Blogs

All Posts (14047)

Sort by

I'm back!

Posted by Genesis Factor on September 24, 2008 at 3:00am
Woot offs are great! I am hoping to buy a recorder like the one i posted for sale the other day :)Okay...here we go...We're no longer loading down that poor little predator. Infact, it's role has be relegated to a training machine versus the final project. The main board has changed to something else, lower powered, but, still fun. No programming will be changed, and the basic idea of a network based remote controlled UAV will still be in that plane. The full project isn't dead, it's just been moved to staged development system. Why? Because better things are on the horizon...plus this path makes sure that everything that i have done and have bought thus far wasn't a waste.Changes:New Board.New OSNew Programming OptionsOther changesThe new board is a recently procured Viper-Lite. It is basically a DIY Pocket PC with a PXA255 200Mhz Xscale processor. It is small, 1.8Watts of power, adnd has only serial ports and a CF card slot of expansion. It is NOT IDEAL, as i was hoping it would be the regular VIPER with USB Host, but nothing that I've been playing with has been, so what else is new. This board is forcing me to buy and change a few things, which is okay. My servo controller now has to be serial based, as does my GPS. I will be going with the Lynxmotion SS322. Although it is bigger than the parallax serial servo controller, it is much much better and i can program it much more easily. I will be forced to try and constrict EVERYTHING to a 10-14MB ROM, saving at least 2MB for failsafe operations, such as return to home if power fails, GPS coordinates, and recording where home is. the 64MB flash is all going to go to program memory if i can make it so. The camera is going to still be routed through the board. However, there is only one way to do this: using the CF card. I have a LifeView Fly Grabber. It has two ports, but i can only view one at a time. This means that i will have to switch between fixed FPV and panoramic. Finally, the large camera will be removed for a smaller one that just is permenantly zoomed in with an optional 2x zoom. I am not sure if i can do video recording and streaming on this device, so there will be no real onboard recording. Finally, this board DOES have an ethernet controller, so the wifi based netwokring will have to be handled by an wireless game adatper, with converts 10/100 to 802.11b/g. My choice for that is the Linksys WGA54G. Power will still be the two batteries, but i may have to build a regulator...again...joy.The new OS is Linux, Debian. Also, good news, Urbi has given me access to their engine to make my own. I am very happy with that news, but i wasn't able to touch it due to recent tragic events (RIP Shaf). Running linux will allow me to run the VLC.ipkg. Using that, i can stream to and record at the base station. A joint MSRS and Urbi will be running on the board, with MSRS handling the basic flight and UAV functions and URBI taking over for more complex commands. Sorry MSRS, i know C++, and C# is hard. What this means is that when the plane moves or goes to a waypoint, all instructions are handled by MS. If i move the camera, that is also handled by MS. However, the more fun things i want to play with, such as object collision avoidance, will be handled by Urbi. If MS fails me, Urbi will take over form there and that will be that.The one thing that is upsetting is that ARCOM, the makers of the Viper, refuse to help me at all because i am a second hand buyer. All i needed was a sentence on how to make sure that Linux/CE made it into the ROM that the manual didn't answer. They suggested that i join the forums, so i will. Hopefully a kind soul will take me from there.The final set of changes are in the base station and other gear. I have a new laptop and sold my other ones. It is an IBM T60 (yay dual core!). The transition has been rough, but i finally have the system how i want it, so now i can install/reinstall the necessary software. I'm still installing my basic stuff and it's been back form the depot for a day now. There will be another thing that i will be adding to the base station, but that is just a forethought. Also, this project needs to be done programming by November. Flying before the dead of winter. I technically have until Janurary to do the debugging. Then my feet will hopefully meet the horizon, and more fun things will happen. That and school. Finally.Cost estimates for new suppliesSerial GPS (may have one that works already, but $40+)Lynxmotion SSC- $40Linksys WGA54G- $40-$50 ebay. going with a FON router flashed with DD-WRT. I 'll make it a wireless brigde. It is cheaper than a WGA54G and it is better as i have a whole bunch more controlTotal- $130. $200 is my cushion savings amount.If anyone can help me with Debian booting from the rom, please do. i know it is a tough question, but once i get debian running, the rest is gravy.
Read more…

IMU

Posted by Tytouff on September 23, 2008 at 12:21pm
started working on a IMU based on stm32 and lisy300 gyros. Looks for people developing on stm32.
Read more…

nMine UAV Controller, more hardware options than anybody could need!!!

Posted by jlcortex on September 23, 2008 at 6:30am

Hi, I would like to present my project, i know there are a lot of uav projects but i think it is a amazing balance of price, performance and simplicity! It is based on OLIMEX E2468 board and Sparkfun sensors.Features4 Layer board with ground plane for high noise immunity I/O Connectors:- 8 x Servos - Standard pitch 2.54mm- 4 x speed input (for sensors, motor RPM, or PPM capture)- 2 x CAN BUS with transceivers - Header 2.54mm- 10 x Analog Inputs (8 x 16bit - 5 used for gyros and pressures) general propose 0-5v (for sonar altimeter for example)- 4 x UARTs (one used for USB port) (3.3v level) for GPS and MaxStream XBEE-Pro 60mW radiolinkOnboard sensors options:Accelerometers (two options):- MMA7260Q 6g- analog- LIS3LV02DQ digital 1mg resolutionGyros:- Analog Devices ADXRS300 (any other possible!)- Compass (two options):- HM55B 2 axis 6 bit- PNI Corp's MicroMag 3-Axis MagnetometerOnboard Pressures:- MPXV5010DP 1.45psi (Airspeed)- MPXA4100A6U 15.2PSI (Altitude)Features from Olimex LPC-E2468 development board:- MCU: LPC2468, 16MB SDRAM (more is possible if necessary), 128 MB- Flash, standard JTAG connector for debugging with ARM-JTAG- Ethernet 100MBit- 2x USB hosts- USB-to-RS232 converter device connected to LPC2468 UART- SD/MMC card connector- Dimensions: 90x60mm (3.54 x 2.36")we have make all hardware access rutines in C, included SD card writing and reading with DMA!!!it is a simple micro boards, it is ARM7 so it is easier to program than any 8 bit micros (pic, avr...). Power and memory are enought for the AHRS's Extended Kalman Filter and for another EKF for INS system.this board can run under ulinux!! (we are not using it)It has been designed and build for "UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA", special thanks to DISCA departament.Jose LuisnMine.com

Read more…

Stay tuned...

Posted by Genesis Factor on September 21, 2008 at 1:57am
No i'm not done, nor have i given up. but a few things have changed, and almost all for the better :). in the middle, and almost done with upgrading almost every computing system in my network. New components have arrived and need to be tested. Also have been learning linux, which i have decided is going to be the main OS of the my project. I have until Februray to finish off this project and get my frist autonomous flight logged. If it is not done by then, that will be very sad.BTW, does anyone have amy experience with JTAG or XScale processors?
Read more…
Moderator

2.4ghz Device Range Expansion/Improvement

Posted by Brian on September 20, 2008 at 11:35am
I found a link for building your own 2.4ghz Patch Antenna to extend the range of your remote projects.The details can be found on this page: http://www.rc-cam.com/gp_patch.htmWhich is a sub-project page from (http://www.rc-cam.com) which is included within this post in accordance with the wishes of the the operator of the RC-CAM website.I have also found this antenna listed on the 'Geeks' web (www.geeks.com)Product link: htp://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=Z101-54000059-A&cat=CLR&cpc=CLRAs improving the quality of our 2.4ghz signals is or should always be on the agenda I was wondering what you all think in regards to the pros/cons of one antenna type over the other.Thanks - BCD
Read more…
3D Robotics

Ten days till AttoPilot.com goes live

Posted by Chris Anderson on September 20, 2008 at 11:30am

Dean Goedde's highly-anticipated Attopilot, in Pro, Basic and RTL form (estimated costs: $800, $400, $100), will have a proper home in ten days, when his site goes live. [UPDATE: Dean doesn't have an exact date for availability, but as he notes in the comment below, he expects to start taking order in 4-6 weeks, with units shipping around that time.] Lots of background info in this incredibly long thread.
Read more…
3D Robotics

Arduino 12 released!

Posted by Chris Anderson on September 19, 2008 at 5:19pm

Version 12 of the Arduino software IDE was released today along with a pretty lengthy list of updated features - * Added Arduino Nano to the boards menu. * Arduino Pro or Pro Mini (8 MHz) to the boards menu. * Added Firmata library by Hans Steiner and others. This provides a standard protocol for communicating with software on the computer. * Added an Ethernet library for use with the Arduino Ethernet Shield. * Added a Servo library based on the work of Jim Studt. * Added a LiquidCrystal library based on the work in the playground. It supports both 4- and 8-bit modes. * Improved millis(): it now overflows after 49 days instead of 9 hours, but now uses slightly more processing power. * Fixed reversing direction bug in Stepper library. (Thanks to Wayne Holder.) * Moved insertion of #include Release notes and download. [via Make]
Read more…
3D Robotics

Free Stanford Robotics and Computer Science courses

Posted by Chris Anderson on September 18, 2008 at 8:00am

Video lectures (sample above), syllabus and more. Cool stuff, all described here. Here are the first ten: # Introduction to Computer Science: * Programming Methodology — CS106A * Programming Abstractions — CS106B * Programming Paradigms — CS107 # Artificial Intelligence: * Introduction to Robotics — CS223A * Natural Language Processing — CS224N * Machine Learning — CS229 # Linear Systems and Optimization: * The Fourier Transform and its Applications — EE261 * Introduction to Linear Dynamical Systems — EE263 * Convex Optimization I — EE364A * Convex Optimization II — EE364B
Read more…
3D Robotics

BlimpDuino code now in alpha

Posted by Chris Anderson on September 15, 2008 at 9:30pm
Jordi has finished the first pass on the code for the new BlimpDuino boards. It's best to consider this pre-alpha and not fully functional, but if you want to see how we read IR and ultrasonic sensors, read RC channels, drive a servo and twin motors and use PID loops to hold altitude and navigate, you'll find it instructive. It's practically a primer in Arduino robotics. Of particular note are the PID control loops, which are a big step up from the basic P (proportional only) loops we were using before. There's also some new code to check the battery voltage and shut down if gets too low, protecting the LiPo. Overall, this code is designed to be efficient and to conserve power. We run the Atmega using its internal 8Mhz clock rather than the 20mhz external crystal we use with ArduPilot, and we keep ultrasonic pings to a minimum. The main thing we need to add now is my RC-mode code. The code is here. Stay tuned for proper beta code in a week after Jordi's been able to test it in the air.
Read more…
3D Robotics

Great UAV/Robotics podcast

Posted by Chris Anderson on September 15, 2008 at 9:23pm

I didn't really warm to podcasts until I got an iPhone, which I naturally sync every day (something I never did with the iPod). Now there's always fresh spoken-word content on my phone, and it's exactly the stuff I want rather than than whatever happens to be on the radio. What I want to listen to is smart shows about UAVs and robots, and fortunately, I've found one. It's called Robots, and you can get it free on iTunes or directly from its website. For UAVs, check out two recent shows: DelFly and Europe's Micro Air Vehicle Competition and A Robot Fly at Harvard. You can also check out this show on Flying Insects and Robots from their preview podcast series. They're all interviews with the researchers themselves, so they're substantive, and they're well produced so they're entertaining. The only think I like to see them do is also cover larger UAVs. They're not as amazing as the tiny flapping ones, but they're more practical.
Read more…

battery selection?

Posted by Aaron Weinstein on September 14, 2008 at 11:02pm
Hey everybody...what batteries do you use to power your blimps? From searching around here, I see that Li Pol or AAA are two common choices. Chris mentioned something about having capacity for only about 300mAh with such a system. Is this generally agreed upon? What stops anyone from using 4 or more AAA in series. They seem to be pretty light, 7.6 g per energizer lithium, and provide decent mAh (1250 mAh ... yeah right). Other options, specifically rechargeable NiMH, like the rayovac ic3's, are quite alluring as well, although I assume these are heavier, potentially too heavy for the payload.So what am I missing?my setup is an arduino with two micro servos (one servo is constantly sweeping but this could be changed), a pyroelectric sensor (eltec 442-3), ultrasound, and two n20 motors. I would love to get at least ~1 hour of runtime off of a discharge of AAA's. I think Li Pol would better fit my desires however I would rather get the blimp up and running before I make that investment.I really appreciate it,Ari
Read more…
3D Robotics

Zagi flying wings used as autonomous medical carriers

Posted by Chris Anderson on September 14, 2008 at 7:25pm

The South African researchers claim this Zagi flying wing can carry 500 grams of medicine or medical supplies to a location that's otherwise hard to reach. "Clinics in remote areas of South Africa can only be reached on unpaved roads that are impassable in rain," the article says. Given that the range of these electrics is just a few miles, this clearly isn't the right platform, but it's a good concept regardless. [From New Scientist] Video:
Read more…

UAV_Eins RIP

Posted by HugePanic on September 14, 2008 at 1:00pm
I have bad news here.UAV_Eins hast left at about 15:30Uhr. It just disapeard in the windy skys over southern Hamburg.Way too strong winds, and no way to land securely at the village. So i had to steer higher to avoid further damage. It got just out of sight, and was nowere to be found.With no phone number or name on, the chance to get it back is minimal.So RIP UAV_Eins...RIP about 150€ materialRIP about 15h work...The King is dead, long live the King.. --> UAV_ZwoHere are some Pictures of UAV_EinsRegards

Read more…
3D Robotics

LED WTF?

Posted by Chris Anderson on September 13, 2008 at 9:30am
This is just a gripe. Throughout the electronics world polarized components are marked with the stripe or other distinctive marking on the positive terminal. That's fine. But why is that on SMD LEDs the dot and/or green stripe is on the negative side (the cathode)? For through-hole versions, LEDs follow the usual convention, with the positive terminal having the long lead. But only in the SMD versions is it reversed. I know this, of course, so I adjust accordingly, but every time I need to remind myself of this I wonder how such standard-setting error could have happened. Does anyone know?
Read more…