RCAP available???

[kf4mot]

I'm trying to get my meathooks on a RCAP but I have no idea how. Canada r/c doesn't have them. I've tried emailing the designer and gotten no response yet. So does anybody know how I can get one? I would prefer the kit but I'll take just the board and pic if that's all that's available.
Thanks peoples,

Julian

[kd7ost]

He fell off the earth it would seem. I tried that for some time after Unav got out of the PDC-10 business. No luck either. I did manage to talk Unav out of the last of the PDC-10 modules and built them up. I sold a handful and still have a few left if you're interested. Lots of guys who want you to hold on to one never end up buying them. Let me know if you want a manual in PDF e-mailed to you. PM me with an address to send it to. If it's what your looking for, like I said I have a few left over still. It's the unit RCAP modelled their unit after.

Dan

[racer590]

once he orders the pcbs it takes a minimum of 5 weeks for him to get them is what he told me when i went to order mine. but i finally got it just need to put it together now

[lvspark]

I believe all the boards, code, etc.. are available at sourceforge.

http://rcpilot.sourceforge.net/

hope it help

[kf4mot]

Thanks for the info guys. I would like to explore the rcap route some more before buying a pdc-10. Knowing my luck you'll be sold out by then though!
Racer, did you just recently receive your kit? If so I would think they would still be available.
I'm about to start working with pics. I'm not new to microcontrollers but I'm new to these. That still leaves the problem of a board though. Wonder how well it would work on perf-board and point to point wiring?

[Crash Pilot]

Guys

I am chasing another PCB myself.
I got a reply from Mike P throught the RC Online Canada site. He said that he was in the process of getting some boards made and that it would take 3 weeks.
That was about 4 weeks ago. We said to keep an eye on the site but nothing yet.


Crash Pilot

[radiohound]

Ive got RCAP compatible boards available. See http://www.scalerobotics.com/store/catalog

[kd7ost]

I didn't go back to this thread and see that Ivspark posted a link to the sourceforge site. I don't know what I'm looking for there yet.

Radiohound,

Have you burned any PIC chips and run them with your board? Where are you at with all this? You may be the go to guy on the RCAP unit's.

Dan

[kd7ost]

once he orders the pcbs it takes a minimum of 5 weeks for him to get them is what he told me when i went to order mine. but i finally got it just need to put it together now

racer590,

How and who did you order from? Do you still have the information available?

Dan

[radiohound]

Have you burned any PIC chips and run them with your board? Where are you at with all this?
Dan

Thanks for your interest Dan,

I have burned a few chips for this, and I am just starting to test the original rcap v 1.1 on my board. I have never had an RCAP before, and the ducumentation is a bit slim on the original version. Once I figure it out a bit more, I hope to make an instruction sheet.

I have them for sale and available now, though I do need to document some extra headers and jumpers, which differ from the original version.

Here is a photo of a completed unit.

I plan to have a kit with all components included (in a couple weeks), but the pcb is available now. http://www.scalerobotics.com/store/catalog

[kd7ost]

Thats great,

Keep us posted. I had a handful of guys waiting on PDC-10 units that will not be coming about now. I'm going to direct them all to this thread.

Dan

[vpatron]

Dan/kd7ost,

Thanks for directing us to this and doing the research. I enjoyed reading through the sourceforge stuff. I downloaded the source code and will start reviewing it as a side project. This is perfect and will give me a head start.

Just FYI, though, I did not want something that worked exactly like the PDC-10 or RCAP. I don't want to drag around a big GPS receiver with waypoints, just a tiny barebones GPS that only gives position and weighs like 1 oz or less.

I only want it to fly in a circle when commanded. Here's how I envision my version to work. All control is via a 3-way switch on one RC pulse channel.

1) Leave switch in position A. Fly the plane towards desired center of the circle.
2) Move the switch to position B when the center of the circle is reached. Continue flying.
3) Move the switch to position C when the desired radius of the circle is reached. The plane will make a 90 degree turn and begin flying in a circle around the center point at the requested radius.
4) To disable autopilot, move the switch to position A.

Oh, also if you let the GPS lock before taking off, it would automatically figure out where home was (speed = 0) and head back if it gets a continuous failsafe signal from the RX for more than some predetermine time (or an RSI signal can be A/D'd).

This lets me fly around the photo subject and frees me to compose the shot. This simple design will not require programming of waypoints ahead of time and lets you use a tiny, light and cheap GPS ($89).

I won't be ready to really work into it until several months from now when I clear off other AP projects but we can throw around some ideas perhaps in a separate thread if you like.

Thanks again for finding all this great info!

-Vince

[kd7ost]

I think that's a great idea. I've pondered a similar version where you flip the switch to half way and it just simply loiters around that Lat Lon. If it's fully engaged via remaining switch or by failsafe, then it will come back and loiter overhead. I would like to put something like that in the hands of first responders for example. Maybe you have a chemical spill, or BLM officers need to check out what looks like a nasty meth lab with dangerous chemicals all over the place. You could fly via RC from a mile off or whatever is safe for conditions. Enable the loiter part and it will just stay overhead where you put it. You could use manual control of camera pan and tilt and maybe even zoom to get a closer view before sending in humans. Turn it off to move around to a new vantage point and enable it again. That frees the pilot up to fly the camera. I like what you're thinking about Vince. Police could use it in standoff situations too. I'm sure there's lots of applications. I've sat and watched my own plane loiter overhead for close to an hour just laying back looking way up there and pondering things like that. I shut off my transmitter to save battery power. But I have the PDC-10 so I can't change coordinates from the ground.
All of this style of flying stays inside of any see and avoid scenarios too. It will keep tha FAA happy.

Dan

[vpatron]

Yup, exactly! All of the above!

Here's another cool accidental feature: With a circular route, you can just leave the camera pointing to the inside of the circular route and the camera would stay trained at the subject. (I'm using a pendulumn mount with damping so it is not affected by the plane's banking angle). This feature would be great for police, fire and other first responders (or aerial photographers) because they can continually view the action. You can even have multiple video downlink RX's so everyone can see what's going on.

Anyway, I don't want to hijack this thread. I'll contact you in a few months when I can seriously consider the project. I need your GPS and systems expertise. :)

-Vince

[vpatron]

By the way, I don't speak for the 5 other guys who wanted a PDC-10 board on the AP thread.

They wanted the board. I just wanted the design and source code to leverage my own work.

-Vince

[kd7ost]

No problems. Standing by. ;) I think there may be a few options for replacements for the PDC-10 down the road a piece.

Dan