someone setting up a meth lab?
Why I think this is important is it would really help us to flesh out the full requirements. It might even make sense to have multiple light, low cost units actually patrolling on a schedule...and it's that sort of stuff that makes it fun to think about.
Steven in Riverside