Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Arrival of parts

Today I happily recieved the new clevises in the mail, along with some more twinwall sample material, and a rather interesting letter. This should speed things up a bit and allow us to finally synchronise and smooth out the elevon movement on the right wing, after my little crushing incident. The shipping status on the esc states a friday or perhaps saturday arrival (hopefully)

P has also obtained some Sintra, with the hope of creating some cross-sectional shapes for the fuselage and the wings, for Phase 2, and that will definitely be useful. I'll just have to investigate weight issues and decide whether twinwall really is the best material to use. Since our aircraft will not necessarily be flying at high speed, and maximum efficieny as well as stability is crucial, so an aerofoil with some camber and high lift at low speeds would be ideal.

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

UAV initial thoughts

This will be where progress is logged.

We have a contingency plan consisting of several phases. Phase 1, at this point in time is nearing completion, as the Mugi Evo is nearly finished. It was mostly assembled kit, but so far it has helped us understand the basic control features of the plane ans well as transmitter programming, both essential for an autonomous vehicle.

So far, progress has gone well, with few upsets - the plane is now only awaiting a new clevis to attach the control rod to the servo, and a brushed motor controller to control the motors. We also need to find a way to attach the battery to both a servo lead as well as the standard battery connector.

Both are crrently being shipped in, with a total of approx 110 pounds spent on the project already.

Just so you know what Phase 1 will attempt to look like, here's a picture from the manufacturer's website.