http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10343&Product_Name=Quanum_2.4Ghz_voltage_telemetry_(1km_Range

I wonder if this could be hacked to tell us a little more on the ground, not in colour or hi-res obviously

Signs of things to come. Just thinking its probably useful in itself as a backup battery monitor on the ground.

New download firmware has just been added to the repository http://code.google.com/p/ardu-imu/downloads/list

The v1.5 firmware includes:

• ADC oversampling which increases the effective resolution of the gyros and accelerometers
• Drift correction gain de-weighting and speed filtering
  
• Support for binary output messages as well as human readable
• Support for both hardware types
• Ground and Air start modes
• Other improvements and bug fixes
  

Connections :

Product details here: http://www.flytron.com/54-fc-420-25gr-submicro-fpv-camera.html

Design, simulate, and program electronics.

Fedora's Electronic Lab is dedicated to support the innovation and development brought by opensource Electronic Design Automation (EDA) community.

If you didn't know this existed now you do; I thought others here might want to know about this.

Here is the link http://spins.fedoraproject.org/fel/

MERSEYSIDE police made the first ever arrest in the UK using a flying drone to catch a suspected car thief in thick fog.

It swooped into action in Litherland to find a suspect who was hiding at night in poor visibility.

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acts as a flying CCTV and thermal imaging camera.

It was deployed on January 26 when it was reported that two men had stolen a Renault Clio in Bootle.

After a police car chase the suspects bailed out of the Clio.

Officers were able to detain one of the suspects, but struggled to find the second man in the dark.

But using the UAV's onboard thermal imaging technology, its operator was able to use live images of the suspect’s body-heat to direct patrols to the spot by the canal where he was lying.

The force became the first in the UK to trial the drones in 2007, and since then has used them to assist in search and rescue operations, search warrants and to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

They are operated by the force’s anti-social behaviour task force and directed from the ground by remote control, providing the force with a cheaper alternative to the police helicopter when aerial surveillance is needed.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/02/11/merseyside-police-make-uk-s-first-ever-flying-drone-arrest-in-litherland-100252-25810555/

Rotors pitched to induce nose-up pitch and counter-clockwise yaw

I am beginning to think that this is do-able. it looks very heavy, and i need to do the math to figure out how much thrust I can get out of my brushed motors. I reduced rotor diameter, added a horizontal stab, and added a canopy so it looks more fly-able.

The fun part is almost over, as I need to start diving into the math to make sure this will fly.

From RobotLiving:

"Coming April 10 – 18 is the first National Robotics Week in the US. It is being launched by an alliance various academic and non profit organizations.

Look for events in your area. Shown below are only some the exciting events coming in April.

Boston, Mass.

• New England Botball Regional Tournament and New England Botfest, University of Massachusetts Lowell, April 10
• Robot Block Party, Museum of Science, April 17

Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 30^th Anniversary Open House
• Announcement of the Class of 2010 Robotics Hall of Fame Inductees
• Carnegie Science Center Café Scientifique Event

San Francisco, Calif.

• Young Innovators Day, The Tech Museum in Silicon Valley, April 11"
• Robot Block Party, Stanford University, April 14
• Robots in Action, Adept Technology, April 16

Wrote up a wind estimator today. It is based off of a simple model which requires very little inputs from sensors.

psi - true heading (not course over ground)

theta - pitch

airspeed

GPS lat and long

It is a simple model. The wind model has no dynamics which helps simplify the solution. This asusmption is mostly true beings the wind direction and velocity doesn't change all that much for a given flight. The filter starts off by assuming the soltion is a zero wind scenario and then moves towards reality. It takes about 2-3 seconds to converge.

The non-linear state update equations are as follows:

Pn_dot = Vair*cos(psi)*cos(theta) - Wn

Pe_dot = Vair*sin(psi)*cos(theta) - We

Wn_dot = 0

We_dot = 0

Notice the filter resolves on a wind velocity of 15 ft/s and 090 deg heading.

Pretty slick how quickly it finds a solution.

From News24:

Burglars use toy chopper to steal

Taipei - Taiwan police have arrested two men accused of using a toy helicopter to search homes before burgling them, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Taipei police arrested Chang Chen-cheng and seized the model aircraft, plus stolen goods, at his home, and are searching for his partner in crime Ah Hsiang.

The pair have allegedly committed a dozen burglaries using the toy helicopter, the Apple Daily said.

According to police, Chang and Ah Hsiang would ride motorbikes in North Taiwan to search for suitable victims, then release the toy radio-controlled helicopter.

The helicopter would fly to the window of an apartment, take photos of the inside of the apartment, and send the images to a computer inside the car.

If the photos revealed there was no one in the apartment, Chang and Ah Hsiang would allegedly break in and carry out the burglary, the Apple Daily said.

The helicopter was powered by a battery and measured 21cm and could remain airborne for 12 minutes - with little noise.

- SAPA