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  • Roger A April 7, 2010 at 2:53am
    Andy, any way I could contact you directly about this?
  • Andy Schwarz April 6, 2010 at 7:26pm
    @Roger: This is a 100% from scratch development.
  • Roger A April 6, 2010 at 4:32pm
    Very neat layout and I really like the virtual earth view. Is this something you developed or are you using and off-the-shelf component or engine for this?
  • Andy Schwarz April 5, 2010 at 9:59pm
    @Scott: That is pretty cool. I will check it out, even they are a bit expensive, but with an custom casing for the iPad hardware I probably will be in the same price range. Thanks for the tip.
  • Scott Plunkett April 5, 2010 at 9:40pm
    @Andy I have been using this rugged MotionCompting tablet and while it is not as sexy as an iPad in terms of PR or press...I could drop kick it across the room and it would keep on ticking, and the screen is the best I have EVER seen out doors.

    link here: http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc_J34.asp
  • Andy Schwarz April 5, 2010 at 8:53am
    @Scott: Thank you. Definitely a different casing :-) I only utilize the hardware of the iPad. Also I am thinking about removing the controls (like Throttle and Flaps) from the Screen to Hardware based controls which are mounted to the sites of the new casing. If the touchscreen fails than at least the Throttle can be adjusted. (Maybe adding a Joystick, too).

    @Morli: Well, they will not have the commercial version of it, but they might have a special military version which gives them direct updates, etc. The hardware of the iPhone/iPad is very well designed and tested 30million times :-). It is cheaper to take a consumer product and modify it, than start from scratch.
    As above stated, I only use the hardware. I might not even use the MacOS that is installed on it. I am looking into a Unix/Linux system which runs on the iPhone/iPad. They are a lot of moving parts at the moment :-) keep you updated.
  • Matt April 5, 2010 at 4:35am
    US Army leaders visit Apple campus to discuss future mobile devices
    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/24/us_army_leaders_visit...
  • Scott Plunkett April 4, 2010 at 8:29pm
    @ Andy Schwarz - Very cool conceptually, but as someone who has dealt with the military and their specs / requirements...the iPad will never hold up to virtually ANY of their field ruggedness specs...are you planning on doing a casing of some sort to add both the Tx/Rx AND the rugged requirements? Either way, I applaud the concept of having extremely intuitive UI and physical interface.
  • Andy Schwarz April 4, 2010 at 5:45pm
    Btw, the T-28 is just a temporary solution. We are investigating to build a battle-field mini UAS.
  • Andy Schwarz April 4, 2010 at 5:44pm
    Hi, I am the developer of this software. We are not using 3G or WLAN for the communication interface. It's all based on a special hardware interface that docks on the standard Apple Port. The hardware transmits the data on UHF (2.2-2.3 GHz) and we testing a currently 5.8 GHz.FHSS. The whole system is very experimental at the moment, but what you see on the picture is a screenshot from the live system (using an PZ T-28). The software runs currently on Windows XP, but we are using a special designed Framework which runs the code on both platforms.

    The goal is here to create a proof of concept UAS which is ready to use within 5min and an intuitive ergonomic ground station. Basically every soldier on the battle field should have one of these packages :-)

    The project is not commercial but also not open-source (at this time). If it ever becomes reality than probably as military application only.

    Thanks,

    Andy
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