UAV avionics

[Limo EZ]

A friend is building a RV 4 and recently found that his new $2k attitude indicator had stopped operating. EFIS seems to be a solution but I was looking at some of the work the RC UAV guys are doing and it looks impresive. I was looking at the Arduino based UAV autopilot for use as an attitude indicator. It has the capability of displaying the artificial horizon with heading, speed and altitude tapes. By adding a camera this info is supperimposed over the view out of the nose. The price is reasonable. I do not think it could be used as an autopilot but more research is required. Has anyone looked at this hardware? DIT drones is the web site. Spark N Fun is the hardware provider. Code is open source.

 

Joe Berki

Limo EZ

[brainfart]

Been playing around with the Arduino a few years ago, as a way to start learning about microcontrollers.

I've heard about the arduino autopilot but haven't checked out the details yet so I can't really comment. Might be a nice addition that is easily upgradeable, but then again it might not. Just reminding that a bunch of accelerometers do not substitute for real gyros.

[Limo EZ]

I am not even thinking of using it as an autopilot. They have an OSD module that superimposes a display over video. The video is almost like looking out the canopy. If you use an infrared camera you have some additional info when conditions get tough and you need to get down. They use a thermopile technology for stabilization the sensors know where sky and ground are based on CO2. DIY drones and rangevideo have some good info.

 

Joe

[brainfart]

Got any links so we don't have to read through countless pages of info?

[Limo EZ]

http://www.rangevideo.com/

 

http://diydrones.com/

[Limo EZ]

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/ardupilot-main-page

 

Here is the autopilot module. It is called a shield because it slides over the pins on the Arduino PIC board. All software is shareware.

 

Joe Berki

Limo EZ