3D Robotics

T3 Contest, Round 3

First, congratualulations to Brian Wolfe, the winner of the second round of the T3 Contest. Now it's time for Round 3. This round's objective is to break the Stanford team's UAV altitude record of 7,142 feet by doing at least 24 circles with a 300ft climb and descent in each, as shown above. (This won't really beat his official record, because there won't be an official judge there. But you'll get bragging rights, at least). The winner will have the highest cumulative altitude, but anyone who exceeds 7,142 feet will win a prize. As usual, you must submit a KML track and video in the comments below. Evidence that fun was had is welcome (and may influence Gary's point assignment blackmagic equation), but is not required. Deadline is Midnight PST on November 29th.
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Comments

  • Congratulations Mark, that's pretty impressive performance.

    But just to set the 'record' straight. Our official attempts were plagued with winds aloft, so they were shorter than we usually can do. So just for reference, here's and altitude plot back from summer flights. We were capable of slightly over 4000m on a 2600 mAh battery which works out to be
    .42*9.81*4000/(7*2.6*3600) ~= 25%, so roughly the same efficiency :)

    Again, congratulations on such good performance.


    (black is RC. Landed after some trimming then took-off and landed autonomously)
  • Moderator
    Blimey
  • WOW
    That is efficient usage of power... and time.
    Especially the descent seems to be faster (ok, the EasyGLIDER has the name for a reason :-)

    Ok, just a rough calculation of efficiency over all: m*g*h for 6000m and an estimated weight of 800g: 13Wh
    Energy content of Lipo: 11V*4,6Ah:50Wh
    ->Efficiency 25% Energy to height transformation, sounds good!

    Marc
  • Moderator
    What fantastic entries so far, well done everybody.
  • Moderator
    Unlike the CIA, the FAA hasn't yet picked on europeans.
  • T3
    FlyCam has magic property: it NEVER records anything dangerous or unusual.
    As long as FlyCam records, you are SAFE.
  • Hi,

    I forgot to mention the video.
    A Flycam was attached, but it seems the camera does not like the european winter temperatures...
    It went dead after 30s of flight :-(
    If anyone is interested in a launch video, I can post it...

    Marc
  • Hi,

    I´m following DIY-Drones for a while now. Great platform!
    My planes are flying with the paparazzi system some time now so I thought this contest is a good chance to test the performance.

    My setup:
    -Easyglider Pro
    -3S 4500mAh LiPo
    -Paparazzi Autopilot

    The wind changed during the flight so the plane drifted in some circles...


    In general it performed well.


    Flight time: 62minutes, 36 climbs
    Cumulative climb: 3879m (12 726 feet)
    Launch was done autonomous, the landing did not work in the first try so I did it manually, saving the battery...


    t3_a.kml

    So, who beats the 4000m barrier?

    Marc
  • T3
    Nice, efficeint power setup. Mine is cruising at 25% throttle - because I wanted huge takeoff thrust.
  • 3D Robotics
    Nice one Vassilis! Great plots and lovely circles...
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