Matt was flying his iFly Quadcopter near a castle in England and got it stuck. If you have ever lost one of these aircraft that you have spent countless hours on, then you know how this feels.
Well, as a last resort Matt put a plea out to the RC community and snoopw11 stepped up to the plate with his home built Y6 and FPV gear. Check out the video if you want to know the full story.
Nate
A simple, cheap infrared camera which can measure plant health -- for geek gardeners, farmers, and open source DIY scientists.
Infragram is a simple, affordable near-infrared camera produced by the Public Laboratory community in a series of collaborative experiments over the last few years. We originally developed this technology to monitor wetlands damages in the wake of the BP oil spill, but its simplicity of use and easy-to-modify open-source hardware & software makes it a useful tool for home gardeners, hikers, makers, farmers, amateur scientists, teachers, artists, and anyone curious about the secret lives of plants.
This is a pre-beta testing firmware.
It is suggested that you test it only if you know what you are doing and are able to take the risks on a breifly tested firmware.
This is a version of the Arducopter 3.0 release. It is 1:1 with it’s original firmware. So please refer to the Arducopter site and Diydrones forum for more information on the software new functionalities:
These are the release notes specific for VRBRAIN. Please read carefully:
At the moment only QUAD and HEXA frames will be released, so please for any questions or suggestion refer to e.castelnuovo [AT] virtualrobotix.com
RC Radio compatibility list
All previous radio problems SHOULD be resolved, but as we don’t have all you should report any issues.
Before using RC radio verify in Mission Planner planner if there is any latency > 1 second or bad Jittering.
If there is don’t fly!
In the preflight check , control the radio rensponse also with already tested radio.
Software download links
Standard PPM with External GPS (UBLOX):
Standard PPM with Internal GPS (MEDIATEK):
Original blog post : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/vr-brain-4-5-and-arducopter32-rev-3-0rc6-ready-for-beta-testing
Wiki Manual : http://vrbrain.wordpress.com/
So Bre Pettis finally sold Makerbot Industries for 1/2 billion dollars. It definitely puts your monthly ABS budget & the concerns of whether to splurge on the 2 color extruder in perspective when you realize the founder walked away with at least 1/4 billion dollars.
Once again, it's not the revenue from Makerbot sales or speculation on the value of being able to print goods, but the enormous library of widgets users of the Makerbot submitted to thingiverse.com for free, over 100,000 in total, & which Bre was able to monetize with the acquisition. Like the instagram & tumblr acquisitions, a massive amount of data was created for free while the true value of it was monetized by just a few individuals. Is that the way open source hardware is supposed to work?
The answer we're supposed to give is yes, the world should be based on legions of people producing data for free & the true value of that data being concentrated into 1 top individual in these massive buyouts. The creators of the data should not be compensated because we all want to be the top guy.
We've had these massive payouts for data since the internet got big in 1999 & the amount of data that cost nothing to download became truly massive. Initially they were in the form of the Redhat, VA Research IPOs, later in the form of the modern social network giga acquisitions, maybe now the open hardware giga acquisitions.
The concept of data that we create in full faith that it's supposedly free having a massive amount of monetary value in the invisible hand of the economy isn't going away. Neither is a landlord going to turn around & open source his rental properties just because we provided the data that paid for his assets for free. It's well known that wealth is being concentrated at the top a lot more than it ever was & times are much harder for the rest of us than our parents.
But what if the creators of the data were compensated in the buyouts instead of the total amount being focused at the top guy? Would the creators of the data not be able to hire people on their own, create jobs, buy stuff on their own?
The FBI has admitted it sometimes uses aerial surveillance drones over US soil, and suggested further political debate and legislation to govern their domestic use may be necessary.
Speaking in a hearing mainly about telephone data collection, the bureau's director, Robert Mueller, said it used drones to aid its investigations in a "very, very minimal way, very seldom".
However, the potential for growing drone use either in the US, or involving US citizens abroad, is an increasingly charged issue in Congress, and the FBI acknowleged there may need to be legal restrictions placed on their use to protect privacy.
"It is still in nascent stages but it is worthy of debate and legislation down the road," said Mueller, in response to questions from Hawaii senator Mazie Hirono.
Hirono said: "I think this is a burgeoning concern for many of us."
Dianne Feinstein, who is also chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said the issue of drones worried her far more than telephone and internet surveillance, which she believes are subject to sufficient legal oversight.
"Our footprint is very small," Mueller told the Senate judiciary committee. "We have very few and have limited use."
He said the FBI was in "the initial stages" of developing privacy guidelines to balance security threats with civil liberty concerns.
It is known that drones are used by border control officials and have been used by some local law enforcement authorities and Department of Homeland Security in criminal cases.
Mueller said he wasn't sure if there were official agreements with these other agencies.
"To the extent that it relates to the air space there would be some communication back and forth [between agencies]," Mueller said.
A Senate intelligence committee member, Mark Udall, Democrat of Colorado, later questioned whehter such use of drones was constitutional. "Unmanned aerial systems have the potential to more efficiently and effectively perform law enforcement duties, but the American people expect the FBI and other government agencies to first and foremost protect their constitutional rights," Udall said in a prepared statement.
"I am concerned the FBI is deploying drone technology while only being in the 'initial stages' of developing guidelines to protect Americans' privacy rights. I look forward to learning more about this program and will do everything in my power to hold the FBI accountable and ensure its actions respect the US constitution."
Another senator, Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, also expressed concern. Asked whether the FBI drones were known about before the Mueller hearing, Grassley told CNN "absolutely not." Grassley added the FBI was asked last year whether agents were using drones but the bureau never got back with an answer.
At the same hearing, Mueller urged Congress to move carefully before making any changes that might restrict the National Security Agency programs for mass collection of people's phone records and information from the internet.
"If we are to prevent terrorist attacks, we have to know and be in their communications," said Mueller. "Having the ability to identify a person in the United States, one telephone number with a telephone that the intelligence community is on in Yemen or Somalia or Pakistan ... may prevent that one attack, that Boston or that 9/11."
The FBI director argued for the continued use of the NSA programs. "Are you going to take the dots off the table, make it unavailable to you when you're trying to prevent the next terrorist attack? That's a question for Congress," said Mueller.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/19/fbi-drones-domestic-surveillance
Mark Engebretson
Owners of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, based in Oklahoma City, were at Possum Kingdom Lake Saturday demonstrating unmanned aircraft that can be used over wildfires. Held at the Possum Kingdom East Volunteer Fire Department, representatives from the Brazos River Authority, Graham Fire Department, Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Office and Caddo VFD attended. Greg Ward, who has extensive experience with Channel 9 in Oklahoma City with video and audio reporting from aircraft, explained some of the capabilities.
“The flexibility is endless, you can configure it a number of ways,” he said. The 4.4-pound aircraft can be equipped with forward looking video with a variety of possible lenses, infrared and thermal imaging among the options. He also said there are a number of options for flying the aircraft, from line of sight, to first person with a computer monitor, much like a video game to programming it to specific coordinates. “Flight time is generally two hours,” Ward added. “We’re putting auto pilots in all of these. It can return to the GPS location where it was launched, circles and waits to land.”
Jerry Stuckey, the company’s CEO, said the aircraft is made on composite Styrofoam. “If something happens, if it runs into the roof of a house it won’t hurt the house.” He added that should something happen to damage the aircraft, the package contains spare parts. They also explained that a video signal is sent to a receiver connected to a computer. The signal includes the aircraft elevation, GPS coordinates and flight speed.
All this data can be recorded on a SDHC card that can be played on a computer. In addition, multiple receivers can be used including in fire trucks, mounted on the dash to give firefighters real time views of the fires and where potential problems – or dangers – exist. Stuckey said the aircraft has line of sight navigation or can be programmed to specific coordinates. If it loses the signal, it is programmed to return. Once a signal is obtained, the operator can once again control the aircraft.
“We will train you,” said Stuckey. “A simulator comes with the package,” Ward added. The other plus for the system is the ability to search for missing people. “A 2-year-old walks away from camp, an aircraft with thermal images can find him,” said Stuckey.
“Your imagination is the only thing that limits what you can do,” Stuckey continued.
The company offers a number of options which can be mounted on the unmanned aircraft. Stuckey said that list would be forwarded to PK East VFD for review. Once options are selected, a price would be provided. “This is new, this industry is not very old,” Stuckey added.
Ronnie Ranft, PK East VFD said he believes the system would be very beneficial. “We already know the value of having air resources from Texas Forest Service for locations of fires, potential dangers and where a fire is headed,” he said. “In having an unmanned aircraft, it would greatly enhance our ability to contain a wildfire by aiding in our evaluation of a fire.”
hello everyone, after two weeks of settings and adjustments, the achievement RVJET fly with APM 2.5 in auto mode
Flying weight: 2750 grams
autopilot: APM 2.5
Motor: 3020 1110kv scorpion
prop: 10x6
Battery: 1 x 5000 + 1 x 3000
firmware : arduplane 2.73
My quad is flying better than it should. I almost feel guilty.
I slapped together a frame in a few hours. I use cheap props mounted on long shafts with cheap collets. The motors are not precisely aligned to the frame. The props are not balanced perfectly. Motor centers form a rectangle not a square. APM is strapped to the frame. I never bothered to calibrate compassmot. CG is not in the center of the frame.
However...
Loiter is freaky solid, missions are as boring as dressage, no fly aways, toilet bowling or any other stability problems. Gopro video is jello free. With each new firmware version it just keeps getting better and better. Holds position in wind well. I have flown several versions of the firmware on this frame and never had a problem with any of them. Just Dave C tune and go...
I started to think about why it works. Some of the ideas may help others designing their own frames.
1. vibration has a very hard time reaching the APM.
2. the power distribution board is located far away from the APM
3 the power distribution board is not an electromagnet printed on a circuit board
4 motor wiring is away from the APM
4 The GPS is located away from the power distribution board, ESCs and wiring
5 The frame is very light so current and therefore magnetic fields are reduced
Vibration is low. Around "2" in hover
Even with motors just taped to the frame...
APM is just strapped down with velcro.
Good power distribution method? Bad power distribution method?
GPS is away from most RF and in null of telemetry antenna. GoPro on or off does not seem to bother it. I do shift the battery a little to help balance.
Hope some of the ideas are useful. This type of frame makes a great EPP "trainer". There is more info that was posted here:
Novel application of 3D printing could enable the development of miniaturized medical implants, compact electronics, tiny robots, and more. It will probably take a while before this will be used for the hobby markt, but I though the story is nice enough to blog about it.
3D printing can now be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet provide enough stored energy to power them.
More information at: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/114
Hi Everyone,
Some pictures from SparkFun AVC 2013:
Mark Whitehorn with it's Addiction ( AUAV3 inside )
...and the flight logs....nice,a ?
Designed for a duration of four days at 65,000 feet. The first flight was just 28 minutes and it sustained damage on landing, but otherwise the mission was a success. ]UPDATE: This was a year ago, sorry for missing that. It's taken several flight since then]
Via RobotDreams:
Boeing's unmanned aircraft, Phantom Eye, completed its first take off and landing June 1. The autonomous aircraft, with its 150-foot wingspan and powered by energy-efficient liquid hydrogen, lifted off its launch cart and climbed to an altitude of 4,080 feet into the desert sky above Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
In this post I’ll describe how to make your own cable to trigger the Samsung mirrorless cameras NX20, NX210 and NX1000. We’ll be using an ArduPilot Mega 2.5 to do the triggering but you can use any Arduino or even a soldered push button.
What you’ll need:
Some USB devices use what’s known as OTG or On the Go cables to determine master/slave status of each device. The resistance between the ground pin and the ID pin determine how the device responds – most OTG cables just short these pins which wont work for us, so avoid OTG cables if you’re recycling a USB plug. We’ll use a 68k resistor so the camera identifies our cable as a remote shutter. The design we’re going for is shown below in an Eagle schematic for clarity.
The problem here is that it’s not so easy to get at pin 4 of most micro USB plugs. If you buy one from Digikey you’ll see it’s no problem but if you’re trying to recycle a plug from a spare micro USB cable, it can be quite challenging. I’ve done it and it’s possible but can be very frustrating and not all plugs even have pin 4 exposed!
First pull all your parts together and identify pins 5 and 4 on your USB plug. On this one, pin 1 is on the far right with the USB plug facing up.
Then add a bit of solder to pins 5 and 4 to get them ready for the resistor.
This step isn’t as hard as it sounds – with the soldering iron in one hand and tweezers in the other, pick up the resistor and get it onto pins 5 and 4 where it actually touches both pins – it fits almost perfectly in this position using this USB plug. Now melt some of the solder that is already on Pin 5 (or Pin 4, depending on how you’re holding it), just enough so that it makes a solid joint and holds the resistor in place. Then flip it over and add more solder to the other pin. Don’t spend too long on that one or it will heat up the other side and the resistor will fall off.
Easier than you thought, right? Make sure both ends have strong joints and plenty of solder, being careful not to get it too hot and let it melt off the other side. Now grab the servo cable and cut off the female end. Splice out the ground and signal wires. You can also cut back the power wire now.
Add some solder to these wire ends to prepare them to be attached to the USB connector. Make sure there’s a bit extra so you can make the joint without a third hand for applying solder. According to the schematic, we have to attach ground (black wire) to Pin 5.
..And then attach the signal (white) wire to Pin 3.
Now before we do anything else, hook it up to your camera and make sure it works by shorting out the white and black wires – I use my tweezers on the exposed metal pins to do this easily.
Make sure it actually takes a picture and doesn’t just focus. If you solder the signal wire to Pin 2 instead of Pin 3 it will only focus the lens, not take the picture. Now all these wires are pretty close to each other and over time with mechanical stress they could end up shorting. To prevent that, add a dab of hot glue between the connections to keep them spaced for good.
Finally, wrap it up with heatshrink!
Now you can trigger the camera shutter simply by supplying a low pulse to the servo wire plugged into an Arduino. If you’re looking to take aerial photographs using ArduPilot, then the rest is done for you. Just visit the Event 38 Downloads page and download the Aphex firmware and parameter file. This firmware puts out the correct pulse on pin A7 in the row of auxiliary pins on the side of APM approximately every 2.4 seconds. If you want to change the timing or have it respond to R/C input instead feel free to checkout and modify our source code from Github branch AC2.9.1b_NX.
Well the price has finally been released for the new DJI Phantom gimbal @ $699.00 and comes complete as shown below. The nice features are the ability to charge the GoPro while flying and the ability to output video to your video Tx all contained inside the arms of the gimbal. Full details HERE
MAVLink-compatible, which means it works with QGroundControl. All details here. Coverage from Engadget:
Starting next week, Parrot will be offering up those new add-ons it announced way back at CES. The "black box" Flight Recorder has been priced at $130, adding the ability to save flight data and GPS information from runs, which can be viewed in 3D through AR.Drone Academy maps. The device plugs into the quadcopter's USB port, bringing 4GB of storage that can also be used to save up to two hours of HD video. The Recorder also lets users perform simple piloting maneuvers via smartphone and tablet. The high density battery, meanwhile, has been priced at $70, bringing 18 minutes of flight time to the 'copter. Both are available now through Parrot's store.
On the software side, the $3.99 2.0 piloting app brings Director Mode to the flier, giving users more control over the video they shoot with their drone, including editing and picture settings like white balance and saturation. Parrot's offering the Rescue Mode update for free, meanwhile, with random shake and over balance settings to help rescue your drone from quadcopter-eating trees.
Full press release here:
Parrot AR.Drone 2.0: Flying further, faster, higher!
In June, Parrot offers AR.Drone 2.0 fans' to experience even more astonishing flights:
• Flights displayed on 3D, video storage and GPS localization thanks to the new Flight Recorder module;
• Access to Director Mode feature for filming the world from the sky like a pro;
• Increased flight time by 50 percent thanks to a new High Density Battery.
With new features and accessories, beginner and expert pilots will benefit from the most advanced technology and limitless flights!
Flight Recorder: The black box...
As black boxes are standard on commercial aircrafts, Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 will now have the option to utilize the new Flight Recorder system, which can save flight data and GPS-localized information.
When plugged into the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, this module can accurately (+/- 2 meters) save the exact position of the quadricopter throughout each flight.
The collected data can be viewed in 3D and can be analyzed through the AR.Drone Academy maps.
Equipped with a 4GB Flash memory; Flight Recorder also can record approximately two hours of HD video. This content can be easily shared with the AR.Drone community via the AR.Drone Academy.
Flight Recorder provides access to two additional unique features:
• « Click & Go » Piloting Mode
Thanks to the Flight Recorder module, the pilot and its quadricopter and geolocalized on a map. One click on the piloting smartphone or tablet screen and pilot defines a destination. After adjusting the flight altitude and speed, the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 will reach the selected destination (depending on Wi-Fi range).• « Return Home » feature
One click on the Home button and the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 goes back to its original departure location.
For expert pilots:
The Flight Recorder module is compatible with MAVLink Open Source communication protocol and can be used with QGround Control solution for defining flight routes.
Also, team at the Delft University of Technology integrated the open source high end autopilot software, paparazzi, in the AR.Drone hardware. There is no need to change the AR.Drone hardware but only to plug in the Parrot Flight Recorder. Next step is to have a laptop with paparazzi on it, to connect the laptop Wi-Fi to the AR.Drone, to launch paparazzi and to click on « compile » so that the software will be put on the AR.Drone. You're now ready to fly!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/oX423smmPEc?autoplay=1
Wiki Page: http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/AR_Drone_2/getting_started
Flight Recorder is available on www.parrotshopping.com and at select stores.
List of point of sales: www.parrot.com
Price: $129.95 USD
For immediate release Paris, June 17, 2013
Director Mode: Film like a pro!
Pilots equipped with an iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch® can benefit from the Director Mode feature, which is available through the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 piloting app.
This feature gives pilots the opportunity to create smooth videos using nine pre-registered movements (forward/backward travelling, panoramic, crane, etc.) allowing them to modify speed before or during flight.
• Camera settingsDirector Mode feature offers a number of different camera settings, including: white balance, saturation, exposure, etc.
• Post-production settings
To achieve a clear view from the sky, Director Mode offers advanced video settings. While watching a previously recorded AR.Drone 2.0 video, a graph highlighting image vibrations is displayed on the smartphone or tablet piloting screen. The pilot can then select sequences to post-production edit for improving image stability.
• Sequences edits
Is your video from the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 too long? Sequences not interesting enough? Pilots can easily select sequences to keep or delete in just a few clicks. The software also can edit sequences to create a new video.
All videos can be shared from the piloting app on YouTube, Facebook or the AR.Drone Academy.
Director Mode: $3.99 USD
*The piloting app must be up-to-date to download Director Mode and is currently available on the App Store℠ (Android™ version will be available in September).
High Density Battery: Fly more...
Thanks to the new High Density Lithium-Polymer battery, available as an optional accessory, Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 can fly non-stop for 18 minutes!
The High Density Battery is available on www.parrotshopping.com and in select stores.
List of point of sales: www.parrot.com
Price: $69.95 USD
Bonus: 'Rescue Mode'
Due to piloting errors or bad weather conditions, Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 can get stuck in a tree or other obstacle. To recover the AR.Drone 2.0, pilots now have the option to select from two propeller movements (random shake or over balance) from the smartphone or tablet piloting device.
Rescue Mode is available for free after updating the AR.Drone piloting app in the App Store.
Watch Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 vides on YouTube.com/ardrone
Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 embodies the most advanced technologies, including ultra-robust and powerful engines. Technical specifications of this state-of-the-art technology can be found here.
Many of you might be aware of the situation in Turkey, where protests have been going on for longer than two weeks. Some of you on DIYDrones might also be aware that a man was flying a small RC drone above these protests, that is, until his aircraft was shot down by riot police.
I originally wrote about this on sUASNews, but I have an update: that man has a new drone, and has posted some new videos of clashes between police and protesters:
The drone's pilot, who goes by the name Jenk, was able to capture dramatic footage of the violence from the sky before his aircraft went down on June 11. Video from his DJI Phantom showed billowing smoke, and demonstrators scrambling to find cover from high-pressure water hoses and lobbing back the gas canisters from the riot police.
Now, it appears that Jenk has either repaired his drone or found a new one, and has returned to the Gezi Park protests to capture more aerial footage.
His newest video, posted June 16 on Vimeo, shows what he claims to be a person who was shot by police. His aerial video, which was shot at night, appears to capture a person in a crowd laying prone on the ground.
I also write about a group of activists here in the states who currently are in a legal battle to have their drone returned from someone's private land. Here's video of the drone over the Turkey protests, a DJI phantom, being shot down.
Police shot down RC Drone @ Taksim Gezi Park Istanbul from Jenk K on Vimeo.
Our new video shows position hold (the position can be moved on the fly, so its actually full position control) using the PX4FMU autopilot plus PX4FLOW on the AR.Drone 2.0 frame. We have created a set of example apps to show how flow can be used for position control - these are however just textbook like examples, no bells and whistles, no complete sensor fusion and no attempt to max out on performance.
This post is also to announce the availability of the PX4FLOW open source firmware. We are only releasing it now since we wanted to do all restructuring necessary before we release it, so that any open source contribution won't be left behind because the structure changes dramatically. We invested a full person month into getting things clean, nice and simple, and we hope developers will appreciate the effort.
A quick guide is available here for early adopters / testers interested to fly this immediately. As for any beta releases, you will need to have the PX4 toolchain installed (installation guide).
From the University of Florida (via IEEE Spectrum). Note that they don't cost $250 yet (or are even available), but the researchers think they could cost that little someday if produced in volume):
Kamran Mohseni envisions a day when the unmanned vehicles in his laboratory at the University of Florida will swarm over, under and through hurricanes to help predict the strength and path of the storms.
The tiny, autonomous craft — some fly, others dart under the waves — can spy on hurricanes at close range without getting blown willy-nilly, while sensors onboard collect and send in real time the data scientists need to predict the intensity and trajectory of storms: pressure, temperature, humidity, location and time.
Mohseni said people always ask him how the miniature flying machines — just 6 inches long and about the weight of an iPod Nano — can take on one of the monster storms.
“Our vehicles don’t fight the hurricane; we use the hurricane to take us places,” said Mohseni, the W.P. Bushnell Endowed Professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the department of electrical and computer engineering.
The aerial and underwater vehicles can be launched with commands from a laptop hundreds of miles from the eye of a hurricane. Mohseni and a team of graduate students use mathematical models to predict regions in the atmosphere and ocean that can give the vehicles a free ride toward their destination. Once in the vicinity, they can be powered off to wait for a particular current of wind or water. When they detect the current they need for navigation, they power back on, slip into the current, then power off again to conserve fuel as the current carries them to a target location.
In essence, they can go for a fact-gathering ride on hurricane winds and waters.
The devices are a departure from current technology, which uses hurricane reconnaissance aircraft to punch through a storm’s eye wall and release dropsondes, sensors that free-fall and might or might not collect helpful data. Underwater data are even more difficult to collect today, although just as important, considering that the warm, moist air on the ocean surface provides fuel for hurricanes.
Mohseni’s vehicles, even launched hundreds at a time, also reduce the cost of hurricane reconnaissance.
“If you want to blast through a hurricane, you have to build a bigger airplane,” Mohseni said. “[The military] asks for a Batman airplane, a super-duper aircraft that could do everything. But what if you lose one of these super-duper airplanes?
“We are going the opposite direction. We don’t have anything that is super duper. We have cheap sensors, but with a lot of them you can significantly increase the accuracy of your measurements,” said Mohseni, director of UF’s new Institute for Networked Autonomous Systems. “You get super duper on an aggregate level.”
The prototypes produced at the institute are about $250 apiece and are too small and lightweight to cause damage when they hit something, a big consideration in hurricane-force winds and waves. Mohseni does not use a landing strip to test the aerial vehicles; he just tells them to crash, picks them up and flies them again. The carbon fiber shell of the aerial vehicles is wafer-thin but resilient. With proper funding, Mohseni said, the vehicles could be tested in a real-world hurricane in two or three years.
In instances where many are lost — as in a hurricane — the data gained outweighs the cost of the lost vehicles, Mohseni said. Production costs would drop if the vehicles were mass-produced.
The vehicles also are smart. Mohseni developed a cooperative control algorithm that allows them to form a network and learn from the data they take in, for example, by adjusting their course when needed. This feature makes them useful for applications beyond hurricanes.
Extreme environments, such as the polar ice caps, are difficult and hazardous to measure with standard technology. Mohseni said heat transfer through polar ice between the ocean and the air goes almost completely unmeasured today but could be safely measured with the aerial vehicles, which can be launched from a laptop aboard a ship and send back climate data in real time.
Vehicles so tiny, powerful and smart would have been far-fetched even 10 years ago, Mohseni said, but advances in microfabrication, communications, computer processing and computation have led to sophisticated technology in small packages. Nevertheless, Mohseni also has drawn inspiration from seemingly less-sophisticated sources, such as jellyfish.
Mohseni had been studying fluid dynamics, working on propulsion, when a biologist mentioned that jellyfish navigate in much the same way as the mechanical system Mohseni wanted to develop. After studying jellyfish, cuttlefish and squid, Mohseni developed a mathematical model of their thrust and used that model to develop the motors for his underwater sensor vehicles. He now has small submarines capable of autonomous docking using technology mimicking jellyfish and squid, and the sea creatures are common fixtures in his laboratory.
“With biomimicry, learning from what nature does,” Mohseni said, “you just sort of get amazed.”
ASME presents a podcast on the application of small UAVs in the study of severe weather, especially tornadoes.
Here is the link to the ASME drones podcast page.
From the ASME page:
The recent spate of Oklahoma tornadoes has shown that tornado prediction is advancing but the current predictions aren't as precise as meteorologists would like them to be. Professor Jamey Jacob, Ray and Linda Booker Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Oklahoma State University (OSU), and three teams of engineering students are developing storm penetrating air vehicles that would penetrate tornadoes to collect vital meteorological data for better storm forecasting.
For anyone interested in studying sUAS in an academic setting, you might wish to add the OSU program to your list of schools.
Popular Science also ran an article about the OSU program, and you can read about it here.
From the PopSci article:
Engineering students at Oklahoma State University have designed three concept drones that may solve this problem. Three teams of students came up with plans for Storm Penetrating Air Vehicles (SPAVs). The goal is for these remotely piloted machines to ultimately replace storm chasers, who risk life and limb driving after tornadoes to capture data.
My dad likes remote control cars. My brothers like remote control cars. I like them too. As a family, we grew up playing with train sets laid out on the family dinner table. As kids we also used to enjoy playing with a “Thunderloop Thriller AFX Slotcar Set” and making things out of Lego. The things that typical boys enjoyed playing with.
So where do I begin with this flying journey? How about this last Christmas. It was the year of… strangely enough remote control toys – yet again. Some years it’s been remote control 4WDs with over-sized tyres, other times, there have been noise making cars, or ones that only turn when you reverse them. Well, cheap infrared helicopters were in this Christmas. We flew them around, bounced them off walls, hit light fittings and dented couches until the batteries ran out, before we would charge them for 10 minutes, use the small charge stored in the capacitor and do it all again.
A few months ago I came across some quadcopters on the Internet. Mmmm… These looked like fun. I was so impressed that I looked on ebay and searched around and found a DJI Phantom Quadcopter for about $300 – well within budget. I thought, that looks like a good deal (because others of the same thing were over $600). As it turns out I got stitched up on eBay. But, PayPal came through for me in the end. (Thanks guys).
It’s a good thing it happened this way though. It started me on a journey to find out more about what these flying machines were really all about and the vast amount that are truly out there. I got my money back, and felt like I had received a bonus $300. Budget now doubled!
I write this not as someone who is an expert, but as someone who has gone from knowing nothing, to some who has watched videos, read up and who now knows a little more than the majority of my friends. Why is this so? Because none of my friends have a flying machine quite like I do.
It seemed to me there are several different types of flying machines around. To keep it simple, lets just use the word copter, as the generic term. There are several types of these copters around – all with a prefix to tell you how many propellers there are. I’m not going to be talking about planes, helicopters, wheeled devices or tanks as this hasn’t been the focus of my research.
So, the common ones are.
It took me a while to figure out, but the more blades you have – the greater lifting capacity you have – in a basic sense. I like photography and the odd hobby filming, so I thought a hexacopter would be a good start.
As I mentioned, there are many different types, and I’ll try and break it down a little. DIY open source kits which you put together yourself, or; closed source proprietary systems which are generally purchased in a ready to fly kit.
When I say drones/copters I’m not talking about military drones that cost a million dollars to fly, nor am I talking about a Cinestar 8 HL (or an Aus version), or the one used in a recent Top Gear Nile Special. I’m talking about a simple pro-sumer version with a minimum few features – such as GPS and waypoint controls. The ones you can get at a local electronic shop are the toy ones – these are not the ones I’m interested in.
The DJI unit I originally looked at is a proprietary system, though many people have modded them and done add-ons and hacked the frames to accomodate more things, but overall I felt these didn’t have the greater flexibility that their open source brothers have.
The OpenSource model however is a rather different beast. I somehow discovered it and found that there are many people out there all doing really cool things and I wanted to be a part of it. Why? Firstly, the OpenSource model is great because it’s a community collaborative thing, and updates are often regular. Secondly, the amount of people and active members I found at DIYDrones.com was massive. Theres’s a great source of material, and regular content.
There was a problem though. The more I looked at the different options, the more I got confused.
Many years ago, I remember looking at getting a satellite decoder box, because my house had a satellite dish on it. Why wouldn’t you? Free TV channels right? If you start looking up that kind of content of what to buy, how to find the right satellite you discover quickly that it’s a completely different language full of acronyms and words that are only in use in that field. Needless to say, I gave up.
Looking in to the world of these copters has been like that for me. I still don’t have a clue what half of the acronyms are that are dropped, and at the moment – I don’t really care. But, what I have found out, I’ve decided to share so that others won’t be confused like I was.
So, you want a flying copter but don’t know where to start? That was my position and you are not alone.
If you go down the DIY option, this image (source) (and many others like it) is probably one of the most helpful things you can have to understand the basics of what you need to get one working – at least of the electronics.
Basically you need the following: (for a quadcopter)
Once I discovered this image, much of it made sense.
I looked at some of the stuff on HobbyKing (a website with many remote control items) and there were heaps of cheap options. I started looking at the frames. If I was going to have a copter, I wanted it to look good. The next problem was figuring out which models worked with what, how the ratings of motors worked, the size of the blades, the frame, the bla bla bla bla. I nearly gave up – again.
Instead, I started looking at kits that where ready to be built. This was more up my alley. The hard work was done, and I just had to put it together… As Jeremy Clarkson puts it “How hard could it be?” – yeah right…
I chose a Hexacopter from 3DRobotics with the full electronic kit. This saved me having to know what an ESC was, and what kind of rating a motor had. (I still don’t know what the specific motors are that they sent me. I just know they are blue and go really fast.)
The reason I chose to go with the OpenSource system, was community support There was software available, new firmware updates, it looked really good. I’d chosen the ArduPilot box and after searching on the DIYDrones website, I finally found what I was looking for. The final piece in the puzzle was all about batteries.
Do you remember when Linux first came out? I remember compiling kernels many years ago, and people saying, “Yeah, this is the future”. The future? Yeah…Whatever. Make it friendly and don’t make it crash on me. These days, it is much more stable and there are more than a few consumers using it.
This was where I found myself in the copter world; scratching my head and trying to figure out a bunch of information that everyone knew, or just assumed that was already known. This was probably one of the hardest things to understand. That and trolling through the massive amounts of forums posts. There was plenty of good help available however. My questions: Post 1. Post 2. Post 3
Now back to the batteries… If you are looking at buying a DIY drone, there are 2 things you aren’t told. Firstly, about a transmitter/receiver (and a charger) and secondly, what type of battery you will need.
The 3DR Hexacopter will easily handle/need a 3C 2200mAh 11.1V. What is all this? 3C means it has 3 cells. 3 parts of a battery that make up the 11.1 volts required. The 2200mAh value is how much power is in the battery for how long it will run. There is another value and that is how much punch it has, but a value of 30 will work fine. All up, a battery like this, you will get 7-8 minutes from it. (Yep, that’s all unfortunately). This is what they look like and the approximate price.
I’d like to say 2 things about when ordering parts from the Internet. My intention was to have a flying copter and be able to be proficient at flying so I can take aerial video. I made sure I ordered months in advance. The guys at 3DRobitics in the USA, I can not fault. I ordered on a Thursday/Friday night Australian time, and it arrived on the Tuesday. I also made an order from HobbyKing at the same time. I ordered batteries and a radio remote controller and receiver from them. I still haven’t received the package and it’s still sitting in Hong Kong (apparently) – and this was back in mid May, 2013. Now to be fair to them, it could be the mail service they use – SpeedPost.sg. Correct me if I’m wrong, and maybe my expectations are too high, but I would expect that when they say a package will be delivered within 3-6 days, that it will be.
You get what you pay for. If you want items, get them local or from trusted suppliers.
Needless to say, I discovered a nice little RC hobby shop up the road from me. They don’t specifically have much tri/quad/hex copter gear, however there is plenty of other equipment. They have batteries, chargers, transmitters and basically what I needed. I should have gone there in the first place. I’m a fan of supporting small businesses, especially specialty shops like this. Needless to say, the friendly staff are very helpful.
http://www.mildtowildrc.com.au/
On another note, I have found the story on 3DRobotics very interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1E_CPxR3LA (watch the whole 5 videos)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwH7w1vOlIs (another one)
Part 2 of the building phase will come next.
Thanks! Let me know if this article has helped you in anyway.
