Svinbadan – the lighthouse UAV mission

[icebear]

I like to look at my hobby UAV projects as small ‘challenges’ and I have set up a new one for my Mini Telemaster UAV. In part it is inspired by Workshop’s 'Catalina Island project’, but a lot less ambitious, so no comparisons otherwise.

The narrow strait ‘Öresund’ is where the north atlantic (northern sea) meets the Baltic sea between Sweden and Denmark. Öresund is heavily trafficed by cargo ships since it is the way to many important ports on the west coast of Sweden and also a route to Norway.

Just off the south Swedish coast where we live, there is an infamous shoal that has caused many ships to wreck for centuries. From early 20th century a lighthouse boat was stationed there, but it was replaced in 1960 by the current permanent lighthouse.

A funny thing about the shoal and the lighthouse is that it is named after the house that we live in. Our house is part of what used to be a farm and it has given name to our part of the village and also the lighthouse. One could be quite proud over this if it wasn’t for the fact that the name itself means pig (swine) in Swedish... The farm was luckily renamed ‘Swan brook’ instead of ‘Swine brook’ in 1877, so the historical connection is more or less forgotten locally. The lighthouse is however still named ‘Svinbadan’ and it translates to ‘the Swine shoal’.

The mission for my Mini TM UAV is simple - to travel autonomously from the shore out to the lighthouse, which is about a mile off the coast, and take pictures and return safely.

The Mini TM is more or less stock with the addition of a U-Nav Picpilot, Pico GPS and camera. Here are the specifcations;

Hobby-Lobby Mini Telemaster UAV

Wingspan 47", wing area 330 sq.in
Motor : AXi 2808/24 with APC 8x6-e prop
KOKAM 3S-2000 LiPO
Power: 190 watts, approx 85 watts/lb
Rx: Shulze 8 ch with failsafe
2xHS56 servos
Camera Pentax or Nikon 7900
Expected cruise time 20 minutes on 2Ah LiPO @ 20 mph,
Approx 6-7 miles range

First, I had some trouble finding the exact location of the lighthouse, but luckily the Swedish telephone directory web service(!) has a good map system with very accurate GPS locations. They even have digitized aerial photos of the whole country – in most parts a lot more detailed than Google Maps.

The whole route is only 2,5 miles, but the fact that it is over water makes it more challenging.

I plan to stay on the beach during the flight, but to have a speedboat from the yacht club follow the plane just in case I end up in the water for some reason.

More details to follow. First I will have to test the airframe which is just finished but not flown.

/Icebear

[Tom Harper]

Icebear,

Ambitious project. I look forward to following your progress.

[workshop]

Nice! Flying over the water isn't so scary once you've taken a few small trips. I'm glad you've choosen worthwile goal. My Catalina trip is a big chunk! :rolleyes:

Good luck, we're all thinking good thoughts for you !!!

Jeff

[icebear]

Thanks Jeff & Tom,

Nice! Flying over the water isn't so scary once you've taken a few small trips. I'm glad you've choosen worthwile goal. My Catalina trip is a big chunk!

Good to hear - I have only been flying over water along the shoreline so far, so 1 mile straight out at sea feels like a step up...

I'm following the Catalina Island project with interest of course...!

/Bjorn

[Gary Mortimer]

Good luck!!

Make much difference to the track over water if the tides out??

G

[skogsvargen]

Not much tide in south of Sweden. Not more than maybe a 30 cm.

Good luck IceBear!

Please announce when you are ready to make the flight. I visit your neighborhoods now and then and it would be nice to watch.

[icebear]

Thanks Gary & Magnus!

Not much tide at all, as Magnus pointed out...

Magnus - let me know whenever you are in the neighbourhood. Even if I am not ready to go for the lighthouse, I can make a demo of the Picopilot at my local field or by the beach!

And I'm looking forward to the flight report of your setup :)!

/Bjorn

[icebear]

After testing out the Mini-Telemaster I decided to use the Supermiss/Miss2 airframe instead. The Mini TM turned out to be too heavy with camera, GPS, Picopilot etc. added and I also found the Supermiss with Miss2 wing to be more stable, even if the Mini TM worked fine with the Picopilot.

Current setup;

Scorpio Supermiss with Miss 2 wing
MEGA 16/25/4 motor with APC 8x4 prop
KOKAM 3S-2000 mAh LiPO
U-Nav Picopilot -NA (navigation and altitude hold)
Pentax Optio s5i triggerd by PRISM switch
Cruise speed: 20 mph
Milage: approx 4 miles/Ah

I have made some "dry" testing with camera over ground to prepare for the over-water test.

Today I let the Supermiss travel my standard 4x250 m lap over a field to test the camera angle.

The tracking is very good and after some more trimming I am very happy with the altitude hold as well.

I plane to make a square around the lighthouse and at about 100 m altitude flying a 250 meter x 4 square the centre is very well covered by the camera. I will try to get rid of the horizontal tilt but otherwise I am surprised by the good quality of the Pentax Optio s5i pics even if the motor is running. I will try a lower altitude as I want a better resolution picture.

The PRISM trigger is set for taking a picture every 5 secs when the autopilot is enabled. This gives the following secuence of pictures during a 1000 m lap (0,6 miles).

After some more camera testing, we'll be ready for the big jump - hopefully over the ocean...

/Icebear

[kd7ost]

Exciting thread Bjorn. I'm watching with great interest.

Dan

[icebear]

Thanks Dan! Nice to hear that someone will be watching... :o

I will do some more ground testing before contacting my friends at the yachtclub. I still have to decide if I will be in the boat followng the plane or if I should stay on the beach. I guess I wouldn't be able to stop it from ending in the drink if something goes wrong so I might as well stay on the beach! :eek:

One thing I noticed is that when the failsafe kicks in on the FS-8 it has happened on the ground that the elevator assusmes a slight 'down' position (not last good frame as it should). This happens when I turn off the Tx. When I do that on purpose in the air, it works as it should, but it makes me a little worried if it were to happen during say a glitch or out-of-range situation.
I wonder if this is an anomaly relating to the FS-8 Rx?

Here's a picture of the setup incl camera!

/Bjorn

[Gary Mortimer]

Bring on the lighthouse, good luck.

[tritan]

Icebear,

there is a new MISS 2 available now with a longer nose intended for outrunners and lighter lithium battery packs.

Check it out here: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/miss2.htm


Good luck !!

//tritan

[icebear]

Thanks Gary & Tritan!

I saw the "new" Miss2 but since I already have the Supermiss & old Miss2 I guess I have to get by with what I have :)

Would be nice with that battery bay though even if my Kokam 3S-2000 fits well upfront.

/Icebear

[clolson]

Thanks Gary & Tritan!
I saw the "new" Miss2 but since I already have the Supermiss & old Miss2 I guess I have to get by with what I have :)
Would be nice with that battery bay though even if my Kokam 3S-2000 fits well upfront.
/Icebear

I hope this isn't getting too far off topic ... I've looked at the new Miss2 and Super Miss and they look very appealing. I currently have a 49" electric powered Sig Rascal ... any idea how that would compare to the Miss's in terms of power requirements, carrying capacity, performance, etc.

Thanks,

Curt.

[tritan]

Icebear,

I am about to order the battery for my Soarstick - do you think your Kokam 2000mAh is enough? What is the airtime with that?

tritan

[Tom Harper]

IceBear,

Lookin good!

Thanks for the update.

[icebear]

hope this isn't getting too far off topic ... I've looked at the new Miss2 and Super Miss and they look very appealing. I currently have a 49" electric powered Sig Rascal ... any idea how that would compare to the Miss's in terms of power requirements, carrying capacity, performance, etc.

Thanks,

Curt.

The 54" Supermiss/Miss 2 weighs in at about 28-30 oz without autopilot and at about 32 oz with Picopilot/GPS/cables/etc etc.

That's a wingload of about (395 sqin) 11,5 oz/sqft. I dont remeber about the Rascal but doesnt it have a smaller wing area? I think the best comparison would be to compare wingloading and watts/lb.

My guess is that the Miss2 would carry more weight since it is lightly built - and it has a very roomy fuse. The Rascal LOOKS better of course :)

I think the Telemaster Electro has proved great as well but for me I thought it was too big...

I am about to order the battery for my Soarstick - do you think your Kokam 2000mAh is enough? What is the airtime with that?

Tritan - the 2000 mAh pack gives me about 20 mins of flight time in the Miss2 (just low power autonomous level flight) @ 20 mph and in the slightly heavier SOARstik I get about 15 mins.

/Icebear

[icebear]

Enough flight testing!

I did another 32 WP 8 mile flight with the Supermiss + Picopilot yesterday and everything works well.

A new Cellpro 2100 mAh pack is installed and I got 25 mins of flight with 15% left in the pack which should more than enough for my 4 mile flight.

The route has been re-programmed so that I now can take off from the golf course (nice to start and land from the fairway!) and head south west for the lighthouse.

I also decided to skip the boat following the plane since it is a rather short distance (1 nautical mile each way) and I guess all equipment would be destroyed if it ends up in the water anyhow. :( No guts, no glory!

As soon as the weather (and time) permits - we are ready to go...

/Icebear

[workshop]

You said it brother! :D I love your winning attitude!

I'm really excited for you. Especially since my project has stalled while I'm developing the DZL Modem (six beta kits are out - waiting for feedback). Best of luck to you!

Jeff

[icebear]

No guts, no glory!

You said it brother! I love your winning attitude!

Thanks Jeff - that's really encouraging! Now, I can't chicken out, can I...

/Bjorn

[Gary Mortimer]

Is it over yet???

Nice beach huts

G

(Good luck, looking forward to seeing the results)

[icebear]

Is it over yet???

Thanks Gary.
I have to wait for good weather (sunny and < 10 mph winds) and a day off from work, which hopefully means next weekend... But fairly soon anyway.

/Bjorn

[Connexxion]

I'm anxious! :D

[Airboatflyingshp]

Good luck and keep a couple of spotters on hand with good Binoculars.

[tritan]

Come on Björn, I did my first flight with my SOARstick - perfect weather today!!

I got up already 5 am in the morning as I have been waiting a loong time now to fly!

So, there are no excuses for you not to fly today!



Good luck!

Håkan/Tritan

[kd7ost]

It's an exciting event Bjorn. I recall having done some autonomous flights a few years back and how nervous I was waiting and watching for things to happen and the plane to come back. If you have all the ground work and testing done, it should be just fine. The plane and your process has been refined quite a bit. All signs point to success. That won't slow your heart rate at take off time though. Just focus on the basics and trust your integration and airframe to do its job. ;)

Dan

Edited,

Of course you already know that anyway. ;)

[icebear]

Thanks for the enouragement guys! Binoculars are ready...

Dan - you helped me getting me a good start in all of this so I appreciate your trust :)

Tritan - Your right yesterday WAS an OK day, but we decided to go AP:ing with our baby instead (had to test if it was possible!)

Will post the story soon (I hope!).

/Bjorn

[icebear]

Today at 8.00 PM the winds died down and we had a beautiful sunset. My wife Anja and our friend Daniel convinced me that it would be a nice evening for the "Lighthouse mission".

After a quick preparation of the gear we headed down to the golfcourse by the shoreline and got ready to go. Not a single golfer in sight, so no chance to chicken out! I was about as nervous as I was before my first flight!

The Supermiss took of into the sunset with grace and I climbed to about 250 ft and I activated the Picopilot. Three waypoints were set over the ground to see the performance of the autopilot and after a short circuit the Supermiss headed out to sea...

What surprised me was how quickly she got out of sight... After one minute of flight over the sea - I could barely see the plane and after two minutes she was completely gone!

Next follows the five looongest minutes of my life. After a total of about 5-6 minutes we could see the Supermiss approaching again. At first it looked like she was pitching up and down but it could be a bird or something else. A minute more and she was definitely steadily coming home. I was so relieved and landed on the fairway.

The whole mission lasted 10 minutes. About 3.5 minutes out to the lighthouse, 1 minute to go around and 3 minutes back. As planned approx. 40 pictures were taken of the lighthouse itself and a total of 250 pictures (2 per second).

Here are some pictures from the successful mission. The Optio S5z performed well in spite of the low light. Most pics are 1/500s, ISO 200 but still OK.

A big thank you is due to Dan, Jeff and everyone else here for encouragment and support and of course also to Dave and Mark at U-Nav for an excellent product!

Now, it is time to celebrate with a 15 year old oak aged rum :)

Take care!

/Bjorn

[workshop]

YES YES YES !!!!! YOU DA MAN!!!! DAMN that is sooooo coooolllll!!!

LOL...... WOW.... :eek:

Jeff..... LOL...... You GEEK! I'm so proud!!!! Your kid is so lucky to have a Dad like you!

[icebear]

THANKS A BUNCH JEFF for those very kind words!!! Actually you have insipred me to this, so credit should go to you :)

Hope to hear more about Catalina Island soon .! ;-)

/Bjorn

[Tom Harper]

Very well done, Bjorn!!!

Gutsy to go over water with no chase boat - mega confidence.

[icebear]

Very well done, Bjorn!!!

Gutsy to go over water with no chase boat - mega confidence.

Thanks Tom, but I didn't feel very gutsy last night... only now afterwards! :)

[lvspark]

Great work and I love the Pictures! What a great Event! Woo-Hoo!

[Connexxion]

Just read your report!

Congratulations and thanks a heap for sharing those pictures.

As you see,even the sky ain't the limit! :D

I got more convidence in my equipment just by reading your adventure of 10 minutes.

You rule Bjorn!

[icebear]

Thanks guys! And good luck Connexxion!

I have posted a video from the event in the Electric video forum - see the link;

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690713#post7517025

/Bjorn

[kd7ost]

Excellent Bjorn,

I want to echo what everyone else said. That is a fantastic achievement. I'm proud to know you. ;)

Dan

[icebear]

Thanks again Dan, you're too kind... :o
It wouldn't have been possible for me without the help from you and others in this forum! Remeber who helped me out in the beginning? :rolleyes:

/Bjorn

[dalbert02]

Awesome! I wish I were not such a chicken and pushed myself like you!
-dave

[icebear]

Thanks Dave!

As I reported, I could see some altitude pitching after the plane had rounded the lighthouse.

Today I made a simple test by placing a videocamera by the plane and then walking off with the Tx. It turned out that the elevator starts twitching like crazy when the Tx signal is getting out of reach. When the Tx is turned off the failsafe works as it should (last good frame hold).

Therefore, it is clear that this receiver glitch caused the oscillations that I noticed when the plane turned and started heading back after the lighthouse (also the most difficult radio reception position). Had I turned off the Tx, which I have tested, everything would been OK.

I have emailed FMA for a comment as to why the failsafe 'last good frame' doen't work properly. It almost cost me my setup!

This is also a testament to the stability of the airframe and the Picopilot - even with a twitchy elevator, everything worked out fine!

/Bjorn

[Airboatflyingshp]

Congratulations ice bear :cool: .......... you just know I'm going to have to suggest an amphibian some time soon or at least a plane that will float! ;)

[wallaguest1]

so nice!
optio s5 rlz!

next time you can use a camera too, just to see what the plane is doing right now,
with osd too :P

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9569/yeahnr1.png

waiting for new misions! :P

congratulations,

[icebear]

Thanks guys!

An amphibian - why didn't I think of that! :)

Cool OSD suggestion - I don't have a downlink so I find it hard to add the GPS info etx to the s5z photos... Any suggestions?

New mission is in the planning stages...

/Bjorn

[tritan]

Tritan

[icebear]

Oops! That sounded like a scary moment! I'm glad you made it back - I guess you should always have a spotter when doing FPV flights...

Please post some more details on your setup - goggles, Tx/Rx etc. Maybe in a separate thread so that we are not 'drifting too much downwind' here too... ;)

Icebear

[wallaguest1]

Thanks guys!

An amphibian - why didn't I think of that! :)

Cool OSD suggestion - I don't have a downlink so I find it hard to add the GPS info etx to the s5z photos... Any suggestions?

New mission is in the planning stages...

/Bjorn

http://rangevideo.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29&products_id=39

but just 100 mw, of power, well... i mean: "just"

or you can use a second microcamera with a 500 mw transmitter,

http://rangevideo.com/Images/digitalpreview_3.jpg

[d_wheel]

Excellent job Icebear! Congratulations!

Later;

D.W.

[icebear]

Thanks D.W.!

Gives confidence to do some more fun missions.
Would be fun to go from the swedish shore to Denmark, take some pictures of the danish castle 'Kronborg' featured in Shakespeares Hamlet in Elsinore... It's just 2.2 miles over water one way... :D

/Icebear

[Munin]

Hello everyone and a "til lykke" to IceBear

Contrats on your sucessfull UAV flight around the lighthouse.
It looks like I have to seriously consider buying a picopilot as
a starters gear for UAV'ing.

Btw IceBear I hope you dont start a war by penetrating the borders
to the Kingdom of Denmark.

I hope your UAV has a passport :)

/Munin

[wallaguest1]

do it icebear :P but at hight altitud, to avoid problems, and with the cmera in video mode, :DDD (and in the front of the plane )

:DDD

just ask a friend to fly it, and you w8 in the other site to land it :P

[icebear]

Btw IceBear I hope you dont start a war by penetrating the borders
to the Kingdom of Denmark.

I hope your UAV has a passport

Thanks Munin! I wouldn't consider it as penetrating borders as we don't need passports between our countries anymore :) And after all we were danish too down here not so long ago...
Actually, I am a little hesitant as it is a busy port as well and not as unpopulated as the lighthouse. However, some good AP photos are planned for this summer!

/Icebear

[frankswd]

any updates on this project?

[icebear]

Frank,

Here are some pictures from the mission!...............


.......BUT, we took the ferry over and just did an AP mission on site...:(

However, a local swedish club are planning for a mission across the water between Denmark and Sweden and will apply for a permit, build their on UAV airframe and I will probably be involved in the autopilot part...

More details later!

In the meantime there will probably be a few lighthouse videos too...

/Icebear

[frankswd]

icebear,
Excellent work!

how much would you say you have invested in your AP plane?

where's the bikini beach fly over shots? :)

OK, that was wrong.
anyway here's my blog with some A-video's and stuff i'm doing
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=11740

[icebear]

Thanks Frankswd!

The Ap plane itself is cheap ; a Kyosho Ferias with PRISM trigger, Pentax Optio cam and brushless MEGA + LiPO. Weighs in at 24 oz and flies for 30 min on a charge.

The UAV is somewhat more expensive but that is mainly due to the autoilot itself....

Thanks for the link to your blog - I like the Condor setup - very nice to join video and flightrecording! Well done - I'd like to do something like that next season...

/Icebear

[frankswd]

Thanks! I had to make and blend them after the flight. I think it has a nice effect to watch together however. I can do it retime on my laptop but it's running 2 seperate programs the eagle tree system and the video player.

was your video recorded onboard during the flight and then downloaded or was it via realtime feedback link? It looks like the plane did a complete roll (ocean on top of screen) do you know why that would have happened?

I sure would like to do the UAV part but I've sank all my money into this current project. They want some serious $$ for that system. Kind of scary to put it into such a small plane. Of course IT WORKED but....

It would be cool if we could teach a UAV to thermal, so to lotior over a target reagion.

[icebear]

Frank,

The lighthouse mission was set for stills so I took one picture every other second - about 250 in all. That way I got some nice high quality stills of the lighthouse AND I could join the images to a (jerky) movie in iMovie on my Mac. The camera does not have downlink so I had to hope for a safe return :D!

The 'half roll' you see just as the plane is heading back was due to the failsafe of the rx going crazy at the far end of range. I found out later that if I shut off the tx this does not happen so I was just lucky that the autopilot managed in spite of some jerky elevator movements!

Since you have got such a nice working FPV setup I think it just begs for a Picopilot or Attopilot :)

/Bjorn