WooHoo so I picked up my new ultrasonic sensors from my old workplace today! that means it's time for me to start work on collision avoidance!! :-D something I desperately need hahahaha...
first stage for me is to get the arduino uno reading the sensors, I might then set it up to talk to the ardupilot board on i2c and integrate the system from there...
Please forgive me for starting so many projects at once, but I want to make the most of my unemployment while I can!! great time to innovate and get all the ground work done before it gets slowed down by real work and earning a living ;-)
will keep everyone posted :-)
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@John: these sensors are basically the same tech; I got all 10 of them off ebay for something like $20, between that and the arduino uno it's not too expensive... hacking a sonic tape measure would be significantly more expensive, especially when you'd consider using 6 to 8 of them on a quad/hexa... size and weight would be a consideration as well...
and to be honest I hadn't actually considered vertical CAV yet, although with my implementation plans it wouldn't be a big step...
@Jesse: Tossing in another thought. At Home Depot I picked up a Ryobi Sonic Tape sonar device for $12 USD. Does a remarkable job of measuring wall-to-wall distances (but not for more demanding contexts). There might be reason to explore adapting those to UAVs. And hey, it comes with a red LED laser to make sure you are pointing to the intended location... suggests a surreal scene at night...
@Jesse: Sounds like a plan. 'Angel coverage' is good. LOL. In my ruminations, it seems like the typical quadrotor, if not flown expressly for aerobatic maneuvers, would most frequently need to avoid obstacles in horizontal planes from about 45 degrees below - and above - the horizontal centerline of the four props. Anyone flying in enclosed spaces would need more sensor coverage to avoid obstacles in the upper 90 degree zone (for example, to avoid a physical ceiling), or lower 90 degree zone (for example, to avoid a large rock or a person's head...). Just some thoughts. I like the "go the other way" style for now. That might be sufficient in many cases.
@Marc: I'm not sure how it'd go avoiding leafy trees, I will do some tests as I write the code an let you know... but I figure some level of collision avoidance would be better than none at all! @John: I'm planning on sending as many sensors as is connected to the APM in a packet, be it 8, 6, or 4, my original theory was one sensor per arm but I was thinking about it last night, and I'd consider using 8 sensors on a quad 2 per arm at about 100 to 110 degrees separation so that there's some level of overlap and a bit of angel coverage...
to start with I'm going to go with a "go the other way" style of avoidance and publish that, from there we can build a more comprehensive set of decisions and actions that can be followed...
@Jesse: I am very, very interested in your progress, and how the experience can be applied to a quadrotor. Keep on sharing (and avoiding collisions)!
Very Good !
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