Random images from the ArduCopter dev team mailing list this week. They're doing world-class work--amazing to watch! Stay tuned for product announcements...
Above: Base plate prototypes made with the CNC machine, some of them anodized, some powder coated. These are anodized. (all from Ken McEwan)
Aluminum, powder coated.
Power distribution PCB, from Jani Hirvinen
Motor mount, from Sandro Benigno.
Our favorite geeks at Sparkfun have just ubergeeked out on GPS modules. Here's an overview on GPS modules and tracking, and here is a really thorough test/comparison of the modules they sell.
State-of-the-art 66 channels MediaTek MT3329 GPS Engine
High sensitivity: Up to -165dBm tracking, superior urban performance
And all of this is sold ... 50$...
Pretty cool, except that I had to wait 3 month to have one...
Maybe I'm not the first to do this, but I added a variometer function to the altimeter module and to the RF module to be able to send the vario Data to the computer ;)
I'll try to make a video of this ;)
Pricing is still being confirmed, you can expect price drops across the complete range starting at around $250 for the PPK.
RTL will be cheaper than the v2.0 waypoint unit.
IMU system is looking at coming down significantly also.
Documentation & specifications should be ready within the week, once everything has been confirmed and stock has arrived the AttoPilot International website will be updated with all the new info.
Cant wait to try the RTL in my Multiplex Fox ;)
Hooks just sent me the new fibreglass reinforcement skins for the Skywalker (now just $99) and they're awesome. Here's the nose/bottom shield:
And here's the tail reinforcement:
Hooks, how long until these are for sale in the store?
Yesterday, my GentleLady sailplane, under the guidance of MatrixPilot running on a UAV Devboard with an EM406 GPS and Jordi's magnetometer, achieved 3 consecutive autonomous flights, with the transmitter off most of the time. The above picture shows the tracks of the three landings. Waypoints 18 and 19 were arranged so that the plane was supposed to land halfway between them. The closest landing was 6 meters from the target, the farthest was 21 meters.
Here is how the flight sequence worked:
1. Power up with Tx on.
2. Shut off Tx, this causes the fail safe on my Rx to trigger MatrixPilot to go into waypoint mode.
3. Hand launch the sailplane.
4. Sailplane makes two circuits around the field and lands.
5. Turn on the Tx, this puts MatrixPilot back in manual mode.
6. Turn off Tx, this puts MatrixPilot back in waypoint mode.
Repeat 3 times.
Here are the three flight paths around the field:
Here is the side view of the landings:
You can watch an animated view of the flight track on Google Earth with this kmz file: LOG00122.kmz.
The kmz files are produced by a tool that Peter Hollands put together that reads the telemetry and generates the kmz file. It has some nice features, including displaying the orientation of the plane, the waypoints, the wind vectors, and magnetic field vectors.
Simply download the kmz file and double click on it, Google Earth will open it. You will not see any flight tracks when you open it, but there will be an animation tool visible that you can use to animate the tracks, and/or select portions for viewing.
There will also be items in the layers visibility for you to turn the display of the tracks, waypoints, etc., on and off.
If you are interested in looking at them, here are two other files associated with the flights.
First, there is the raw telemetry file:
There is an excel spreadsheet with key telemetry items:
I want to thank all of the members of the UDB team for their contributions, especially Ben, Peter, Adam, Ric, Sid, and Rana. You guys are always there for me. Thank you Jordi, for your magnetometer breakout board.
And thank you very much, Chris Anderson, for your encouragement and for this website.
Best regards,
Bill Premerlani
Just wanted to let you know that after what seems like ages playing with wires and getting things working, it looks like we are about to take to the air for the first time with the Ardupilot and ArduIMU installed and active. 'We' are a team of three from the UK ( Jim, Paul and Iestyn) who have decided to get into UAVs for the engineering challenge. Iestyn and Paul (but not me!) have solid RC plane experience, while I'm bringing the Arduino and software experience. If the weather is in our favour, we hope to fly some time next week. Progress has been tortuously slow, as we are only able to work on this and fly during lunch hours at work!
Parts list:
It is programmed on the side via a FTDI cable. The lipo's charging cable comes out of the top so it can be charged without having to open up the controller.
This custom controller allows for more options and modes than a normal, off of the shelf controller.
Some modes and features might include:
RC control will have the option of using the joystick on board the controller, the wii nunchuck's joystick, or the wii nunchuck's accelerometer.
When i get the money i hope to update to this rc truck as my AGV. As you may know, right now i am using a cheap hummer from Walmart.
I have also made my own AGV arduino PCBs. I just sent the gerber files off to seeedstudio yesterday and in a few weeks they will arrive. But more on this later.
