Category: UAV science
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The UAV toolkit & appropriate technology
The UAV toolkit’s second project phase is now complete, the first development sprint at the start of the year was a bit of research into what we could use an average phone’s sensors for, resulting in a proof of concept remote sensing android app that allowed you to visually program different scripts which we then…
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Airborne drag-drop programming, the next steps
This autumn we are continuing work on the UAV toolkit with Karen Anderson and her research group at the Environment and Sustainability Institute. This time we have a mission to help the Westcountry Rivers Trust by coming up with fast and cheap ways they can build maps of farms to determine water run-off problems, which…
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More kite based UAV toolkit action
Some further kite testing with UAV Toolkit last week at Gwithian beach, with a strong offshore wind (and rather good looking surf too). We managed to max out the kite altitude and get some great photographs including surfers and flocks of birds. See the previous kite post for more details on the kite. I’ve also…
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Kite mapping with UAV toolkit
Some photos taken by the UAV toolkit on a recent flight at our gyllyngvase beach test site, using a KAP foil 1.6 kite instead of a drone. Kites have many advantages, no flight licences required, no vibration from engines and a fully renewable power source! We’re using a 3D printed mounting plate for the phone…
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Test flight day!
View of ground control from a OnePlus phone mounted on a Y6 UAV: A report from the first flight test of the new UAV android software with the Exeter University UAV science group. We had two aircraft, a nice battle hardened fixed wing RC plane and a very futuristic 3D robotics RTF Y6. We also…
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Livecoding UAVs for environmental research
Some screenshots of the UAV livecoding visual programming language. Weather being on our side, we’re planning some test flights later this week! The first program uses GPS to take photos with an overlap of 50% at 300 metres altitude, based on the vertical camera angle as reported from the device. It assumes the the flight…
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Visual programming for environmental research with UAVs
I’ve recently begun a new project with Karen Anderson who runs the UAV research group at the Exeter University Environment and Sustainability Institute. We’re looking at using commodity technology like android phones for environmental research with drones. Ecology research groups and environmental agencies have started using drones as a replacement for expensive and risky light…