Remote Control Aircraft

[ddrueding]

The Radian now has all the bits needed for autonomous operation. Added an airspeed sensor (pitot tube) and programmed a 3-way switch on the controller to toggle between "gyro-assisted manual flight", "circle in place", and "fly mission". I don't think a mission is on the menu for tomorrow, but getting it to circle in place would be a pretty big step. If it can operate all the controls and maintain altitude and airspeed over a fixed ground coordinate, the only thing that would cause a mission to fail would be my programming.

 

[Stereodude]

Glad you're making progress. Unfortunately, I had over $500 in RC stuff stolen from my porch on Wed. 4 USPS packages and 1 UPS package. So far one of the stores (who didn't insure the 2 packages) basically told me "too bad". Unfortunately I paid for the items with Paypal, and I know I will lose when I attempt to dispute this since they will just point to the tracking information that says "delivered". One store started the investigation process with UPS. I'm trying to get a hold of the other two stores and see if they insured the packages / what they're willing to do.

 

[ddrueding]

Glad you're making progress. Unfortunately, I had over $500 in RC stuff stolen from my porch on Wed. 4 USPS packages and 1 UPS package. So far one of the stores (who didn't insure the 2 packages) basically told me "too bad". Unfortunately I paid for the items with Paypal, and I know I will lose when I attempt to dispute this since they will just point to the tracking information that says "delivered". One store started the investigation process with UPS. I'm trying to get a hold of the other two stores and see if they insured the packages / what they're willing to do.

Wow that sucks. Surely USPS/UPS holds some responsibility if they left the packages in the open? And if they left them because their stated value was too low, then it rests with the seller for misrepresenting the package. I suspect a nice letter on some legal stationary might help in this regard.

 

[ddrueding]

Today the flights were going great until I pulled a Google.

Transitioned through "Stabilize" mode (gyro assisted manual control), "Circle" mode (maintain altitude and bank angle; will drift with the wind), "Loiter" mode (circle over a fixed point on the ground), and "Auto" (fly the mission as sent from the Mission Planner software, including waypoints and other commands).

The wind was fairly strong, and there is plenty of fine-tuning of variables to do, but it was remarkable for a stock config. It was able to compare the airspeed indicator and the GPS position to identify wind speed and trends, and even chopped the throttle at one point as it crested a ridge and got some lift in order to maintain altitude and heading.

Of course, I took it into manual mode for the landing. The wind was strong enough that I overshot the landing zone, stayed in ground effect just over the road, and hit the far curb @25mph. Time to rebuild the motor/prop/spinner again.

 

[ddrueding]

The 5.8GHz receiver for the video feed arrived today, and the system works great. I did however get motion sick after playing with them for less than 10 minutes. Perhaps a screen instead of the goggles would be better for me.

Also, my Carbon Fiber for the quad copter arrived, though they messed up the order just a bit (one piece is the wrong thickness and wrong finish).

 

[ddrueding]

Scratch one airplane. I had my computer control stuff on one airframe and decided to play with the FPV stuff on another. Without warning the video cut out, and my spotter had lost sight of the airplane without telling me. Even though it was still in the air and I likely had control, we couldn't locate it in the sky. I immediately trimmed it for a circle pattern and gentle climb, but after 30 minutes we started driving around looking for it on the ground. The video never came back.

ImmersionRC 600mW transmitter, circularly polarized antenna, Sony boardcam, Spektrum 6-ch receiver, and the plane. Probably $450 off to somewhere.

Likely still on the property somewhere; workers might find it.

Lessons learned:

1. Keep a better dialogue going with your spotter.
2. Be more conservative with your range during test flights with new equipment.
3. Have return-to-launch capability before FPV.

That was it for today...off to dinner.

 

[timwhit]

How much have you spent on this stuff so far?

 

[ddrueding]

Probably $1k. Way cheaper than the pilot's training I was doing before.

Oh, and after writing the last post, I walk down to my car and the missing plane is sitting right next to it. One of the kind souls on the hill had located it and brought it down to me. I'll be hand delivering some beer to them tomorrow.

 

[timwhit]

That's a nice present.

 

[ddrueding]

Yup. All the free IT support to the neighborhood paid off in one big chunk.

 

[Stereodude]

I took my cheapo Syma X1 quad outside in the cold and snow today. Flying outside is quite a bit different than trying to fly indoors in a constrained space. It's hard to tell the orientation of it once it gets far enough away though.

 

[ddrueding]

Indeed. I'm bummed I wasn't able to find the props I wanted to use in any color but black. Painting is one option, but I really like the carbon fiber look. I've purchased some EL Ribbon in different colors to play with; White for the front, Red for the back, Blue for the bottom. Still need to measure how much power it draws.

 

[ddrueding]

Oh, and after writing the last post, I walk down to my car and the missing plane is sitting right next to it. One of the kind souls on the hill had located it and brought it down to me. I'll be hand delivering some beer to them tomorrow.

Turns out that it didn't come down on the hill, but nearly a mile away in a cattle field, 45-degrees off what I thought my last heading was. Confirmed that the video transmitter failed due to overheating (next to the ESC). I'll be mounting the whole transmitter on the surface of the plane from now on.

 

[Stereodude]

Well, the good news is you got it back.

It seems like every few days I'm finding that the number of packages stolen from my porch last Wed goes up. I'm up to 5 USPS and 1 UPS. I've been watching Craigslist and Ebay for the stuff, but nothing so far. So far not a single vendor has stepped up to do the "right" thing and replace the order. Now you know why I'm interested in security cameras (again).

 

[timwhit]

Well, the good news is you got it back.

It seems like every few days I'm finding that the number of packages stolen from my porch last Wed goes up. I'm up to 5 USPS and 1 UPS. I've been watching Craigslist and Ebay for the stuff, but nothing so far. So far not a single vendor has stepped up to do the "right" thing and replace the order. Now you know why I'm interested in security cameras (again).

We had several packages stolen from the lobby of our building before Christmas and Amazon replaced or refunded everything without any trouble.

 

[ddrueding]

The only thing I had delivered to the house lately was a new toilet (ordered from Amazon, Prime is awesome).

If I didn't have an office with a receptionist to sign for everything, I would absolutely have a PO box at a facility for such things.

 

[jtr1962]

This looks like the answer to stolen packages. I'm sure if you're reasonably handy you can make something similar for under $50. In any case, it's probably less costly than putting in a bunch of security camera.

 

[Stereodude]

It also wouldn't work in my subdivision.

 

[Howell]

http://youtu.be/CLLAKnVej9o

 

[Stereodude]

http://youtu.be/CLLAKnVej9o

You're doing it all wrong.

[video=youtube_share;CLLAKnVej9o]http://youtu.be/CLLAKnVej9o[/video]

 

[LunarMist]

How is that video any different? The shot they are using is rather weak. If I saw a plane flying over my house, I'd rather put it out of commission for good.

 

[Stereodude]

*sigh* it's embedded rather than a hyperlink

 

[LunarMist]

*sigh* it's embedded rather than a hyperlink

That's hardly "doing it all wrong." I prefer the hyperlink method, but I suppose the embedded method has advantages such as preventing the rickroll. Anyway it is a personal choice and I'm not the expert at linking anything.

 

[ddrueding]

That looks pretty cool, though I didn't have any sound?

 

[Stereodude]

Definitely had sound here.

 

[Howell]

You're doing it all wrong.

Embeds take up too much screen real estate. Hate that.

 

[LunarMist]

Embeds take up too much screen real estate. Hate that.

Especially on the tablet.

 

[Stereodude]

It's not my fault you two are apparently using substandard browsing devices.

 

[ddrueding]

Tonight's work:

 

[CougTek]

Why aren't the front and rear bars in the first pictures not parallel?

 

[LunarMist]

It's not my fault you two are apparently using substandard browsing devices.

Sub compared to which standard?

 

[Stereodude]

Sub compared to which standard?

Anything where the relatively small embedded video doesn't take up "too much screen real estate".

 

[Stereodude]

Why aren't the front and rear bars in the first pictures not parallel?

I'm guessing due to parallax.

 

[Stereodude]

Tonight's work:

View attachment 568View attachment 569

So, why are you going with a H-frame over the more conventional X?

 

[ddrueding]

More space for stuff. Gets the camera mount out from between the rotors. Looks pretty cool. More structurally sound (arm lengths are shorter).

 

[ddrueding]

Why aren't the front and rear bars in the first pictures not parallel?

I just grabbed one of the views from SolidWorks; no idea. I want to capture a video of the model rotating, but I don't know how to do that yet.

 

[LunarMist]

It looks like some legislation on the consumer spyplanes is in the works.

 

[ddrueding]

Interesting how they are going after anything with a camera with privacy concerns and not full automation due to safety concerns. Plus, that is in Oregon, where crazy happens (I was born there, my sister lives there, I know).

Pretty silly considering there are already privacy laws on the books that provide plenty of protection. Even if such a law were passed here I still think I would pursue the hobby. Screw 'em.

 

[Stereodude]

Glad you're making progress. Unfortunately, I had over $500 in RC stuff stolen from my porch on Wed. 4 USPS packages and 1 UPS package. So far one of the stores (who didn't insure the 2 packages) basically told me "too bad". Unfortunately I paid for the items with Paypal, and I know I will lose when I attempt to dispute this since they will just point to the tracking information that says "delivered". One store started the investigation process with UPS. I'm trying to get a hold of the other two stores and see if they insured the packages / what they're willing to do.

I'm not sure how, but the local police department caught the people who stole my stuff. It sounds like they had also stolen other stuff from other people as well. The detective told me they confessed to stealing it. Apparently they didn't know what it was and dumped it out in the woods to it's pretty much ruined from exposure to the elements. The detective seemed to indicate they would likely have to make restitution for the value of the items. They needed a statement from me explaining what was / wasn't replaced by the sellers, which I provided. Now the case goes to the prosecuter.

 

[ddrueding]

I've been in and out of the hobby with the kid and work demanding quite a bit of my time. I have built and flown a few Radian motor-gliders, including one with a full APM 2.5+ autopilot with GPS and speed sensor. I also modified one set of wings with ailerons to some significant success.

Most recently though I purchased an X8 and some electronics to go with it (800W motor, 75A ESC, 14" folding carbon fiber pusher prop, 22Ah of 4-cell battery) Apparently people have been fitting DSLRs into it, but I only planning on sticking a couple of GoPros and a Canon S95. I've already modified the elevons into two independently controlled segments, good for use as a drag-rudder, camber/crow/flaps, etc. Build quality is also reportedly poor, along with structural rigidity. Some 1/4" carbon-fiber rods arrived today, along with the router-bit for the Dremel and the epoxy. I suspect this will resolve most of the structural issues. Without them top recommended speed was 75kph; I'm hoping to cruise around 60mph for half an hour or so.