Tim Trueman's Posts (49)

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First Podcast episode is up! (Update: added iTunes links and show notes)

Posted by Tim Trueman on September 7, 2009 at 2:30am
AAC: http://feeds.feedburner.com/diydronesMP3: http://feeds.feedburner.com/diydronesmp3AAC has chapters so you can skip around and see what's discussed where as well as having embedded artwork/metadata that MP3 doesn't support.It's a test/pilot episode so it's a little rough around the edges. And it's long—nearly 62 minutes (I started editing out all the glitches and gave up; there's a lot of them).Suggestions, feedback, comments and ideas are welcome.EDIT: iTunes links are up!AAC: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=330632997MP3: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=330633212Show NotesPhotos of the NASA Ames field trip from several people: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/nasa-ames-excursionArduPilot + OSD: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1102975ArduPilot IMU boards:http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9372http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9373Magnetometer tilt-compensation algorithms: http://www.magneticsensors.com/datasheets/sae.pdf
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Video: UAV in a Firefight of a Different Kind

Posted by Tim Trueman on August 28, 2009 at 6:24pm
Here's a video about the University of Alaska's operation of a Scan Eagle UAV I posted about earlier:http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/08/firefighting-uav/"Earlier this month in Alaska, a 40-pound Insitu Scan Eagle saw duty fighting wildfires after dense haze grounded conventional aircraft. The UAV is operated by the University of Alaska, which according to university officials is the first entity other than NASA and the Department of Defense allowed to fly an unmanned aircraft beyond the line of sight in civil airspace. The Department of Homeland Security also is using UAVs for border surveillance."
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U. of Alaska—1st org. other than NASA/DoD to get a COA to fly in civil airspace beyond line-of-sight

Posted by Tim Trueman on August 18, 2009 at 1:00pm
The University of Alaska is the first entity, other than NASA or the Department of Defense, to receive an emergency certificate of authority from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly in civil airspace with an unmanned aircraft beyond line-of-sight.A sign of progress?University of Alaska assists fire personnel in mapping the Crazy Mountain Complex fires with the ScanEagle.
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Tilt compensated compass algorithms

Posted by Tim Trueman on August 7, 2009 at 4:45pm
This Sparkfun product does it with 3-axis magnetometers + 3-axis accelerometers: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8656I have both 3-axis magnetometers and 3-axis accelerometers but I'm unsure what algorithm I could use to get a steady heading output. Any ideas?(I also have a 3-axis gyro and Kalman filter running so I have pitch and roll--although I can't seem to debug why pitch is laggy and roll is instant with the exact same code.)
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