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Small UAS...trials and tribulations....

Posted by Rory Paul on March 26, 2009 at 2:54pm
26080909:00, No wind, conditions clear.Test flight of CC using the FMA COP4.Near perfect conditions to test the mods to the CC along with the addition of the FMA Copilot.System was prepped and loaded the night before and assembly and calibration went smoothly. I did not have camera installed due to leaving the screws at home. Take off was to the south with a left hand climb out on full auto.Interrupted flight during grid to run an orbit. Resumed track and then moved waypoint so CC would follow. Hit a coms snag and took manual control for landing. Found I had the elevator reversed corrected on the spot. Landing was fast but level. No damage.

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Presentation on my autopilot featured on Slideshare

Posted by Koen Delvaux on March 26, 2009 at 12:39pm
Last Saturday I attended Barcamp Antwerp in Belgium. The idea of a barcamp is that every attendee gives a presentation without to much preparation. I talked about my autopilot project.The presentation got featured on Slideshare, you can see it here: http://www.slideshare.net/kodel/the-kodel-an-rc-airplane-autopilot-for-aerial-photography-1176625If you want to see my presentation, here is the video: http://www.viddler.com/explore/Stefaan_Lesage/videos/8/Not very advanced, but enough to spark some interest in the non-RC crowd present!
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Let the design and construction meet!

Posted by Blair Davis on March 26, 2009 at 8:07am
Well the plane has arrived the wings are the first order of business while i wait on rocket motors and the linear actuators for the wing motion control. I think that my proof of concept will prove to be a good design. how ever there is an issue with the coding. I would like to know if there is anyone out there that has any code on a altimeter and airspeed sensor. thanks pics soon too come (later today)
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And So it begins....

Posted by Colin Mellars on March 25, 2009 at 5:11pm
Well here I am getting warmed up to start pursuing my UAV. I have my Flightgear and my C# programming skills and I am all set to start. The starting plan is to begin passing information back and forth. I have to say bravo the developers of Flightgear. The XML interface for getting data into and out of Flightgear is amazing, simple, clean and quick to get started. The first night worth of development has seen me getting information to my client over a socket (at least I have some flexiblity in how I want to handle H-I-L simulation further down the road). I have to say that this was simpler to get started, but now I am getting into the meat of what I love about flight...the autopilot! This is all I have to start with, I will let the world know how the next steps go (begin developing accurate position information)! Stay tuned....
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A Somewhat Different Take On The Arduino-Based UAV - Project Flying Robot

Posted by deadprogrammer on March 24, 2009 at 6:19pm
For some time, my brother Damen and I have been silent admirers of the awesome stuff that is being done by Chris, Jordi, and many others here on DIYDrones. Finally, about a month ago, inspired by the cool community, we decided to jump into the air with our own project, which we call flying_robot.The flying_robot project is indeed Arduino-based, but we are basing our work on the Ruby Arduino Development (RAD) programming tool. RAD allows you to use the Ruby programming language as sort of specialized language for Arduino development. Along with a bunch of plugins for a bunch of the hardware you might want to connect to the Arduino, RAD is a really easy way to dive into Arduino development.Our project, flying_robot, is intended to take this same approach towards creating UAV's that are based on the Arduino. We have created a bunch of plugins for RAD for various hardware like the Honeywell digital compass, Pololu Serial Motor Controllers and IR Receiver, and other things that you might want to include when putting together your own Arduino-based UAV.Another thing that we have been working on is a simple, but effective standard digital protocol for "fly-by-wire" remote control. We have been using linked XBee modems, and have been very happy with the results so far.Our first implementation is a Blimpduino clone that we call "Rogue 1". We just had a successful mini-test of the engines and vectoring controllers. I have been blogging about it at http://deadprogrammersociety.com and my brother has been posting to his blog at http://myfirstairship.blogspot.comWe are going to be demonstrating the software and hardware at the Los Angeles Ruby Conference (LARubyConf) coming up on April 4. If all goes well, there will be some new converts to the way of the flying_robot.Once again, thanks to Jordi and Chris for sharing all their fine work, without which the flying_robot project would not be possible!
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Paparazzi autopilot in the Arctic again

Posted by Martin Mueller on March 24, 2009 at 5:31am
We are back in the Arctic flying Paparazzi aircrafts on Svalbard (N78° E15°) doing research with the Geophysical Institute of the University of Bergen/Norway. There are two teams operating near Longyearbyen, one on the apron of Longyearbyen airport (LYR) and the other at the old northern lights research station in Adventdalen. Currently we can get permission to fly up to 1500m outside the airport opening times. The Paparazzi aircrafts work perfectly...for humans it is just a little cold. Last night we flew having -32°C (-25°F) on the ground.

The aircrafts are flying vertical and horizontal surveys to measure temperature, humidity and pressure. Wind is estimated by flying and gliding in circles. The aircrafts operate over open land, in the valley, over ice and water. The air layers show very strange effects, especially in the valley. Last night we "surfed" on a wave of air that was falling down and bouncing up from the surrounding mountains. Without the motor turned on the Funjet soared up 1m/s for several minutes at 1330m. The aircrafts nose was pushed down to sink and the Funjet is not a glider at all...
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My Ardupilot v2.0 code mod's

Posted by Max on March 23, 2009 at 11:07pm

After the 1st test flight and seeing the plane wobble too much ive edited the code to make the following changes...Original code#define roll_P .8 //roll PID proportionalRudder to sensitive1st test#define roll_P .5 //roll PID proportionalNo wobble at all but wont turn...2nd test#define roll_P .65 //roll PID proportionalStill too sensitive but much better then .8 & seems to turn with alot of authority, would roll violently in the cross wind (was about 10-20knots)Ill have to go down 1st thing in the morning when there is no wind, might also drop it down to .6 and see how it flys.Max
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MY UGV

Posted by Ho-Chung Chang on March 21, 2009 at 8:20am
It is my UGV that has done only by myself.Front Camera for Road recognizing, LMS291 is for detect obstacle, IMU300 and DGPS are for navigation and attitude estimating. Solar cell is for RF system backup power.

After Paint....XD

I have not completed yet. Just provide way point navigation, obstacle avoidance (only front). I have stored money to buy Laser Range finder and manufacture a real gun turret with vision target tracking.
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New GPS

Posted by Boomslang on March 20, 2009 at 12:52am

GPS RecieverThe main features of this GPS is that it constantly tracks position, so there is no startup wait. Only 1ma power consumption! Hope that sparkfun will get some of these on breakout boards when they arrive.I wonder what the update rate on these will be?
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Ardupilot 1.0: Successful testing with Easy Star

Posted by Jason on March 19, 2009 at 10:26pm
After working out a few kinks (bad CPD4 sensor) I successfully tested Ardupilot 1.0 with my modified Easy Star with ailerons. I have been testing with the NE code loaded and the PID heading gain set initially at -40,40, and most recently at -25,25. I also have the rudder servo set to 'Normal'. At first I left it set to reverse but realized the mistake after the first flight test. One thing I am still trying to work out is the plane's tendency to oscillate when flying towards the NE, that is, the plane tends to turn past the heading by 10 - 15 degrees or so only to turn back the other way to correct, and then repeats this over and over. When I had the PID gain set to 40 the problem was much more pronounced, so I am thinking of scaling back from the current setting of 25 to 20. All in all I am very excited to have come this far!
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3D Robotics

AttoPilot now on sale!

Posted by Chris Anderson on March 19, 2009 at 8:45pm

Great new. Dean Goedde is now accepting orders for AttoPilot. $800: Main features: 50Hz Attitude control (pitch and roll) with elevon and V-tail mixing Automatic gain scheduling based on airspeed Pitot airspeed sensing and control 100 3D waypoints with airspeed targets and 6 scripting parameters Line hold navigaton to mere meters accuracy Included GCS with ability to playback LOG.txt recorded to removable SD media onboard the UAV Integrated power sensing to 90A and 50V User-defined mAh abort limit failsafe for forced RTL Unlimited onboard logging of 65+ parameters to micro SD media at 5Hz Options to trigger photos at ground distance intervals or time intervals Optional motor spin-down to idle before photos are triggered Special NEW and universal RC failsafe system 100% compatibility with all R/C systems that "speak" to servos with 1-2ms logic pulses either 3V or 5V logic (no level shifters) Wide voltage input range 4.2 to 13.2V, only 100mA including GPS 5Hz GPS with WAAS support Here's the price list for it and all the related items:

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Use This non-line-of-sight Product Outside of USA Homeland Security Zone

Posted by Gary Thomas on March 19, 2009 at 4:00pm
Current UAV Search and Rescue Camera Drone technology is limited because of the maximum range, or distance the UAV drone can travel on one fueling.

Please note that Germany now has a 42-kW [ 56 horsepower ] piloted self-launching airplane/glider combo. It's fueled with underwing pods of Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen and uses a PEM fuel cell. View it here:
www.lange-aviation.com
At about 100 mph airspeed, it's capable of over 24 hours of uninterrupted flight time before it must land for refueling ..... That's over 2,400 miles folks!

One other extended-range UAV drone is the " KAIST " college Research and Development program in South Korea. They've got a new flying-wing UAV drone. Originally, they claimed it was powered with 500g of liquid hydrogen, a fuel cell and electric motor. More recently, however, they claim that it is fueled with sodium borohydride. Oddly enough, the wording of the report I read altered slightly [ between last year and this year ] .... maybe for proprietary or security related reasons .... Nonetheless, this very special purpose UAV drone is capable of over 10 hours of uninterrupted flight time, before it must land for refueling.
My bet's on Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen for maximum flight time and distance.....Unsure about the potential for sodium borohydride..... Far and away more BTU's in the Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen.....KnowhatimeanVerne?

Imagine, if you will, a working scale-model of The Seattle Space Needle, for UAV Search and Rescue Camera Drone, Property Photography and Personal Security use.
Envision the www.microdrones.com " Powerplant " being installed INSIDE a scale model of the 1962 World's Fair Seattle Space Needle.

Propulsion configuration is a judicious blend of:* 4 EV Electric Motors* PEM Fuel Cell* Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen* Lithium Batteries and* military-specification Ultra-Capacitors

This vital new category of UAV drone could be easily be equipped with GPS Auto-Pilot or GPS-Waypoint-Navigation. This way, unwanted radio frequency interference is far less probable.

Notable are these facts:* Liquid Hydrogen contains about 3X the BTU value of Jet-A or Aviation Gasoline.
* PEM fuel cells are 1.5X to 2.5X more efficient than almost every kind of internal combustion engine
* EV electric motors with PWM / MOSFET electronic controllers eliminate alot of the drivetrain efficiency losses you'd otherwise encounter

For some strange reason, I attract negative comments like a very small / ultra-powerful liquid nitrogen cooled electromagnet. God only knows why .....

Over 24 hours of liquid hydrogen / fuel cell / electric motor powered flight time is a far cry from the mistaken 13 minute flight duration lithium battery / electric motor powered airplane which is also sold on this web-site.
Finally, the aforementioned model " DLR-H2 " 42-kW / 56 horsepower piloted airplane at www.lange-aviation.com was flight tested late last year. Production this year, with new world " zero-pollution " aviation distance records may indeed follow.
If you can help, lemmi know and join in.If not, then please keep distractional comments to yourself.

After being ridiculed and ignored for 9 years or more on my Fuel Cell / Liquid Hydrogen / Electric Motor / Lithium Battery / Ultra - Capacitor Aviation Propulsion Design ideas, I'm not in the mood for any more of it, especially since my very basic & vital idea is now a flight-tested commercial reality in Germany.
Save the chiding for your children.

Cheers!Mr. G. Thomas1.480.528.1156Avondale, Arizona USA

Other web sites of interest -disclaimer: It is not my intent to promote nor endorse any of the following companies. I'm just providing technical information on potential UAV drone parts suppliers.www.acpropulsion.com , www.maxwell.com , www.ballard.com , www.sourceguides.com , www.popularmechanics.com August 2001 edition - you are looking for a full page drawing of a very interesting Urban High Rise Building Search & Rescue Hovercraft that PM magazine claims is made at " DM Aero Safe Group " in Ashdod, Israel.

USA Digital TV Conversion - [ extra available rf-signals from February 17th, 2009 digital TV conversion will help alot with the future deployment of plenty of telemetry operated UAV drones ].Southeast Asia Memorial Wall in Washington DC - My Uncle Charles [ Chuck ] Earl Schoolcraft is listed on Panel 32W, Line 051 of the SE Asia Memorial Wall. Army records say he was run over & killed by a US Army " half - track " armored truck in the province of Tuyen Duc, Vietnam on February 17th, 1969. This was Chinese New Years Day .... precisely ONE Chinese calendar year, to the very day, after that nasty Tet 1968 episode.
How bizarre!
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Ardupilot + waypoint task

Posted by Magnus Persson on March 18, 2009 at 11:05pm
Helloi am new in UAV world and looking to get a ardupilot to try. but I have a small questionIs ardupilot able to make a waypoint task (eg to take a photo or releasing Payload) when it comes to a selected waypiont?
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