Thanks to the good ideas of Gary Mortimer and others, we're now launching a Trust Time Trial contest. The idea is simple: you set up four waywaypoints, spaced 200m apart, on your own field and time your UAV completing the course. Upload the data in the comments here. Best time on Sept 1 wins (I've got a prize this month--a new FunJet kit).
In the future, we'll add complexity and stricter standards to the trial, but this first one is easy:
1) Must complete the pattern as shown above, totally autonomously (go into auto mode before waypoint 1 and exit after you hit waypoint 1 again). The four points are arranged in a square, with 200m on a side (obviously the two diagonal paths are longer). Any aircraft/autopilot allowed. It doesn't matter how close to the waypoints you get, as long as you pass on the outside of them.
2) For this first one, altitude is not graded.
3) Fastest time to hit all points and return to 1 wins (one lap). Must provide GPS track with timestamps and on-board video. (If you don't have/can't afford a small onboard videocamera like the FlyCamOne 2, we'll let it go this time. But in the future: video or it didn't happen!)
4) Must also demonstrate that fun was had. Kids, picnics, silly hats, marching bands, something.
GPS tracks are best achieved with an onboard GPS datalogger, like the i-Blue 747 or smaller Sanav ML-7. But if you don't have one or don't want to add the weight, you can just capture the GPS track from your telemetry stream, although you'll have to figure out how to convert it to KML format to export to Google Earth (see below). If your Ground Control System has a built-in map+track function, a screen shot of that is fine, but it should be possible for people to check to confirm that your leg lengths are at least 200m.
Evidence data should include these four things:1) Total time, along with aircraft and autopilot used. A photo of the aircraft would be nice.
2) Screen capture of path exported to Google Earth or an equivalent, annotated with waypoints and where autonomy began and ended. Here's a sample from Dean Goedde (waypoints and autonomy not marked):3) GPS datalog file, any format
4) Onboard video, embedded from YouTube or Vimeo. [Not absolutely required but requested]
It's up to you to achieve this. You can either set your navigation waypoints further out than the course markers, to ensure that you pass on the outside of them, or program your navigation to take the outside routes. That's part of the challenge.
The contest says you have to show 4 waypoints, and that you must go outside of them. Are these waypoints required to be used in the navigation, or just points designating the course pylons? I've been assuming they were actual navigation points, but if they are, how would you tell the AP to go on one side or the other to remain "outside"?
We have to find a method of getting rid of this nasty parallax display in GE. Clamping to the ground is one thing, but there must be some trick a register/anything that disables that. If you can have flight simulator in, I bet there is a secret unlock for pinball and parallax disable. So far found nothing, even attacking this issue a few times in the past months. I am most probably searching for the wrong keyword on google.
haha!!! I knew someone would pick that up! I made a mistake when I created that plot. The flight path is actually "clamped" to the ground, while the figure 8 is floating in mid air on Google Earth, so it looks like it hasn't gone around but in actual fact it has! If you really want I can re-post. Here is the kml file.
You can take whichever time you think is right, and I've highlighted the relavent times in the excel sheets for you - my objective yesterday was to (1) showcase how easy it was to turn multiple missions around on Attopilot (beta) - and demonstrating it's reliability and repeatability (2) get some practice for the OBC, and (3) break up the one and two monopoly by paparazzi on the league board :)
Damn!! Can I have a half australian, half greek flag !!!! ( you know the word IOS in my name refers to the greek island I'm from :) )
As for this month, don't worry, the timings will be here in the comments, since it's the only way to have results recorded. Gary's just saying he's not going to summarize them again until the end of the month.
But going forward, I agree with you that it's a good idea to learn from the competition as the contest progresses. This isn't about winning but about learning from each other to improve each of our performances.
I prefer to know the timings, otherwise we are not learning. Just one day somebody says what are the results and everybody says: oooh ok the I should have xyz. Then they wil return to their casual occupations.
Unless you are ordering for the military on the fixed market where everybody knows everything in advance (including the winner), it is better to make soft requirements, being tightened as 'the market' follows.
No I'm not changing the table again until the end of the month. Perhaps next month the best times could be sent in secret and only in the last week will I start publishing the results. You would'nt know if it was good enough or impossible to beat then.
Darnit, got piped to the post, well done Condor, you the first RSA flag up there, some rats keeping me busy this side, was hoping to do my first flight this weekend but now it must wait another week.
Comments
Talking about names, my first name is Vassilis (with one 'L', it is Greek).
Rusty
@Chris,
haha!!! I knew someone would pick that up! I made a mistake when I created that plot. The flight path is actually "clamped" to the ground, while the figure 8 is floating in mid air on Google Earth, so it looks like it hasn't gone around but in actual fact it has! If you really want I can re-post. Here is the kml file.
You can take whichever time you think is right, and I've highlighted the relavent times in the excel sheets for you - my objective yesterday was to (1) showcase how easy it was to turn multiple missions around on Attopilot (beta) - and demonstrating it's reliability and repeatability (2) get some practice for the OBC, and (3) break up the one and two monopoly by paparazzi on the league board :)
Damn!! Can I have a half australian, half greek flag !!!! ( you know the word IOS in my name refers to the greek island I'm from :) )
But going forward, I agree with you that it's a good idea to learn from the competition as the contest progresses. This isn't about winning but about learning from each other to improve each of our performances.
Unless you are ordering for the military on the fixed market where everybody knows everything in advance (including the winner), it is better to make soft requirements, being tightened as 'the market' follows.
Dis'n plesier,meneer Condor jammer Sarel
No I'm not changing the table again until the end of the month. Perhaps next month the best times could be sent in secret and only in the last week will I start publishing the results. You would'nt know if it was good enough or impossible to beat then.
Rgrds
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