I have evaluated UGCS for use with fixed and rotary wing UAVs for my research project. We are developing lightweight SDR based GPR for arctic and alpine survey work - glacier studies and avalanche prediction. This is a project that will likely have long term benefits for the Uni I work at. It seems that UGCS is the only GCS that meets all (almost) of my requirements. So far I have only run simulations by creating emulation models of my real UAVs. They work and it is easy to use. I will try some field trials soon with my real UAVs. The Octa uses a Pixhawk and the aeroplane an APM. I am using the open version but if I am happy then I will purchase level One. Is there an enterprise deal for the entire University? I ask because it is probable I will end up as the Chief Pilot when the Uni finally gets its operating cert.
There are just couple of issues I need clarifying.
On a 4+GHz i7 the program drives the CPU into full Turbo Boost ALL of the time, even when it appears to be doing nothing. This is a bit hard on the CPU which keeps nagging me about how hot it is getting. An i7 turbo-ed at 4.7GHz is flying - what is the program doing that needs so much horsepower??? Have you built it to be multi-threaded?
When are you likely to test out the FlightAware ADS-B receiver? I cannot determine from the available information if UgCS will support it, but it seems unlikely.
As a full size pilot and flight instructor I find your flight attitude indicators and information display extremely awkward to use. Have you any plans to offer a proper attitude display which includes the system status and information? The one used in Mission Planner is one of the best I have used. If it were not for the quality and features of the rest of the program this would definitely be a show stopper.
Otherwise - good job. Looking forward to developments.
Replies
Yes. That's the part I am hoping the team are going to update. I much prefer the HUD style presentation. More information and much quicker to interpret especially during times of manual flight.
Have you tried to expand Telemetry tab? It has fixed wing style dials there.
Alexei Yankelevich said:
- it should
If you let us, I can ask our support engineer to connect remotely and check which component is heating your room.
Thanks for your reply. I will call you when Uni admin approves my request. Don't hold your breath. The new flight information display is good news.
The computer is my son's last gaming computer. Dad gets the "hand me downs" when son upgrades to latest super gaming machine. This has a very fast NVidia gaming card. Should the 3D client be letting the NVidia do the hard work and not loading up the CPU? Or is ther something going on here I don't know about.
John,
thank you for your feedback.
1. yes, we have special conditions for universities. Please drop us an e-mail to ugcs@ugcs.com for more information
2. regarding processor. Yes, that is known issue. 3D client is trying to show best framerate possible. One of the options is to use Menu->Performance -> battery saving mode. It will slightly reduce performance when no interaction with a client
3. As for FlightAware, currently we do not have any specific plans for this receiver. We support microadsb usb stick
4. As for flight information. Yes, we have such plans on the roadmap.
BR,
UgCS Team