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Helicopter Based UAV

Posted by Ahmad Usman on February 21, 2010 at 4:50am

Hi guyz I am new to UAV development. I am starting to build a 6 Channels RC Helicopter Based UAV.

I have this 6 channel RC Helicopter that I purchased from www.bananahobby.com

I m totally new to UAV developement. So can anybody lead me what components I would to require to make it UAV. This helicopter has radio range of 1 KM. My requirement is UPLINK-Downlink Range 5KM. A camera with OSD. Can upload way point during mission.( One Important thing I am working to convert it into solar power.)

Can send the live videos of the area up to 5KM. Can take the pictures of the designated area upon ground station request. I also has GSM+GPS+GPRS personal tracker. Can I use this tracker to track the helicopter.

Please assist me what the hardware I must have to convert it into a UAV.

Thanks alot for your replies

Ahmad Usman

helcopter, uav

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Comments

Ahmad Usman February 22, 2010 at 7:39am

Here in Pakistan there is alot of desret area where we can fly beyond visual ranges within the limits of desert area.
anaximander February 22, 2010 at 4:28am

As others have mentioned how much more difficult it is to make a heli-UAV than a fixed-wing, I won't go on about it, but seriously, take heed. Heli UAVs are tricky.

One other thing that is worth mentioning is that in most countries there are restrictions on how far you can fly a UAV - in the UK, for example, the aircraft must stay within 500m of the pilot, and the pilot must have a clear line of sight to the aircraft at all times. The US regulations are pretty similar, as far as I remember. I'd recommend checking your local regulations.
Ahmad Usman February 21, 2010 at 10:06pm

Hi Everybody .... Thanks all for giving me such information. Infact I am a RC flyer for more than 5 years. I have a lot of experience and many RC Aircrafts and Helicopters. Yes I find it a difficult to develop a UAV Helicopter. So I have change my mind from Helicopter to Aircraft. Yes Chris Anderson's EasyStar is I think easy way to start from scratch and sure dont need difficult assemblies. In start I was not aware by Helicopter UAV but now I got more information and know the technical difficulties around this project.
Developer

Mark Colwell February 21, 2010 at 3:59pm

You have a nice low cost heli for learning to fly.... A cheap RC simulator like FMA will help a lot...
Andrew Whipple February 21, 2010 at 11:42am

I sure hope you have deep pockets because i don't think that putting solar cells on a UAV is a good idea for a number of reasons.
1. Although with today's technology you have the capability of putting light weight cells onto your heli you most likely don't have the money to make them actually useful
2. if you use regular solar cells the power to weight ratio would be too low.
3. the increased drag on the heli would not be feasible as it would require the power to weight ratio to be even higher than it needs to be.
4. Solar cells are only useful for high endurance aircraft such as air planes who spend most of their time moving not hovering.

-It seems to me that the main cause that gets in peoples way of designing and building UAVs is money. FIND A WAY AROUND IT. There are better ways and even more useful technology waiting to be discovered and besides someone has to invest in this new tech so who's brave(+$$) enough to do it?

Andrew
Developer

John Arne Birkeland February 21, 2010 at 11:14am

Not to put you of or anything, but maybe you should consider a fixed wing (airplane) system as a starting point. Helicopter UAV is much, much harder to do. Not to mention more expensive. And when helicopters crash, even minor ones they tend to tear them self apart (literally). If you must have a hover platform for UAV I would look into quad copters instead. Ohh.. and what Mike just said. Heli or plane, start with a simulator and then learn to fly manually first. You wont believe how much money and time it will save you in the long run.
Mike February 21, 2010 at 10:58am

Leave the heli in its box, buy Phoenix RC fligth simulator and practice hovering and some basic moves every waking hour for a month and then you are off to the right start. Then start flying. If you are going to do any development work on a heli then you must have at least some basic flying skills as you need to recover the heli when the AutoPilot goes wrong and you switch back to normal. I have a low cost autopilot for helis coming out in the first half of this year - hopefully.
Ryan February 21, 2010 at 10:21am

This is a really hard thing to do ahmed and when I first came into diydrones this was one of my first questions(much to the annoyance of a few people) and I have found out the hard way it is virtually impossible(for me anyway) to do. There is a lot of people that are there or moving in that direction, jack crossfire for one, but i have the remains of my experience with it in my workshop and I moved back into aeroplanes. Im not saying I wont give it a try again at somepoint, infact I have just bought a trex 500 clone as it is far cheaper than the real thing and possibly in the near future I may foray back into helicopter UAS.

If you manage it and the things you have listed my hat is off to you as you are among the few that can do it with helicopters.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson February 21, 2010 at 8:25am

Moderators: please do not approve blog posts that are just questions that should have been in the discussion forum.

Ahmad, the answer to your EasyStar questions are right at the top of this page, in tabs. ArduPilot/Everything you need
Ahmad Usman February 21, 2010 at 8:23am

Which data modem was used in @Chris Anderson EasyStar UAV?