UAV for MilSim use... need ideas!

[MadMonkey572]

First a little background... I doubt any of you know me even though I've posted in this section a couple of times. I've built a UAV-esque aicraft in the form of an Easy Star with a side-mounted camera for use in military simulation events (Airsoft) and it was quite successful. It was more of a glorified FPV plane though so I didn't post a thread here.

Anyway, us Airsofters and MilSim enthusiasts are starting to get very serious in this area, and we have some great new ideas in the works. One of these obviously is the UAV (which I based off the RQ-11 Raven), and now I'm looking for ways to integrate my systems with other concepts that have been coming up.

One of the simplest is to build a few portable cases for monitor/receiver combos that are tough enough to withstand field use; these can receive live footage straight from the UAV to units on the ground. That's already in the works.

But, I'm looking for ideas in the future. Currently we have a long-range mobile rocket launcher in the works, which would be a prime candidate for integration with the UAV, using it for locating and targeting "enemies". Again, the simplest way would be to give the operators a monitor so they would have live video, but we're gadget guys here.

I'd like your ideas. I don't want to get TOO complex since I'm still new to UAV's.

How hard would it be to simply have a laptop with a map of the area, showing a constantly updated position of the plane? GPS module, datalink, all that stuff. I mainly want to set up an infrastructure that I can build off of later. At the moment I don't know if I even want to try autonomy, just to save some hassle so I'll have time to work on some other things.

Sorry if I rambled a bit.. but I'd like some opinions/ideas/answers/etc.

I'm also looking for a good airframe for my next UAV, preferably a twin-boom pusher. Seems like there's very few on the market though :( Any size will work.

Thanks in advance :)

EDIT: Here's a couple of pictures of the current UAV at an event in April.

http://i25.tinypic.com/2mq9cgn.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/rjh5py.jpg

This video is a promo I threw together for our organization. It has a couple of shots + onboard footage from the Raven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SUTezqfAPo

[ram0207]

Mind if I ask what camera you are using, interested in doing the same sort of thing.

Also what kind of flight time are you getting out of that raven?

[MadMonkey572]

Mind if I ask what camera you are using, interested in doing the same sort of thing.

Also what kind of flight time are you getting out of that raven?

Camera is a KX191. I haven't really tested the endurance, but based on what I've seen so far I'm guessing over 30 minutes of loiter time :)

[BeefStake]

Hmm what you are describing is not all that difficult.
Something like Ardupilot would fit your purposes pretty well but for real configurability you might want to looking into Paparazzi.. though much more difficult you can program your own flight manauvers etc that only require a button click to activate.

Most open source autopilots have integration with googleearth or maps so getting a map with the current UAV position is trivial.

What I would do is this:
Small netbook laptop - cheap and light
Ruggedized aluminum case - strong, protects everything
Hardware video decoder - takes strain off laptop
Xbee or Xtend modems - instant on, easy to use serial communications

I would take the whole lot and integrate it into a really tough aluminum case.
Netbooks are small so you can a) use a small case to start with b) use the spare space in the case to mount your modems and video rx internally + batteries to make an all in one solution.

[MadMonkey572]

So I don't need anything more powerful than a netbook... that takes a load off!

Let me ask you this then. If I used an autopilot like the ones you mentioned, would it be fairly simple to set it up so that I can click a point on the map and have the UAV orbit that point until ordered otherwise? I'm just now getting a feel for the capabilities of these things.

I'm VERY new to this. Do you think it would be doable for me to start with Papparazi? I know there's a ton of info I could glean and I could ask for help if needed...

[W1th]

Paparazzi got a Boot CD you can Download , this should give you an idea of what it can do ......http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Downloads

And YES it can do what you require and Much more .... get the CD

[MadMonkey572]

^^ Wow, thanks for that! :) I'll check it out tonight.