Hey Guys,
I've finished the schematic for the UAV. Possible there are a few bugs in the design, but I'm thinking it is simple enough that they will only be small bugs. Will require plenty of design checking before we go out and buy the PCBs...
The size of the board all depends on the size of the cockpit. We might even go so far as to build a larger PCB pod on the bottom of the craft just so there is enough room...
Cheers,
Dan
Monday, November 22, 2010
Where we are so far... cont.
Hello readers!
Several designs have been looked at, combed over and scrapped. I even tried to design one, but with the payload that we were designing it for, I didn't have the confidence nor have enough faith in one of my own designs.
I am a pilot in training, and I have several of my own model aircraft, including helicopters and fixed wing. Quite frankly I am an aviation nut. A funding issue proved to be the downside in my last project, Phantom I. Bringing Dan into the mix is going to be a challenge, the only flight experience he has was when I got him to download Model Flight Simulator (FMS) and have a go. I still have to explain the principles of turning to him.
Using my designs, the plane would have to hit 50km/h before it would take off. Based at an acceleration of 13.31ms^-2 it would take 3.757 seconds to reach takeoff speed - no flaps. It would take 100m of airfield before you would even think of taking the plane off, which was too impractical for Short Takeoff and Landing UAVs for Search and Rescue.
A new design has been decided. Some plans purchased of eBay are in the interwebs, and then we are going to be checking the fuselage spacing so we allocated battery space etc so we can work the electronics all around. The design is a twin boom FPV (first person video) plane, with a pusher propeller.
The 3 blade propeller is a 10x8 meaning that it is 10 inches in diameter, and in one rotation, if it were a screw going into wood for example, would move 8 inches in the horizontal axis before returning to its original position.
The problem with this aircraft, is that you cannot have it as a taildragger (wheel on the tail, and two wheels up the front) because the prop will hit the ground! I believe I am going to have to by some taildragger landing gear, then move them rearwards and make a custom nose wheel assembly. Gah. Another problem to overcome I guess...
I think that is enough.. so till next time!
Ciao
Liam
Several designs have been looked at, combed over and scrapped. I even tried to design one, but with the payload that we were designing it for, I didn't have the confidence nor have enough faith in one of my own designs.
I am a pilot in training, and I have several of my own model aircraft, including helicopters and fixed wing. Quite frankly I am an aviation nut. A funding issue proved to be the downside in my last project, Phantom I. Bringing Dan into the mix is going to be a challenge, the only flight experience he has was when I got him to download Model Flight Simulator (FMS) and have a go. I still have to explain the principles of turning to him.
Using my designs, the plane would have to hit 50km/h before it would take off. Based at an acceleration of 13.31ms^-2 it would take 3.757 seconds to reach takeoff speed - no flaps. It would take 100m of airfield before you would even think of taking the plane off, which was too impractical for Short Takeoff and Landing UAVs for Search and Rescue.
A new design has been decided. Some plans purchased of eBay are in the interwebs, and then we are going to be checking the fuselage spacing so we allocated battery space etc so we can work the electronics all around. The design is a twin boom FPV (first person video) plane, with a pusher propeller.
The 3 blade propeller is a 10x8 meaning that it is 10 inches in diameter, and in one rotation, if it were a screw going into wood for example, would move 8 inches in the horizontal axis before returning to its original position.
The problem with this aircraft, is that you cannot have it as a taildragger (wheel on the tail, and two wheels up the front) because the prop will hit the ground! I believe I am going to have to by some taildragger landing gear, then move them rearwards and make a custom nose wheel assembly. Gah. Another problem to overcome I guess...
I think that is enough.. so till next time!
Ciao
Liam
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Where we are so far...
Hey Guys,
This project has been under design for the past week. Previously, Liam was working on Phantom I. He managed to construct a craft with all of the control servos. The problem came when he realised how much the whole project would actually cost, $300NZD just for the radio modules.
After some discussion with a Brightsparks Mentor, Liam and I teamed up to build Phantom II. A lot of design work has happened already, and I'll make sure to detail what I've worked on. Liam and I are both authors, so I'll let him tell you about his progress. I'll stick to my progress!
We have chosen to use the PIC32MX795F512L as the main platform controller. This was mostly for the reason neither of us know what we actually need, in terms of processing power, to control a UAV. This PIC32 is basically top of the line, and should be more than adequate.
Liam knows more about controlling planes than I do, and so was the main decider when it came to sensors. Our current list is as follows:
Lastly, we have talked about having a fail safe unit. It needs to be able to control all of the servos, and reboot the main controller. I've drawn an idea for a possible solution, but have not yet thought about the radio. The problem is, even though the fail safe can control the servos, unless it has a radio link, it will be useless. I might have to get the fail safe to pass the radio through itself while constantly looking for a signal from the operator to enable the fail safe. The fail safe will also monitor the main controller, and self-enable if it goes down.
At the moment, we are working on a project proposal so we can apply for funding. This project is going to be really expensive, and the two of us still go to school. Any sponsors will be given a spot in the sponsors tab on the blog, space for stickers on the UAV, and mention in our publicity.
Cheers,
Dan
This project has been under design for the past week. Previously, Liam was working on Phantom I. He managed to construct a craft with all of the control servos. The problem came when he realised how much the whole project would actually cost, $300NZD just for the radio modules.
After some discussion with a Brightsparks Mentor, Liam and I teamed up to build Phantom II. A lot of design work has happened already, and I'll make sure to detail what I've worked on. Liam and I are both authors, so I'll let him tell you about his progress. I'll stick to my progress!
We have chosen to use the PIC32MX795F512L as the main platform controller. This was mostly for the reason neither of us know what we actually need, in terms of processing power, to control a UAV. This PIC32 is basically top of the line, and should be more than adequate.
Liam knows more about controlling planes than I do, and so was the main decider when it came to sensors. Our current list is as follows:
- GPS Module with Built In Antenna
- Triple Axis Gyroscope
- Triple Axis Accelerometer
- Ultrasonic Range Finder
- Stall Switch
- 2x Aileron
- 2x Rudder
- Elevator
- 2x Bomb Bay
Lastly, we have talked about having a fail safe unit. It needs to be able to control all of the servos, and reboot the main controller. I've drawn an idea for a possible solution, but have not yet thought about the radio. The problem is, even though the fail safe can control the servos, unless it has a radio link, it will be useless. I might have to get the fail safe to pass the radio through itself while constantly looking for a signal from the operator to enable the fail safe. The fail safe will also monitor the main controller, and self-enable if it goes down.
At the moment, we are working on a project proposal so we can apply for funding. This project is going to be really expensive, and the two of us still go to school. Any sponsors will be given a spot in the sponsors tab on the blog, space for stickers on the UAV, and mention in our publicity.
Cheers,
Dan
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