Description: This platform was inspired by the realization that almost all the hardware you need for a functioning UAV is contained in the high-end cellphone in your pocket: GPS, camera, two-way long-distance wireless data communications, onboard computing and storage. Why do the tricky hardware integration when some cellphone maker has done it better themselves? By using a Windows Mobile phone, a UAV becomes a software, not a hardware, project. (You can see the phone strapped to the bottom of the plane in the image above; the sensor to the rear of it is for the FMA co-pilot.)
Features: Control the UAV (dynamic waypoints, camera commands, "come home", etc) by text message! Plane can return GPS-tagged imagery in real time by MMS (also stores it onboard for later downloading). Phone steers the rudder along GPS waypoint path, circling on command, and controls the throttle to maintain altitude. Separate FMA co-pilot stabilizer on the ailerons and elevator keeps the plane flying level.
- Airframe: Hobbico SuperStar (49" wingspan, $109). [If you want much better performance, you can upgrade it to a brushless motor and a LiPo battery]
- Autopilot: HP iPaq 6515 Window Mobile smartphone (GPS, 1.2 megapixel camera, discontinued but widely available for less than $200 on eBay.)
- Stabilization: FMA Direct FS8 Co-Pilot (infrared sensors, $115)
- Interface: Rentron serial-to-servo board ($77)
- iPaq to serial cable ($20)
- Custom software: VB.net code running on Windows Mobile, using HP's GPS, Cameraphone and text message libraries. It's still a work in progress, but you can download a beta version that shows basic functionality, here. (Copy the CAB file to your iPaq and run it from the file manager to install the program. It requres the Rentron board and serial cable listed above to do anything useful.). The VB source code is here, so you can modify it for your own needs, including adapting it for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 and other GPS-enabled WM phones. Documentation coming soon.
Comments
But if you've got a clever way to get around that, that would be great. Note that our friends at Pict'Earth use Symbian (N95s) for their real-time GPS photo mapping software. You might want to check them out before you get started.
Being expert in programming mobile devices (I live from developing & selling professional applications on these devices), and being amateur RC pilot, recently I got interest in automation of flying.
I'd most like to dedicate my UAV effort to control by mobile phone. Because I know what to expect from these devices and how to write software for it. These devices can be pretty powerful when it comes to algorithms about path finding.
This UAV discusses only Windows Mobile device and quite uncomfortable Visual Basic, but I'd suggest to use a Symbian phone (some Nokia) which may be pretty cheap and reliable. And it could replace Co-pilot hardware completely if done correctly. Additionally it can record GPS path (no need for expensive GPS recording hardware), and possibly take/save video, or communicate with pilot over GPRS.
I'd not recommend Android, as it is based on awkward Java, and is not yet commonly available.
Yet I've to explore how to get inputs (sensors, on/off switch) to the device, and how to send outputs to servos. Reading here about serial to servo is one of missing parts that I needed to get through. Another half is sensor to serial, which I may find on Internet too in a future.
Just looking throught all the comments ect, just wondering how we go uploading the GPS waypoints ect to the phone? Is that done by text message? Also any luck with the manual mate? :)
Thanks
Simon
That's pretty much what we did with this UAV: we used a Windows Mobile GPS-enabled cellphone as a "navigation-only" autopilot: handling waypoints, taking pictures and occasional communications with the ground (via text message). A stand-alone FMA Co-Pilot system handled the real-time stabilization function. We did it on an old version of Windows Mobile, but the VB.net code is freely available above if you want to update it for a more modern PDA phone.
Somewhat of a Newb here. Been flying for a few years and have been kicking around the idea of UAV activities pretty much since I started. Like others, it seems to be overwhelming at times, so finding a project that seems more understandable to me is awsome. I've thought about Paparazzi and a few others like projects based on the Gumstix, but frankly keep going back to being overwhelmed. It's very frustrating and has made me take a closer look at what I'm after. I'd like something that is semi-autonomous to start with.
Looking back at some of the projects I've read about, the params for the flight are configured the UAV is ran up by traditional RC and the automation is triggered, the UAV does it's job, controle is regained via RC and UAV is brought in for completion.
It seems to me that you could use the same concept for a semi-auto platform using a good PDA w/out realtime interactions. Something like setting and storing coordinates, mabe driving photos/video.
Using a windows moble based PDA platform would be right in line with this project but possibly a little less complicated.
Any thoughts?
I'm almost ready to make my own UAV of type GeoCrawler 2.
I like the idea of using a cell phone with GPS already hooked up. It provides more possibilities achievable in much easier way.
However, here's the thing, l already had my servo controllers and many other stuff from phidgets.com. I need the PDA to have a USB host capability so I could control the other devices.
The questions: is there a PDA with GPS and USB host? if not (or too expensive), is there a way to somehow add the USB host feature?
BTW, I was going to buy a Gumstix Verdex and install Win CE 6.0 on it and buy the GPSstix expansion board and also buy a GPS antenna compatible with the ublox module in the GPSstix. That's why I really like this idea ;-)
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