About

Gender

Male


Location

Edmonton, AB


About Me:

Studying for my M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Hopefully working on unmanned aircraft systems as part of my research.


Please tell us a bit about your UAV interest

Considerable interest first in RC aircraft when I was younger, then in unmanned systems in university. Led the U of A Aerial Robotics Group for about 3 years, learned tons working with ~10kg UAVs for the AUVSI SUAS Competition. Enjoy all forms of unmanned systems, but UAVs in particular. Have limited programming experience (mostly Parallax uCs), but keen to learn more. Have some electronics hardware design experience, as well as mechanical engineering background (limited aerospace at my school though).


Hometown:

Calgary, AB


Activity Feed

Stephen Dwyer commented on Randall Kolchins's blog post Low Cost Thermal Pan Tilt Zoom (FLIR PTZ) Gimbal WISH LIST
"It would be great to see a higher resolution visible camera system, including options for both analog (NTSC/PAL) and digital output (this would be nice on the IR cam too) (says something about this on the datasheet, but really not clear at all).…"
Dec 11, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Melih Karakelle's blog post OpenBee: an OpenSource Telemetry Module with Xbee footprint
"@Melih, I will rephrase (it was a bit archaic...)

I was just wondering how much data you can send in the serial port and receive out the other module's serial port in bytes per second? Can this data rate be maintained bi-directionally?"
Sep 18, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Melih Karakelle's blog post OpenBee: an OpenSource Telemetry Module with Xbee footprint
"A question, what real throughput are you achieving with that sort of range and latency?"
Sep 18, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Melih Karakelle's blog post OpenBee: an OpenSource Telemetry Module with Xbee footprint
"Cool! I designed one almost the same, but with a few extra features (broke out some extra pins, added options for rp-sma, u.fl or wire antennas, added two additional connector options to the end including 6-pin FTDI cable style pinout for use with…"
Sep 18, 2012
Stephen Dwyer replied to j.baum53's discussion Are ESCs Necessary?
"Hello,
Yes they are necessary. Basically an ESC is a microcontroller, some sensors and some MOSFETs (kind of like transistors) that handle the closed-loop control of the motor. In brushed motor systems, where you can technically just hook up a…"
May 25, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Finally, a good article on "drone journalism"
"Perhaps I should go into sales... :)
Ellison posted the link twice a few comment pages back."
Feb 23, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Finally, a good article on "drone journalism"
"I would agree with regards to not applying until an SFOC is necessary for your application. I still think preparing and following your own SOPs etc. and doing your homework prior to application would definitely go a long ways towards successful…"
Feb 22, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Finally, a good article on "drone journalism"
"@Robert, if you still fall under recreational rules, I would stick with that out of convenience. If you want to move towards other uses, I would first start by putting together and documenting things like operating procedures, emergency procedures,…"
Feb 22, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Finally, a good article on "drone journalism"
"@Robert For the SFOC it is probably best to start small and work your way up. Start with a single location and limited time, and very specific conditions (no spectators, private property where access can be controlled to reduce risk to 3rd parties,…"
Feb 22, 2012
Stephen Dwyer commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Finally, a good article on "drone journalism"
"@Robert and Ellison, my lab has an SFOC for sUAS research in Edmonton. It took us about 3-4 weeks for the process. The first time we chatted with our local official to clarify some requirements and ensure we were prepared. Our current SFOC is valid…"
Feb 22, 2012
Stephen Dwyer replied to Ted Gocek's discussion Paparazzi with FlightGear 1.9 problems connecting together
"Hello,

What OS and detailed version of FlightGear are you using? How up to date is your Paparazzi code? Are you also using the option "--fdm=null" ?

The native-gui is a built-in "native" protocol that doesn't need an additional xml protocol…"
Dec 5, 2011
Stephen Dwyer commented on Scott Plunkett's blog post Faro Focus 3D Scanner - Still a bit large, but 3D Scanners are getting smaller and smaller.
"The amount of data that laser scanners put out is fairly large. I have used a Faro Arm with a 2d laser scan head, and the quantity of data slows down the computer pretty fast (not the greatest laptop though, couple years old). I can only imagine how…"
Nov 1, 2011
Stephen Dwyer commented on Robert Krogh (hooks)'s blog post Pig hunting with personal UAV
"@Yves by the second youtube video title I would guess they are using a FLIR Tau320:http://www.flir.com/cvs/cores/uncooled/products/tau/"
Aug 31, 2011
Stephen Dwyer commented on Chris Anderson's blog post AUVSI Student UAS competitition going on now--any reports?
"Anybody there know if they are streaming video again this year, and if they are, what the link is? Also, any Canadian teams there this year?"
Jun 17, 2011
Stephen Dwyer replied to Nathaniel Caner's discussion Senior Telemaster UAV Platform
"I was just curious if anyone had images and maybe even some measurements of the fuselage interior of the Senior Telemaster Plus? I am really interested as to its dimensions compared to the regular Senior Telemaster.
 
Thanks,
-Stephen"
May 8, 2011
Stephen Dwyer commented on Jason Dorie's blog post Propeller DCM
"I was just wondering if you were planning on making the code available, and also whether you were going to include the yaw and velocity correction references (ie magnetometer/gps heading and body velocity) in the code, even though you were planning…"
Apr 13, 2011
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