We had several successes this weekend, with longer-range flights. We flew the small wing out 2 km, and it successfully returned and landed. A couple days later, we flew out to 3 km. We started to lose telemetry at that range with the rubber ducky antenna, but the plane flew without trouble. Here's a video of a successful flight with autoland:
The wing above is the red one in this photo. The new wing is the black one:
The new wing will use an E-flight Power 32 motor, shown here on the test stand:
New UAV Parts
I had a flurry of buying activity this weekend, after seeing the new wing. The thing is huge: 2.1 m. I decided to build one, too. The wing it self will take the longest to arrive, some time next week, but I ordered everything else in the mean time, which should arrive before the weekend.
Here’s the list of stuff:
| Item | Source | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Wing | Flying Foam Mothership 2.1 m | $145 |
| Motor | Power 32 Brushless Outrunner Motor, 770 Kv | $74.99 |
| ESC | Castle Creations Phoenix ICE Lite 75 | $110.95 |
| Autopilot | ArduPilot | $250.00 |
| Airspeed | Airspeed Kit | $24.95 |
| Communications | XtreamBee Board | $24.95 |
| XtreamBee USB Adapter | $24.95 | |
| Digi XBP09-DPSIT-156 SMA Connector | $42 | |
| Digi XBP09-DPWIT-156 Wire Antenna | $42 | |
| Lighting | Numerous bright LEDs from SparkFun | $72.50 |