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]
TEST 2 SUCCESSFUL!
And so the wind calmed down and I did 2 consecutive tests. Have only analyzed one and it came out at 82 secs. Not bad for a high wing polyhedral trainer :).
Here is the tracking - much better than in high winds and the video looks better too. Will post this and the 3rd attempt when analyzed.
Thanks Chris! I understand your question, but I have found that is the way the Picopilot waypoint sequencer works. When you fly very slowly the WP's are "hit" before they are reached so you actually have the plane turning before the WP. Under more normal circumstances this is not so much a problem since the plane will have more speed and therefore hit the WP's more excatly and have very little overshoot. I just got back from two succesful attempts and will publish these as soon as I can - there you will see the difference.
Great contest!
/Björn
PS. Missed seeing you in Malmö recently - I live quite close and I heard about your appearance only days after! :(
Icebear: Nice to see SuperMiss2 take this on! Were waypoints 1 and 2 programmed right? It looks like they were inside the targets by about 30m. (Nice tight pattern otherwise, however!)
OK, so finally I found the time and weather opportunity to test the track with my SuperMiss2 and Picopilot.
The wind was quite strong - analysis of the track showed close to 20 mph so it turned out to be a torture test for that setup (it cruises at 25 mph!).
Anyway, the mission went OK but I had forgotten to add the last WP so there were only 4 WP's in the route table, I'll give it another try soon, but here is both video and a still.
And oh, it was great fun - more proof of that during next try!
Rusty, if your question is can you place the markers on the map *after* your flight, yes. As long as you did the route with the right distances, it doesn't matter how you achieved it. (Although it's certainly more impressive to have an AP that knows what side of the waypoints to pass, it's not required)
Thanks Chris. So you just have to show properly spaced course markers on the map, which are not required to be actual navigation waypoints. That would certainly make it easier to work around. Pretty unlikely I'll be working well enough to enter, unless it's with something abbynormal :-)
Comments
I presume that the track isn't shown quite right, since it doesn't start at waypoint one. Will you be reposting it with the whole track?
TEST 2 SUCCESSFUL!And so the wind calmed down and I did 2 consecutive tests. Have only analyzed one and it came out at 82 secs. Not bad for a high wing polyhedral trainer :).
Here is the tracking - much better than in high winds and the video looks better too. Will post this and the 3rd attempt when analyzed.
/Björn
Great contest!
/Björn
PS. Missed seeing you in Malmö recently - I live quite close and I heard about your appearance only days after! :(
....and the GE track...The wind was quite strong - analysis of the track showed close to 20 mph so it turned out to be a torture test for that setup (it cruises at 25 mph!).
Anyway, the mission went OK but I had forgotten to add the last WP so there were only 4 WP's in the route table, I'll give it another try soon, but here is both video and a still.
And oh, it was great fun - more proof of that during next try!
/Bjorn
DIY drones "XBOX" autopilot challenge first try from Ice Bear on Vimeo.
" target="_blank">Rusty
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