Over at Hackaday, a quadcopter made from ewaste.

"It’s pretty obvious that the main rotors are PC Fans, 140mm in this case. Normally, these wouldn’t be able to create enough lift to get out of their own way except the on-board 24v Dewalt cordless tool battery bumps up the fan speed to 15,000 rpm."

http://gizmodo.com/tying-yourself-to-a-quadcopter-is-the-most-awesome-way-1551456860

Trappy, this one's for you!

Jeff Bezos at Amazon hasn't done it. Nor has Fred Smith at FedEx or Scott Davis at UPS. No American CEO has persuaded Washington to relax its chokehold on commercial drone use in the United States. But this month a 29-year-old Austrian entrepreneur living here in Asia broke Washington's drone monopoly, winning a court case that may clear the way for drones to deliver packages to your doorstep.

The Drone That Shot Down the Feds

How a 29-year-old Austrian buzzed the Statue of Liberty, built a business, and beat U.S. regulators in court.

Where are you going to celebrate?

I'm excited to announce that two of EastBay RC's APM-powered videos will be featured at the upcoming Great Wall of Oakland screening.  If you're in the Bay Area, stop by and check it out... it's a great and fun venue!

Friday, March 7, 7pm - 11pm.

What's the Great Wall of Oakland?

"Every first Friday during OAKLAND ART MURMUR, the Great Wall of Oakland, a 100'x100' projection installation, illuminates the Uptown District with cutting-edge motion art from around the world. Thousands of Bay Area art fans descend upon the area to check out this one-of-a-kind site."

And what's this event?

"For the 3rd year in a row, The Great Wall will present a curated screening of the personal works of Pixar Animation Studio employees on the 100’x100’ urban canvas. This very unique glimpse into the creative minds of our talented Emeryville neighbors is the only public screening of it’s kind, giving Bay Area residents a rare opportunity to view the short films that Pixar employees create in their spare time when they are not working on major blockbusters.

http://greatwallofoakland.org/2014/up-next-3rd-annual-behind-the-pixar-screen-friday-mar-7-2014/

Part 2 of the EastBay RC Guide to PID Controllers.

Building on the intuitive model presented in part 1, we take a look at the mathematical model and write a PID control loop based on that model. Hang in there if you're unfamiliar with the math... it turns out to be pretty straight-forward code in the end!

Like part 1, this is a first take. Your comments are welcome!

The printed formula is from wikipedia. I tried doing this Khan Academy style with a tablet... wow that's hard to write with, so I did it on paper instead.

PID loops can be pretty confusing when you're first getting started with autopilots.

Here's my attempt at explaining them "intuitively", i.e. with no math.

I'm working on plugging in a physics engine into the demo. Two more videos in this series are planned:

- Understanding the math behind PID controllers.

- Tuning PIDs (using the physics engine as a testbed)

Anyways, this is my first go at this.  I'll probably make a second attempt in the future, so any feedback is appreciated!

(update) thanks for all the feedback! I'm getting ready to start part 2 which will decipher the math and show the basic simplicity of PID loop programming.

Over at RCGroups Sean_M spotted this hexacopter flying at the Winter Olympics.

It would be interesting to know who was flying it and under what arrangement. Can't imagine it's a rogue operation!

(update)

here's a screen shot (literally!) of Sage Kotsenburg's semifinal run showing the unit's shadow.

(reprinted from the EastBay RC blog)

Here's my brief summary and analysis of the Texas "Drone Law".

There's been a lot of odd ("botched") reporting on this, so I'm hoping that this will help clear things up a bit.  Why it's so difficult for reporters to actually read five pages of surprisingly clearly written text is beyond me.  It took me about two hours to go through and type this up.  NY Times, give me a call!

Later I'll do the same for the California bill (much less clearly written!).  As always, leave me some comment or corrections if you've got them!

I've highlighted some important parts of the text concerning civilian or hobbyist use.  Scan down and read those and you'll have a reasonable idea of how the law applies.

tl;dr: If you're flying over public property, private property with permission of the owner, or not intending to surveil a particular person, you're good to fly by this law.

The bill addresses what kind of pictures/video may be captured from an unmanned aerial vehicle.  It adds chapter 423 to the Texas state code.

423.001 -- defining an "image". (basically what you expect: video/pictures, along with all-encompassing catch-alls covering sound, smell, and the entire electromagnetic spectrum.)

423.002 -- Nonapplicability.
                  (this is the important part. anything noted here is not covered by the law.)

(A) It is legal to capture an image by an unmanned aircraft if:

  (1) for University research.
  (2) at a designated test site or test range.
  (3) by the military.
  (4) by a satellite for purposes of mapping.
  (5) by electric or natural gas utility, for:
      (a) facilities maintenance
      (b) facilities inspection
      (c) maintaining clearances on easements
      (d) routing and siting services
  (6) with the consent of the property owner or legal resident.
  (7) pursuant to a search/arrest warrant.
  (8) by law enforcement, for:
      (a) immediate pursuit of a non-misdemeanor criminal suspect
      (b) documenting a non-misdemeanor crime scene
      (c) investing serious accident scenes
      (d) missing person search
      (e) life-threatening tactical operation
      (f) private property generally open to the public and policed.
  (9) by state/local law enforcement, for:
      (a) surveying a potential state of emergency scene
      (b) preserving public safety during a legal state of emergency
      (c) conducting routine air quality sampling
  (10) at the scene or suspected scene of a HazMat spill.
  (11) fire suppression.
  (12) rescuing a person whose life is in danger.
  (13) real estate broker, if there is no identifiable person in image.
  (14) within 25 miles of the U.S. border.
  (15) less than 8 ft altitude, with normal camera.
  (16) on public property, and people on public property.
  (17) inspecting pipelines and related facilities, but not for surveillance.
  (18) oil pipeline safety and rig protection.
  (19) port authority surveillance and protection.

(B) doesn't apply to manufacturing or selling unmanned aircraft.


423.003  OFFENSE: ILLEGAL USE OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT TO CAPTURE IMAGE

(A) Illegal to  to use unmanned aircraft to capture an image of a person or private property with the intent to conduct surveillance of that person or property.

(B) class C misdemeanor

(C) defense if the person has destroyed the image:
    (1) as soon as the person knows the image was captured in violation, and
    (2) without distributing to image.

(D) "intent" is as per penal code section 6.03

423.004 OFFENSE: USE OF IMAGE

(A) It's an offense if the person:
    (1) captures the image as per 003 above.
    (2) possesses, uses or distributes the image

(B) possession is a class C misdemeanor.  disclosure, etc, class B.

(C) each image is a separate offense.

(D) it's a defense if you destroy an image as soon as you know it's a violation.

(E) it's a defense if you stop disclosing as soon as you know it's a violation.


423.005 ILLEGALLY OR INCIDENTALLY CAPTURED IMAGES NOT SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE

(A) No illegal image as specified above can be used in court,
(B) except to prove a violation of this law.


423.006 CIVIL ACTION

(A) an owner or tenant of a property can bring a civil action to:
    (1) prevent a violation of 003 or 004.
    (2) recover a civil penalty of
        (a) $5,000 per episode (for all images)
        (b) $10,000 per episode if distributed
    (3) recover actual damages if the person displays with malice.

(B,C,D) details on bringing civil action.
(F) two year time limit to bring civil action.


423.007. RULES FOR USE BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

  DPS shall adopt rules and guidelines for law enforcement use.

423.008 REPORTING BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY

  Law enforcement agencies must report unmanned aircraft use, cost, etc.
  Details as to reports.  Details as to when this law takes effect.

Here's a supplementary article for the Make Magazine drone issue about the Noodle Copter.  I made it for a Crashcast contest, inspired by Glenn Anderson's post here.  I hadn't planned on keeping it intact after testing it, but it flies surprisingly well (thanks to Jason Short for tuning help!).  It's got a pretty short flight time because of the fat arms, but it's nice for letting other people try out.  It's highly visible, and survives drops well.

It's also been nice for demoing to non-technical groups... somehow a bunch of electronics taped onto pool noodles don't seem to be as intimidating as slick hi-tech units.

http://makezine.com/projects/behold-the-noodle-copter

Couldn't find any details, does anybody know about this unit?

The Burning Man Council has announced guidelines for flying RC/UAV models at burning man, with emphasis on FPV vehicles.  The guidelines seem well thought out, and might be a good model for other organizations wishing to provide similar guidelines to participants.

http://blog.burningman.com/2013/08/news/guidelines-for-unmanned-aerial-vehicles-at-burning-man/

http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/drones.html#.UhG0_GTF2rc

(personal opinion) I expect we'll see more of this as quads get cheaper and easier to fly.  I was at the America's Cup races on Saturday and some nitwit was flying a gopro/phantom over the crowd. (end personal opinion)

The lovely video at top is from ExperimentalAirlines.

Via Hackaday:

Where most GPS receivers only look at the data coming from the GPS satellites orbiting overhead, the Piksi uses another technique, real-time kinematics (RTK), to determine the receiver’s location with exacting precision. The basic idea behind RTK is to look at the carrier frequency of the GPS signals at 1575.42 MHz. This frequency has a wavelength of 19 cm, compared to the alternating 1s and 0s of the that are transmitted at around 1 MHz, or about 300 meters between each bit. While centimeter-level precision isn’t possible with only one receiver, two of these Piksi boards – one base station and one on a vehicle, connected via radio link – can make for a very exacting high-accuracy GPS receiver.

asdfa
I'll be presenting in the COSMOS Distinguished Leture Series on the campus of U.C. Davis on Wednesday.

Synopsis: "This talk will be about hobbyist drones. We'll talk about how they are made, the interesting technological innovations that make them possible, and how you can build your own. I'll bring a couple of homemade drones (both multirotor and fixed wing) for you to examine. Conditions permitting, we'll take them out for a flight following the talk."

July 31, 2013, 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.
UC Davis Conference Center, Ballroom A, B, C

If you happen to be in the area stop by and say hello!

Well, for a simulated 737 at least.  via Hackaday:

[Andrea] didn’t want to dig around with the clunky point-and-click interface in FSX, so he created a virtual autopilot with a 2×16 LCD display and an Arduino to interact and set the most common autopilot settings such as altitude, speed, heading, and engagement. The physical interface is just three tact switches and a pot, while the interface to FSX is a custom driver that turns the USB out of the Arduino into actual flight commands.

Video at the link...

For quite a while, people have been wondering

- When will ESCs be readily available with SimonK firmware pre-flashed?

- When will some easily obtainable ESCs support I2C, so that flight controllers can read motor status?

HobbyKing has provided the answer, with the newly introduced AfroESC.  It's licensed from both SimonK and timecop.

I've started collecting information here, and will update when more information is available.

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2013/07/afro-esc-simonktimecophobbyking.html

(short link)

Highlights:

- SimonK preflashed

- Open Source software

- licensed

After some repetition of some really terrible reporting by somebody who should know better ;-), here's my analysis of the Texas Drone Bill.

tl;dr for hobbyists: If you're flying over public property, private property with permission of the owner, or not intending to surveil a particular person, you're good to fly and take pictures by this law.

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2013/05/eastbay-rc-analysis-of-texas-drone-bill.html

Here's a clip from the Korean Broadcasting System's "World Today" program on the state of civilian dronism in the USA.  3DRobotics, EastBay RC, and the Roswell Flight Crew make appearances.  Protesters, law enforcement officers and lawyers weigh in with their opinions (bad, good, profitable, respectively).

It may be informative if you know Korean.

The clip is used by permission of KBS.

Eric Cheng has some nice photos and notes of the first SF Drones meeting.  The theme was FPV. Robert Seidel gave a presentation on what he's been doing with real time video stabilization and object tracking, Andreas demonstrated how his might Zii is set up for video (and literally almost blew some guitars off the wall demonstrating the propulsion system), and I showed a couple of options for video systems and transmitters.