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I found a low cost, easy way to fabricate an electronics stack cover for your ArduCopter. You will need:

1 Ziploc Brand Container, Medium Square size

4 Rubber Bands, 1"-1.5" diameter

Modify the container by cutting 8 "posts" in the lip for fastening the rubber bands. See my closeup:

Then simply fasten the container over your stack by running the rubber bands from one binding post, under the quad arm, and then up to the binding post on the other side of the arm, like so:

Here is a picture of the completed copter. (The two black dots at the top are my arming and GPS status LEDs).

Hello,

After I Crash my Quadro, its time to build a new Hexacopter, but with much more Payload. ^^

Carbon Frame

290 Watt Motors 840KV

20A ESC Flashed with newst SimonK

12x4 Wood Props

APM 2.0

UBLOX LEA-6

Build some Landinglegs :)

Next Steps:

LED Lighting

Build Camera Gimbal

Hi, All
I want to test the water and learn how much support is out there for a power management and distribution system for the APM 2.x. The APM 2.x is now a well understood and reliable FC. Maybe now it is time to design a stable and reliable power system for it?

There are far too many threads and comments in the forums regarding power issues. In most situations the APM is relying upon ESC bec's that were not designed for a UAV FC and there is much trial and error patching together bits and pieces of varying quality from different sources. None of the open source UAV projects has built an intelligent power management system for our UAVs yet.

I spent the last 2 days thinking about what in my opinion our APM 2.x's need. My idea is explained below. But, I want to hear your idea's and thoughts. That's the aim of this post.

My idea is a pcb that sits underneath APM 2.x. The signal pins A0-A11, signal pins for the PWM outputs and one of the UART ports from the APM are extend down into it and attach it to the APM 2.x. Headers on the PCB to attach devices to A0-A11 and Servo/PWM outputs. The pcb has 3 switching power supplies. One for the APM, one to power the PWM outputs and one to power FPV equipment or accessories. A AT2560MEGA processor to control routing of power, and monitor voltage and current. External pcb's that attach to each battery route power to the main pcb, monitor voltage and current, and can isolate the battery.

APM 2.x Power management and Distribution system (apm pmds) pcb

- ATMEGA2560 processor
- Monitor various voltages and currents
- control routing of power between batteries and power supplies
- isolate batteries and servo/PWM outputs
- isolate batteries and power supplies
- Communicate with APM 2.x
- Develop power management strategies

3 switching power supplies

1) apm ,pmds, sensors, rc receiver & rf modem
- 2 amp
- current sensor
- voltage sensor
- able to independently switch between batteries

2) A0-A11 and servo/PWM output
- 5 amp
- current sensor
- voltage sensor
- able to independently switch between batteries
- able to adjust power output for HV servos
- Opto-Isolators on the servo/PWM signal outputs
- Isolate the power via physical switch
- support for optional external capacitor array

3) fpv transmitter and camera or accessories
- 2 amp
- current sensor
- voltage sensor
- able to independently switch between batteries
- able to shutdown fpv transmitter/camera/accessories in a low power situations

Battery controller pcb's

- Isolate battery
- current sensor
- voltage sensor
- Monitor voltage in up to 4 cells

I've got a soft spot in my heart for blimps, which I think are the ideal aerial robotics learning platform for kids. Our original Blimpduino was long ago retired, but we're working on a new version that will use optical flow and advanced image processing for autonomous navigation (look for this in early 2013). 

In the meantime, here's an interesting project for an Arduino-controlled RC blimp with many 3D-printable parts. Still in development, but the prototype scoots!

Building the Arduino Receiver. The whole board and micro weighs in at 22 grams. The supply will be a 3C Lipolly

The Xbee Vin (max 16V) and Arduino VIN (max 20V) hare both powered from the supply battery 11.1 V directly as the both have internal regulators.  This helps isolate any noise from the Arduino and ore servos from being superimposed on the Xbee supply rail.

The Xbee need around 220mA and the Arduino say 100 mA driving the servo PWM signals, and not the motors. All up say 750mA in a 750mAh 3C

Working on Yellow Plane

OpenRelief is a project to build a UAV that can use advanced image processing to quickly identify information on the ground that can help relief workers. It uses APM as the autpilot and Raspberry Pi for image processing. The plan is to be able to quickly identify smoke, roads and people from the air to "help disaster relief efforts see through fog".

You can read more about the technical details in this pdf, but there are some slides and video from that below:

(Thanks to Andrew Zoli for the tip!)

I built a 3DR Hexa-B / APM 2.5 from parts I picked up directly from 3DR here in San Diego. The whole build has gone super-smoothly. I have just a few flights under my belt so far- and all still under manual RC control. Today I zip-tied a GoPro HD to the hexa and took 'er up for my first video-enabled flight. I managed a nice shot of a bmx rider hitting some sweet jumps.

This isn't directly applicable to autopilots, but there was some interest from this community in the ArduSat effort, so here goes... On October 27th, the EDGE Research Laboratory team launched and successfully recovered the ArduSat prototype system.  It was a huge thrill for us to get to work with the team at NanoSatisfi, and help achieve their goal of making space research affordable for everyone.  As soon as they post their data analysis, I'll link to it here, but the good news is that the ArduSat payload appeared to work beautifully.  Below is a picture that was taken, processed, and stored by the ArduSat system:

Recovery was not as easy as might have been desired, as the payload was nearly 2 miles from the nearest road and in a small depression that served to reflect and/or attenuate our tracking signals to the point that they were useless to our chase teams.  We were, however, able to call in our airborne team to get a lock on the final location and confirm that everything was recoverable on the ground.  There really was nothing out there, but we managed to get permission to recover anyway.  It was a 25-minute hike one way...

Fortunately, we did get it all back, and had a good time doing it.  We've posted a full write-up about this flight on our website at http://www.edgeresearchlab.org/our-projects/edge3-27-oct-2012/, if you're interested, and have a pretty comprehensive set of information on getting started here: http://www.edgeresearchlab.org/contact-us/getting-started/  Of course, if there are questions, we're more than happy to help.

But there's more... remember that second balloon you saw in the video above?

(Photo courtesy www.sparkfun.com)

We were joined at our launch site by a team from Sparkfun (also an ArduSat sponsor) for a dual balloon launch!  Even more exciting, their balloon hit more than 130,000 feet before it burst, putting it in among the top 20 highest amateur radio high-altitude balloons.  It was awesome to get to launch two balloons from the same site, and fantastic to be involved with such a lofty flight!  More details on the Sparkfun flight can be found here: http://www.sparkfun.com/news/996 

Well, I don't know if this was already posted but I've came across with it just now. It's a 2011 video, so probablly you have seen it allready, however it's really cool :D

Wired editor Chris Anderson is leaving the magazine after 11 years as its editor-in-chief to run a robotics company he founded, 3D Robotics.

Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/02/wired-editor-chris-anderson-leaves-magazine-world-to-run-robotics-company/#KX7rpy0vcpO1BG0V.99

Take a look at my heavy lift hexacopter.
It flies very stable with the standard PIDS.
Couldn't get loiter to work though.

My setup:
NTM 910kv (changed to MK3638 on 4S)
Turnigy plush 30 amp ESC
UAP 1 frame
For booms i have 12mm kite tubes
5000mah 3S (now 4S)
11x4.7
Turnigy 9x + frsky
I use the hex to take aerials, with a Sony NEX 5N.
Got to say, this camera makes really nice photos.

If you have any questions, please ask!

Greetings from Holland!

This is a BONUS edit For all FPV Lovers !

www.fpv-passion.fr

This is my Knurrus Maximus FPV Flying Wing, plus the blunt nose. So far its all build, so its time to star to work on the electronics and the APM2 on it.

It has the APM2 board with GPS

1.2ghz 750mhz Video TX on the left wing;

3DR 433mhz on the right wing;

2.4ghz 7ch RX in the centre;

Emax 2810-12 1200kv motor with 10x5 folding prop ( mesured 320w);

40A ESC;

2x 3S 2200Ah lipo in parallel;

Minimosd connected with the APM (remove the TX pin from the APM2!!);

Air sensor;

Some pictures...

 Demonstration of avitron bionic bird

http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/blog/2012/11/01/ama-revising-fpv-policy/

The AMA is excited to announce the completion of revisions to its policies for R/C model aircraft operations utilizing First Person View (FPV) systems (AMA document # 550) and Failsafe, Stabilization and Autopilot Systems (AMA document #560).

The AMA Advanced Flight Systems Committee (AFSC) in a collaborative effort with leading members of the hobby industry and FPV community developed comprehensive guidelines to enable AMA members to utilize these systems within the parameters of AMA’s and FAA’s operational requirements. The AFSC Guidelines for these systems were presented, reviewed and adopted by the Executive Council during the October 20, 2012 council meeting.

Click on the above document images to view the complete AMA Advanced Flight Systems Report or the individual operational documents for FPV Systems #550 or Failsafe, Stabilization & Autopilot Systems #560.

CalBattery has designed a new li-ion battery with a silicon-graphene anode promising a major improvement in battery energy density. The design is based on what the company calls its "GEN3" silicon-graphene composite anode material for li-ion batteries, the technology breakthrough for which was developed at Argonne National Labs. The company entered the li-ion battery cells into the Department of Energy's 2012 Start UP America's Next Top Energy Innovator challenge, and is a finalist in the competition.

Independent test results show that CalBattery's cells have an energy density of 525 watt-hours per kilogram, and anode capacity of 1,250 mili-amp-hours per gram. Compare this to the typical commercial battery out there right now in the 100-180 watt-hours per kg range, and anode capacity in the 325 mili-amp-hours per gram range.

That means 300 percent more energy storage than current batteries, the potential to go 300 percent farther on a charge than current EVs and a huge cost reduction. "This equates to more than a 300 percent improvement in lithium-ion battery capacity, and an estimated 70 percent reduction in lifetime cost for batteries used in consumer electronics, EVs, and grid-scale energy storage," CalBattery CEO Phil Roberts told Torque News.

 

Source: http://green.autoblog.com/2012/10/31/calbattery-working-on-300-mile-li-ion-batteries-at-greatly-reduc/

From Robots.net:

Good work from Cornell's vision-based obstacle avoidance program. (via UPI)

It's not the most elaborate pumpkin carving ever, but it's from the heart. Below is a time-lapse video showing the carving, imaging, and 3D modeling of this drone-themed pumpkin.

And here's a link to the Hypr3D model for you to play around with.

Happy Droneoween, folks!