Anyone have a UAV ?

[VladTepes]

These look like they could be fun...
YouTube - A.R. Drone short flight.

but for something more serious a camera in an RC plane would be the go. A fella on another forum used a cheap iebay camera for this.

sevenhills01_0001.mp4 video by secant0give - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid245.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid245.photobucket.com/albums/gg45/secant0give/sevenhills01_0001.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@vid245@@AMEPARAM@ @245@@AMEPARAM@@gg45/secant0give/sevenhills01_0001@@AMEPARAM@@mp4

naturally not real time, but cool nonetheless.


To get something real time but also with a good range would require more expensive hardware, possibly like this ?
Hi Cam - Aerial Video - 5.8GHz 2.4GHz wireless camera transmitter downlink - remote control R/C UAV (http://www.hicam.com/)

Same bloke as above did a "live link" type thing:
YouTube - AV Link test!
not sure of details

[BigJon]

I have a few (4) RC aircraft, but no camera.

[Mick_Marsh]

Fellow in Niddrie (now deceased) used to have one. He used it as part of his business.
I taped a little 2.4GHz camera under a small indoor electric chopper one of my co-workers had. He flew it round the office.

Jon. It wouldn't be too hard to put a video camera in a plane. It's just the transmission range of the camera that would be a problem.

[VladTepes]

Yes, you are pretty much restricted to line of sight transmission even with the mroe expensive systems. Anything other brings satellite comms into the mix so just add $$$$$$$$.

[bee utey]

Bloke in Adelaide had one, flew out over the beach, got pictures of graffiti writers in action, police caught them and got them a court appearance and a fine:p:p:p

Made the evening news...

[paulthepilot_5]

I have a few UAV projects on the go,

Here is the Quadcopter I made, Using Ardupilot Mega autopilot as the stabilisation and control system.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/9082/quad1f.th.jpg (http://img109.imageshack.us/i/quad1f.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Also have a 2m wingspan fixed wing platform running the autopilot with 2.4Ghz video link and telemetry. The autopilot has a full 3axis IMU, GPS, Barometric pressure and airspeed sensor can be programed to fly set waypoints and will fly them autonomously.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/5984/trentonr.th.jpg (http://img535.imageshack.us/i/trentonr.jpg/)
I will have to upload some of my flight videos. I normally get about 2km range on the video link, but have had up to 3km.

You will probably find this website very interesting DIY Drones (http://www.diydrones.com)

Cheers
Paul

[big guy]

Bloke in Adelaide had one, flew out over the beach, got pictures of graffiti writers in action, police caught them and got them a court appearance and a fine:p:p:p

Made the evening news...



His name is Paul Martin, he is a friend of mine, he also flies scale jets and helis as I used to.

Have a look on his website, his Micro domes are from Germany and are fully computer controlled, even have GPS system to program a preset flight.

They can cost up to $100k though:o

APSpecialists Aerial Photography Services for Australia (http://www.apspecialists.com.au/)

[VladTepes]

Hmm that'' a little bit expensive.

[paulthepilot_5]

His name is Paul Martin, he is a friend of mine, he also flies scale jets and helis as I used to.

Have a look on his website, his Micro domes are from Germany and are fully computer controlled, even have GPS system to program a preset flight.

They can cost up to $100k though:o

APSpecialists Aerial Photography Services for Australia (http://www.apspecialists.com.au/)

Wow! that is an expensive setup!
Most of the companies producing small UAVs are Massively overpriced. The DIY drones open source hardware and software out there achieving the same sort of results for well under $1000

[big guy]

Wow! that is an expensive setup!
Most of the companies producing small UAVs are Massively overpriced. The DIY drones open source hardware and software out there achieving the same sort of results for well under $1000

My scale heli cost me just under $7k in parts, paint and radio.
Are we comparing apples with apples like fail safes, brushless motors, BEC's, lipo power and full digital servos and 2.4Ghz radio etc.
A good quality radio is just under $1k so not sure what you are saying but APS is selling his kits to ETSA, MFS, SA water and many other companies.
They are absolute breathless in their flesh.

Absolutely seriously brilliant and also almost 100% silent. Stealth like really.

[paulthepilot_5]

My scale heli cost me just under $7k in parts, paint and radio.
Are we comparing apples with apples like fail safes, brushless motors, BEC's, lipo power and full digital servos and 2.4Ghz radio etc.
A good quality radio is just under $1k so not sure what you are saying but APS is selling his kits to ETSA, MFS, SA water and many other companies.
They are absolute breathless in their flesh.

Absolutely seriously brilliant and also almost 100% silent. Stealth like really.

I'm not doubting the performance of the APS gear, have seen the capabilities. It is excellent, along with many other commercial developments.

Just saying that similar setups can be made (in a non commercial environment) without such expenditure. I'm talking full IMU stabilisation, barometric pressure sensor, airspeed sensor, GPS, waypoint navigation, data logging and failsafe functions that can return to base or loiter in the event of any signal loss. The ArdupilotMega/software hardware to do these functions can be had for under $500, give or take a bit for different add-on components. I run one in my quad for stabilisation, but also for fully autonomous flight in the fixed wing aircraft.