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Simulators can be powerful tools for developing and testing UAS flight control systems as well as prototyping new ideas.  Here is an interactive FlightGear based demonstration showing:

• Auto-launch from a carrier.
• Circle holds.
• Route following.
• Gyro stabilized camera.
• Simulated search and rescue mission
• Auto-approach and landing on a carrier (factoring in winds and even carrier motion.)

To get started, go to the following link and read through the installation and operating instructions: http://www.flightgear.org/uas-demo/

The flight computer flies everything from start to finish. Your job as UAS operator is to give mission commands and operate the gyro camera (and enjoy some of the other views as well.)

This demonstration can be flown with the FlightGear multiplayer system enabled so you might see other UAV's or aircraft in the airspace.  I enjoy enabling live METAR weather and flying at different times of day and turning on moderate turbulence to give the flight control system an extra workout.  In low visibility the search and rescue portion of the mission can be very difficult if not impossible.  Sometimes you get lucky, some times you don't.

Just to take a step back here.  The point of this demonstration is to show:

• The power and realism available in flight simulators.
• The ability to script complex flight control logic using FlightGear's built in scripting system.
• This entire demo is created with a stock version of FlightGear.  You don't need external hardware, you don't have to fiddle with complicated communication protocols, you can do everything inside of FlightGear first -- on a single PC.
• Auto-landing tasks can be very complicated if you wish to factor in wind and fly a stable and optimal approach.  Adding multiple entities in a multiplayer simulation can expose the need to design an approach that ensures traffic separation.  Flying the logic over and over in simulation under a variety of conditions helps you spot situations you might not have otherwise accounted for and improve and refine the code in ways that would be much more difficult to do in real life.
• All of the flight control in this demonstration is done without "cheating".  By this I mean all the sensor inputs to the flight controller are the same sorts of inputs a small embedded autopilot could have.  The autopilot only manipulates the control actuators.  After that we let the flight dynamics do whatever they are going to do.  We sense, we actuate, just like in real life.

I'm calling this demo a "BETA" so I'm interested in feedback ... especially feedback on the instructions at the webpage link.

Be very careful though; you might end up having fun and wasting a lot of time with this.  I know I have!  :-)

Special thanks to Paul Dowling and Jason Short for their help with PID's tunning! I would have never taken off without their advice.

Both stabilize and simple mode work flawlessly.

The beast is flying with four 4 cells batteries, 400 gram each. wingspan is 120 cm. Propellers are 14 X 7 3 blades.

Total flight weight: HEAVY.

Oh, the things you can do with a Vicon motion capture system and an unlimited research budget! (More coolness from ETH Zurich, via Robots.net)

As you can see, my airship design has reached a much more advanced stage.  I will be constructing a balsa/lightweight plastic 20' flight test test model in my 2 car garage over the winter.  Once the airframe passes some tests not conducted in a computer generated wind tunnel then hopefully it will be on to building an even bigger one.  This finished Colossus will measure 160' in overall length and 72' wide for the airframe and she'll stand 118' from the strut to the main rudder. 

Powered by 12 electric 6 blade vectored thrust props which will be able to steer the craft in something like the airship version of three rectangular arducopters bolted to each other.  Not only will the housings pivot to allow more stable ascent/descent, the props also pivot out  within the housing to allow lateral thrust capibilities.She'll be very maneuverable, and computer testing indicates the airframe will capable of some new maneuvers previously unknown to rigid and semi-rigid airframes such as lateral crabbing,  and pivoting in a full 360 ciricle on her center-point within her own shiplength while making a vertical ascent or descent. This is a design change which can enable much safer landings and take-offs in windy conditions and perhaps prevent the pilot error which led to the hindenburg diaster from ever happening again.

The connection pylons between the main hull and the flight nacelles are airfoils which have air current forced over them by the forward engines.  This adds to the lift and stability of the craft allowing it to reach higher speeds than have previously been attained by similar craft, and is one of the design features which should enable it to perform some fairly impressive maneuvers once in the air. 

The main hull is semi-rigid with a pressurized envelope, similar to the Zeppelin-NT, however with a different internal framing configuration (obviously such would be necessary) and the flight nacelles have a lightweight rigid configuration with semi-pressurized helium cells.

She will be able to be operated fully autonomously, remotely operated by a single pilot wile the drones operate autonomously, or the gondola can easily be reconfigured to allow a single pilot to physically control the vessel if desired.  The gondola also houses the auxilliary electric generator to allow for operation in a cloudy environment or if the solar electric system fails for whatever reason. 

The battery banks providing power to each of the engine-pairs are located amidships and each nacelle is independently powered and recharged.  The odd pattern of the solar cells are based on the weight of the lightweight flexible amorphous panels I could find information on.  That pattern represents the best weight distribution to be able to achieve independent powering.

The drone launch and recovery system, mechanically, will be very similar to the original system designed for the USS Macon, Akron, and Los Angeles.  However the drones will have cradle supports which lower fore and aft (not detailed in these photos, nor is the drone fuselage configuration to enable launch/recovery)

She's carrying 8 scaled down lightweight electric versions of the MQ-1 which are recharged by the on-board solar system.  The drone wingspan is 18 feet.  It is capable of carry drones with up to a 24' wingspan and gross weight of 350 lbs per plane. and obviously the system could be reconfigured to accomodate smaller craft.  The way it works is really cool.  The craft are stored so close together that instead of having a lowering design for launch, I worked it in to the craft are stored at different distances from the hull.  The fore and aft drones are stowed 7" lower than the amidships drones. 

The drone launch process will have to occur in a paired sequence for balance purposes, and the thrust configuration greatly stabilizes the craft and makes her a lot easier to balance, so the stowage level only makes it easier to conduct the launch sequence and it keeps the drones closest to the most balanced point.  Once all the drones are away, the launch/recovery hooks raise up into the rigid hull of the flight nacelle and are kept close to the hull to increase aerodynamics.  When it is time to recover the craft, the L/R trapeze descends to its full length to allow recovery of in-flight craft after others have already bee recovered.

The on-board sensor package is pretty modular actually.  You can do a lot with this airship configuration.  I have hard mounted fore and aft gimbals on the main hull and amdships gimbals on each flight nacelle.  The bay in the main hull is also a sensor bay and acess panel.  Fuel stowage for the auxilliary generator is in wing tankage in the two airfoils and the ship will carry approximately 4-8 hours worth of fuel currently, but more fuel storage can be added.

Unfortunately the laws of physics concerning rigid and semi-rigid airships dictate that the 20' model will be able to lift it's own airframe and that's about it.  I should be able to include a single mini-cam on a gimbal but that's really it.  She won't be able to carry a functional payload until she's at least 80' in overall length and even then we're talking some pretty small (under 100 lb each) planes. 

I'll post more photos and stuff as they are generated and more news on this project and how it's going.  Till then.  Happy Flying!

Today i tried a flight of my OCTAV frame (1 meter long), the stability is perfect without code modification !!!

ok, so home from dinner and ready to unwrap to see how it goes.

the good news is the cling wrap released from the wooden mold, and is actually very smooth on the inside, there are a few crinkles in the outer carbon, but these will not be noticeable once the excess is trimmed to size and glued to the 2nd half.  the fuse is very rigid already from front to rear and twists side to side, but adding the other half should make it stiff in both directionsrichie

A couple of weeks ago I posted  blog on fitting an the APM in an electric ducted fan.

http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/the-worlds-first-arduplane-f22-twin-edf

Today, I flew it with APM stabilize enabled.  I tried to do a loop with stabilize on and it stopped at the top of the loop, DOH!

Otherwise tried manual mode and put the plane in unusual attitudes and then switched on stabilize and it was PERFECT, wings level straight away.  One of my retracts failed to retract and failed to lock resulting in a not so good landing.  I would have to say that the F22 is a very stable EDF and is able to be flown slow and the flaps and leading edge slats ready slowed it down for landing, but like all jets, pilots tend to fly it like it stolen.

Here is the start of my fuse building, vacuum bagging the fuse in two halves and will add joiners and bulkheads to finish the fuse.

http://youtube.com/NNCjIadZWQo

The fuse is a composite layup with fiberglass 90 gram crossweave internal layer then a filler layer material (I forget the name of it) which acts like a filler to provide stiffness while not adding too much weight. It's sort of like having a layer of honeycomb. Then an outer layer of 100 gram straight weave carbon fibre. This is all held together with a marine 5+1 epoxy resin that takes about 6-9 hours to go off. 

I have gone out on a limb and tried to pull a vacuum down onto a raw wooden plug that I have covered with a layer of cling film and then a layer of peel ply. Hopefully this will be removable in one piece without total destruction.
The other thing I am trying for the first time is using standard (cheap) acrylic sealant as a bag sealant. This has worked extremely easily, so far, and was a excellent way of sealing the plastic bag to the board. Hopefully it will clean off the board easily once the time is up and I remove the part from the mold.

Via RCG:

"Finders, keepers: Marines say people who found military drones on NC beaches can keep them

By Associated Press
8:52 a.m. EDT, September 23, 2011

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — If you've ever wanted a military drone, you may want to visit Oak Island or Carolina Beach.

Folks at those beaches say they found the plane-like structures with an orange-and-white design Thursday. Officials at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point say the drones were used Sept. 17 during a live fire exercise at Onslow Beach.

Forty drones were used during the exercise.

A Marine spokesman says people can keep the drones or call the Marines to pick them up."

 

And here's an earlier report from people who found them.

Lots of small tweaks and performance improvements. Here's how testing AP went in the Park:

If you compile with Arduino, you can now set CH7 to trigger some cool things like RTL, or In-Flight leveling. 

Check the GIT tree for details on the changes. Most are just nerdy code optimizations.

This release feels very close, if not the last beta. Thanks for all the testing,

Jason

Just autonomous in the vertical axis so far, but that's progress. From Physorg.com:

"With the goal of designing an insect-inspired flying microrobot capable of sustained autonomous flight, researchers have demonstrated for the first time a microrobot that achieves vertical flight using closed-loop control. The researchers predict that the approach they use for controlling flight on this one axis could also be used for controlling flight on all three axes."

Not many change of relevence to us, but this is a nice addition: labels on path lines. Other changes are listed here.

"Labels are now turned off by default in Google Earth 6.1, but you can add them at the midpoint of regular lines by using the new<gx:labelVisibility> in a <LineStyle>. Here's an example KML, as well as a screenshot above."

Last installment of the charming GE ad campaign that combines MakerBots and model airplanes. And this one includes a UAV! All the 3D models will be posted here. 

Tell me what you think.

I started in RC ages ago but i did not really get serious with the  hobby till about 15 years ago. I started out with traditional heli's and then moved to fixed wing aircraft as well. I became very proficient in both, flew IMAC and was a known regular at our field. I truly enjoyed the hobby and spent a great deal of time and money to support it as well.

About 5 years ago due to personal reasons involving my then spouse, work and other things i decided to give up flying. It was probably one of the biggest mistakes i made over the years, it truly was one of the few things i enjoyed doing and was good at.

Not to long ago I discovered Diydrones and was hooked again. These multicopters  truly fascinated me. Off to the storage i went to dig out radios, receivers and other things i needed and my first quad was purchased.

Shortly before i could maiden my quad I suffered another life changing event.. I had multiple strokes. The strokes left me walking like a 100 yr old man, no balance. My hands suffered from loss of precision, it was hard for me to do things i used to. And worse, my vision was damaged. I had diplopia and saw double vision as well as my distance vision was very bad. I have to wear an eye patch until i can get proper glasses to repair the vision(if it can be).

This really limited how much i can enjoy flying, as it is, i can only hover visually fairly close as i loose orientation very easily and have problems seeing things at a distance.

Then.. I discovered FPV. Several months back i saw videos by David Windestål and YTchim on YouTube, I researched this area of RC and began buying equipment needed and gaining the knowledge i would need to successfully FPV.

Now i am the proud owner two FPV tri-copters (both ArduCopter powered) and an FPV Sky Surfer. It has taken me many months worth of investment (both time and money) and i believe i finally found a way i can really enjoy the hobby  once again.

After getting used to and not scared to death when wearing the goggles i realized that i did not feel limited in what i can do based on my vision. Don't get me wrong, i am not blind by any means and could successfully land the craft visually thanks stabilize mode.. but this has opened a new set of doors for me into this great hobby.

I am mainly writing this blog post as a big thank you to the ArduPilotMega team and everyone involved. If it were not for your efforts and this site I probably would have never got back into the hobby and fully enjoy it as i do today.



Learning Based Model Predictive Control (LBMPC) identifies physical phenomena like the ground effect and uses this to refine the model of a quadrotor helicopter, which improves flight peformance while providing robustness and safety. This enables precise movements necessary for tasks such as catching a ball.

Researchers:

Anil Aswani, Patrick Bouffard, and Claire Tomlin

Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

University of California, Berkeley

For more information: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~aaswani/LBMPC 

I have a nice big grin on my face...I maidened my first Quad based on ArduCopter2 today. It flew pretty well out of the box using default parameters...a little wobbly but nothing that I don't think I can tweak away when I get my kids to bed...and the rain stops... :)

I did equip my old tricopter (now dismantled and donated parts to the quad...) with AC2 and it flew very well also. I felt like AC2 was really nice and I decided to invest in a Quad.

Anyway, I thought I could share my setup:

1 frame (from www.dyi.nu, Swedish site...please ask me if you need more info/translations)

4 Turnigy 800kv (2213N) motors 

4 ESC HobbyKing SS 18-20A

1 Homemade Power Distribution board (between frame an box)

1 Lunchbox (i.e. my canopy...)

1 ArduPilot Mega + IMU + compass (from diydrones.com)

Running on 3S, 2.65Ah Nano-tech

I have attached some pictures of it. Please let me know what you think of it...

Anyway...thanx to all involved in ArduCopter, ArduPilot, APM, ... You're doing a nice job! I hope I can contribute a little as I am a SW developer (embedded systems) myself soon. Time will tell...

Regards

Stefan

This email is to announce Unmanned Systems Canada 2011-2012 Student UAV Competition.

 Initial details may be found on our web site at www.unmannedsystems.ca  Please review the details and register.

We are looking forward to another great event – so tell all your friends and join up now.

2011-2012 STUDENT UAV COMPETITION 

The format of the competition will build on the success of the UAV competitions held in 2007, 2009 and 2011. 2012%20UAV%20Conops%20V2.pdfcomp_Registration_Form.doc  

The basic mission for the students will be to operate in support of forest fire fighting personnel.  UAVs will be asked to locate points of interest within a designated area surrounding a forest fire in the remote Canadian wilderness.  The competitions take place in two phases with a Phase I design report from each team due TBD and Phase II, operational demonstration, in May 2012.  Teams will be graded on the quality and completeness of their design report and the results of the demonstrations – there will be separate prizes for each phase.  For more details, see the attached operational concept draft. 

Purpose of the Competition 

The purpose of the competition is to promote and develop Canadian expertise and experience in unmanned systems technologies at the university and college levels. Even small scale unmanned vehicles are complex systems requiring a well planned and executed design approach.  In addition, safety considerations are important factors in this competition as in any other vehicle design project.

Eligibility 

General 

The competitors must be registered full time in a recognized Canadian university or college.  Teams may be organized internally at the discretion of their respective members.

Team Composition 

Teams may include graduate and undergraduate students and it is suggested that students from multiple years be encouraged to participate. Joint teams consisting of students from more than one institution are also permitted. For example a joint university-college team is allowed. All students must have been full time attendance at a Canadian college or university in fall 2011 or winter 2012.  This competition is not open to commercial entities.

Team Size

There is no maximum or minimum team size.

Number of Teams

There is no restriction on the number of teams from any given institution. However, no individual student may be on more than one team and the submitted projects must be substantially different. This matter will be at the discretion of the Judges.

Application and Registration

Interested teams should fill the attached registration form  and send it by email to competition@unmannedsystems.ca. 

To complete registration, each team is asked for a registration fee of $200. Payment can be made by cheque addressed to and sent to Unmanned Systems Canada or by credit card by contacting Wayne Crowe, Executive Director of Unmanned Systems Canada at 1.613.845-0145.

Upon completion of the registration completion, teams will have access to additional competition information and a forum at www.unmannedsystems.ca where they can ask questions to the organizing committee.

Competition Website and Email

All relevant competition documents and information will be located on the competition website (www.unmannedsystems.ca ). Check the competition website regularly for updates. All questions should be addressed to: competition@unmannedsystems.ca

Registration Deadline: 30 September 2011

(Note: Important Competition Information only available after full registration)

Paper Design Submission: January 13th 2012

Flight Demonstration: May 2012

Having seen how easily robotics projects are done with an iCreate, I have wanted to develop a similar platform for outdoor use. I was hoping that iRobot would release a cheaper less durable version of the Packbot or one of its smaller siblings but that doesn’t look like it will be happening any time soon.

My initial plans were to design the platform in the same vein as the Packbot with treads and flippers, if not flippers, a versatile tread configuration for climbing objects. But making a cheaper platform with treads looks to be cost and complexity prohibitive. So with all of the MSL-Curiosity rover pictures flying around the web, I have decided to look into a platform based off of the rocker-bogie suspension.

It has been difficult to find detailed specifications of the Curiosity rover but I have come up with a basic design scaling down the platform to about the size of a push lawnmower(a little bit bigger). I have cut out some PVC and will be building a proof of concept just to see if I like the scale.

The end goals are:

• Create a 6 wheel rover.
• Each wheel will have its own motor and controller.
• The Rover will use the rocker-bogie suspension.
• The frame will be made of Aluminum.
• All documentation will be freely available upon completion of the prototype.
• Release kit and assembled unit similar to Makerbot Industries and Willow Garage if prototype is viable.

Optional elements would be to package a controller(Arduino Mega) that would have some sort of API to provide a basic interface with the motors.  Once the platform is finished I can see using a Kinect and ROS to control it.

Checkout the Kickstarter Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/countzer0/open-rover