Assorted projects and pontifications.
Thanks to the Christmas break, I have finally had a chance to build the 25″ Extra flat wing foamie kit I bought from BP Hobbies almost a year ago. The electronics were purchased from Hobby King and include four 5.5g Turnigy servos, one Turnigy 1300KV motor, and one Hobby King 20A ESC. Control is provided via a six channel Hitec receiver and the plane is powered by a 1000mAh Turnigy…
My biggest contribution to USC’s AeroDesign Team this year was a new MATLAB repository called PlaneTools. PlaneTools includes a collection of programs that aim to make airplane design easier. Chief among these programs is a mission simulator with simulates an airplane’s flight based on the rules of the AIAA Design/Build/Fly competition that we make planes for. A user of PlaneTools can construct a plane out of parts in the PlaneTools…
I had a quick flight at USC this morning with the Extra 300 and the GoPro HD Hero. Below are two pictures from the flight. The third picture was taken from an EasyStar this afternoon near the Coliseum during an AeroDesign Team test flight. Click on the pictures to view larger (OK, really large) versions.
I took out my new GoPro HD Hero Naked camera today for a spin on my ParkZone Extra 300. I used the full HD recording (1920×1080 pixels @ 30 fps) option and the footage looks pretty good if you ask me! The only thing that kinda bothered me is how the exposure setting seemed to be changing every time towards sun. I would have rather the screen just be bright…
I few months ago I got the tiny Turnigy Slowflier from HobbyKing. The plane is fun to fly in confined spaces, but is pretty fragile. Well, if finally fell apart today and I decided to make a new plane with the electronics. It’s a pretty basic design as you can see from the pictures. The build took only about five hours and I have named it ‘The Mini Dude.’ The…
I just had an article published by Illumin! After working there for more than a year, it is cool to see something I’ve written on the site. The article is called The Quadrotor’s Coming of Age and it covers the past, present, and future of four-rotored vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles. Check it out if you are interested in these new, miniaturized drones!