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Cuddy's Discussions

Software altitude limit?

Started this discussion. Last reply by Daniel Nugent Jan 16. 9 Replies

Hi all,As I'm planning to use the APM2 to pilot a glider back from near space there are quite a few unusual questions etc that I need to clarify - so apologies for the many questions!Originally I had…Continue

Working with NMEA gps

Started this discussion. Last reply by davidbuzz Jan 10. 1 Reply

Hi all,I'm currently working on a project of a high altitude return glider (that will hopefully fly back to a predesignated site on release. Now, to do this I require a GPS module that properly obeys…Continue

High Altitude Glider

Started this discussion. Last reply by Salame le Vrai Feb 15. 16 Replies

Hi all, This is my 1st post here so please bear with me if I'm posting in the wrong board etc!I'm heavily involved in High Altitude Ballooning which is sending payloads up into near space using a…Continue

Tags: glider, altitude, high

 

Cuddy's Page

Latest Activity

Salame le Vrai replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"Hi all, I see there is a growing community growing for HAB and high altitude flights ! I'm impressed !  I am also working on a similar project but with a greater empasis on the quality of the videos taken from that altitude.  I…"
Feb 15

Moderator
Monroe replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"Hey guy's I started a group here Team Prometheus and I'd like to get a wiki going too! I'm all for everybody working together and sharing what we can all do. I wonder if we could get something going here on DIY Drones? With a wiki for…"
Feb 7
Cuddy replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"Sounds a good idea - lots of good work going on from all different angles! I've spoke with people about the idea of a wiki and we should be able to set up a subsection on the UKHAS wiki www.ukhas.org.uk where we can detail bits and pieces to…"
Jan 18
Larry Grater replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"I had another comment after rereading one of Cuddy's posts. Some GPS recievers are pretty tolerant to angle and rate excursions, even with antenna patterns like from the ceramic patch. I've seen good performance with Mediatek during…"
Jan 18
Larry Grater replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"I've gone in a slightly different direction with GPS and am integrating Venus GPS. This one supports NMEA, altitude and update rate + data logging. I also bought the 3.3v logic converter (all spark fun). I'll post progress. I did find a…"
Jan 18
Cuddy left a comment for Nathan Harris
"Ahh I see! I have contacted the CAA and currently they are "deliberating" - which hopefully will be positive if I can give them a time and area of flight (closer to launch). A wiki would be fairly easy to set up - however, creating pages…"
Jan 17
Cuddy replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"Yes, the air density is extremely low at the altitudes and therefore I plan to just let it free fall until it can maintain stable flight - looking at past data this appears to be around ~13/14km in altitude (this of course varies with…"
Jan 16
Daniel Nugent replied to Cuddy's discussion Software altitude limit?
"400 miles!? the space station is at 250 miles. im also designing a high altitude glider and i am using the balloon approach. i had thought of a rocket to give it height but didnt know what to use. which one are you planning on using???"
Jan 16
Daniel Nugent replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"I had the same idea 6 months ago and now im trying to figure out the bugs. I was going to use ardupilot but i figured out one problem. you would know that air density at those altitudes is extremely low. making surface control hard. it can be…"
Jan 16
Cuddy left a comment for Nathan Harris
"I've been working on HAB stuff for the past 3 years on and off - it has intensified more over the past year. I talk to the other members of UKHAS quite a bit on the irc channel #highaltitude. They are a very good group of people with a lot of…"
Jan 15
Cuddy left a comment for Cuddy
"I've been working on HAB stuff for the past 3 years on and off - it has intensified more over the past year. I talk to the other members of UKHAS quite a bit on the irc channel #highaltitude. They are a very good group of people with a lot of…"
Jan 15
Cuddy replied to Cuddy's discussion Software altitude limit?
"I agree, currently I'm moving my project forward with 2 vehicle designs: 1) is a standard glider made out of styrofoam - that I'm building 2) Flying wing - that a company is building for me I think the airframes will be able to handle the…"
Jan 14
Cuddy replied to Cuddy's discussion High Altitude Glider
"Hi Art & Monroe - I agree, there seems to be enough of us to set up our wiki and work together on solving all these problems! Personally - I think the APM2 will provide almost a solution however the code will need tweaking in numerous…"
Jan 14

Moderator
Monroe replied to Cuddy's discussion Software altitude limit?
"Well, the drogue chute will work until a wing catches some air and tangles the aircraft in the chute. The best way would be an aircraft that can handle the stress without need of a chute. Here is a link to some more…"
Jan 13

Moderator
Monroe replied to Cuddy's discussion Software altitude limit?
"Yep that's what I intended to try! We haven't progressed that far yet but it's in the profile. Flutter and strange orientations during the decent put weird loads on the airframe. I have a SkyFun I intend to test soon. The cold gas…"
Jan 13

Moderator
Ellison Chan replied to Cuddy's discussion Software altitude limit?
"Wow that's sound pretty ambitious.  How about using solenoid valves operating with the PPM signals going to the all the control surface servos?"
Jan 13

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FLying High Altitude Gliders

Comment Wall (2 comments)

At 12:21pm on January 10, 2012, Nathan Harris said…

100% agree happy to share my experience and good to hear from someone in the UK

I have been very cautious with the CAA in the past in case of opening pandora's box, but also aplaud safety.

What has your experience been? do you have a project site? mine is very much out of date

At 7:19am on January 15, 2012, Cuddy said…

I've been working on HAB stuff for the past 3 years on and off - it has intensified more over the past year. I talk to the other members of UKHAS quite a bit on the irc channel #highaltitude. They are a very good group of people with a lot of experience and willing to share etc.

So far I've only done 1 launch (last Summer) which went very well - preparing for 2nd launch which should hopefully be within a couple of months. My site is http://habexperiments.wordpress.com however, it doesn't get updated that regularly (I really should update it more!). As well as working on the 2nd launch, I'm also putting a significant amount of effort into the idea of a "glider" or "autonomous return vehicle" that would make retrieving etc far easier and is just quite a "cool" project!

Initially I though I would code my own autopilot just simply using rudder to control (like the GPS Boomerang) however, the challenge with that approach is creating a neutrally stable glider - very difficult.

So, after a fair bit of research I've opted to use the APM2 (currently have one on order) to pilot the glider back.

Someone I know has used the APM1 (with IMU stuff) on some test missions for their glider however experienced significant failure of both pressure sensors and others - I'm hoping that this is all corrected etc in APM2. I will probably fly it on one of my balloons just to make sure it all works..

I've noticed that there are a few of us here on diydrones that are exploring similar projects and it was suggested a couple of days ago that we should perhaps start a wiki and work collaboratively to solve the problem! - Something I'm all for.

With regards to your project - have you managed to obtain CAA permission to fly the glider over here? From your display pic it looks like you've already had a mission! How did it go?

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