Starting my own UAV adventure

[Ailuropoda]

I've been lurking on RC groups for some time now, and figured that I should make a first post somewhere. I want to build my own UAV. At the moment, I 'm just thinking of doing it for the challenge. I haven't really decided what I want to try doing with it or anything yet.
Anyway, hello everyone.

[Steve McBride]

Welcome Ailuropoda! Where are you from?

I'm in the early stages of assembling mine. Do a lot of searching around here - there's a ton of information regarding hobby UAVs.

I'm planning on going with the RCAP2.5 if/when it comes out because it includes the hardware for altitude control via barrometric pressure. I'll use an OEM GPS module with MX's waypoint sequencer to guide it. An FMA co-pilot keeps the wings level (and controls pitch if I can't wait for the RCAP2.5 and decide to go with a RCAP2 without altitude hold).

I'll either have GPS telemetry sent back via radio serial modem or use the modem to control the aircraft/camera pointing by using a serial servo controller. Still deciding on which model to use.

I don't have any real need for this - just think it would be cool to do.

Again, welcome to RC Groups!

Steve

[Ailuropoda]

I'm from Canada. Right now, I'm at a very early information gathering and planning stage. I'm guess I'll probably need some kind of waypoint system, probably GPS. Besides that the only other decided thing right now is that I want it to land in a non-destructive fashion.

I dug this up earlier: http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/general/recavi/Brochures/uav.htm less than 35 KG for recreational use, and it's a model.

Thus far, I've been looking into different ways of doing things. I haven't really decided enough to say fixed wing, or rotary wing. The thought of trying to build a blimp is interesting, but I'm fairly certain that I don't want to do that.

[chopsuey]

A coworker and I have been throwing around the idea of building a UAV for about a year now and I have been doing a bit of research into it. I have the time this summer and the financials are in order so I decided I am finally going to get started on it. We are they type of guys that would rather do it ourselves than buy it off the shelf. So we will build our own autopilot, write the code ourselves, trial and error, etc just because that is how we are and we like to learn how this stuff works. We are going with a fixed wing just because that is a bit easier, not that either a fixed wing or rotary wing UAV is easy but the rotary wing just seems to add another level of complexity. I am in the very early stages of development, working with some PICs to read the channels from my radio and outputting the signals to servos. I don't even have a plane yet, still trying to decide what plane would be a good development platform and still fit in the budget. Enough of my rambling, I wish you luck with your project and I hope to hear more about it as it progresses.

[mzk]

hi well i do also want to built a same one and i have worked on the vehicle intelligence part lke autinomous manouvering but the problem with me is that i have no experience with rc planes and thats the reason i have joined this forum. i am doing this as my final year project and i m working on designs for both vtol and fixed wing. so do let me know if i could be of any help or could we club to make one.

[Ailuropoda]

mzk, I really have no rc plane experience either. I joined RC groups because I used to share an office with a few rc aircraft guys and it was nice to have an idea what they were talking about. The vast majority of my modeling experience took place in the wind tunnel. Those solid aluminum models are just too heavy to fly on their own.
My electronics knowledge is good enough for playing around with. I don't really have much in terms of formal training, but I used to play with sumo-robots. Those were some fun times.

[sodman12]

yeah ive been wanting to do something like this for a while as well.

do you guys plan on putting something like a live video feed on the plane?
also how are you able to tell it what to do if it is a few miles away?