
Making a brain for my model plane - evansd
http://story.glass/uav
======
matthewcanty
This is excellent in every way. Not only building a homemade UAV, but the
presentation was spot on.

I expected the page to run badly with all that big content but had no
problems.

The images and video add so much and not even a single click required!

~~~
jonny5532
(Jonny the author here)

Thanks for the kind words! This is primarily a taster article to introduce the
UAV project, I intend to write a more technical report and publish the
designs/code in due time (and some more videos!).

The presentation uses Story Glass, also a project of mine, which we hope to
offer soon as a service. It is an experience, lying in a damp field shooting a
video to think about how the text will flow over it!

~~~
lambda
Hmm. A few of the videos were broken for me in Firefox, but worked in Chrome.
In particular, the 3D model of the plane (caption "On a real plane these
control surfaces are moved by large hydraulic pistons connected to the pilot's
control stick."), and the PCB design software ("PCB design is quite fun. You
start off by placing the ‘footprints’ of each of the chips, and then draw in
all the connections.").

Ah, looking at it, it appears that these may not have webm variants. You might
want to include a static fallback image or something of the sort for videos
that you don't have webm variants for; in fact, static fallback images for all
of the videos would be good for people who have video disabled, don't have
video support, don't have appropriate codec support, or the like.

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6stringmerc
Excellent, I've been waiting for Moore's Law to catch up with what I need to
engineer my groundbreaking, innovative personal flight device design. Ever
since I learned about the F-16's use of thrust and computing power to enable
Relaxed Stability, I've been certain my personal flight device will need the
capability to operate in that mode. I'm still trying to secure proper IP
protections (I'm an amateur inventor) before prototyping for marketing /
capital raising, but this is very relevant. Thanks for sharing and I hope to
be in contact eventually regarding potential collaboration. Cheers!

~~~
rebootthesystem
What's Moore's Law have to do with this at all? Just trying to understand.
This was do-able ten, if not twenty years ago.

The model helicopter guys have been using gyro-stabilized platforms for
probably decades. These are cases where the darn thing would be almost
impossible to fly without the gyro taking control of various aspects of the
aircraft. One of my current helicopters (1.5 meter rotor) can be tuned to go
from docile-and-almost-boring to what I would call "tasmanian-devll-mode".

~~~
6stringmerc
I'm thinking the processing power to do calculations that are corresponding to
the passenger / payload (which will move somewhat while in flight and be
unstable), flight control inputs, and perhaps communications ability within a
very small package. My point is while some of the parts have existed, until
the Arduino / Pi devices started getting traction, I did not see a viable
method for combining the disparate elements into a usable format...at a
minimum cost of weight / power.

~~~
jacquesm
The electronics for something carrying passengers would hopefully be a bit
more rugged than an arduino or a raspi. I suspect that you're optimizing for
the wrong variables here. Aduino and raspi are _not_ groundbreaking for
capabilities or format and inventions are rarely stopped by the price point of
the development platform, if anything they are stopped by a lack of market,
timing or physics.

~~~
6stringmerc
Single passenger, and initial versions will not be self-powered but rather
towed. I already have a very close friend who pokes holes in my ideas and
innovations, and I certainly don't expect most people on here to understand
the short, medium, and long-term goals of my concept. The innovation is one of
physics, I'm simply mentioning the tools with respect to this discussion /
item being shared.

Frankly it's actually more of a proof-of-concept for a highly efficient wing
design - one that only recently was discovered within the past five years.
Hence, even if everybody nipping at my heels thinks it could have been done
already / 10 years ago with "off the shelf" parts and such, well, you're
wrong. Like I said, I'm very protective of my IP at this point and don't mind
fielding this type of criticism, it's just somewhat laughable to me because
there's so many disparate concepts being put together that the only person who
could be this crazy and innovative is me, because it's one of those inventions
that only comes from a unique mind.

There's a lot of criticism on here for the OP because they aren't going into
enough detail. I'm guilty of that too. I really don't care if you feel the
same, because I like making connections with other big thinkers and dreamers.
Critics are a dime a dozen. Liberal arts majors with a lifetime of aviation
industry experience? Much more rare.

~~~
jacquesm
Let's see:

> I certainly don't expect most people on here to understand the short,
> medium, and long-term goals of my concept.

Does not expect to be understood by others.

> Like I said, I'm very protective of my IP at this point

Secretive

> it's just somewhat laughable to me because there's so many disparate
> concepts being put together that the only person who could be this crazy and
> innovative is me, because it's one of those inventions that only comes from
> a unique mind.

Self describes as having 'a unique mind'

> Professional Writer, Musician and Intellectual

> The innovation is one of physics

Not schooled in the field in which he's making a 'breakthrough invention'

> Liberal arts majors with a lifetime of aviation industry experience? Much
> more rare.

Well, obviously, yes, liberal arts majors tend not to have lifetimes of
aviation industry experience.

Beware, you're sounding suspiciously like the majority of all crackpot
'researchers' and 'inventors' who are coming up with new ways to make
energy/spacecraft/airplanes/AI etc in their garages. I've been pretty active
on an alternative energy forum and there were quite a few people there that
exhibited most or even all of the symptoms above, I never saw them produce
anything.

Word to the wise: if you're serious then don't bother commenting on HN teasing
the world with your invention without a show and tell, chances are that your
breakthrough has been looked at many times before and has been discarded for
good reasons. If you have found something original then more power to you, in
that case just go out and build it, don't talk about it at all.

------
pedrocr
Looks awesome. So far you've replicated what can be done with an off-the-shelf
part like this:

[http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__24758__F_TEK_30A_Fixe...](http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__24758__F_TEK_30A_Fixed_Wing_Flight_Stabilization_Controller_w_Self_Leveling_.html)

But you have full control of the programming and have the communications
problem solved as well. It would be great to have open hardware to replace
some of these parts in-plane just like OpenTX now replaces the software in the
ground transmitters:

[http://www.open-tx.org/](http://www.open-tx.org/)

------
soci
I also played with servos and my Arduino a while ago. I had quite fun indeed.

I agree that piloting AR plane is quite difficult. I always end up with a
crash [1] and then I spend an hour in repairing it. Keeping it up in the air
is doable, landing is just impossible for me ;)

I don't quite understand how stabilisation would allow me a better fight. From
what I read in another comment from yours, what you do is "work out the
difference between the desired angle (set by the pilot on the ground) and the
actual angle (as reported by the IMU algorithm fed by the gyro/accelometer)".
Is there anything else involved in the stabilization? I mean, speed is key for
maneuvering in air, and moving the flaps is less effective at low speeds, do
you take this into account?

Also, why building your own PCB (and having to wait 2 weeks to get it
delivered) while there's arduino nano or similars ready to go with in a very
small size? I guess you do it just for the hacking fun and learing. BRILLIANT!

[1] [https://vimeo.com/29559991](https://vimeo.com/29559991)

~~~
uberdog
Try starting with a simulator, like Phoenix. You plug in your transmitter to
your computer's USB and it's like a video game where you're in a field flying
whatever model you choose (plane or multirotor). You can change the conditions
(increase the wind, for example) and crash all you want without having to make
repairs.

Once you feel comfortable in the simulator, start with a big foam flyer like
an EasyStar or Bixler. It's easiest if you start with 3 channel (no ailerons)
so there's less you have to worry about. Progressively move to smaller and
faster planes (first in the simulator, then in the field).

~~~
tonyarkles
For reference, the plane in the article appears to be a Bixler.

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kybernetyk
Wow, scrolling through that article was really disturbing. I guess I need to
get used to this kind of presentation.

~~~
delecti
I felt the same way. I really wish we didn't have to get used to that though.
It's like the worst combination of a video and a website, and ends up as
something like an annoying guided tour.

~~~
petemc_
I thought it was awesome, and it worked perfectly on my 2008 macbook.

------
shangxiao
Awesome.

Is this sort of thing usually done with RC planes? I've been watching a few RC
plane videos lately - there seem to be a _lot_ of pilots out there who could
benefit from electronics to help land their planes - especially those who've
spent a ton of money on really nice setups like this guy: [1]

[1] [http://youtu.be/nQJ3TzSZkpo](http://youtu.be/nQJ3TzSZkpo)

~~~
matthewmcg
Yes, stabilization systems are increasingly common among the so called "ultra
micro" models.

I just bought a E-Flite Radian UMX, which is a stabilized and miniaturized
(29" wingspan) version of a larger model (the 2M wingspan Parkzone Radian).
The stabilization makes it much easier for inexperienced users to fly in gusty
conditions. Like the OP's home-built system, it has a rate-sensing gyro system
that compensates for any uncommanded movement. The plane flies perfectly
straight regardless of wind and updrafts unless you give rudder or elevator
inputs.

I am still amazed it was only $80.

------
ChuckMcM
Hmm, on Firefox 33.0.3 on CentOS 6, it is just a lot of white space with some
text interspersed. I'm guessing I'm missing something :-)

That said, the availability and usability of these 9 DOF modules has really
made this sort of stuff doable for folks. Opens up a lot of possibilities and
for me at least I think it is the single biggest reason the quadcopter market
exists :-)

------
fu86
Love this kind of presentation! Do you use any external libs or tools to build
the page?

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lordnacho
This is awesome. I want to do this myself. I have a degree in EE, but I've
somehow never built anything like this. One issue is how to get the bits. What
I mean is where is there a summary of all the bits one might need (like a box
of lego), and how to get the pcb made? Also, do you sit with an oscilloscope
and debug? Or is it all simulation? What do you use to simulate?

Also, do you employ control theory for the stabilization? Predictive filtering
and all that?

~~~
jonny5532
(Jonny the author here)

I plan to write this up more completely, but here are some more technical
details:

Most of the bits (the foam plane, servos, speed controller, radio modules,
IMU, barometer and GPS) came from eBay or HobbyKing. I started off with a
little USB development board with an Atmel SAM7 on it, and then moved to the
PCB and a newer Atmel SAM3 (partly after discovering how cheap prototype PCBs
are from ITEAD).

I initially wrote the algorithms in python, using pyserial to talk to the
built-in bootloader the chips come with, through which you can manipulate
registers and control the peripherals. This made writing and debugging the C
much easier. The chip runs TNKernel, a little RTOS, which handles the radio
and IMU processes (and soon GPS and barometer).

Control is currently simple proportional control based on the IMU output, but
I may add integral and differential terms once I'm more comfortable flying it,
to see if can improve stability. It is remarkable how happy it is flying with
the relatively crude algorithm it currently uses.

Launching it is still slightly nerve-wracking - you have to throw it quite
hard and hope that it is going to go up rather than down. There's also the
risk that it'll fly out of radio range and keep on going, but if this happens
it automatically cuts the throttle, in theory at least!

~~~
aliakhtar
What's your background? Are you an engineer, or self taught?

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vowelless
Very, very cool.

* How much payload can you put on the vehicle?

* Are you planning on adding some sort of forward scanner / camera to check for safety while flying autonomously? ("Eyes" to accompany the brain)

* How are you using the feedback from the IMU and gyroscope? Does it have a kalman filter? Or are you just looking at the instantaneous IMU data and just reacting to it.

* Where does the stability code reside? You mention a stable platform .. I am curious as to what it is.

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holi2007
I wish the project had more internal nit bits. Like algorithms, controller
info, and so on. A bit disappointed but have my upvote regardless.

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Raphmedia
Building a drone, or robots is one of my dreams. I mean, as I programmer, I
build things all the time. How awesome it would be to code something that ends
up moving in the physical realm? Even better if it had some limited form of
AI.

But I know nothing about hardware, and very very little about programming a
UAV.

~~~
lovelearning
I'm a programmer who'd never tried electronics till an year ago but have now
managed to build a few things - that even involve homemade PCBs and SMD
soldering.

1) I started by buying an arduino, a starter kit and some simple sensors and
actuators - ultrasonic, gyro, servos, motor driver - on ebay.

2) read Pratt's "Make Electronics" and Wiley's "Electronics for Dummies"

3) started making. Understood theoretical concepts by doing.

4) I regularly watch DIY youtube channels and follow RSS feeds of sites like
Instructables and Hackaday.io

5) I'm not yet capable of building a UAV, but I've already built a couple of
robots.

It's not really tough, and it's a fantastic side hobby. It's also turned me
into a more careful software programmer, constantly double and triple checking
everything, because electronic circuits are not as forgiving of mistakes as
software.

So I'd say get started right away. It's gonna be fun!

~~~
Raphmedia
I didn't see your reply until today.

Thanks! I'll take a look at those books.

Any good links you could throw my way while we are at it?

~~~
lovelearning
For purchasing, just search "arduino starter kits" in ebay, adafruit or
sparkfun.

For learning, check out :

[1] [https://learn.adafruit.com/category/learn-
arduino](https://learn.adafruit.com/category/learn-arduino)

[2]
[https://learn.sparkfun.com/start_a_project](https://learn.sparkfun.com/start_a_project)

------
skratlo
Have you looked into [http://ardupilot.com/](http://ardupilot.com/) ?

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aliakhtar
This is really cool. I wish he'd have gone into more detail about how he built
the rest of the plane - was it purchased off the shelf, or did he build each
part himself?

Also, how does the microcontroller pass on the commands to the motors, and how
do they carry it out?

I'd love to read this article with x100 details.

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monk_e_boy
How do you deal with the feedback loop? How do you avoid over adjusting making
the plane go crazy?

~~~
lgeek
I don't know about this particular project, but the standard approach is to
use a PID controller, which uses the derivative term to control overshooting
and oscilations.

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rubynl
I'm dying to see some more details! What model plane, how does your
stabilization algorithm work, how is everything placed on/in the plane, how do
the ARM microcontroller and the original controller work together, etc!

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marak830
That was interesting.

Layout didnt work so well on my note 3 with chrome, the image sections were
pretty flawless but the text parts were a tad difficult to focus onn at times.

Definatly going to look it up on the pc though :-)

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mrfusion
I love this!

Any advice on finding people to work on projects like this with? I've tried to
do electronics projects in the past and get bored when I realize no one cares
about it :-(

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NicoJuicy
Okay, this is truelly awesome! I would like to know how you connected your ps3
controller through a radio module (without watching the Chinese manuals)....

I'd really appreciate that!

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lnanek2
Nice capture of a one word domain on the new .glass TLD. Although I was
expecting it to have something to do with Google Glass and it didn't.

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sjtrny
Is it possible to get the components already soldered into your PCB at a
reasonable cost? Doing surface mount components seems like a nightmare.

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phazmatis
Laggy pop-in scrolling, autoplaying sound with no way to disable, yep this
article ain't for me.

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gao8a
Very cool project and website design!

Which shop did you use to print the PCBs and how much did each of them cost?

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milankragujevic
I can't use the website since Firefox just freezes and I have to kill it
manually.

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kitplummer
Def interested in story.glass. Hopefully open source in its future.

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vladtaltos
interesting - my windows machine throws a blue screen of death to me (tried it
3 times) when I try to open the link with firefox... no problems with IE...

~~~
auxym
Makes FF33 crash on my win7 machine.

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bla2
Super super nice web page design.

