See what happens if two APM powered quads get too close to each other.
The innocent ArcticCoper was in loiter, the TBS Discovery was in stabilized trying to get close up. Slow motion footage shows how one motor of the AcrticCopter completely stops after hitting the TBS Discovery quad. The damaged propeller then drags one arm down of the TBS Discovery, you can even see the propeller bend.
Both quads survived, only damage was a clipped prop on the ArctiCopter.
New group just started. Looking for new members in the Twin City area.
Website: RCadvanced.com
Next meeting/fly day is on May 4th. See event calendar on RCadvanced.com for info.
Rick
In the middle of a national debate on the value of commercial UAS usage I found it refreshing to see a positive spin from a major news outlet. The video leads in with a snippet about event security and then moves to show off some neat applications that many of us have seen in the past. All in all a positive showing on CNN. We need more of these!
All the best,
Chris
Airspeed control is critical when flying sailplanes. You want to fly close to stall but never beyond it, since that will normally cause a tip stall and great loss of energy. How do you teach an autopilot to fly on the edge of stall?
One solution is to teach the autopilot about the aircraft geometry and aerodynamics. First you start with the wing section. From the wing section you can use a simulation tool to generate aerofoil polars (picture above from XFLR5). These polars describe the lift, drag and moment coefficients generated at different airspeeds and flap settings.
From the aircraft position and the amount of corrective pitch movement you need, you can calculate the acceleration you require from the wing. This is known as load. From load, geometry and aircraft mass, the lift coefficient can be calculated.
From lift coefficient and the wing polar you can calculate the required angle of attack for the wing. From the required angle of attack, you can calculate required elevator pitch.
From the wing polars, you know the maximum possible lift coefficient. Now you can avoid increasing angle of attack beyond Cl(max) and avoid stalling. This is only half of stall prevention. The other half is in energy management.
Both when gliding and under power, the aircraft loses energy due to drag. For a glider this determines the descent angle. For a powered aircraft it determines the engine power. By using the estimate of drag coefficient from the wing section polar, the autopilot can set the target climb/descent rate and pitch angle. When power is applied, it adds energy to the system so the estimated climb rate and target pitch increases.
Working in combination with basic estimated climb rate is airspeed error feedback. Airspeed error is converted into meters of potential energy error and added to the target pitch. The combination of target estimate and energy feedback are great for stall prevention.
Document describing airspeed by energy management
If you change flap settings then the wing polar changes. As the flaps are changed, the autopilot has to interpolate between the different wing flap polars. The result is a smooth transition between airspeeds.
This method also automatically re-trims the elevator for different airspeeds. It also automatically does airspeed control fadeout. It also reduces dependency on PID gains. Some optional gains are still required for different flying styles.
One problem with this method is that it relies on knowing the initial wing-elevator incidence. At high airspeeds the aoa is small and sensitivity to change is high. The solution is to have a feedback from the accelerometers comparing to calculated load. This error feeds an integrator which retrims the elevator. The result is an even better trim for low speed flight.
Despite all the stall prevention, my first test flight resulted in terrible tip stall when turning downwind. Adding a little bit of extra airspeed command resulted in lovely smooth turns. When I went back to the estimated airspeed calculation, I had set airspeed setpoint 2m/s too slow.
If this all sounds new, it isn’t. It is simply re-applying the basics that we know about aerodynamics. If you are interested in aerodynamics basics you might start here
The project is based on a branch of MatrixPilot based here:
https://github.com/crashmatt/MP_Aerodyn
The original Matrixpilot project wiki is here:
https://code.google.com/p/gentlenav/
Aerodyn uses the MatrixPIlot code base for hardware drivers and IMU. My thanks go to the MatrixPilot team for their support and innovation.
The Aerodyn project also uses a flexible field programmable mixer which is used to move the flight surfaces with accuracy. This is used to fly this 5m, 10 channel aircraft. More about that later.
I have been working on this model for almost two months. The idea was to create a mid/heavy-lift 3D printed folding/detachable quadcopter. this is the first prototype that I have printed out.
Hope you guys helps me to improve the design. There is a lot of things to do before it's done. For example battery holder, in different alternative positions, under, top, sides, it depends on what kind of load do you have: fixed camera, sensors, stab gimbal etc.
In order to provide a good system to wrap load/battery modules I'm testing Rotite joints. I know it's has Intellectual Property restrictions... but is such a nice way to keep thing fixed when you have a 3D printer.http://www.rotite.com/
Even it could be a good system for detachable arms, like this one which is no-plane.
Specs:
- 3536-11 motors from RCTimer: 102gr
- 30A ESCs simonK
- APM2.5
- 3DR radio 433Mhz
- Turnigy 9x Radio
- poor man but very effective FC vibration isolated system
- GPS CRIUS board V2.0 with u-blox CN06
Weights:
- Full quad without battery: 1.3 Kg.
- Weight single arm, with cables but without motor: 95 gr
- Weight single arm, fully assembled: 197 gr.
- Main body box without electronics: 173gr
- Dampening plate: 53gr
Dampening system is quite simple, but I didn't toke pictures, I will upload a Solidworks render soon.
Assembling: I toke the easy way, I use a home made ABS solution in acetone 100% pure. This solution is pretty hard and I got a solid union. 3D Printer use thermal plastic fusion between layers, so this is a chemical union, even harder. I'm still waiting for brass fastener and screw M3 to improve this assembly.
For more info here is the FB page https://www.facebook.com/Argfly
Please I would like to hear critics, helps me a lot.
ESC are in the basement, on top the FC dampening plate suspended with 10 mm padding on the 3-axis by elastic bands.
New ArduCopter, ArduPlane and ArduRover Wikis are Operational (provisionally)
The old existing Wiki(s) are no longer getting updated on a continuous basis so you need to start using the new Wiki(s).
During this transition you will need to use both of them (although for the PX4, the new one is the only way to go.
The picture above is of my new F330 Flamewheel with PX4FMU and PX4IO flight controller.
This is main board normally put on Gimbal frame near the Quad .
This is the two options imu available normally is on camera module:
2 axis with 3 accelerometer and 3 gyroscope 3 magnetometer in one version we use mpu6050 and in other we use mpu 9150 1 chip 9 DOF sensor.
Some friends start to design different kind of gimbal for our new board. The main difference respect of standard gimbal is that the mechanical frame need to be develop for each video sensor that you would like to use for your video. This frame is for Gopro Hero 2-3 in the design is important to move CG of camera for obtain better result during gimbal stabilization :)
This is the caratheristics of our : VR Gimbal :
Micro Controller is STM32F1 at 72 mhz.
3 Axis Brushless Direct Drive gimbal :
For each channel we have 3 high power pwm output .
I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors.
We are developing two option :
1 USB port.
1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol.
1 Power module that support until 3S battery.
4 Radio RC Input for :
4 Analog Input 0-3.3v
1 IR Out , so is pssible to control a remote camera by its ir receiver.
The first batch of production will be available in 3 week it's better to reserve your board because there is a big request of this gimbal.
for more info send a mail to info@virtualrobotix.com
original blog post : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/vr-gimbal-is-coming
Best
Roberto Navoni
I have been looking into my own method of mounting the APM with antivibration in mind.
To this end I wanted to source some freely available components specifically designed to reduce vibration.
I found a couple of such products which I am hoping will be ideal.
These coupled with a custom mounting plate, I am hopeful it will be a good solution.
First the mounting plate which will be cut from 1.5mm carbon fibre.
In each corner of the above plate will be an antivibration softgel bush which allow the plate to "float" on the main construction plate.
The APM case is then fixed to the mounting plate using SoftGel 15mm x 15mm x 5mm cube pads.
I'd be interested in any views people may have.
I have the parts here ready, but thought i would throw my prosal to the masses before the CF plate is cut.
Steve
As is customary and traditional, we celebrate every new 1,000 members here and share the traffic stats. This time it's 38,000!
There were almost 1.9 million page views in the last month! (we get around 65,000 pageviews a day on average). It took us just 22 days to get this latest 1,000 members--we're averaging one new member every 32 minutes.
Thanks as always to all the community members who make this growth possible, and especially the moderators who approve membership applications and blog posts and otherwise answer questions and keep things ticking here.
Best Wishes,
Joshua Johnson - (Assistant Administrator)
***Special Announcement***
April is Safety Month on Diydrones.com to check out how you can help (Click Here!)
I’d like to share my experience with my copter (aka ZuCopter) during my first full test using AUTO mode. My quad is ArduCopter, 3DRobotics Quad-C frame using APM 2.5 Firmware 2.9.1b
The plan was to go around the house, full automated, including takeoff and landing. This was executed quite smoothly at the first run J, Then I said… let’s try that again; I relaunched the same mission without turning the copter off or resetting, and…. something didn’t go so well: the quad decided to go full throttle without following strictly the programmed waypoints. I was good to have RTL mode programmed on my radio, so I was able to recover the flight back to manual mode.
This was the original plan:
The first run was quite well done I would say. Only thing I noticed is that arducopter do not strictly reach the altitude set at the waypoint. When it reaches the waypoint, it doesn’t matter if the altitude is lower, in contibue both increasing altitude and continue to the next waypoint.
From the data extraced from the LOG, you can see the waypoint altitude was reached only after waypoint 6.
Blu data are altitude requested by WayPoint Command, and the green is the barometric measurement.
This is the first run importing the .gpx information from the arducopter datalogger to Google earth.
As for the second run, I executed it using the same mission, without changing the mission nor switching off the quad. From the video you can see the strange behaviour:
Then I prefere to engage RTL to bring the copter back home.
This was the first run from another angle:
And this is the second run where you can see the different copter modes I set. The yellow below was the original AUTO mode, blue STABILIZE, red RTL
As you can see from the datalogger below, most of the yellow line (throttle-out) during the first part of the flight is set flat to 1000. So full motors.
The image below was merged to the mission mode sequence: yellow area is the lower graph is the AUTO MODE (graph below is gathered by importing to excel the logs and trying to align them as much as possibile to verify what happened in what mode; it is not perfect).
The last thing I do not understand, is:
I am attaching my log to this just in case somebody have any idea.
Overall I had quite fan, and was pretty happy I did program the RTL mode easy to be selected from my Radio switch.
--Alberto
Hello everybody,
This is my first, of hopefully a series, DIYDrone blog post.
The Hill Cruiser is the topic of my university thesis, which is to build an autopilot for an RC model plane.
Of course, I was inspired by the ArduPlane and the UAVDevBoard/MatrixPilot. Many thanks to you people for letting me see what I am capable of.
Consequently, I 'd like to start giving back to the site. I 'll start by posting a short presentation of the system I built, that I will be presenting at an EE student conferenece tomorrow. It's not very detailed, it's supposed to last 15 minutes.
I hope that I 'll be able to post the detailed multi-paged thesis document by the end of July.
This is the presentation .pdf:
Hill Cruiser - Conference Presentation
Some things I 'd like to note:
1. I 'm waiting for a PCB from China for the main board. It will house the barometer and the pitot tube sensor and thus these are not implemented yet in the control system.
2. I know that my PID gains are off. I haven't had the time to tune them to perfection but the system operates, albeit the oscillations.
Feel free to post your questions.
Cheers!
At $35 the Raspberry PI is a DIY Droner's dream: a 700Mhz ARM processor with Floating Point Unit, 512M of on board RAM, nearly limitless SD Card solid state disk storage, embedded Linux, small, lightweight, and consuming only around 1W of power.
It clearly is a fantastic computing engine, but actually of little use because the board has practically no user I/O ports.
Enters RIO (for Raspberry IO), a smart IO card that stacks on top of the Raspberry and that opens a world of possibilities, with a special focus on Robotics and Autonomous Navigation.
RIO is a project that was posted on April 25 on kickstarter. You can view the card's full specifications and a demo at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/95547492/smart-io-expansion-card-for-raspberry-pi
A few features will stand out to the DIY enthusiast:
- On-board AHRS, complete with 3 axis magnetometer, gyro, accelerometers and fusion software
- RC inputs to capture and convert signal from RC receiver
- RC servo driving capability. This is actually not shown in the kickstarter page but most of the digital inputs are capable of generating the 1.0-1.5-2.0ms pulse needed by servos
- Serial port and 5V output for connecting to GPS modules
- Direct interface to Ping ultrasound distance sensor
- Onboard 32-bit ARM Cortex MCU, that can be user programmed to handle all critical tasks that require quick real-time response.
RIO needs your support to become real. So please spread the word and make your pledge on kickstarter.
SteadiDrone QU4D - Full flight with different modes and features + DroidPlanner! from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.
Hey again guys, just a quick post here of some recent videos we've posted, firstly let me once again thank all the developers who make this code as good as it is, we've been 'with' ArduCopter on our systems since the start and we're very glad we have stuck with it, thanks again guys!
First clip is a quick flight with our SteadiDrone QU4D we look at different modes, Stabilize, Acro, Loiter, Auto, Guided and also play around a little with the very cool Droid Planner (We have a SteadiDrone version coming soon with some cool additional features)
The next vid is a LOITER one where we just mess around a little in loiter, amazing code!
SteadiDrone Qu4D - Loiter / GPS Hold from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.
Welcome,
UcanDrone, founded on January 2013, is specialized in the area of UAV and remote airmodelling, in the meaning of design, construction and flight of the airplane models. Working as a team for many years with great experience of applied research in the field of geographic information systems, development of forestry maps and aerial photography, motivated us to deal professionally with the field of UAV's and more specific Civil Applications.
Since the very beginning, our research included several tests of automated flight control systems, until the introduction of Ardupilot first generation. It was very clear for us that there was the beginning of a new philosophy in the design of the automated flight control systems. In this context we wish to inform and get closer to the people, scientists or professionals, who are interested in this field, the CIVIL UAV's technology, which will make easier and enrich artistically their science or their profession as well as their hobby.
We hope, that scientists, students, professionals and of course hobbyists will find a great variety of services and products.
Main fields:
We are proud to be part of the evolving DIYDrone’s community and recently 3DR Distributors.
We would like to thank:
-3DRobotics, for their confidence, support and guidance.
-All the users and costumers that supported us to our first steps.
-Dave Buckley, for his beautiful Arduplane/copter illustrations
For info, suggestions and quotes please email us at info@ucandrone.com
With Regards,
for UcanDrone
Dimitrios Stefanakis (James)
Good evening to All.
The fifteen plus years of my involvement with airmodelling, has sometimes brought me in strange paths, mysterious driveways, beautiful agony. The journey to Ithaca continues with great passion for research, construction, testing new technologies. In this journey I meet people who inspire me, support me, eventually becoming ... Friends with a capital F. I think that even if I had a second life, this is how I’d like to live it again…
When Dimitris showed me his work of creating an unmanned aerial platform for Precision Agriculture and related mapping applications, I thought ... Oh man… that guy is ingenious! And I wanted to share that creation with him. The effort was finally started among 4 friends with a 5th already helping us on building the airframe, six months ago, we named our team "UcanDrone" and only God knows where all this will lead us, but... he also knows just how much we love it.
A team member suggested this ship should be called Phoreas, which means “carrier” in English, and so we did. It was originally designed as a low drag motorglider, carrying an FPV camera and another one for GIS or other specialized applications, as well as an autopilot. We necessarily had to involve with mold making for the fuselage, motor mount and boom. Everything is handmade, new techniques for me and the team, but we’re steady learning more and more each day. Dimitris’s prototype algorithm shows the health of the Plants by a percentage greater than 95%, directing the owner of the plantation at correct decisions. APM autopilot, developed by an open group of genius people who love what they do, transforms that plane on a fully autonomous and Safe aerial platform, since it not only controls the airspace on which it will be flown, but also corrects the flight behaviour from stalls etc… Nice stuff.
Phoreas as a model plane and Dimitris’s work on Argiculture, was originally presented this year at the annual conference of ASPRS (American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) in Baltimore U.S.A. on March 27th. The road is difficult ahead of us, but our passion will eventually overcome any obstacle.
Specifications:
* Wing Span: 2.400m
* Wing Area: 53.4dm2
* Flying weight: 2700gr (with Autopilot and FPV gear)
* Wing Loading: 50.5gr/dm2
* Flight Time: >1 hour with the Recommended Power Setup (2 x Lithium-Polymer 4s 5000mah Batteries)
For the whole 2013 year, we will keep Phoreas on a Beta form, until everything is ready for the production of the most delicate plane on which we All were involved so far... For more information, please visit this link...
Many Thanks Everyone,
Gadetsakis Apostolos (aka DeltaMan)
UcanDrone – Airframe Department
Here is an interesting quad frame that Hobbyking is selling. I can see this really working.
Nice enclosures for the motors
A lot of space inside to mount a controller and PDB
and what is awesome is the camera mounting area.
The only problem I see with this is, that it is fiberglass and that when you crash (and you will) there is no replacement parts, so this is for a intermediate flyer.
Hello everybody!
Like a lot of people here i am building my first quad. To be straight forward it is of the Rctimer Shop.
Learning a lot from all of you guys it is now time for me to give something back, although my Copter isn't flying yet :D
I designed a mount for the Neo 6 Gps Receiver or better say the Crius PCB.
Nothing special, nothing fancy! 2x small Screws and Done.
Preview and Download the .stl File HERE
Make sure you download the FIXED ! Version not the Original!
Any Comments are welcome!
From an Indiana TV station. There is some really bad stuff here, including this: "When he did not know he was speaking to a reporter, Spencer said he could fly at any altitude that a customer would want. He said he "wasn't supposed to" fly above 400 feet, but he sometimes flew above 1,000 feet or higher, depending on the job."
Needless to say, that's reckless and irresponsible. Read the whole piece:
INDIANAPOLIS - A hidden camera investigation from the Call 6 Investigators found a growing threat from illegal business flights of drones nationwide, prompting concerns from Indianapolis pilots and calls for action in Congress.
While the Federal Aviation Administration has not approved a single drone flight for business purposes anywhere in the country, the Call 6 Investigators found many businesses and entrepreneurs flying drones for aerial photography, including several that advertise drone flights in Indiana.
The Call 6 Investigators also pushed for the release of new documents from the FAA that show a rising number of safety complaints from pilots, as well as several drone companies that continue to fly after being warned by the FAA that their flights are illegal.
"I hope that the FAA gets involved in this and we get this stopped. This is a dangerous situation," Indianapolis pilot Roger Tomey said in response to the Call 6 Investigators' report.
Drones, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), are only legal for hobbyists to fly under 400 feet of altitude and away from airports and populated areas, according to standing FAA rule s. The agency has ruled that any time money changes hands or profits are generated from flying a drone, those hobbyist rules no longer allow such flights.
The Call 6 Investigators requested enforcement documents, never before released by FAA, showing a rising number of complaints about drones surprising manned aircraft pilots in the air. The documents also show the FAA frequently issuing cease and desist letters or other warnings to drone services found to be advertising flights for hire, usually to produce aerial photography.
Among the highlights of those enforcement documents reviewed by Call 6 Investigators:
- 23 investigations were launched by FAA over the past two- years in response to complaints or inspectors finding drone flights depicted online
- 10 drone operators received warning letters or advisories that their flights were illegal
- 5 unauthorized drones were spotted by pilots and reported to FAA
- Several drone operators garnered new complaints after having been previously warned by the FAA that their flights were illegal
In some cases, the FAA closed its investigations into illegal drone flights when the suspected drone operators would simply claim that photos posted online were actually taken from licensed and manned planes or helicopters.
"It concerns me greatly. This is an accident waiting to happen," said Tomey. "You’'re going to end up causing a very serious situation that could cost somebody their life," he said, calling the Call 6 Investigators reporting "highly upsetting."
FAA enforcement records provided to the Call 6 Investigators also included:
- March 2011 -- The only fine ever issued: A proposed $10,000 fine against a drone operator for an aerial picture-taking flight at University of Virginia (Charlottesville), where FAA inspectors wrote that dangerous maneuvers were performed near bystanders.
- March 2012 -- FAA inspectors wrote that drones were used in filming of "On Dangerous Ground" in Alaska. Case closed when drone operator couldn't be established.
- October 2012 -- FAA asked for Orlando police assistance in locating a drone near an airport. Pictures were posted online, but case was closed when operator couldn't be established.
- Several investigations launched in New York City after photos were posted online or drones were reported by bystanders.
- August 2012 -- Contractor hired to map out evacuation routes for FEMA admitted to flying up to 10,000 feet without any approval by FAA
- November 2012 -- Operator of drone warned to stop after online video showed flight near Winthrop, Mass.
- September 2012 -- Air traffic controller in Warwick, R.I. complains of drone flying in his airspace
- September 2011 -- Pilot in Houston reported spotting drone flying near him along Interstate 10 near downtown
- May 2012 -- Pilot in Fredericksburg, Va. reported seeing drone pass within 100 feet of his wing
In March of this year, an Alitalia airliner made national news headlines when the pilot reported spotting a drone as he was trying to land at New York's JFK Airport.
An Indianapolis pilot of a small plane reported spotting a drone to airport managers in Greenwood. Those managers told Call 6 Investigators that the pilot spotted the drone a few hundred feet below him and flying in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed.
Another Indianapolis pilot, Tom Jeffries, who runs a flight school at the same Greenwood airport, said, "It just puts a whole new dimension on the idea of safety, because we're concerned about birds, we're concerned about other airplanes, and now we're throwing in something that is totally uncontrolled.
"They're not going to appear on radar, you're never going to see them until they hit something," Jeffries said.
"When they suck one of those drones into the engine of an airplane, then it'll get everybody's attention. And they'll have
to do something at that point," he said.
Hidden cameras aimed at Indianapolis drone flight
The Call 6 Investigators found several companies advertising drone flights anywhere in Indiana. One company quoted the price of $500 per hour or $2,000 per day for snapping photos or shooting video from a drone.
That company representative said he had flown hundreds of flights for TV commercials and real estate ventures, including a TV commercial last month for a Houston car dealership.
The Call 6 Investigators went undercover to hire another drone company for a flight above a neighborhood on the eastern edge of Indianapolis.
Brandon Spencer, owner of Drone Photo Services of Louisville, offered to snap photos of several parcels of real estate along Post Road and East 56th Street for $300, claiming he'd flown hundreds of other flights.
When he did not know he was speaking to a reporter, Spencer said he could fly at any altitude that a customer would want. He said he "wasn't supposed to" fly above 400 feet, but he sometimes flew above 1,000 feet or higher, depending on the job.
Local pilots pointed out that they often fly at that same altitude in small planes and helicopters. Some pilots expressed concerns about mid-air collisions or "drones for hire" crashing into homes, cars, or people on the ground.
Spencer arrived for the arranged meeting and cameras were rolling as he scouted out a small lot from which to launch his drone. He removed the aircraft from the passenger seat of his pickup truck, strapped on a remote control device on a vest, attached a battery and then took to the air.
Passing motorists barely noticed as the drone rose into the air, clearing the tree line and then hovering more than 300 feet in the air.
After he was paid $300 for the aerial photos, the Call 6 Investigators team emerged to question him on camera.
When asked if he researched the laws on flying drones for profit, Spencer answered, "No … I just got into it thinking I could make a little money."
When asked if he was putting people in danger with flights that were not approved by the FAA, he answered, "Not that I know of."
While his company's website displayed pictures of a water treatment plant, construction sites and a pedestrian bridge in Louisville, he claimed no money changed hands for those flights.
"You're actually my first paying customer," he told the Call 6 Investigators.
"I just figured, you know, they're selling it out there, I can buy it, I can get it and, it's a helicopter. People fly helicopters and planes all the time, put a camera on it and try to make a little bit of money. That's what I thought," he said.
"If I'm going to get in any trouble over it, it's not worth it," said Spencer.
He said he had paid $10,000 for his helicopter-like drone, known as an F800 Hexacopter that was made in China.
Several pilots and other drone operators also mentioned another leading competitor for paid drone flights known as Copter Kids LLC of Reno, Nev. Company representatives did not respond to emails requesting comment.
A spokesman with the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems section, Les Door, said that no commercial flights have ever been permitted anywhere in the country, including those involving real estate agents or news organizations.
Several types of drones were on display for sale earlier this month at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. Television and news executives saw a number of aircraft that could be used for aerial photography once the FAA establishes guidelines.
Congress has mandated that the FAA come up with regulations for allowing commercial flights of drones in late 2014, but it remains unclear whether training will be required for all drone operators or whether air traffic controllers will be alerted to all flights.
With so many flights taking to the air in advance of those regulations, the Call 6 Investigators asked FAA headquarters whether enough was being done to protect people from unauthorized drone flights.
The agency responded with a written statement (in its entirety):
"The FAA thoroughly investigates possible violations of the agency's regulations by unmanned aircraft operators. In cases where we have verifiable proof of a violation, we do not hesitate to pursue enforcement action. Lacking such proof, we still make sure the operator understands FAA regulations and policy on unmanned aircraft systems. We expect to publish a proposed rule on small unmanned aircraft later this year that will offer regulations for a wide variety of users in the small UAS community, including commercial operators."
U.S. Representative Andre Carson , D-Indianapolis, member of the House aviation subcommittee, said the Call 6 Investigators' reporting has him pushing for action at the FAA and among members of his committee.
He wrote in a statement (in its entirety):
"As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation and as a former law enforcement officer, I am
very concerned about the instances where the FAA issued cease and desist orders against commercial operations of drones and they were ignored. Commercial drones, including drones for rent, are not authorized under current law and pose a threat to public safety.
“Even before the new regulations go into effect in 2015, we must ensure the FAA is enforcing current law as vigorously as possible and adequately protecting the safety of air traffic and those of us on the ground. I will be raising these concerns with the committee, as well as the FAA.
“I also encourage all drone operators to do the right thing and stop all flights. Unauthorized drone flights put lives at risk and should not be continued, even when FAA fails to enforce the law.”
A trade group that represents industries using robotics or unmanned aircraft, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International in Arlington, Va., has released a code of conduct for its members who may be testing or designing drones for future use.
"AUVSI condemns the misuse of UAS, and believes that anyone who abuses UAS technology should be held accountable," said the group's Melanie Hinton in an email to the Call 6 Investigators.
She said her group is working with the FAA and others to carve out rules for the safe operation of unmanned aircraft.
"AUVSI expects all users of UAS to abide by FAA guidelines, including receiving an FAA Certificate of Authorization before using the technology," she wrote.
Indiana State University in Terre Haute has actually started its own drone program to train students how to fly unmanned aircraft. The program's leader and another instructor did not respond to requests for comment.
Even local police agencies are not yet approved to fly drones for routine public safety missions. In January 2010, the nation's first-ever test flight of a police drone made headlines worldwide, but the FAA still hasn't drawn up plans for how police drones can be safely integrated into the nation's airspace.
Unlike commercial drones, police agencies can apply for a Certificate of Authorization (COA) from the FAA for specific flights, but very few flights have actually been requested or approved, according to the FAA.
While police use of drones have spurred debate over civil liberties or spying on people without a warrant, the FAA's review of how to regulate police flights has focused solely on airspace safety.
The FAA is poised to announce six drone test sites around the country, including one in Indiana, where police or private commercial ventures will be able to test their aircraft prior to a full battery of regulations being issued for all drone flights.
For Jeffries, the Indianapolis flight instructor, it's a scary notion.
"Everybody could have their own drone. They could do all kind of things from taking pictures, who knows, seeding their yard, anything! I mean, it's just organized confusion," he said. "It has some broad-reaching implications if we don't get some kind of control of what's going on."
I like devices that have multiple purposes. My theory is that if I am going to load up my UAS with electronics that it may as well be electronics capable of performing multiple tasks.
For those that have seen my posts on Telemetry over 3G, you would know I am a fan of the Fatbox 3G router for Telemetry over cellular networks.
Its a small, compact device with two Ethernet ports which means I can easily add in Video over 3G later for a super long range UAS. For the same weight or less than a custom hack, I get a device capable of delivering two completely different tasks. Best of all, it works out of the box with no tinkering or software development required.
In the same regard, the problem of how to locate a lost model has been something I have long looked for a 'multi-tool' solution for. Especially if I'm looking at a really long range platform.
After looking at the options, I determined that a smartphone with a prepaid SIM actually makes a great 'lost model' location device. Simply activate the "Find my iPhone" mode and you can find it in no time.
As a byproduct, you are putting a fairly capable device in the air, so I set about looking at what else could be done with an iPhone on a UAS. Aside from the obvious task of taking video, it turns out that the iPhone geotags any photos it takes. You can then use the geotags to create 3D models.
They aren't the greatest quality or accuracy compared to doing it properly with expensive gear, but its a fun / cheap way of dipping your toes into 3D models without breaking the bank.
You will need to mount your iPhone on your aerial platform on a slight angle for the best results, then download one of the many cheap or free apps that allow you to take a snapshot every X seconds.
I used the free Hyper3d service to process my images, but there are quite a few options on that front now.
Obviously, an iPhone is an expensive bit of gear to have hurling around in a UAS and you wouldn't want it to get broken in a big crash. This is why I bought a 'pre-broken' iPhone off Ebay for $20.
The reality is that you are not going to be using this thing to make calls or surf the web, so the condition of the screen is almost irrelevant. iPhones work perfectly fine with a smashed screen and if you do have a big crash then there is nothing more to break on it. All you need to be able to do is turn it on and make it start taking photos.
In terms of the quality, with a bit of practice you can get fairly good results.
Certainly good enough to make your Grandmother go... Thats pretty cool.
Now, if I could only figure out how to use the iPhone to deliver 3G telemetry, then I could get rid of another device.
