Blogs

Hey guys here is a short video of some of our last flights with the G-Frame and built in Gimbal. We also wanted to thank everyone who has PRE-ORDERED the G-Frame and these will start to ship This Friday. Our first batch is setting in USA Customs in Los Angeles, waiting for clearance and then on to us so we should have this batch any day now. Hope everyone has a great week and wishing good weather for all.

FPVQUADS

In Robots Podcast #126, interviewer Per talks with Gurvinder Virk about his involvement in the creation of new international standards for robotics. Virk is a Professor of Robotics and the Built Environment, at University of Gävle, Sweden as well as Professor of Robotics and autonomous systems at KTH, Sweden. Professor Virk is a leading actor in international robot standardisation and the Convener of two robot safety work groups, ISO TC184/SC2/WG7 Personal care robot safety, and IEC TC62/SC62A & ISO TC184/SC2 JWG9 Medical electrical equipment and systems using robotic technology.

 We have been conducting habitat mapping, and wildlife monitoring, as well as test flights. as part of our desire, we also conduct presentations so as to educate and inform the community and interested groups in UAS / UAV abilities and to confront misinformation and what people "think" about UAS / UAV systems.

As of late we have been hammered, and my in-box overflowing, with complaints and issues in reference to Quadcopters (multirotors) and helicopters. This seems to really brought to the forefront after the Kennedy Airport incident made it to the national news.

We follow a strict "go-no go" launch protocol, and as most of the people I deal with, I notice that they all abide by FAA AC 91-57, and either follow, or have incorporated, the AMA "Model Aircraft Safety Code" (as well as recognize AMA Doc. #550).

What has really grabbed my attention is the use of the word "drone" by both quadcopter (multirotors) and helicopter operators, and complainants. The interesting thing is that, so far, all the "drone" operators to whom I have spoken with, are flying camera platforms by control (hence not autonomous- a "drone").

People are seeing multirotor / helicopter systems flying over their houses and property (and then being approached by people to buy the aerial photo of their place, real estate agents are using, or hiring out to get multirotor / helicopter photos of property, and neighbors believe they are being spied on.

I was even sent an email forward of someone being "buzzed" at a ski event at Big Mountain resort during a ski event (I did find out that there was a quadcopter flying over people taking video / photos of a night ski event but unable to confirm the "buzz").

I guess the most striking contact that I have had so far, is a photo that was sent to me where a Columbia Falls company posted a photo of one of their quad systems flying over Bowman Lake, inside Glacier National Park (one system took the picture of the second - two quadcopers flying inside the National Park)

Now, I plead with you not to take this as a bitch, or a complaint, for all the multirotor / helicopter operators that I know, and deal directly with (and all those on DIY) are driven by a higher curiosity in development, and not by the "Ahhh" factor gained by buzzing someone on a bicycle.

But, if other areas are seeing (or hearing about) some of the same things we are hearing (and seeing in Montana....and the Internet - a squadron of quadcopters over London) this could come back and bite those of us who are really working on UAS / UAV systems, in the rear. All it is going to take, is one of these things to crash (into property or people) and the word / term "drone" be used and we are going to be regulated to flying in our garages.

I thank those of you who have taken the time to read this. I would really love any and all comments (and if you disagree, please keep it clean) on this issue. Again, if you operate a quadcopter (multirotor) or helicopter this is not an attack on you, only to bring to light what actions of a very small (I hope) group of people may mean to us all (here on DIY) and in your area.

Cheers to you all

Byron

As my first blog post in diydrones I'd like to show, specially to other noobies what is the so much talked PID so much used in our Arducopters and Arduplanes.

This video has substitles also in english and russian but you have to select it to activate them.

It shows in a very dummy but effective way what PID is, and hope it makes things more clear for those who need it, so when you re-read again those tutorials, things can make more sense.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will work together to evaluate whether small unmanned aircraft operated by the USGS can save state wildlife managers time, money and offer a safer and enhanced alternative to gather greater sage-grouse data.

On Wednesday, April 3 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the CSU Cooperative Extension Hall in Kremmling, interested members of the public can see the aircraft and learn more about its benefits for science and wildlife management as well as its cost saving potential. Representatives from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the USGS and the Bureau of Land Management will on hand to answer questions.

“The aircraft proved successful in other recent wildlife inventory projects conducted by USGS,” said Lyle Sidener, area wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in Hot Sulphur Springs. “We are interested to see if greater sage-grouse will tolerate the craft flying near their leks at the lower altitudes necessary to provide useful data.”

A “lek” is the traditional breeding ground where males perform a distinctive, dramatic and complex dance to attract mates in a ritual believed to be thousands of years old.

The evaluation will occur on both public and private land. Local landowners where flights are planned have been consulted and have agreed to allow the craft to fly near leks on their property.

Currently, to gather the critical data necessary for effective management, Colorado’s wildlife managers spend enormous amounts of time in the air every year; however, data from low-flying helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft is often difficult to obtain and can be unsafe for employees. In addition, wildlife managers estimate that the cost saving potential is substantial, with the expense of unmanned aircraft being a fraction of the costs of manned flights.

Because the small unmanned aircraft is smaller, less noisy and can fly safely as low as 150 feet off the ground, it may provide wildlife managers with views of known, historic, or undiscovered leks currently inaccessible due to snow, mud and difficult terrain.

“It could prove to be an invaluable tool,” said Brad Petch, senior terrestrial biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “Manned flights will always be necessary, but if a smaller, less expensive remote controlled aircraft can give us safer access and views we have not had in the past, wildlife will certainly benefit, and so will the citizens of Colorado.”

Greater sage-grouse are an important and iconic species found in Colorado and several other western states. In recent years, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, local governments, stakeholder groups, landowners and land management agencies have been collaborating on strategies to preserve and increase the species’ numbers across the northwest part of the state.

The aircraft, or sUAS, weighs 4.2 pounds, measures 36 inches in length and has a 54-inch wingspan. It carries two types of cameras, is remote controlled and flies from 100 to 400 feet above ground. Its flight duration is 60 minutes can be flown within line of sight up to one mile from the pilots location.

The title says it all.

Instead of being reactive and trying to go along with the "drones are scary" fad, Oklahoma is being proactive about the issue. They want to be a leader in the UAS industry, and are making steps with their education systems, businesses, and state government.

Only test site in the US that you don't need a COA to fly?....

This is pretty interesting, and just goes to show what can happen when the government, citizens, businesses, and students are proactive about new tech.

Full Fast Co article is here:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3007504/tech-forecast/inside-oklahomas-quest-dominate-american-drone-industry

From the shameless plug department..

Join sUAS News podcast host Gene Robinson, technology permitting, live from a Texas controlled burn. Find out what his part in the trials has been. The show starts at 0800 Pacific on Wednesday the 27th of March. As always the shows will be available to listen again afterwards. A list of recent shows can be found on the Podcast Page . Gene will be flying the MLB Super Bat.

We are quite proud of the podcast even though sometimes it can be a little dry and technology often fails us! This will be show number 44 for Patrick and Gene. Running for 10 months now there have been more than 200,000 downloads to date.

From Hackaday:

Hackaday alum [Adam Munich] shot a tutorial video on using a rate gyroscope.

Here he’s showing off the really fancy piece of ancient (technologically speaking) hardware. It would have set you back about fifteen grand in the 1960′s (inflation adjusted) but can be had these days for around $30. What a deal! These are not small, or power efficient when compared to the components that go into smart phones or gaming controllers, but they’re a heck of a lot more accurate than the ubiquitous modern parts. That’s because a rate gyroscope — which is the gold cylinder on the left — actually incorporates a spinning motor and a way to monitor how it is affected by changes in gravity. The driver/interface circuitry for this gets hairy relatively fast, but [Adam] does a solid job of breaking down the concept into smaller parts that are easy to manage.

Wondering what is different about this compared to a MEMS accelerometer? We know they’re really not the same thing at all, but wanted a chance to mention [The Engineer Guy's]video on how those parts are made.

On this video I demonstrate how to connect your APM to the mission planner so you can test the onboard sensor's functionality.

So far I've gotten positive feedback on these Beginner to Expert videos, so I'll keep churnin' em out in hopes that future DIYD'ers can be helped by them. Check out the dedicated page on MyGeekShow: http://www.mygeekshow.com/beginnertoexpert/topics/AutoPilot.html if you'd like to see them all together nice and organized.

-Trent

In last two months we are working to new special console for control our drone , gimbal , rc models ... we develop a special application on android and some hardware interface for interconnect different kind of tx radio module. Our idea is to virtualize the hardware interface and have a flexible enviroment for control different kind of application.

This is only a preview of our work in the picture above is possible to see the direct interface with Jeti radio tx module.

In this kind of configuration the VR Droid PAD connect directly by a custom hardware the Jeti Tx module.

So is possible to use same reciver on your drone without change it. 

Description

News on revision 1.4 27/03/2013

1) New name , we change the name to application the old was VR DROID RC Trasmitter , we change it in VR Radio RC , more simple , we change also the link in google play:) 

2) We deactivate the limit inside the application and add some special function for customize the widget available on main screen , we prefer mantain priority on control of drone . So on the scrreen you choose to have only virtual stick.

3) Add the configuration of radius of virtual stick it's customizable directly inside the option pannel.

4) Improve Option pannel its more simple and better organized.

5) Add the Expo control for the stick.

5) Add feeback on 3 channel : gas ( on 1 speaker channel) and pitch  (on vibro) is fixed and you can add 1 other feedback and decide if is on yaw or roll on vibro . 

This is the link at : Vr Radio RC rev 1.4 in  google play :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.laser.VrRadioRC&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5sYXNlci5WclJhZGlvUkMiXQ..

Try it and send us some suggestions for improve the application and the interface.

Best

Roberto Navoni

As the weather here in Northern Ireland has been so bad I've been working on a ground control station, taking tips and hints from this and other FPV forums, I've produced this. At the moment I'm only using stock antennas so the range will be limited when I eventually get to try it out. The digital display is the voltage of the Video Rx and the LCD Screen, the DVR uses its own internal battery.

For anyone interested in the equipment specs - Maplin Case, Motion J3500 Tablet, Freeworld 7" LCD Screen, Lawmate WCH-300X DVR, 1.2Ghz Lawmate Video Receiver.

One of the faster UAV helicopter platform in the world

Gross Weight1480 lbs.Empty Weight920 lbs.Fuel 50 gal.310 lbs.Useful Load250 lbs.EngineA 250 C20B 420 shpTop Speed318 mphCruise280 mphRate of Climb at SL5200 fpmAt 10,000 ft.3850 fpmEndurance2.4 hrsRange670 milesPower/Mass.283 hp/lbs. At max gross wt.Hovering Ceiling OGE19,500 ft.Auto PilotMP2128heli

Show New model speed will 318 mph
http://www.challis-heliplane.com/v3/uav.php

Love the conclusion: "No other system offers this much control for so little cost"!

You can read the whole thing here, but suffice to say it's a great intro to APM 2.5 capability and setup. 

I'm a subscriber to Servo Magazine and this is a good example why: authoritative, clear and interesting guides to DIY robotics technology. Subscribe here. 

Remember the video "A nice place to fly - Hexacopter in Cameroon / Africa" ? Two years later, it is now available as a director's cut with more than twice the length of the original movie, showing some additional scenes and longer sequences:

Available in HD on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/62600789

If you don't know the movie, I recommend to first have a look at the original version here: https://vimeo.com/18873955

An exciting, action-packed compilation of the best flights from the last few months of my FPV Deep Reaper's life, featuring lots of fun proximity flying at various locations around Colorado's Front Range. At the end is the video of my plane's unfortunate demise when I accidentally flew through the signal beam of a TV tower on Mt. Morrison, causing my elevon gyros to lock up, sending the plane into a death spiral straight into the top of an outlying rock formation at Red Rocks Park (it was in a closed area, so no one was around). Skip to 4:34 for the crash.

I recovered the plane the next day and while the airframe was a total loss, I was able to salvage all the electronics except the batteries and GoPro, which was so destroyed it had even lost its memory card (the only piece I never found). Thanks to my SquareTrade accidental damage warranty, the camera will be replaced with a Contour Roam2 which I think has better colors and contrast than the GoPro 3 White Edition I had before and has a better form factor for my next plane. I am currently building a Ritewing Zephyr II to replace my Deep Reaper.

The DC Area Drone User Group’s is putting together an exhibit sharing artwork created with the assistance of our flying robot friends, and we need your help! We want to show art lovers, politicians, and the general public in our nation’s capital the creative potential of this technology through beautiful images captured by drones. We are planning to focus on aerial photography with a modest amount of aerial videography.  However, we are open to all sorts of submissions, so if you think you have a particularly amazing photograph of a drone, or you think your artfully designed drone (please no taxidermied cats) qualifies, bring it on.

Step One: We need a 'critical mass' of work worth showing.  Please get in touch with DC DUG’s Director of Flying Robot Arts Kevin Good at kgood@dcdrone.org and share what you're working on.  Once enough submissions come in we'll head to...

Step Two: The curating/selections.  This will not be an open forum to showcase everyone's work.  It will be a curated selection designed to show-off top-notch work.  We’re in the process of recruiting our other curators.  They will be heavy-hitters in photography & cinematography.  Our goal will be to choose the best work, and a variety of creative approaches.  Once that's settled, we'll be on to...

Step Three:  Putting the show itself together.  It would of course be wonderful to have everyone come out and join us for the soiree.  We'll also need some volunteers to help with printing & hanging & prepping the gallery, etc.  So if you're fascinated by the idea of working on some flying robot art and live in the Washington, DC area but you're not quite there yet with your aerial photography skills, come help put the show together.  This leads us to...

Step Four: Revel in the beautiful creations and keep spreading the word.  One of the main goals of DC DUG is to share with the world how awesome/fun/useful/creative/exciting/positive the technology can be. Take some beautiful pictures from the skies and send them our way so that we can make that happen.

Thank you, and we look forward to showcasing some awesome art from members of this community. Please email Kevin Good at kgood@dcdrone.org if you have any questions.

The Super Supercapacitor | Brian Golden Davis from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Ric Kaner set out to find a new way to make graphene, the thinnest and strongest material on earth. What he found was a new way to power the world.

Source: http://io9.com/5987086/meet-the-scientific-accident-that-could-change-the-world

Last year, researchers at UCLA made a rather fantastic, if serendipitous, discovery. A team of scientists led by chemist Richard Kaner had just finished devising an efficient method for producing high-quality sheets of the Nobel-prize winning supermaterial known as graphene — with a consumer-grade DVD drive. That was groundbreaking in and of itself, but the real surprise came when Maher El-Kady, a researcher in Kaner's lab, wired a small square of their high quality carbon sheets up to a lightbulb. Then something incredible happened.

As the video above explains, Kaner and El-Kady had stumbled upon an energy storage medium with revolutionary potential. Imagine filling your smart phone with a long-lasting charge in just a couple seconds, or an electric car in a minute. Future applications, first described in a March 2012 issue of Science, looked very promising.

Fast forward one year, and Kaner and El-Kady are even closer to realizing a tomorrow rich with supercapacitor technology. In a paper published in a recent issue of Nature Communications, the researchers report that El-Kady's original fabrication process (highlighted in the video) can be made even more efficient. More efficient production of high quality graphene means it's scalable. And scalability, of course, can lead to manufacturing and wide-scale technological implementation. As the researchers note in the abstract to their paper [emphasis added]:

Here we demonstrate a scalable fabrication of graphene micro-supercapacitors over large areas by direct laser writing on graphite oxide films using a standard LightScribe DVD burner. More than 100 micro-supercapacitors can be produced on a single disc in 30 min or less... These micro-supercapacitors demonstrate a power density of ~200 W cm−3, which is among the highest values achieved for any supercapacitor.

The upshot? The supercapacitors that Kanery and El-Kady are producing with freaking DVD burners could find their way into consumer tech way sooner than many might have originally guessed. (While minute-charge electric cars may still be a ways off, the fact these sheets are as unobtrusive and flexible as they are bodes well for their incorporation into near-future technologies like roll-up displays and e-paper.) According to Kaner, his lab is already courting partners in industry. Color us excited.

This is more big. The flight isn't very stabilize, but it can't crash^_^

I try test a concept of practical flying car.
If you interesting for it, hope we try it together. You can found all source and manual in https://code.google.com/p/single-powerout-aircar/
Probably it became a real flying car  Or still is a strange flying model  However we can try it.

"A simple, single nanowire crystal is capable of super-concentrating the intensity of the sunlight that it is exposed to up to a factor of 15, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have discovered. The surprising discovery means that the assumed limit to solar cell efficiency, the “Shockley-Queisser Limit,” can likely be increased. The discovery should lead to new types of high-efficiency solar cells, but also will have uses in potential quantum computers and other electronics, the researchers say."

Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/03/25/solar-cell-efficiency-theoretical-limit-broken-single-nanowire-super-concentrate-sunlight/#tdfLyPvkUBHHzvJd.99