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 ).

Academy of Model Aeronautics Press Release-“Special Rule For Model Aircraft”

AMA has been working with the FAA on setting up certain guidelines that will still allow model aviation to take place in the United States of America. I could have posted this article over on my other blog (Flash 255 Bunker), but since this also involves real world politics and the FAA; I decided that it had to go on this blog.

For months, modellers have been worried that Homeland Security/Federal Aviation Administration will come up with some sort of rule set that in effect will force thousands of people out of the hobby. Thousands more to lose their jobs when their industry has(had) just be outlawed by the Feds.

So it was with some releif to read the press release by the AMA (dated February 18, 2011) entitled "AMA Works to Amend Reauthorization Bill Providing Relief for Model Aviation from sUAS Rules".

I will post the entire press release below -

M U N C I E, I N – Sen. James Inhofe, OK, successfully sponsored S.223 in the Senate yesterday with an amendment specifying a “Special Rule For Model Aircraft” that provides an exemption from regulation for model aircraft operating within the following parameters:

 Flown specifically for recreational, sport, competition, or academic purposes;

 Operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization;

 Limited to 55 pounds or less unless certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program currently administered by a community-based organization.

“On behalf of our 140,000 members I want to thank Senator Inhofe, Chairman Jay Rockefeller and Ranking Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson for their leadership in shepherding the FAA reauthorization bill through the U.S. Senate,” said Academy of Model Aeronautics President Dave Mathewson. “Aeromodeling is an exceptional family recreational and education activity that has traditionally been a stepping stone for our children to careers in aviation and aerospace. With the Senators’ help we hope model aviation will continue to help provide that impetus for future generations of engineers, pilots and astronauts.”

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives, which is expected to rule on the matter in the very near future.

AMA has contended that the purpose and operation of model aircraft flown for recreational purposes is uniquely different from the operation of the growing number of commercial small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) for which the FAA is drafting regulation. Aeromodelers operating under AMA’s guidelines have earned a reputation of being one of the safest, if not the safest users of the National Airspace System. This exemplary safety record spans more than 75 years.

The Academy of Aeronautics, founded in 1936, charters 2,400 clubs across the country, sanctioning more than 2,000 events and competitions as a member of the National Aeronautic Association. It is dedicated to promoting aeromodeling as a recreational, competitive and academic pursuit.

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On a more mundane note, I flew my Seagull Models sport-scale PC-9 this morning for the first time. This now makes THREE of these models that I have owned. They are nice flying airplanes. The wing to this particular model I flew today actually came off my very first PC-9 which had a accident (i.e it crashed - busted out the landing gear). Totally rebuilt the wing and the fuselage came from someone in Greece. The landing was ok, but the model drifted off to the side of the runway, hit a clump of grass and ripped out the right landing gear. So more repairs are now needed. But - that just goes with part of this hobby.

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Ref.

1. AMA "AMA Works to Amend Reauthorization Bill Providing Relief for Model Aviation from sUAS Rules". February 18, 2011. (AMA Works to Amend Reauthorization Bill Providing Relief for Model Aviation from sUAS Rules).