Batto - Testing the MAV I built for mapping - Blogs

Ok, I didnt build it all myself, credit goes out to my mate Kim who cut holes and spent a fair bit of time with me on the build :)

So anyway, I wanted a UAV that did something... useful...

Live video is a pain, really easy to do if you dont go the legal route, but when it comes down to it, 10mw is just no fun in the city.

The next best thing has got to be mapping, strap a camera and trigger the shutter, too easy.

Other than that I wanted something under 1kg which isnt too much of an ask if you plan the build properly.

So here is a list of the parts which I ended up using for the aircraft:

WindRider EleBee Flying Wing
High power metal gear servos... cant remember the name unfortunately
MicroDan motor
Castle 25A ESC
Castle 10A BEC
Xtend900 Radio Modem
AttoPilot v3.0 AHRS IMU
Samsung WP10 digital camera
Futaba R319DP RX
2100mAH Lipo's

So after flying it manually we went down to some farmland to try autonomous, test the Millswood GCS / data link & give the autopilot some photo triggers.

All went very well but the photos were rather bland, blurry and meh.

I wasnt expecting too much from that camera, I thought I may have picked the wrong type. The lens was internal and small but it was shock and dust proof.

Regardless, the flight went great and as expected.

Up early the next day to go flying with the guys, brought along Batto for another test. Exactly the same flight plan as yesterday, but today the AttoPilot was setup to cut the motor, level off & snap the picture every 70 meters.

Video below.

So, very happy with the results today!

The uncompressed 12meg photos from the camera look fantastic, alot better then I would have thought.

Hopefully ill get a chance to head out to a friend’s property and let Batto loose over his crops.

If anyone can think of a better canopy than the coreflute one ive installed let me know, it works great but looks very cheap :)

Max

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Comments

Max March 17, 2011 at 6:38am

SilverFox, yes that was the Millswood GCS, im now running HappyKillmore's GCS tho.
Luciano Elias Di Paolo March 17, 2011 at 6:15am

Thank you very much Max !!!
Moderator

Gary Mortimer March 17, 2011 at 4:26am

Thats a Millswood GCS I think http://www.millswoodeng.com.au/
SilverFox March 17, 2011 at 4:17am

Great work. Which GCS are you using?
Max March 16, 2011 at 9:36pm

Brian, what do you mean? the 1st video I had camstasia recording the gcs screen, then I did a picture in picture when I edited it up... not sure if thats what you mean?
Moderator

Brian March 16, 2011 at 8:41pm

Nice, what did you use to do the video inside the video on the second one?
Max March 16, 2011 at 5:53pm

Hi Luciano,
Thank you very much! :)
The wing is a 48" elebee.
Motor is a MicroDan 2510 970kv with a 10x7 APC prop.
Camera drops into the wing VERY tight, I then cover it with some coreflute and tape it down. I use a servo to press the shutter on the camera, the autopilot takes all the photos automatically.

Feel free to ask any more questions if you like.

Regards,
Max
Luciano Elias Di Paolo March 16, 2011 at 8:09am

hi

that s beautiful work . I have some questions if I may ...

1) did you used a 48" or a 60" Windrider?

2) What motor does it has?

3) how did you attached the camera ?

thank you very much !
Max August 22, 2010 at 6:55pm

Thanks guys :)
I used PTGui to stitch them together.
Wouter van Verre August 22, 2010 at 10:40am

That second vid is really impressive, the image quality is great!!
Thanks for sharing :)
What software did you use to glue the pic together?

This reply was deleted.