Is any work being done by the development team to add this class of vehicle to the capabilities of the APM or Pixhawk series of autopilots? The Arcturus design is very nice and looks like a very useful cross between Multi-rotor and normal aircraft designs.
here is a link to their site - http://arcturus-uav.com/index.html
dennis
Comments
Gil....
I totally agree with you on every point you make. I started this thread because I am looking for a solution to a Search and Rescue (SAR) need that doesn't allow for a fixed wing landing strip in all cases. SAR needs the extra endurance (legs) of a fixed wing platform over a multi-rotor vehicle. A blend of multi-rotor and fixed wing capabilities with fixed wing like cruise performance that simply DOUBLES the flight time of a multi-rotor in cruise mode while still allowing for very limited hover (close look mode) and VTOL is my goal. The SAR goal is to find/save people so efficiency is much less important to me than functionality; i don't really care if there is a trail of disturbed air behind the vehicle generated by the non rotating lift rotors while cruising as long as i can generate that tubulance for twice as long with this vehicle as i can with a multi-rotor craft. Moving parts just make things more complicated and likely to fail so rotating wings/rotors/surfaces just seem to make the solution more complex (aka - heavy) IMHO. Whoever develops this capability will end up with their picture on the wall in all Search and Rescue facilities..... I am an aerospace engineer and not a programmer so I know what I want (need) but not how to accomplish it with the software; if this were to turn into an APM/Pixhawk project I would certainly sign up to participate in any way i could. I am a HUGE fan of the APM/Pixhawk system and development team and would like to see the solution to this real need come from here as opposed to a commercial entity (DJI?).
dennis
The Arduvtol is a solution, but it is not open...
or there is https://sites.google.com/site/hobbyarduino/project-updates/theresul...
From what I've heard, the V-22 is pretty good. It did have some problems in the beginning but nowadays it works and their crews (and the field commanders) love it.
I think I might let the quad motors drop off the JUMP and then land back in a net. It would just hurt dragging all that weight around the sky for no good reason. The V22 is a horrible platform in service, why would an unmanned one be any better?
I knew I have seen this before...: Bell Eagle Eye
Wasn't some major aircraft manufacturer already tinkering with the PX4 for a rotary wing OPV? I vaguely remember reading something like that on DIYD some time ago...
Anyway, if Bell can make dual-tiltrotor work, I bet, Randy and Tridge could make it work even better :).
As we have so much excess processing power (LOL), I'd much prefer a dual-tiltrotor concept, like in the V-22 Osprey. That rocks!
Well I would be happy to build some crash test dummies. The other thing with winged platforms is if you push endurance up traditionally you can just move to a spot where you can launch and recover and keep complexity down. Boats are different of course.
Tridge and I discussed this a couple of days ago and I think we came to the conclusion that the Quadshot was the platform that we would most want to start with.
If I were to do this work, i would start with the quadcopter code ('cuz that's what I'm more familiar with) and the first thing I'd do is create a new AP_Motors library which has the additional Elevators (Ailerons?). This part is quite easy.
Next I'd add the forward flight behaviour which would include the ability to lean forward much more than a regular quad copter allows. This would probably be changes in the AC_AttitudeControl library and I imagine this is the hardest part.
Finally I'd add a new navigation controller (i.e. AC_WPNav) to act more like an airplane. This is sort of a medium difficulty job.
It's a big job but if someone wants to go for it, I'm sure Tridge and I would be happy to provide all the consulation you'd need.
Oh you mean like this
You can buy them off the shelf now. You can also buy contra rotating motor setups which would make it much easier. To solve the forward flight thing we ended up mounting the flight controller in a gimbal (gravity bodge mount TM) as you command forward it levels and the sense stays right.
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