Hello DIY Drones,

I'm taking on this project so I can find a Low Cost, Durable, easy to install solar solution for this communities APM 2.5 Operated Projects.  I've spent almost $800 USD of my own money to purchase electrical gauges and equipment to make this project possible.  Also I own the majority of the electronics needed for this project.   I'm still in need of about $600-$700 to have all the R/C Equipment I am going to need so I set up a donate button for my paypal if anyone is interested in donating to this project.  If I am able to get enough funding from the community to get this project off the ground I am willing to do a 25-50 video series that will include the unboxing and assembly of the Model R/C Plane, Electronics Installation, First Solar R/C Flight, 10 episodes on setting up the APM 2.5 for autonomous flight, and last but not least the series will finish off with how I setup my Electronics to provide solar power to my APM 2.5 and imaging equipment.

Click Here to Donate to the Project Via Paypal! - Thanks! -

Project Item List(Items Still Needed):

1.  PROJET 98" RC Drone Fiber Glass 4-CH Brushless Remote Control RC UAV Drone Airplane ARF Kit V2 ($189.95)
2. Solar Panels for Project ($200) *Waiting to officially decide on what brand of solar panels to go with because I first want to establish exactly how much electricity the UAV uses so I don't purchase solar panels that overcharge my battery*
3. Solar Battery Charger Testing ($200)  *I currently have been purchasing various solar powered lights for outdoor use (That charge AA Batteries using only solar) and taking out the solar chargers and electrical systems to test on different solar battery solutions for R/C use*

Hi all,

The Techpod and Arudupilot has been prominently featured in the leading nordic hobby magazine "Allt om Hobby" in a three part series on FPV and autonomous flying.

This second part has a nice build log and part three will feature how integrate the  APM into the airframe.

The article can be found at rctech.se and for all of you who have difficulties reading swedish we offer a 20% discount on the Techpod kit at www.rctech.se.  (use code techpod20 when checking out)

Our first small batch of Talon UAV aircraft have arrived!  Unpacked the first one, (naturally that will be my very own) and must say i am so far impressed with what I see. I think this is going to kick the Skywalker's @ss!

Checked the net, and found only a russian version of the unboxing video. Thinking about making an English version if there is enough demand. So how about it, think you can put up with my South African, Afrikaans accent? perhaps we will move on to a flying and tuning video as well, who knows...

For now, here are a few pics to keep you interested...

Unboxing Video complete.

I like the idea of having a script to your ground station. It is a way to implement some logic that your original GUI does not enable directly. It can also enable integration easily with other dlls and modules far beyond the original scope of the Mission Planner. The first thing I asked myself about when I found this "treasure" is what were the available variables and classes that I can already access, well I could not find a clear list, maybe I am not good at googling -which is true-. So I opened the source and tried to figure out myself.  

The main start here is Script.cs it is where the engine class and scope class exist. what we want here is the scope class, it is the INTERFACE point where you can LINK outter world with PYTHON script.

      scope.SetVariable (varname, realobject);

Using above function you can add more objects to link with and define names for it in Python. See the below figure where all objects are defined - and where you can add more if u want.

I traced back the added classes MainV2.comPort, MainV2.comPort.MAV.cs, this, this that are mapped to   MavLink.cs , CurrentState.cs,Script.cs that means any public variable of function in these classes can be accessed from python script.

Lets open Mission Planner and open the script window and check the above conclusion:

In the above image you can see Script.SendRC …. You can find this function in Script.cs 

Same for cs.alt which should exist in CurrentState.cs

Now you can get all the functions you want from these classes, you can even add your own classes and functions.

I hope you find my small blog is useful.

Thanks,

M. Hefny

I modeled and printed some GoPro Hero3 Mass Models for use with my Tarot T-2D gimbal.  I decided it was dumb to constantly risk my Hero3 when I didn't need to so I created these.  One is a straight form/fit/weight model of a Hero3.  One is to carry my Keychain Camera.  One is to carry a board camera I bought on EBay for FPV.  The Google Sketchup Model and the .stl files for printing these are available at the following site - 

Hero3 Mass Model(s)

These are printed with of PLA plastic which isn't heavy enough to equal the weight of a Hero3 so I have to add a metal mass to them to get the weight up to the 76g that a Hero3 weighs.  So far I have only modeled a Hero3 - I will do a Hero2 and Hero3+ soon.

if you have questions just email me at MKTable@toast2.net

timmy

Ok now I have seen it "all"... For some reason I were not stunned to see that it was Lady GaGa who made this first.. But here we are.

On their video it looks a bit badly tuned but it flies. Unfortunately video cannot be embedded to Ning so everyone need to look it by them selfs. 

At a secret New York event Gaga slipped into the battery-powered couture contraption, called Volantis, and hovered about a foot above the ground thanks to the hexi-copter design by Techhaus Studio XO.

The dress claims to be the world's first flying outfit but, before you tear up your bus tickets, Gaga explains it's more symbolic than transport solution.

Original post in here with video: http://www.news.com.au/technology/design/lady-gaga-wears-worlds-first-flying-dress/story-fnjwubd2-1226757583590

That's one fancy frame I would say. Maybe we need to start making those at jDrones  ;)

Until now I had an ugly piece of paper taped on the side of my T9X radio to remember the flight modes configured on the 3 position F.mode in combination with the position of the Ail switch. Not only was this ugly but it was not quick enough to read when you needed to switch modes (especially when you 're looking in panic to find the right switch combination to RTL...)

I saw a great customization trick in one of the 3DRobotics IRIS video where they had customized a sticker around those two switches to indicate the various flight modes.

I decided to reproduce this sticker and give the SVG file to the community so you can print your own (and change text/colors). To edit the SVG you can use the "INKSCAPE" program which is completely free and very easy to use:

This is how my custom sticker looks on my T9X:

Once printed, use an exacto knife to cut the holes, that's it !

Attached the SVG file, have fun!

A video shot with my micro quad a few weeks back. It feels appropriate to share. Thank you veterans! 

Hello guys and girls. I am new here and I wanted to take time to introduce myself for the community and to tell you little bit of my first steps at jDrones.

I am soon to be graduated electrical and electronics engineer and Jani offered me a change for training here at his company. I am total newbie to UAVs. I have no previous experience in UAVs so everything is pretty new for me, but I have been working with some robotics projects at uni before using PIC controllers and IMU sensors. Here is a sample of one of our projects we designed and built from the scratch with my friends. Balancing Ball Bot. It is a bit wobbly as we run out of time from tuning the control loop better before the submission deadline.

Lets talk abit about drones. First of all wow! It has been overwhelmingly confusing, rewarding and FUN to see and to work with the stuff that you guys have developed!

Arduino world takes a bit time for me to adjust with all the libraries handling many of the things that one has to write in the code by themselves with many other controllers.

I have been working with jDrones heavy duty antenna tracker for the past week now. It is based on ArduStation Mega. It listens MAVlink telemetry to calculate correct tilt and heading for the antenna. Existing software for ArduStation is handling many of the things already. Modifying this software for our antenna tracker is very challenging for me. Thousands and thousands of lines of code! Getting to see the antenna turn and follow the drone just feels so nice after all the hard work. There is still lots of work to do with the tracker tho. I had lots of difficulties of understanding MAVlink messages, and how the protocol works. We want to catch MAVlink messages with the tracker and forward them to USB for Mission Planner usage, so you could use the antenna tracker stand alone or as an extension for Mission Planner.

It is been truly fun and I have already learned lots of new things. I am looking forward of sharing the projects and ideas here at DIYdrones.

If you guys have any advises or recommendations for must see videos or must read books for UAV hobbyist I would be happy to hear. Also if you know some helpful articles or websites that you think are good for newbies to study, please let me know! I plan to write once in a while about my time, confusion, difficulties and success at jDrones. If you have any questions or comments let me know!

Have a great Sunday

Marko

I wanted to post this article I came across on CNET. I think it needs some better clarification though, as the writer doesn't really spell out too much detail, and even mistakes the intent of another article she links to regarding, "hunting drones." 

FAA cautiously agrees to some use of civilian drones

While still far from giving a thumbs up to unmanned flying vehicles crowding the skies, the government agency recommends that some drones be allowed.

by Dara Kerr

November 7, 2013 7:13 PM PST

Ryan Calo, a legal expert who is one of the best analysts of UAV policy issues, has looked at the FAA's new roadmap for civilian drone use from a privacy perspective and is pretty impressed. His full essay is in Forbes, but here is the key part:

[The] right word for the agency’s other answers is, I think, “sensible.”   The FAA pointed to tort laws that can help address individual grievances, which is true in the worst cases.  It cited the fact that the test sites would be public institutions subject to political pressure and freedom of information requests, and the fact that local legislatures could act to curb privacy abuses should they materialize.   Left unstated was Margot Kaminski’s argument that, in addition to privacy, drone policy must be sensitive to free speech principles; the best way to reconcile the tension between privacy interests and use of drones by citizens or the press to foster accountability may be to let the states each strike their own balance.

What is really getting lost in the debate, however, are the subtle signals the Administration is sending about the future of drone regulation.  The FAA didn’t just pass test site rules.  It refered to privacy (at page 16), for the first time, as a “regulatory driver.”  It listed privacy (at 32) as one goal of “developing and implementing the [drone] system requirements established by the FAA.”  The agency says (at page 42) that “new or revised regulations and supplemental procedures” may be necessary and, if so, they will be implemented “in coordination with relevant agencies to address related security and privacy implications.”

In other words, the privacy rules for the test sites are just the beginning: the test sites will test privacy, just as they test congestion, safety, and everything else.   The Joint Planning and Development Office’s Comprehensive Plan is pretty explicit on this strategy (at page 7): “As use of [unmanned aerial systems] by civil agencies and private industry grows, preserving the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of individuals becomes increasingly important.  … The lessons learned and best practices established at the test sites may be applied more generally to protect privacy in UAS operations throughout [national airspace].”

Here's a new video from our flights from the USS Hornet at the Nerd Night science festival last week. We think this is the first time a civilian drone has taken off and landed on an aircraft carrier (albeit a retired one).

These were all fully-autonomous missions, from takeoff to landing, with both ArduPlanes and ArduCopters. All missions went without a hitch, and all autolandings were right down the center of the landing strip.

Also includes autonomous 3D mapping of the carrier! Here's a video from that:

Recently we discovered some of our DM volunteers did not have their throttle failsafe setup properly, so a quick tutorial was provided.  We have included the video log above.

On the right, the PWM level for channel 3 for you to make any adjustments if needed.  The Taranis produces 900 PWM when no pulses were sent.

Even though this was created  for the Frsky Taranis, we hope others will find it useful and enough to apply the same principles on other transmitters.

Figure: Did I really fly through the ground?

I hoped I wouldn't have to do another Black Box Stories episode, but unfortunately I need help. The good thing is that no planes where harmed during this event.

Here is the backstory:

Today (just like many other days) I was tuning my RCTimer Arduflyer running Arduplane 2.76. It's been an eventful process, laid with unexpected problems. Today was no different.

I had already done a previous flight, tuning the pitch controller. This was on a fresh pair of 3S Zippy 5000mAh, in parallel, and had burned 3000mAh, according to a calibrated (by me) current sensor.

On this flight, I wanted to tune the navigation autopilot and had prepared an orthogonal mission to do so. So I push my Skywalker on the "runway" while on MANUAL mode, go full throttle and:

1. Climb for 4-5 second on full throttle at about 20m above ground.
2. Realize that suddenly I don't have power on my motor.
3. Immediately try to cut throttle and go WOT again, in case there was a motor cut-off. This didn't work.
4. I accept the fact that I don't have thrust and try to turn around and land. I get a feeling that I don't have precise control of my control surfaces. Nonetheless, I keep turning my plane ungracefully back 180 degrees to align with the runway.
5. While descending, I hear sounds that suggest that the motor varies its throttle level erratically, always staying on low levels.
6. This worries me and I instinctively I switch to FBWA mode. This silences the motor permanently as required.
7. I land the plane without problems in FBWA.

Of course, I found this behaviour very strange so I tried to examine the logs. The take-off is at 30% in the files:

Dataflash Log

Telemetry Log

Google Earth File

Part 1

Let's start with the Google Earth .kmz file. By opening it, you will notice a very worrying sight: Most of the flight is mapped underground!

As I couldn't believe what I was seeing I converted the dataflash onto a Matlab workspace to examine the data more closely. It was even worse!

I have cropped to the section of interest. You can clearly see the take-off moment, when the Throttle input (manual) rises from 0 to 100%.

At that point, while the barometer and accelerometer solution, in the form of Relative Altitude (what is that thing exactly anyway?), recognizes the increase in altitude, the total altitude actually drops below the ground a dozen of meters!

Coincidentally, the number of satellites at this point drops from 10 to 6, which is pretty unusual by my books, a rare occasion.

Another worrying plot is the altitude throughout the whole session, pre-flight and post flight included.

The Altitude variable isn't steady at all, even though the aircraft is set still, as the Relative Altitude witnesses.

This is similar to the steadiness I was seeing in the previous flight (with the 2.74 firmware) but notice that today the DC offsets of the two variables mathced.

Part 2

At the same time, I discovered another inexplicable problem.

While playing back the Telemetry Log I realized that at the time the throttle was cut, the plane had returned to RTL mode and stayed there until I switched to FBWA!

I theorize this happened because I had set the Battery Failsafe Voltage level at 11.2V. In retrospect this was a very generous setting and indeed at WOT my batteries dropped at 11.1V right after this flight. But I still cannot explain why the RTL mode was explained.

For starters, the voltage threshold tripping didn't last for more than 10 seconds tops. Graphs verify this. This means that Long Failsafe shouldn't engage yet.

Moreover, I had not the Short Failsafe enabled, even though this would be supposed to switch in CIRCLE mode.

Finally, even the behaviour of the RTL was strange. Instead of returning to the HOME point at 100m above ground as defined, which would mean a hard climb, the motor "kind of purred". I didn't verify if the horizontal navigation part of the RTL worked, as I was navigational inputs the whole time and those factor in during RTL mode (as per the wiki).

Below is a detail of the throttle input and output time series, as extracted by the telemetry log browser:

You can see a more detailed version in the Mission Planner Tuning screen, by replaying the mission.

Since I could not find a variable to represent the MODE in the Telemetry Data, I tried showing the engaging of RTL and FBWA through the processor load. The low load is the MANUAL mode. The high load is the RTL mode. The medium load is the FBWA mode.

This is all the info I could gather. I think I'm close but I just can't connect the dots. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Also new jD-IOBoard Configurator is available on download area. New Configurator needs IOBoard firmware to be at least v0.5 to get all new features and configuration options to work.

Main IOBoard firmware fixes/features:

• Voltage/Cell count improved
• Output pins can now be configured
• FrSky telemetry can be enabled/disabled
• Ground speed is working correctly
• LOW Battery alarm introduced
• Request factory reset on reboot added
• Rear light patterns now saves correctly
• Many small optimization and fixes

Configurator features:

• New tab to configure Output pin locations
• Version checks for firmware
• easy issue tracking, download buttons added
• EEPROM saving improved
• Accidental saves without parameters is now impossible
• Low battery alarm threshold added
• IOBoard pin orders added

Issue tracker for IOBoard firmware in Github here

Issue tracker for Configurator in Github here

Please use issue trackers for enhancement/bug reports/comments

Part 2 to my video on how to set-up and install a Tarot gimbal on a DJI Phantom.  PART 1 can be seen HERE

original blog post : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/vr-gimbal-nex7-preview

Best

Roberto

Not too surprising, but nice to see it actually working: Arming of an Iris with new 3DR radios from a Nexus 5 through DroidPlanner.

Lots and lots to read and think about but the FAA has published a press release today.

Here's one bit

2.1.2 UAS NATIONAL OBJECTIVES

1. Establish Applicable Certification and Training Requirements for Pilots/Crew Members, Other UAS Operational Personnel, and Appropriate Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) Personnel

1.1. Determine the roles and responsibilities of applicable pilots/crew members, other
UAS operational personnel, and appropriate ANSP personnel for safe UAS integration.

1.2. Develop and propose regulatory changes, as required, to define licensing (certification) and training requirements for pilots/crew members, other UAS operational personnel, and appropriate ANSP personnel (address in 14 CFR Part 61,
63, 65, and 141-147).

1.3. Publish, if required, final rule requirements for applicable pilots/crew members, other UAS operational personnel, and appropriate ANSP personnel.

1.4. Begin training and certification initiatives for pilots/crew members, other UAS operational personnel, and appropriate ANSP personnel.

2. Approve Applicable Medical Requirements and Standards (e.g., address 14 CFR Part 67)

2.1. Develop and propose regulatory changes, as required, to define draft medical requirements and standards.

2.2. Publish, if required, a final rule establishing medical requirements and standards.

3. Establish Applicable Airworthiness Certification Requirements

3.1. Facilitate the initiation of applicable classification and basis of airworthiness certification.

3.2. Facilitate the development of draft airworthiness design standards.

3.3. Develop applicable draft airworthiness certification advisory circulars.

3.4. Approve and publish final system airworthiness certification advisory circulars.

3.5. Ensure that a robust and integrated test environment is available to develop, test, and evaluate UAS.

3.6. Administer certification, including Advisory Circular (AC) guidance and oversight.

This graphic might worry folks, especially as we know how much the FAA can make things slide