Hi fellows!
Here is the part1. Yesterday I made a box for my video transmitter. i dont want to put it inside of airframe cuz its getting very hot; it need air cooling and this idea came up to me. it looks not cool but i think it will be ok when i paint airframe :)
here is the images;
I will close camera hole today so i can mouth pan/tilt system.
MicroPilot 21283X
How long before this becomes a standard required by authorities??
The MP21283X, MicroPilot’s triple-redundancy (3X) autopilot, is now available. Although 3X technology is established within the aviation industry, 3X autopilots are a new addition to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The MP21283x contains three robust autopilots to overcome a multitude of hardware failures. If any one of the three autopilots should fail, the remaining two take over. An additional mechanism oversees these three systems.
Dear Friends,
thank for join our presentation . I'm very happy that you like it .
This is a good starting point for Multipilot 32.
It can be hard to get started on building a quadcopter or drone. As a beginner, it was difficult for me to figure out what was a good introductory project, what parts to buy, etc. In order to smooth the process, I'm writing a guide that relieves the beginner of a lot of the uncertainty and decisions to be made. The goal is to get someone who is relatively inexperienced flying, gaining experience, and able to make good decisions about further projects to pursue.
About me:
I'm working with a photographer named Josh Anon, who wants to do some aerial photograpy in the Arctic Circle. I'm documenting that project here:
http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/search/label/arcticopter
We've got at least 3 or 4 phases in the project, one of which is building an arducopter based model. In addition, I'm an RC pilot and want to make an ardupilot fixed wing plane. You can see lots-o-words about that at the eastbay-rc blog as well.
I was delighted to learn that there is an active East Bay group of flyers -- hardly surprising, since Chris is in the East Bay himself! I've got an ardupilot on order, and will be working on both a quad and fixed wing.
So, I'm starting a beginner's guide. It's basically my build log, with an emphasis on explaining to someone new what they need to do to follow along.
I've just typed and introduction, and as we start to put together the ardu-projects we'll add information there. Chris suggested to make it a google doc to facilitate collaboration. So, here it is!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rp1XVCacq05-8pGO8yXlD21HAbcKRamyOfxWrK1JNlk/edit?hl=en#
I've learned a lot already from the excellent posts here and in the forums, and I'm sure I'll be asking lots of dumb questions as I go along. You've been warned! :-)
Dear Friends,
this night in europe 22.00 CET doing official presentation of Multipilot 32.
link to event : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/events/multipilot32-official
Index of presentation :
Been flying more with my eight motor version of arducopter. Lately I've been attaching different weights to see what the copter is able to carry and how long. Results have been exactly as i presumed them to be. Flying with 4-cell 5000mAh lipos it can fly with 800-900 grams of weight aboard and flight time will be around 7-8 minutes.
After the weight tests I've been trying to get the AH and PH working. Those have been bit dissapointing features after getting used to precise and accurate way the German Mikrokopter keeps its place when told to. But I still use RC2 version of the code and am in the process of getting the AH+PH PID settings right. A wiki page of adjusting your AH+PH would be appreciated.
One lesson I learned the hard way is protecting your APM+IMU from moisture. One day I crashed the copter upside down into a snow bank and the snow melted on top of circuit boards. This fried the APM and I had to order a new one. DIYDrones store came to rescue and just 4 days later I had a new APM and my copter was again airborne. Big thanks to them for saving my weekend and making this video possible. Way to prevent moisture from destroying the circuit boards is covering them with protective spray.
Next step for me is to get my camera stand repaired. I smashed the servo on it during one of the flights. After that it is time to take the first aerial photos with the Hashcopter.
Part one of the story:
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/arducopter-quad-with-eight
So today, I have got the updated PPM encoder s/ware working to do RPM measurement on one input channel.
For an RPM range of about 300 - 2000, the output pulse to the AP CPU is ranging from 2mS to 0.5mS. The ACM code might need modding to accept this, without thinking its a sync pulse, but thats the next task. All this will need further calibration when I test it with the motor running.
The RPM sensor is an IR LED and IR photodiode, glued into holes drilled into the frame either side of the heli. One of the holes was used to mark the rotor shaft, which I then drilled through (offset about 2mm from center). This gives a very clean pulse, hopefully long enough to be detected at full RPM.
Above you can see the wires leading to the photodiode, just above the main gear.
Long time ago I bought MQ9 airframe. But couldn't find anytime to assemble it. But in these days i started to assemble it. I read their manual but it was sux so i did it with my way ^^ Here is the elevator and rudder connections;
ESC will be cooling with air hole. it's very good i think cuz i have big motor:)
looks cool isn't it ? :P
There is a question for you guys if i want to coloring it which type of paint do you suggest? its fiber glass covered with shrink film. i wanna make it black :P
Take care.
I am looking for a fairing like the one from microdrones...
Somebody knows if there is some commercial (cheap chinese :P) frame similar to this?
Image linked from this site:
http://img809.imageshack.us/i/sv101620.jpg/
[Thanks to Jeff Johnson for the heads up]SU officials demonstrated several unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) including a Draganflyer X6, a small remote controlled helicopter with video cameras attached, as well as an automated fixed wing craft with GPS.
In addition, ISU showcased its Recon Scout, a small camera attached to two wheels that looks like a dumbbell.
Terre Haute Police Chief John Plasse was excited about the potential of the Recon Scout for law enforcement purposes.
For instance in an active shooter or hostage situation, the Recon Scout could be thrown inside to give officers an idea of what is occurring. “It makes our job a little safer,” he said.
In addition to providing training for local agencies, ISU plans to offer the use of its UAVs.
The university will team up with the police department in April as part of a joint search and rescue exercise. Its UAVs could assist with locating lost children, bodies, or missing persons across vast terrain or in areas that are difficult to access, like wooded areas.
“There are many different aspects we could use that for in law enforcement,” Plasse said.
The program also has civilian uses. ISU plans to provide an agricultural group with infrared maps of farm fields to help detect areas where moisture is concentrated to boost production.
ISU is one of the few universities in the country that offers a program specializing in unmanned aerial systems.
Currently the unmanned systems operations program is a minor, but ISU hopes to expand it into a bachelor’s degree and a full-fledged master’s program.
The unmanned program is part of its Center for Crisis Leadership and Homeland Security, which was created last June.
This is my first successful flight with a good alt hold and good GPS hold. As soon as I can demonstrate a fully autonomous flight (codes already done, just not flight tested enough), I'll release the Alpha.
BTW, the wind was about 5mph West which was causing the forward and back oscillation. I had the I term disabled, so it never accounted for the wind.
Jason
Our Bay Area UAV Fliers group is up and running (we had a flight/meetup today), and I'm sure there are others. I'm going to make this page a collection of all the local DIY Drones groups, and link to it from the Members tab in the menus above.
So please start a Google Group for your area and post the name/link in the comments below. Make sure they're open to all (anyone can sign up, no approval required). I'll copy them into the post as they come in.
Everyone: you can join any of these groups. Just click on the link and add your email and you should be able to see notifications of meetings as well as suggest your own.
Local Fly-in/Meetup Groups:
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North America
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US
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky/Tennessee
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
New England region:
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wyoming
Canada
Mexico
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Rest of World
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This post might be a little premature in that I'm just getting started, but after hanging out at DIY Drones for a few years and doing little more than adding editorial comment to other's posts, I'm anxious to share my real DIY Drone project. Since all of the hard work has already been done by others in this community with regard to the autopilot, this blog will focus on the airframe.
I decided to turn my DIY Drone project into my first attempt at designing an airframe from scratch. I have built from plans before, but never went this far. I chose the IAI/AAI RQ-2A Pioneer to model. First, I like the simplicity of the design and felt it would be fairly easy to model. Second, I prefer a more traditional tail to the v-tails that seem so popular with UAVs. I'm sure there are very good aerodynamic reasons for that, but they just don't appeal to me aesthetically.
My plane will be a 1/3 scale model of the Pioneer. That gives it a wingspan of 67-1/2". The design of the main wing and empennage assembly is pretty much done. Next I'll move on the fuselage. My plan is to have all ribs and formers laser cut.
I'm using Google Sketchup for the design work. It has been very easy to learn. The most difficult thing so far has been figuring out how to get 2D plan-view prints out of Sketchup. It's not really geared toward basic engineering. It's primarily a 3D modeling platform. However, with a little playing you can get the printouts you need.
When finished, the plane will be equipped with APM, telemetry and on-board video (of course). I will most likely learn APM on a smaller ARF, though, before risking this airframe.
I'll post a few more images in this blog, them move over to just posting progress photos in an album on my DIY Drone page. The first one below is the real thing hanging in the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC (not my photo).
Thanks.
Paul
This is my current design for the boom saddles that will attach to the horizontal stabilizer. I'll try to shape them from a layer of four 1/4" balsa ribs. The channel is for servo leads.
The boom attachments for the main wing will be a little different and will be integrated into the wing itself. All three spars will pass through the supports. The wing sheeting itself will also add strength to these supports.
Ribs will be 1/8" balsa. Spars will be plywood with 3/32" balsa webbing. Main wing sheeting will be 3/32" balsa. Tail feather sheeting will 1/64" ply.
Vertical stabilizer and rudder.
Finally, a little fun I had with Google Sketchup before starting the plane design. I modeled the CCD camera I'll be using and figured out how to model the clear dome.
On this video, you can see another autonomous indoor flight. I just implemented translations displacements.
I still plan to take part to the IMAV2011 indoor competition.
The next task is to implement simple vision sensors so that the heli can locate itself even without walls in the area.
Leon.
In-flight orientation continues to be a challenge in fast forward flight, so I thought I'd try some LED lighting.
These lights are each 24 centimeter strips, with 24 LEDs molded in. I got them from eBay seller 'brledlight', and I'm amazed at the average selling price of these things.. less than $3 each! What a bargain.
Power is 12v, which makes a direct connection to the 3S battery a perfect fit.
In my tests, all four light strips run at full brightness down to 10 volts, so that's a match.
Each strip draws about 120mA, and I'm seeing 5 to 6 Watts total draw for all four.
To tap power, I connected to the ESC power connector (Deans) to add a JST tap.
The small blue lump in the wire is a 3A micro fuse, soldered inline on the positive lead. The wires on the LED strips are very thin, and I didn't want any of them starting a fire in the event of a crash/short, so it was important to get a fuse close to the power tap. From there, it fans out to all four strips.
I'm flying X mode, so for light pattern, I went with White for the two front arms, and Red/Green for the traditional Port/Starbord indicators.
The results are fantastic! I was able to fly in the dark without any issue. The orientation is obvious from any angle below the quadcopter, as the LEDs are not very directional. If anything, they are TOO bright, and my require a dimming resistor for more night flying if I want to keep any night vision when flying in close.
(Bottom View)
Overall, for a whopping $11 in LED strips and some zipties, this rocks!
Total added weight is 91 grams -- the strips are entirely potted in soft PVC(?).
I haven't flown these in daylight yet, but another option would be to go two-red/two-green if the white is not very visible. It's plenty bright, but so is the sky.
I've never flown anything at all in the dark, so this is a blast!
Training for fpv with the arducopter
OSHW is the acronym.
"Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design. The hardware's source, the design from which it is made, is available in the preferred format for making modifications to it. Ideally, open source hardware uses readily-available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of individuals to make and use hardware. Open source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of designs"
You can read the full definition here: http://freedomdefined.org/OSHW
There are posts popping in everywhere about it... (and now here too)
http://www.sparkfun.com/news/550
http://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2011/02/11/open-hardware-definition-1-0-released
