Multiplex Cularis Build

3689504218?profile=original

I'm about to start out with my first fully autonomous build. I go to school at the University of North Dakota and am majoring in Unmanned Aviation. The classes that i take in order to get this degree all combine in for a project that requires me to build my own fully autonomous platform. The whole project is designed around the idea that we (the students) should be able to create or choose the correct UAS platform for the task at hand. 

The scenario that is as follows.

Fire fighters are working on controlling a large forest fire. There are crews spread all over the place and they are unable to have a coordinated approach to the fire. They decided to use a UAS platform to survey the area. What is required?

-An easy to fly platform, they are most likely not trained pilots so the easier to fly the platform is the easier they will be able to gather the necessary recon.

-Persistence, the platform need to stay aloft for extended periods of time, this allows the firefighters to concentrate on the fire opposed to recovery of the aircraft.

- Stability, in order for untrained observers to gather the necessary information from the cameras it will be paramount that the images are on a stable platform.

Time aloft- Going back to persistence it the aircraft will have to be able to be aloft for an extended period of time. The thermal activity that comes off of forest fires is more than adequate to provide a lifting action. It will be necessary for the platform to have a high aspect ratio, low wing loading, moderate to high soaring capabilities  as well as a way of finding and riding thermals. 

What i have decided to use.

PLATFORM

Multiplex Cularis- This platform provides all the aforementioned qualities, quality space in the nose, it has a good amount of durability, and the EPO foam will allow me to cut out more space necessary for the equipment.

 

MVVS 25 3.5/960

Jeti Eco 40

Pro Lite G6 TP3300 3S

APM 2.5 915 mhz

Mediatek GPS

Futaba 8ch radio and receiver

Sony HAD CCV camera

GoPro Silver Edition

Hitec Servos

I am rather excited to get this build going. I have been doing some reading about a thermal hunting firmware that is being created by another person who posts on this site. I would really like to implement this into my platform, if i am able to integrate this into my system it would allow for some very high aloft times further accomplishing my goal for this platform.

More posts to come, pictures as well!

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • Moderator

    Sounds like a great project, good luck with it.

    just one suggestion, don't use hot glue for anything! I saw what happened to one of the aircraft made by "My geek show" when it got too warm . it turned back to a kit!

  • EPO aircarft + fir = bad idea.

    And whaut about the lifting flow under a hot air current?

  • Sounds like a fun project. Were there any guidelines on what data the UAV is supposed to supply to the firefighters? Are they looking for a live video feed, image analysis to pinpoint the fire front, tracking etc? I'd probably stay away from the thermal hunting and focus on data collection first, to make the UAV as useful as possible, but it depends on how you will be evaluated.

    Also, bushfires (as we call them) or forest fires put out a huge amount of heat - I'm not sure how a low flying foam aircraft would fare if it got too close, you might have to be careful how close you get, which would put more onus on getting quality imagery from a distance.

  • I would start with a higher quality AP in order to avoid problems with a tight schedule:

    http://autoquad.org

    http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1833030

    https://pixhawk.ethz.ch/px4/start

    The px4 in particular is designed to be easily extensible & would work well for a collaborative project

    Home
    AutoQuad
  • Admin

    @Brent,

    If you have the money you might want to consider this model instead of the Cularis as it has a long "hang" time: http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/techpod-update-and-build?xg...

    Regards,

    TCIII

     

This reply was deleted.