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So today I started working on the best layout for platypus, and come across some design problems. Nothing I can't fix in the next prototype though...

Ok, step 1.
PDB, SBEC and ESC's are in. The PDB is a Gryphon Octo, minus the BEC lid (it will fit, but I need to get some smaller risers to get it to fit, so a plain ol' 5.5V SBEC will have to do). The new hobbyking "big amp" PDB will go in here too.

ESC's are hobbyking multistars. And gawd, what a pain in the **** they are...they got the right idea for solderless builds - bullets at both ends - but both ends bullets are completely the wrong size, so need cut off and replaced anyway! I may fling them and throw in some 40A simonK's instead. They'll be lighter for a start, and that becomes important later on....

Anyway, this frame is designed so that the ESC's only really fit in one place. There are pro's and con's to this approach, but in the end, it makes a tider bay. The main disadvantage is the length of the power wires for 2 ESC's (or 4, of you go XY8). Noisy? Maybe...time will tell.

The next prototype has the standard PDB mounts, and the holes are closer to the ESC's, so hopefully keeping the cables sort and equal. One advantage of standard/longer lengths is the ability to twist them, and this frame was designed with that in mind.

Step 2:

Simple step - put the ESC plate on. This helps secure the ESC's, and their wires, while also providing a platform to add 4 more ESC's (for an XY8). FPV camera mounted as well.

Step 3:

The biggie. The main electronics desk. Wow, where to start...
- A solid plate of CF here, to help cut down on "noise" from the PDB and ESC's below.

- APM (and so to be pixhawk) mounted slightly to the side. Effects on flight should be minimal

- rx place beside. The concern is that with so much CF around, the signal will be weak. I will be placing the satellite on one of the landing legs in "diversity" mode. I will also be testing the orangerx r800 with two "carbon fiber" (long wire)satellites attached.

- spektrum telemetry tx moved as far away as my cable will allow.

- spektrum alt meter located...well...anywhere frankly. It's "rx". It's mainly the "tx's" you need to worry about.

- GPS/compass located right next to APM, with ideal being that elevation will be easier with the DJI GPS pole. It can certainly go higher than the standard 5cm now, even with the *stupid* 5/6 cable 3DR provide (seriously guys....why??? why not a 5/5 or a 6/6???)

- immersionrc OSD located....poorly, frankly. But there are some reasons to put it here - the main reason being easy access to the buttons.

- fatshark 250mw 5.8 tx located *way* out the back. BUT....I'm going to change that, and place it *underneath* the bottom plate for better signal, in the same way as the 3DR telem radio (see next slide).

With this layout, only 3 cables need disconnected to remove the top plate, and all the electronics can stay in place. This was by design - nothing worse than having to completely disassemble your airframe just to get to the internals...

Step 4:

Underneath. Ok, not happy with this.

- a 490mAh 3S is running the gimbal and the FPV system, but I'm not happy with this cable running. What a mess. I should really find a way to run the lot from the 6S.

- the 3DR telem is here

- the optiflow and sonar are in place too. Cables route straight up the APM deck in front the battery. (note: next prototype will have fitments for px4flow and - hopefully! - the lightware SF02 (once the dimensions of the bracket are in). These will be on the side though, to ensure battery cable routing is kept clear.

- I propose to add the immersion tx here on the other side; as well as upgrade it to 600mW.

And that's it! Just need to hook up the motors and maiden it.

Good news: This looks like it'll take 17" if required...and if you can find the motors to turn them! (I'll be running 15", as seen here).

Bad news: Holy **** it's heavy. Too heavy. With all the FPV stuff onboard, and the 2nd battery circuit, it's coming to 3.5kg. And that's WITHOUT motors. 4 x MT3515 on there and this will weight 4.5kg - 300g over my planned budget, and still 150g over budget if I remove the FPV stuff. (though in that case I would be able to power the gimbal with a 12V bec, saving more weight).

Also, I've noticed a bit of flex nose to aft, if you lift it from the gimbal plate and the rear. Which means I'll need to rethink moving some parts to 1.5mm CF, and even add a strengthening spar!

PS - does anyone know where I can get *good* m2.5 x 37mm screws? Mine are garbage.

The Registers Special Projects Bureau are going to be using an APM2.6 for Vulture 2 on their Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator The project outline is summarized below. (more details here http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/09/vulture_2_autopilot/)

From the Reg's SPB:

As you can imagine, it's all go here at the Special Projects Bureau

Blokes in white vans have been bowling up to the door for the past month, their couriers' chariots disgorging boxes packed with kit, as we prepare for the landing of our Vulture 2 spaceplane.'s mountaintop headquarters ahead of the imminent arrival of the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team.

Among the geekgasmic gadgets to emerge from the bubble wrap is our spaceplane's autopilot – the Ardupilot Mega 2.6 – known to its mates as the APM 2.6, and described as "a complete open-source autopilot system and the bestselling technology that won the prestigious 2012 Outback Challenge UAV competition".

And here it is, complete with the external 3DR GPS uBlox LEA-6 and compass unit, and power module. Sexy stuff:

See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/09/vulture_2_autopilot/

Seems legit, found it on SlickDeals. I have no affiliation with either sites. Thought everyone would be interested in this at the price.

http://www.quiksilver.com/gopro-hero-3-black-edition/qukuschdhx301#selectedColor=AST&selectedSize=UNU

This is a compressed little story of an endurance test today with a new hexa multirotor. Some time ago I noticed a post from Ecosynth made here, which attracted my attention. It outlined the use of an octocopter with 30 minutes of flight time for the purposes of ecological analysis and 3D modeling. On the same website I found a concept design that someone specified for a hexa which was cheaper, lighter and offered slightly more endurance. This hexa is almost a 1:1 realization of that design.

The result above shows it easily achieves 30m30s in hover with 168g payload, reducing the battery from full to nominal voltage. Running the battery flat to 3.4V per cell or so I guess I could have taken out some extra 5-9 minutes. The calculations show it should be possible slapping another battery on for 53 minutes total, but in practice I'm noticing the signal going to 3 motors is getting a bit high already, so I'm not sure if there really are power reserves to do that. With 500g payload the duration is reduced by some 6 minutes or so (theoretically).

Next thing to do is see how endurance keeps up when the vehicle is in actual flight. At slow speeds like 5 m/s I don't expect too much reduction in endurance, it may actually improve slightly.

I dove into the subject of multirotor endurance and found some really good information here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1880665

There are three main design pillars for multirotors: agility, weight and endurance. Optimizing towards one or two will definitely remove capabilities in the other. The choices for propellers, motors, frame, battery should be made on the basis of this understanding. There's a tool called e-calc , which was instrumental in verifying the design.

The objective of this vehicle is to map areas up to 1km2 for 2D and 3D modeling and perhaps some video surveillance assistance. All the electronics are 3DR, drive system from rctimer.

Interesting news from our friends at Falcon UAV in Colorado:

In the wake of the recent floods in Colorado, Falcon UAV has spent the last three days providing volunteer aerial services to the Boulder County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Incident Management Team (IMT).  On Thursday afternoon while all National Guard aircraft were grounded due to weather Falcon UAV was proud to have been the only aircraft that was able to take flight to support the flood efforts in Lyons.

Friday saw a reprieve in the weather and we are able to get a perfect flight off in the town of Longmont to capture aerial imagery for damage assesment at the intersection of the overflowing St Vrain river and equally inundated Left Hand Creek.   In less than an hour the imagery was processed and provided to the Boulder EOC.  Just as Falcon UAV was off to another damage assessment in Lyons, Colorado we were requested to standdown for National Guard helicopters now supporting evacuation efforts.

Composite Image of Intersection of Flooded St Vrain and Left Hand Creek

Link to Flooded St Vrain and Left Hand Creek Interesection (Google Earth KMZ File) 

Animated GIF from that Google Earth overlay shown below (click to see animation):

Enter FEMA.......

Early Saturday morning Falcon UAV was heading up to Lyons to complete a damage assessment mapping flight when we received a call from our Boulder EOC point of contact who notified us that FEMA had taken over operations and our request to fly drones was not only denied but more specifically we were told by FEMA that anyone flying drones would be arrested.  Not being one to bow to federal bureaucrats we still went up to Lyons to do a site survey for how we can conduct a mission in the near future to provide an adequate damage assessment to this storm raveged community.  

Where bridge to the south side of Lyons used to be

Road into Lyons, CO

While we were up there we noticed that Civil Air Patrol and private aircraft were authorized to fly over the small town tucked into the base of Rockies.  Unfortunately due to the high terrain around Lyons and large turn radius of manned aircraft they were flying well out of a useful visual range and didn't employ cameras or live video feed to support the recovery effort.  Meanwhile we were grounded on the Lyons high school football field with two Falcons that could have mapped the entire town in less than 30 minutes with another few hours to process the data providing a near real time map of the entire town.

Falcon UAV would like to thank the Boulder County EOC and specifically Allen Bishop and Michael Chard (while they were running operations) for their common sense approach to drone operations, working to coordinate the airspace, as well as embracing this technology to help support the recovery effort.  In contrast we are very disappointed in FEMAs response to actively prevent the use of UAVs and drone technology when these services were offered for free and at a time when manned helicopters could be used for more critical missions such as evacuations and high mountain search and rescues in inaccessible communities.   

To our fellow Colordoans, we understand the recovery efforts are still ongoing and will be followed by a long period of damage assessment.  If we can provide volunteer aerial video, photography, or mapping services to any of the affected communities please contact us directly at 303-903-4571.

Despite the positive example a few years ago of a drone used to spot pig's blood polluting a local river, Texas has passed a law banning the use of private drones to collect images of property or people without permission.

From the Albany Democrat-Herald:

More than 40 state legislatures have debated the increasing presence of unmanned aircraft in civilian airspace, with most of the proposals focused on protecting people from overly intrusive surveillance by law enforcement.

But Texas' law, which took effect Sept. 1,  tips the scales in police favor _ giving them broad freedoms to use drones during investigations and allowing them to bypass a required search warrant if they have suspicions of illegal activity _ while also limiting use of small drones by ordinary residents.

"Texas is really the outlier," said Allie Bohm, an advocacy and policy strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The law makes using drones to capture images of people or property without permission punishable by a fine up to $500, while also allowing those improperly photographed or filmed to collect up to $10,000 in civil penalties if they can show that images were collected or distributed with malice.

...

Texas' broad exception allows police or law enforcement contractors to forgo a search warrant if they "have reasonable suspicion or probable cause." Other states only waive warrant requirements in cases of catastrophe or terrorist attack.

Lon Craft, director of legislative affairs for the Texas Municipal Police Association, said it still goes too far, though.

"I'm OK if they want to limit citizens, but don't tie the hands of law enforcement," said Craft, who said he used to employ drones as part of a narcotics task force in Harris County, which includes Houston.

That use is one of more than 40 exceptions in the Texas law. Others permit drone use anywhere within 25 miles of the U.S. border and by everyone from students conducting scholarly research to real estate brokers taking promotional pictures.

...

The law won't affect journalists because covering news doesn't meet the definition of surveillance. And the hobbyist's discovery of pig's blood would fall under exceptions that allow drones to hunt for environmental hazards, he said.

Thanks to Kevin Hester for the find!

Hi everyone!

Greetings from the Denver, Colorado USA area.

Here is my latest build:

Carbon Core 950 X-8, setup currently as a quad.

T-Motor TM3515-15 kv400 (x4)

14x4.7 props (x4)

Turnigy S6 8000mAh battery

ZTW A-Series 50 amp ESC (x4)

3DR APM 2.6

Spektrum DX8

Tarot T-2d gimbal with GoPro Hero 3

Custom APM mounting (rubber o-ring isolation with memory foam (earplug) vibration damping. This was necessary in order to reduce vibrations to an acceptable level. I tried with out the damping, but it was still too sensitive.

I am currently getting 10+ minute flights

Stabilize is tight, and Loiter/Alt hold are rock solid. The only real change I made to the stock configuration was a decrease in rate roll P to .12 from the stock .15 to get rid of a slight oscillation. That was it, no other change. I suppose I could mess with additional tuning params, but to be honest, it flies really well the way it is.

The Compassmot was 11% as it stands (no additional work needed because the frame had a mount for the GPS built-in)

Vibrations in x-y axis are around +-2

Vibration in z are between  -7.5 and -11.5

The kit itself was excellent. It is super light and very strong. I did find it a challenge to fit the ESC inside the frame, but they did fit eventually. 

Based on some of the bench testing, I'm guessing this could lift 10lbs no problem. I'm already interested in adding the additional set of motors/props to see what it is capable of, but no need right now. It already hovers at about 1/3 throttle, so adding more power (and little extra weight) would make this thing quite overpowered. I'm not sure I need to lift the equivalent of a medium sized dog into the air, so I will probably keep this setup for a while.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask!

Finally getting around to posting a project I worked on a year ago at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. We 3D printed (FDM on a Fortus 400mc) a UAV with telescoping wings. Structure was primarily FDM except for a carbon fiber backbone that all the parts were attached to. Designed to be highly modular, the aircraft was essentially 3 reconfigurable pieces: the fuselage pod on the front with the avionics and batteries, the wings, and the empennage. To adjust the CG for different payloads you could move all the parts around until you balanced and had the stability margin you needed. 

We printed the wings without support material and with an internal structure that made them pretty strong. We also decided to incorporate carbon fiber spars into the wings which essentially doubled our strength to weight and it took less than a minute to install. Combining COTS materials with FDM really helped alleviate some of the strength concerns we had.

I've attached a talk that my coworker and I did at the RAPID additive manufacturing conference this year which has some of our lessons learned and more information about our aircraft. Hope there is something helpful in there for anyone interested in doing FDM UAV design! RAPID Presentation

New major beta release for Andropilot (if reports from brave users are good, it will go out to the 'safe' general release in about a week).  I'm testing out some changes to simplify the UI - this release includes some of them.  Here's a 'picture' of the new code:

Please please please, provide tester reports for plane/quad/rover/jugglebot and I'll integrate your feedback...

# 1.7.07

• SimpleUI: Move status messages into their own fragment (and make them update even if fragment is not visible)
• SimpleUI: Try to guess likely modes the user would want and put them as buttons at the bottom of the screen
• SimpleUI: Show the bluetooth device connect/disconnect button
• SimpleUI: Prompt user with extra dialog if they try especially dangerous mode switches (disconnecting or disarming while we think the vehicle is flying etc...)
• I played around with the profiler a bit and many operations should now be a bit faster
• When connected by bluetooth, show proper vehicle state on the icon
• Make popup modal bar appear in correct position on portrait 7" displays
• Show HDOP (horizontal position precision) in the gps display
• Only enable arm menu item if we have a heartbeat from the vehicle
• Fix the bug where mode changes would be announced twice
• Fix some minor display glitches
• Add support for profiling/tracing when in developer mode
• Fix a couple more rare autobugs
• SimpleUI: Lots more coming in the next releases...

One thing that made this simplification possible is that I now try to model the vehicle state (flying, not flying etc...) in the GCS.  It is possible that I have errors in this state machine - if that happens, the 'new' buttons on the bottom of the screen won't work.  If that happens you can still use the old menu items as a work-around (please file a bug if you see this problem). 

You'll need to join a special G+ group if you want to get the beta release (the slick new way Google allows users to opt-in for beta test builds).  Instructions are here.  Otherwise wait a week and it will be pushed to general availability. 

For general support on Andropilot please post a new discussion in our group and I'm sure someone will lend a hand.

All Items - Packed Up

All Items - Unpacked

FPV DVR Ground Station - Open

FPV DVR Ground Station - Unpacked

All Items - Assembled

FPV DVR Ground Station - Internals

FPV DVR Ground Station - Display

Parts:

Andriod Nexus 7 running AndroPilot (with Travel Case)
Right Angle OTG Cable
433Mhz USB radio
Suction Mount for Nexus 7

Portable 7-inch DVD Player (with headrest mountable carry case)
DIY 5.8Ghz VRX Module (with IR Remote Control)
Hobby King SD DVR (minus case and expansion board)

Futaba FP-T8UAF
FRSky DFT 2.4Ghz Transciever
Turnigy 2650mAh LiPo

Total Cost: Next to Nothing (<$150)+Tablet($250)

This old Portable DVD Player had given up the ghost. So, after repairing (and then realising that i have zero need for a portable DVD player), i took to tearing in apart again.  Removing the unwanted CD carriage, finding suitable AV inputs and a 5VDC line on the board was relatively straight forward. I had even planned to wire in the ADC_KEY_1 and ADC_KEY_2 inputs up the the existing and very conveniently located micro-switches which are no longer required for the DVD player in order to provide UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, SELECT, MENU, PLAY, RECORD and STOP buttons for the DVR, however found it unnecessary thanks to the fact that the IR receiver for the DVR gives good reception through the small clear window located in the lid to the CD carriage. NOTE - switch on rear left hand corner of FPV unit is wired into alarm trigger circuit of DVR (however, I am yet to find a mode in which this will activate/deactivate recording)

Nice and Small, Easily Portable, Wonderfully Compact, Cost Effective - Couldn't be happier with my little beginners kit.

SHEPHERD-MIL

From Hackaday: 

A student team has successfully designed, built, and flown a 3D printed RC plane using only $16 of plastic with a consumer-grade 3D printer (Makerbot), plus the necessary electronics and motor.

The folks over at the Wright Brothers Institute (WBI) have a great program called the AFRL Discovery Lab which brings teams of students, businesses, researchers, and government together to work on a specific challenge or opportunity.

More here: http://hackaday.com/2013/09/13/students-build-a-3d-printed-plane/

From IEEE Spectrum:

Skycall is a project from MIT's Senseable City Lab that explores "novel, positive uses of UAV technology in the urban context." It's also a tool to help clueless freshmen find their way around the MIT campus.

The quadcopter itself utilities onboard autopilot and GPS navigation systems with sonar sensors and WiFi connectivity (via a ground station), enabling it to fly autonomously and communicate with the user via the SkyCall app. The UAV also integrates an onboard camera as both an information gathering system (relaying images to a ‘base’ location upon encountering the user), as well as a manually-controlled camera, accessible to the visitor-come-tourist again via the SkyCall app.

Like most conceptual videos, reality is rather far from what's portrayed here, most notably when it comes to the autonomous indoor navigation. But, it might be feasible to have this thing leading students around campus outdoors, as long as they're willing to move at a speed that's compatible with the robot's battery life, and also willing to call campus police when a hapless Frisbee player gets accidentally decapitated.

Also, that is an alarmingly sultry voice for a quadcopter.

Hi,

Finally, an update about my project:

I have converted the telemetry log into subtitles, so you can see what's going on. This video explains a "Thermalling method for Model Glider Autopilots" in more detail. Best viewed in HD)

To view the pictures in higher resolution, go to:
http://diydrones.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=2vx1pcwjwgjgn

My Project page:
   http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/atv-autonomous-thermalling?xg_source=activity

Hi all !!

I wish to let Canada’s East Coast Quadcopter hobbyist that we got 11 of the blade 350 qx on their way

will be in stock after the weekend.

BNF $439.99 + Tax.
RTF $489.99 + Tax.

Free Shipping In Canada.

WAVETECH R/C HOBBY SHOP
http://wavetechrc.com/

Hi everyone, 

Is time to share something.

Here are some great files of an X8 3D laser scanned. This job was done completely for Free from some cool guys in Australia, for help us to participate to the Outback challenge. Unfortunately we did't make in time the prototype of an modified X8, so we will need to wait until 2014. But I the meantime I want to share with everyone this, so anyone can 

create or modify parts for the X8 having a good reference.  

The total folder size is about 133Mb with all the components of the X8. Here is the Dropbox link https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d0e9xr277754akb/_wb44sqFzp

Also Is worth to have a look at the website of the guys that made this possible, you may find interesting (I'm not affiliated in any way with this company). http://www.3dspatial.com.au   

NOTE:  If dropbox link is't working anymore, please check in the comments for an updated one 

As usual I'm doing another post, since DroidPlanner is now installed on 4000 devices!

 I share these post because I think you guys like it ( I check this data daily ), if someone doesn't like it then comment below.

Here is from where everyone is coming from (top 5):

For more information I suggest the DroidPlanner Wiki page. If you want to help consider donating for the project by joining the development team, reporting a issue/bug/improvement on GitHub or making a donation on the following link:

Paypal Donation for DroidPlanner

Thanks for everyone that is helping with the project.

Hi All,

Some of you may remember a while back I put in some posts on F3330 and F450 DJI FlameWheel QuadCopters detailing construction and operation.

I really love those little FlameWheels for delivering many hours of fun and resisting my every effort to destroy them.

I thought I'd try and kick it up a notch this time.

Something even more indestructible and maybe even more fun.

The Flip frame kit is $89.00 from Hoverthings and it is billed as being nearly indestructible, and short of direct Nuclear blast effects, they are probably right.

In addition to the standard kit I added an extended tab pair of center frame pieces and some 7/8" extenders.

My intention is to mount the battery on the bottom a four in one 25 amp ESC in the middle and a PX4FMU/PX4IO controller, a receiver and FPV transmitter between the 2 no tab top frame center plates and a UBlox GPS on top.

I have the 4 in 1 ESC and 4 DJI Flamewheel motors on order.

The arms on these Flips are billed as being incredibly stiff and incredibly strong.

They appear to be made of CNC milled very high density 1/4" thick fiberglass and are stiffer than anything that is not carbon fiber and likely a lot better able to withstand punishment without failing.

The frame centers are also very strong and stiff fiberglass and it is likely all of it is G10.

This is a 380 size frame and will accommodate 10" propellers (Right between the Flamewheel F330 and F450.)

I will be using Gemfan 10" carbon filled propellers that are DJI motor hub compatible. I have had very good luck with these propellers, they are very tough, quite efficient and not as sharp as more expensive carbon fiber propellers.

I will add details of my build as the parts come in and as I can get it put together, the motors and 4 in 1 ESC are coming from China, so it may take a while, but I have been very happy with my Flamewheels and I expect this to be - Better.

Recently we have developed a Visual inertial approach for Hexacopter platform (arducopter) to do SLAM (Localization and mapping----- without GPS or other absolute sensor).  

The vision node is designed to provide full 6DOF vehicle pose measurements, whilst the low-cost inertial system designed in house (less than $40AUD) enables continuous metric mapping and navigation. Indoor and outdoor experiment results are performed, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed
approach in challenging environmental conditions. (The publication is under review and soon the documentation will be updated)

Cheers

So I've built well over a dozen multicopters by now and surprisingly this little 30cm job has turned out to be the most fun out of all of them.  I always heard that 40-50cm sized frames were the magic number, but this lightweight 3cell setup has more pep and handling than anything else I've flown so far.  details here