Turn ANY RC model Airplane into a Drone!

You want to have your own fully-autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for under $500 bucks?

Check out this blog posting on diydrones.com entitled "Arduplane" that was posted by Chris Anderson back in 2010.

You basically add the ArduPilot Mega autopilot module (looks like another receiver to me) and hook it up with your radio control model airplane (or car, helicopter, boat, tank, etc) and you now have a fully-programmable robot with ground station and Mission Planner.

You can have unlimited 3d GPS waypoints, built-in camera control.  One-click software load and point-and-click Mission Planner software.  You have to do NO programming on your own to operate this.

Record your "missions" for future playback back at headquaters.  Controlling the drone you have two options:  fly with your transmitter's joystick or gamepad through your PC for no RC control at all!

Best feature of all is a built-in failsafe that will bring your aircraft back home in case of radio loss.

ArduPilot Mega (APM) is all Open Source.

The one thing you do need to get started is a minium of a 5-channel RC transmitter and airplane.  A mini USB cable.  And be willing to do your own soldering with your soldering iron.

The blog posting that I got this information has the particulars and nuts-and-bolts information for the system. You can order and also download the manuals from that webpage.

Now, FPV (First Person View) is something real neet.  Its like your in the cockpit of full scale airplane.  It is technically a UAV.  But you must still be within range of the model to be able to uplink/downlink with the model.  The really BASIC version of FPV is just sticking a video camera on the airplane and flying it around.  Then watch the results when you get home that night.

But this thing, the ArduPilot Mega (APM) appears to be a game changer. Especially if some of my flying buddies can get their mitts on some for themselves.

The biggest concern is someone (i.e. a Terrorist) will use this for a small scale terror attacks. And with recent developments with mini-drones that can fly as 'one,' that threat will keep on growing.  Be it from Terrorists or a Oppressive government tyring to control its citizens on the cheap.

The Gee-Wizz factor on the other hand is nice.  When I got into this hobby (RC model airplanes), I overheard some of the older club members talk about flying their models "cross-country."  That sounded really neet to me.   Sitting in the back of a pickup truck as you go down the backroads flying your model and then coming in for a landing to refill your fuel tank to go on the next leg of your cross-country flight.

With this thing (ArduPilot Mega), you could program a cross-country flight and have the video downlink to your ground station as your model airplane flies over the "checkpoints."  I would love to see a scale model or warbird event done this way!

I don't think we'll see it however due to the badguys out there wanting to harm us.  Too bad.  I was wanting to do this with either my PC-9 from Seagull models or my original P-51D from Hangar 9 (Horizon Hobbies).



___
Ref.
1. diydrones.com. "Arduplane" by Chris Anderson. May 1, 2010. ( http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/ardupilot-mega-home-page ).

UFO Seen Over Moscow Protest Rally

A recent daytime UFO sighting of what appears to this blogger to be of a helicopter-like drone, was seen at a political protest rally in Bolotnaya Square; in the Russian Capital of Moscow this month.

The video link here ( http://bcove.me/7ohwxeld ) and some of the screen captures were posted online by the Daily Mail recently. Poor picture quality and the videos taken by two individuals that the Daily Mail was able to reach are of poor quality too.

I am guessing both videos were taken by cellphone cameras. Hint to future video takers. Cellphone cameras do have a ZOOM in function if you will just take the time when you have your UFO moment to use it!

In the pictures, the object appears to have legs or other blade-like objects sticking out from the central body. Witnesses to this sighting state that they did not hear any rotor blade or engine sounds from this object.

The protesters were voicing their opposition to Vladimir Putin's United Russia party's contentious victory in elections the week before when the UFO sighting took place. And those present became more concern with the UFO instead of the main reason they were there.

___

Ref.

1. Daily Mail. "Russian protesters distracted during Moscow demo against Putin... by 'UFO' flying over Kremlin" By Chris Parsons. December 13, 2011. ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073132/Russian-protesters-distracted-UFO-Moscow-demo-Vladimir-Putin.html ). images from same article.

Two Coast to Coast AM UFO pictures

1.  Romerhaus picture:  Haleiwa, Oahu, Hawaii (January 1997).  Two long objects "firing" a beam of light between each other.  These things look like that they escaped from the Babylon 5 tv series.

Bill Romerhaus provided Coast to Coast am readers lots of information about what type of film he was using when he witness this event. A Nikon 800mm f/5.6 wiht a 2x tele-extender on a very heavy duty tripod. Film was Fuji Velvia 35mm transparency at a exposure rate of f/8-f/11 for about 15 seconds.  He managed to take 10 to 20 pictures of the object. Two of which he reports getting good shots of the objects.

A clear night in January of 1997, as a party was coming to a close, the group noticed the strange lights.  Weather was a clear night, no clouds or haze at all. 

Romerhaus thinks that the objects were at least a mile or two in altitude and as big as a Boeing 747 jetliner.  They were blinking multi-colored lights on their perimeters.  And the outline of the craft could be determined through the viewfinder of the camera. Twenty minutes later, the second craft arrived and the light beam connected the two for a minute or two. 

Eventually, he called into Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell hosting.

Again - looking at the picture that was sent into the C2Cam website - these 'craft' look like something that would have been on the scf-fi tv series Babylon 5.

2.  Ellis Picture:  San Diego, California (March 26, 2009). Isadore Ellis was on on the patio having a cup of coffee when he noticed the light in the sky.  The light did nto move for about 3-4 minutes.  Looking at it through binoculars, he witness a disk shaped object, round on the bottom and top, with a light streaming from the top.  That is when he got a camera and began to take pictures.  

Twenty seconds later, it shot up and to the southwest and disappeared.  No noise was heard coming from the object.  Shortly thereafter, a helicopter flew over and Isadore Ellis noted the time as 11:00pm.  They lived in east San Diego.

Looking at this picture - I can't help but think there is a connection with the "drones" and the strange "guidewires" rising up from the center donut hole of the drone.  At least that is what it looks like to me. 

___

Ref. Coast to Coast AM website.

(Hawaii pic link - ( http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page3001.html?theme=light )

San Diego link - ( http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page3007.html?theme=light )

also from (http://alienufoparanormal.aliencasebook.com/)