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).



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

Depend on Your Goverment - To Screw Things Up! DoD Buys Russian Helos

A very interesting article from the Washington Post by Craig Whitlock today. Entitled, "U.S. military criticized for purchase of Russian copters for Afghan air corps."

The Pentagon has spent $648 million dollars to buy or refurbish 31 Russian Mi-17 transport helicopters for the Afghan National Army Air Corps. NATO codename "Hip." Department of Defense wants to get ten more in 2011, and several dozen more over the next decade. The Mi-17 is an aircraft that is use in Iraq and Pakistan.

The Mi-8/17 "Hip" is a medium size, twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. Specifically designed by the Russians for the condictions found in Afghanistan when they were there in the 1980s. The Mi-17 is the designation for the export version of the helicopter. Russian armed forces refer to it as the Mi-8MT. The two can be told apart because the Mi-17 has the tail rotor on the port side instead of the starboard side like the Russian military models do.

The type is used all over the world from Bangladesh, Croatia, Czech Republic, India, Kazan, Mexico, Pakistan, and several other nations. Even Canada leases these helicopters through SkyLink Aviation.

So of course when Senators Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) and Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) heard about this - well they just had to stick their noses into it. Basically, Afghanistan should be buying U.S. built aircraft-period. Never mind there wrench that will be through into the "Afghanistanizing" (look ma, created a new word here I think!) of the war.

(Quote): U.S. and Afghan military officials who favor the Mi-17, which was designed for use in Afghanistan, acknowledge that it might seem odd for the Pentagon to invest in Russian military products. But they said that changing helicopter models would throw a wrench into the effort to train Afghan pilots, none of whom can fly U.S.-built choppers.

"If people come and fly in Afghanistan with the Mi-17, they will understand why that aircraft is so important to the future for Afghanistan," said Brig. Gen. Michael R. Boera, the U.S. Air Force general in charge of rebuilding the Afghan air corps. "We've got to get beyond the fact that it's Russian. . . . It works well in Afghanistan."

U.S. military officials have estimated that the Afghan air force won't be able to operate independently until 2016, five years after President Obama has said he intends to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. But Boera said that date could slip by at least two years if Congress forces the Afghans to fly U.S. choppers . "Is that what we really want to do?" he asked. (end quote).

And another quote for context as to WHY the US forces went this way on the Mi-17 helicopters. (Quote): Because Afghan airmen had historically trained on Russian choppers, the Pentagon decided to make the Mi-17s the backbone of Afghanistan's fleet. The Soviet Union specifically designed the Mi-17 for use in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say it is well-suited for navigating the altitudes of the Hindu Kush mountains, as well as Afghanistan's desert terrain.

With few reliable roads, helicopters are a primary mode of transport in Afghanistan. (end quote).

The Afghan National Army Air Corps has the following pieces of equipment and number of personnel: Russian-made attack helicopters Mi-35, Italian-designed C-27s (a fixed-wing aircraft used to transport troops and supplies). The air corps so far has 48 aircraft and 3,300 personnel.

Gen. Boera said plans are to expand the Air Corps up to 146 aircraft and 8,000 personnel by the year 2016. While there are Afghan pilots in the Unites States training, so far, only one has graduated. Afghan pilot recuits-many who are illiterate in their own language, have to learn English (which is the official language of flight to begin with).

(Quote): Gen. Mohammed Dawran, chief of the Afghan air corps, said most of those pilots are in their 40s and set in their ways. Requiring them to start fresh on U.S. copters would be an uphill battle.

"They learned the previous system and different ideas," he said in an interview. Most of the veterans also don't know how to fly at night or in poor visibility, when a pilot must rely on an aircraft's instrument panel to navigate. (end quote).

Another contruibing factor is that the Russian hardware is much more basic than the American equipment. Lack of GPS (Global Positioning System) to the maintenance crews using whatever they can get their hands on to make repairs.

Plus, U.S. military officials would like to operate their own Mi-17s for U.S. Special Operations Command for clandestine missions. And the Russians know that - so they have raised the prices for new and used Mi-17s.

But, because of politics, DoD is now "leaning away" from buying Russian hardware. (Quote): "As a 'Buy American' kind of individual, I think it's totally appropriate as we go forward that we continue to assess the program," Army Secretary John McHugh, whose service oversees foreign helicopter purchases, told the Senate Appropriations Committee in March. (end quote).

My take on this is Buy Russian! Go ahead. Seeing how the aerial refueling tanker deal, the F-22 production line stopping too soon, and F-35 deals have "save" the American tax payer so much money over the past 15-20 years... Hell, I say go ahead and buy some Su-27s while you're at it! Personally, I like that twin turbo-fan amphib the Russians have, the Be-200. I would love to see that in US Coast Guard markings.

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Ref.

Washington Post, June 19, 2010. by Craig Whitlock (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/18/AR2010061805630_pf.html).

Wikipedia, Mi-17 "Hip" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-17). image from Wiki also.