ASARV

[chimera388]

How about we somehow have the operator always know the direction of the aircraft. Like DF to it somehow. That way, he flies over the target, and just notes what direction the Grace is.

[Enceladus Laboratories]

That would work too, but there's always the possibility of the operator losing sight of the aircraft, and even if he/she tries to fly it in a straight line, the winds, among other things, could cause the aircraft to drift off course. Well, I guess to solve that problem, we could just use landmarks to guide the operator, like pilots used to do in the days before GPS.

[chimera388]

I had assumed the operator will lose sight of the aircraft every time s/he flies it. I wasn't thinking that the operator would fly by LOS, but rather by telepresence using the camera.

[Enceladus Laboratories]

Yeah, the operator would be flying by teleprensence, I was just wondering how the operaor would know in what exact direction the aircraft is.

[chimera388]

Ground teams tend to know the terrain around them pretty well. I think they can figure out what they are looking at through the cameras.

[Enceladus Laboratories]

Okay, well that matter is settled, but as a backup idea, we could just simply parachute a cell phone in, and as part of the new 911 systems they have (at least here) they can track cell phones via GPS they have inbedded in them, but not all areas have that, so your conclusion that ground teams know their terrain is probably our best bet. Anyway, I had an idea for how to set up our video and controls, we should just use the standard controllers mst RC airplanes come with and hook up the recievers from the video cameras to a handhel TV (this would be cheaper than a laptop control, and easier, because I don't think you could hook up those video recievers to a regular notebook computer).

[chimera388]

Where are you going to get the power for the TVs?

[Enceladus Laboratories]

They run off of battery power. I hope At least the ones I saw today had batteries, but whether or not those batteries would last a long enough time to go a mission is a different story, I would believe they would. Anyway, the store I went to doesn't always have them, so that could be another issue.

[chimera388]

Well, the batts don't have to last a whole mission, just as long as the UAV mission is. I'm pretty sure the ground teams are going to have to stop movement to launch the UAV, so they won't by driving/walking around all day with the UAV over their heads. I think a typical UAV sortie would last between 10 minutes and an hour.

[Enceladus Laboratories]

Okay, so chances are that the batts will last a sortie, they would be pretty crappy batteries if they didn't. Oh I need to tell you howI plan to make the wing breakaway. First of all, the wings just slide into place in the fuselage, then they are held together by magnets, while any wires that need to go to the wing will be long enoug and tough enough to survive. With magnets, the wings will survive in flight, and breakaway in a crash, I just have to experiment around a bit first.

[chimera388]

Wow, that is way easier and cheaper and smarter than the complicated attatch points I had in mind! Also way easier to reattach after a crash. Magnets. Smart. Are you familiar with kinematics in physics? Do you plan on doing force tests to decide how many magnets you need? If not, here is how.

Build a wing (that you plan on breaking). secure the base edge (the edge that will attatch to the fuselage) vertically (facing up) to a desk with the end hanging off. Start attatching weights to the end of the wing. Continue to attach weights until the wing snaps. When it snaps, record how much pressure (weight) it took to break the wing. Your magnets should support the amount weight halfway between the wing's own weight and the breaking weight.

[Enceladus Laboratories]

As a great man once told me KISS. Ooh, thanks. I was trying to figure out how to do the stress testing. And today I started school again and engineering, and now I have access to more engineering equipment ( some of the software is still beta testing) and I have access to a "Ralph" a 3D laser printer. I can design a piece for the aircraft on the computer, and then use the printer to build it, then put all the pieces together!

[chimera388]

I spoke with my Cadet Commander yesterday about Saving Grace, and he says if we can get it to work, he will introduce it to the National Boards that same year. He is on National Cadet Advisory Council, so he would love to be the one to suggest it to boards, and loves the idea of testing it at our squadron in Colorado. Keep me posted as to how things are going down there. I will be out for a week or so while I move to college. G'Day.

[Enceladus Laboratories]

Okay, having your Cadet Commander introduce it to the National Board sounds like a good idea. Talk to you in about a week. Good day.

[chimera388]

Okay, I'm all moved in at Riddle. How far along are you in airframe design?