Let’s kick off this blog!

Hallo.

To kick off this blog, here is a photo of one of my current projects: a Multiplex EasyStar R/C aircraft + Google Android developer smart phone = Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). This photo was taken on a cold, rainy, and windy day in early December at Ft. Benning, GA.

The UAV is remotely operated by a safety pilot on the ground, while the smart phone records sensory information and takes photographs. Below are just a few of the photos captured during one of the test flights at altitudes between 300 and 500 feet above ground level (AGL). By the end of this two semester project, the team plans to demonstrate fully autonomous flight of the UAV.

I develop and implement the flight controls in the autopilot. In the first phase of this project, I ported the ArduPilot to work on the smart phone and its Android platform. The flight controls consist of simple proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers, which adjust the elevator, rudder, and throttle. The accelerometer, digital compass, and GPS receiver on the smart phone are used as feedback in the control loops. I plan to explore more complex control strategies in the second phase of this project.

We plan to extensively document our project on flyingandroid.com, including how to hack the serial interface on the G1 and some other creative ways to connect smart phones to servos.