Mission Space: R/C Controller and Telemetry

R/C controller:
Today I decided to buy a 5 channel R/C controller. I bought the Spektrum DX5e tx and rx. I decided to go against my original thought and buy it. Buy buying it, it will make everything easier to do such tasks as switching the modes. Also, I now have a way to save the plane if it goes out of control.

Telemetry:
I also received the telemetry kit from DIYdrones.com. With this, hopefully I can see which mode I'm in without the Ardupilot being plugged in . I now need to solder the prongs to the board, and hook it up to the Ardupilot.

Mission Space: CLI logs

What is it?:
CLI logs, or Common Line Interface, is data stored within the board that tell information like the telemetry does. This info includes sensor readings, GPS info, and flight mode info. Only problem is, you have to wait till the plane is grounded before you can read it.

What it did for me:
For me I saw only GPS and alt. readouts, and no readout regarding which mode the plane was in. Because of this I can infer that the plane was never truly in auto mode but I will need to look more into it. I really don't want to use and R/C tc/rx if I don't need to.

Next Step:
Figure out how to have the plane in auto mode right from the start. This is crucial because once I get the launch planes attached I wont be able to switch them all into auto mode.

Mission Space: Setting and Executing waypoints

Goals:

• See if the plane can go to auto mode w/o there being an R/C tx/rx

Ideas

• Manually put command in the computer board through mavlink software
• Put in the waypoint and test the commands

What Happened:

1. Put the waypoints in, #1 being where I was in the car (to simulate the flight) command: takeoff
2. #2 waypoint was down the street, its command: waypoint, meaning just go to the #2 waypoint
3. #3 waypoint had no long. or lat. but its command was to RTL (return to launch)

• Pressed auto mode when plane was connected 
• Motor started to run, assumed it was in take off mode
• Drove down the street, saw plane move and try to keep a straight line
• Once it hit waypoint two at an intersection, the motor turned off
• Tried to troubleshoot by adding waypoints, changing commands, but nothing worked
• Went on to learn about CLI logs and its importance

Mission Space: Research Day

Accomplished:
Today was a relatively lite day due to the last couple of days of frustration and learning. Today I started my research on both telemetry and video/OSD. After learning more about telemetry through DIYdrones.com and the internet, I decided to buy a kit. I bought the 3DR radio telemetry kit - 915 MHz, and some cables for the servos. I then did some extensive research on video/OSD options. I found out the on screen display or OSD, is like telemetry with a live video feed. The problem I came across was how does the video transmit and receive? After going on the internet I learned that there needs to be a transmitter on the plane and a receiver on the ground. Still need to do some more research on which camera to buy.

Questions:

• Which FPV, first person view, camera should I buy
• Is OSD necessary now that I have telemetry?
• Once received how will the video come up on my laptop?

Mission Space: Programming and Understanding ardupilot

Lets first start off with the things I accomplished and learned today.

1. Had the GPS read my location.
2. Had all the servos working, when I pitch or rolled the drone, the servos would react to get it back to level
3. Saw all the servos communicate with the ardupilot
4. Set waypoints on where to go
5. Learned more about commands and what to tell the board to do once the software is downloaded to the ardupilot
   

   

   This one picture really shows all of the information I learned. As you can see, the left is articifial horizon indicater, that when I tilted the plane, the image would rise or fall accordingly. The top right is the display of sensor read outs, each color corresponds to a certain sensor. Red = roll. Blue = pitch. Green = nav_roll. Orange = nav_pitch. Then the bottom right is the Google Maps image of the plane at my house where I was sitting outside.

Though I did accomplish a lot today, more questions came up. 

1. Do I need a R/C kit just to get the plane going and then switch it into auto mode. If I do need one, this may cripple the project, unless I could rig something up that sends an R/C signal the entire time so the plane is always in auto mode
2. Will I need telemetry and if I don't need it would it be worth getting anyway?

Mission Space: udrone arrival and programming ardupilot

After opening the udrone, I came across some problems that caused me to regret dropping $600 on it. To start off, once I started to take each piece out of the box, I started to notice some parts that I had no idea what they were there for. So I took out the manual provided and started to attempt to read it. The manual told you how to put the plane together, that's it, and it was written very poorly. The only directions for programming are found at the Arduplane Manual site. These directions are broad for all types of planes, and don't specifically say how to set up the udrone plane. Also the plane did NOT come with a battery or R/C equipment, not only that, but it didn't say which kind of battery to get or which type of R/C equipment one may need.

After doing some research, I found out the needed battery was at least a 1250 mAh 11.1 V LiPo battery, which I bought at a local hobby store. I then started to follow the Arduplane Manual, and notice that it kept saying plug in your R/C receiver to the inputs on the ardupilot board and then the servos to the outputs. Thus I came across the question, Do I need an R/C kit to be able to get this plane to fly and then switch it into the program through the R/C transmitter. I then started to ask myself some more questions such as; will I need a telemetry kit? How long will the battery last in flight? Can I send programs mid flight, if not can I give step by step instructions to the board? Hopefully with some more research, these questions will be answered.

Overall, I wasn't very happy with the service I received from udrone, it was frustrating knowing I spent $600 and didn't receive proper instructions and a material list of what else I would need.

Mission Space: Adrupilot and udrone research

Though the udrone still has not arrived, I decided to start reading through the Ardupilot Manual. I learned that the ardupilot truly takes the person out of the equation and lets the onboard computer do its "magic". With the Mission Planner software, which you connect the board to and download the flight plan to, you can set waypoints, what to do at the waypoints, and have it take off and land on its own. The next step is to get the udrone and hook it up to the Mission Planner and start learning how they interact with one another.

Mission Space: New Idea

As mentioned yesterday, I had to scrap the old idea and make a new one, and that is exactly what I did.

After doing some research on other space programs and ideas, such as Space X and Virgin Galactic, I decided to come up with the new idea.

This idea was inspired by Virgin Galactic and there commercial space project they've been working on. Basically their idea is to have a large plane with a rocket plane in the middle. The bigger plane "tows" the rocket plane up to a certain altitude. Once at this altitude, the rocket plane unhooks from the tow plane and launches into space. This two plane system inspired my own idea

For my new project, the udrone will tow several smaller planes to a reasonable altitude to conserve fuel and most importantly, price. Once at this altitude the smaller planes, which will have the same ardupilot board attached to them, will increase there altitude and then launch their rockets. Then both the udrone tow plane and the small launch pad planes will come back to the specific location.

Differences from the original idea:

1. No more need for helium.
2. The udrone will take the place of the weather balloon and it's main purpose now is to tow the smaller launch pad planes up to a certain altitude.
3. With several launch pads in the air, now more rockets can be launched into space, which will decrease the price of each flight.

Problems with the new idea:

1. Inital cost will be greater than original idea due to more ardupilot boards, planes, and overall materials.
2. Need to figure out how to tow the launch planes and be able to have all of them unhook from the udrone/tow plane.

Mission Space: Major Problem; World Wide Helium Shortage

After waiting nearly two weeks for all the necessar parts to be shipped, the next step was to get helium. So like any teenager would do, I just typed in helium into google to find a local supplier. But the I can across this article, Popular Mechanics: "Why is there a helium shortage?". The article goes on to talk about the importance of helium and how one of the most abundant materials on Earth, is "running out". The article proceeds to say, "The federal government, which sets helium prices, announced in April that helium prices would spike from $75.75 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) in FY 2012 to $84 per Mcf in FY 2013. (Last year, prices rose only 75 cents.) This price spike, along with uncertain federal policy (and a peculiar industry setup to begin with), is threatening to create a shortage" (Magill). 


After reading this, frustration stuck because I knew a new idea will need to be made. 

Mission Space: Flight One; Pre-Flight

Purpose: Get an idea of how electronic devices work once launched and reaching different altitudes and tempatrue.

Objective: Use a styrofoam cooler to bring up a GPS tracker, and 2 video cameras to get footage.

Parts Needed:

• GPS tracker
• Mini real time tracker
• Video Camera
• Mini DV (x2)
• Weather Balloon and Helium
• 350 gram balloon
• Hand Warmers
• Parachute
• 30" rip stop nylon
• Styrofoam Cooler
• Sim Card for GPS
• T-mobile

Idea Credit: http://www.doityourselfgadgets.com/2012/05/weather-ballon-kit.html