CanberraUAV

Notes for meeting chair/minute takers

2013 June 10

Present:

Stephen Dade

Andrew Tridgell

Jack Pittar

Jonathon Parrott

Matt Ridley

Report on in-progress items

CMAC-weather-station

no action noted

bixler_workshop

Alex Mason has put up an “Expression of Interest” form on Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj0y_M69lZzudC1feUpGNFRIeUllVGhJT1F6OTM1RkE&usp=sharing)

Full details are on the MHV/CanberraUAV mailing lists

mu-thermal-camera

no action noted

SAR-scenarios

The Mt Kosciusko Trip (see “Other Business”) should be added in as a scenario.

Based on this experience we should be able to start generating formal procedures and documentation.

schools-program

no action noted

DGPS

no action noted

OBC2014

CanberraUAV have entered the OBC 2014!

ADFA will likely be putting in a team

UC might be putting in a team, if they can generate enough interest

Our goal is to treat this as “just another S&R”. Integrate it with our normal S&R activities.

Thus the emphasis will be on ruggedness, flexibility and simplicity.

Other business

Mt Kosciusko Trip

On the 9th June several members went down to Mt Kosciusko to participate in a real life S&R scenario, in support of the missing bush walker Prabhdeep Srawn. Background information available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-10/family-offers-24100k-reward-to-find-missing-snowy-mountains-bu/4744274

Due to the short lead time (24 hours notice) we were only able to use a Bixler fitted with the GoPro camera.

The difficult terrain and poor weather conditions made mission planning a challenge.

Because of this, the Bixler did not come back from the S&R mission and is assumed crashed on the side of a mountain.

It is too dangerous to attempt to find/rescue the Bixler.

Lessons Learned

The mission generation software needs to take into account the maximum climb rate and flight range of the UAV being flown.

A much larger airframe (like the Techpod) would be far more likely to have enough power and range for this sort of scenario.

The ground station needs better antenna stands - like a squid pole.

In mountainous regions line-of-sight radio communications cannot be guaranteed.

Proper boxes for our equipment would make transportation more efficient.

We need to be able to provide the S&R people with a list of our capabilities and requirements, to ensure that our presence would be useful.

Actions required

The Bixler needs to be replaced. Tridge will buy the replacement airframe, PX4, ESC, Battery, GPS and RC RX

Stephen will buy the replacement GoPro (Silver) and spare battery, micro SD cards and RFD900 radio

Stephen will look into the particularly and cost of using satellite modems for telemetry

Stephen will buy a squid pole (and base) for the ground station

Website and Mailing List

Still having troubles with the mailing list(s) going offline sporadically

Alistair and Tridge attempted to buy upgraded memory for the Rackspace VM running the list(s), but encountered technical difficulties

Tridge is happy to run the list(s) on his home server

The CanberraUAV website will hopefully be updated/refreshed in the next couple of weeks, once Stephen figures out Drupal

Quadcopter Workshop

Will hopefully be run in late July

Big changes from the previous workshop will be the inclusions of the Turnigy 9XR transmitter and PX4 avionics

Proper vibration damping will be looked into (neoprene or moongel)

Money

The process and policy for getting for members getting refunded for CanberraUAV purchases is not clear or formalised.

Stephen will write up a policy and procedures for this in the near future, in consultation with the Treasurer and team members.