Sucessful first trials of Swiss Pixhawk-based entry for Outback Challenge

by Chris Anderson [ http://diydrones.com/profile/zlitezlite ]
DIYDrones.com

August 1, 2014

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlMu3ZaBcZo ]

This a gorgeous aircraft and the autonomous flight and image processing to detect "Outback Joe" is already working, as you'll see at 2:34.

Here's more about the Swiss Fang team [ http://www.swissfang.ch/ ]:

This is the website of Team Swiss Fang, the swiss competition entry to the 2014 UAV Outback Challenge [ http://www.swissfang.ch/competition/ ]. We are developing a state-of-the-art autonomous, long range Search and Rescue UAV.

Drones for Search and Rescue

We are with our partners part of the revolution in the skies, bringing unmanned airplanes into real applications. In the area of Search and Rescue drones can help saving lives. The Australian Outback Search and Rescue challenge is an ideal scenario to demonstrate the performance of our platform.

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSMej1zx2qw ]

Technology

We have an unique approach, combining a very efficient flying wing airframe with the newest battery technology for maximum range. Our autopilot design performs fully automatic flight and landing. The fully automatic computer vision based lost person detection allows the plane to find lost hikers or other missing people on the ground.

Impact

The autopilot developed by members of our team is available as open hardware and the first open hardware autopilot produced in series meeting the CASA safety regulations for the competition. We are not just creating a novel search and rescue plane, but bring the technology to a level where it can be immediately applied in real scenarios and at larger scales.

Team

Our team consists of a number of the PX4 Autopilot Project core developers, allowing us to not just customize the autopilot for the competition task, but to actually design it for it.

Swiss Made

Our team is based in the Zurich Area, called „the silicon valley of robotics“. We have strong ties to ETH Zurich, one of the world leading universities in aerial robotics.

10:00pm

by Gary McCray [ http://diydrones.com/profile/GaryMcCray ]

August 2, 2014

Great Job Seemed to lock on to Joe very quickly.

Nice plane, interesting vinyl covering I think:

http://greenairdesigns.com/ejc/index.php/special/viper-x-10-fpv-uav-flying-wing.html

Are you happy with the Viper airframe?

Also any details about Joe location system you'd care to share?

Best Regards,

Gary

11:35am

by Simon Wilks [ http://diydrones.com/profile/SimonWilks ]

August 2, 2014

The detection system is quite an advanced one, developed by one of our team members, Julian Oes. The video shows a Joe like person with a bright vest but earlier that day we had lots of hits with my white T-Shirt. Black was harder but we'll get there. The system doesn't just look for a blob of colour but looks for a human form as well. We don't have regular access to Australian terrain here but we have done our homework and it's working for that kind of landscape too. We will be in Australia a week in advance to train the system further if necessary.

More information on the Viper can be found here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2042139

The Viper is an amazing wing once setup right but can get out of hand fast. Initial tuning needed lots of space and strong nerves. After that it's a dream to fly, rock solid, no yawing and an impressive sound as it cruises past :)

Yes, it's a vinyl covering which is fine for show but horrible in the sun. I am probably going to strip it soon and use fibreglass matting with water based floor varnish. The wing is made of a kind of blue foam, so it's brittle but very stiff when covered, but is not meant to be bounced off the ground so I treat it like a real aircraft. We use EPO wings (Wing Wing and FX-61) for dev work and testing.

Simon

12:09pm