The Radio Controlled Plane Project Blog

Follow along as we try to get an rc airplane to 30,000ft. This is where we'll be documenting most of the things that happen. You can also sign up for the email updates to the left so as not to miss the flight day.

So you don't have to trawl through this to find information on certain things we're putting together a cohesive set of notes on the technical side of things for another part of the site. With that said, here we go!

23 July 2007

RC Airplane blog update

OK, so I call again to find out about the microcontroller boards for the radio connection for this rc plane... and it turns out the reason these are being delayed is because of regulations that came in earlier this year for components to be lead free. And since they ran out of the old boards, the new ones have to be made to the new regulations and this appears to be taking some time... soon lets hope.

Mind you, with this weather we're having in the UK at the moment there's not much chance to fly anything anyway. So at least the pressure's not on to get things done to test in the good weather... October is usually quite calm here so we'll aim for then.

Happy flying to everyone in sunny calm places!

25 June 2007

New page on rc airplane lift and drag basics

To read through the first of many technical notes pages to come, go here: lift and drag equations

And the microcontroller boards are going to be built in the next couple of weeks...

25 May 2007

Waiting

Trying to get hold of the right microcontroller boards... the only place we can find which has them doesn't currently have them in stock...

The plus side is that the longer this thing takes to complete, the better and better the battery technology will be getting! A busy month coming up with other things but not to worry, slowly is the best way for us :-)

6 March 2007

Long Range RC Plane Control

Welcome to a very short note on long range control. As with everything else, this will all end up in the technical pages at some point in the future in full detail...

A normal radio contol transmitter doesn't get anywhere near enough transmission range for our rc purposes. There are ways around it such as amplifiers but these tend to have other problems one of which being regulations...

In the last few months Mick and I have been looking at ways to get around this and had the idea to turn to the arena of Robotics. This must surely have been a problem solved long ago by them...

So our solution is to use a microcontroller at our end, turning stick inputs into a protocol which a special low-power high-range transmitter can handle and send to a similar receiver in the plane - where there will be a similar microchip attached which can decode the output from the first microchip and then directly feed the servos.

This is only an outline so you can get the idea. We know which microcontroller boards we want - now we need them here so we can get to work!

Paul

ps - this may take some time because it requires programming the chips and Mick and I need to get together to sort this out... and between our two schedules it could take some time!

4 March 2007

Getting Back to the Solar RC Plane Issue...

When this project was thought up, one of the ideas was to use solar power to get it up there until the reality of the requirements showed that it wasn't realistically possible. So much for the clean-green-flying-machine... we were now back with batteries.

But here's the thing. The plane can STILL use solar power to get it up there... simply recharge the batteries off solar power!

3 March 2007

RC Plane Project Random Thought #1

The wind is howling outside. And if you're an RC flyer you'll understand that this fills my head with nothing but thoughts of RC planes being torn, chewed up and swallowed by the wind.

Infact, the weather has been terrible for weeks now and with each day that passes, radio controlled planes just seem more and more fragile. Anyhow, all this might only make the finished product stronger ;-)

Paul

3 March 2007

RC Plane Support

Just a quick note to say thanks... to Pete at RC-airplane-world.com for the support on his site (check it out)... to thirtythousandfeet.com for the same and to Eric Sanders at compufoil.com.

Also, thanks to all those people who are/have been emailing with tips and ideas for the project AND the website. Lots of great ideas that we now need to find the time to implement between jobs, project stuff and BAAAAAAD weather here in England!

Paul

8 Jan 2007

Energy for the Radio Controlled Plane

Energy. This is one of the most fundamental issues we have. The amount of energy needed in theory to get our plane through a 30,000ft climb, we can calculate:

First you can start with the pe=mgh thing and then you can factor in the effeciencies (or inefficiencies) of all the power system on board. Having done this you end up with a rather shocking figure.

We did consider solar power. But wow. Two small problems. First was the cost, and second the amount of wing area needed. I'm sure that there must be something out there solar wise that we can use in the end, maybe on 'Take2', but for now it's back to batteries.

I've looked at a lot of batteries. It's a trade study between capacity and voltage of the battery with it's weight.

So, LiPo's are the way we're going for now. About 27000mAh with 22.2V. That's a lot of energy...

Paul

17 Nov 2006

Welcome to the Radio Controlled Plane Blog!

Hello there.

These last few weeks have been exceptionally busy. With regard to the rc plane challenge, most of the time has been spent on calculations and trade studies as well as figuring out if it was all correct!

The difficulty is that I'm not an aerodynamics graduate (argh) and this project needs a certain amount of accuracy in that department! However, Tom, a friend of my girlfriend has been quite helpful - he studies those types of things up in Leeds University and a good few tips have come from people up there.

Anyhow, I'll document all these properly in the technical section so look out for that.

Because of all the work on that side of things, the website stayed the way it had been - the rather minimalist thing I'd put up a few weeks ago.

What you see now is the new version... I hope you'll find it fun and useful over the course of our project!

Paul


	The Radio Controlled Plane Project Blog Follow along as we try to get an rc airplane to 30,000ft. This is where we'll be documenting most of the things that happen. You can also sign up for the email updates to the left so as not to miss the flight day. So you don't have to trawl through this to find information on certain things we're putting together a cohesive set of notes on the technical side of things for another part of the site. With that said, here we go! 23 July 2007 RC Airplane blog update OK, so I call again to find out about the microcontroller boards for the radio connection for this rc plane... and it turns out the reason these are being delayed is because of regulations that came in earlier this year for components to be lead free. And since they ran out of the old boards, the new ones have to be made to the new regulations and this appears to be taking some time... soon lets hope. Mind you, with this weather we're having in the UK at the moment there's not much chance to fly anything anyway. So at least the pressure's not on to get things done to test in the good weather... October is usually quite calm here so we'll aim for then. Happy flying to everyone in sunny calm places! 25 June 2007 New page on rc airplane lift and drag basics To read through the first of many technical notes pages to come, go here: lift and drag equations And the microcontroller boards are going to be built in the next couple of weeks... 25 May 2007 Waiting Trying to get hold of the right microcontroller boards... the only place we can find which has them doesn't currently have them in stock... The plus side is that the longer this thing takes to complete, the better and better the battery technology will be getting! A busy month coming up with other things but not to worry, slowly is the best way for us :-) 6 March 2007 Long Range RC Plane Control Welcome to a very short note on long range control. As with everything else, this will all end up in the technical pages at some point in the future in full detail... A normal radio contol transmitter doesn't get anywhere near enough transmission range for our rc purposes. There are ways around it such as amplifiers but these tend to have other problems one of which being regulations... In the last few months Mick and I have been looking at ways to get around this and had the idea to turn to the arena of Robotics. This must surely have been a problem solved long ago by them... So our solution is to use a microcontroller at our end, turning stick inputs into a protocol which a special low-power high-range transmitter can handle and send to a similar receiver in the plane - where there will be a similar microchip attached which can decode the output from the first microchip and then directly feed the servos. This is only an outline so you can get the idea. We know which microcontroller boards we want - now we need them here so we can get to work! Paul ps - this may take some time because it requires programming the chips and Mick and I need to get together to sort this out... and between our two schedules it could take some time! 4 March 2007 Getting Back to the Solar RC Plane Issue... When this project was thought up, one of the ideas was to use solar power to get it up there until the reality of the requirements showed that it wasn't realistically possible. So much for the clean-green-flying-machine... we were now back with batteries. But here's the thing. The plane can STILL use solar power to get it up there... simply recharge the batteries off solar power! 3 March 2007 RC Plane Project Random Thought #1 The wind is howling outside. And if you're an RC flyer you'll understand that this fills my head with nothing but thoughts of RC planes being torn, chewed up and swallowed by the wind. Infact, the weather has been terrible for weeks now and with each day that passes, radio controlled planes just seem more and more fragile. Anyhow, all this might only make the finished product stronger ;-) Paul 3 March 2007 RC Plane Support Just a quick note to say thanks... to Pete at RC-airplane-world.com for the support on his site (check it out)... to thirtythousandfeet.com for the same and to Eric Sanders at compufoil.com. Also, thanks to all those people who are/have been emailing with tips and ideas for the project AND the website. Lots of great ideas that we now need to find the time to implement between jobs, project stuff and BAAAAAAD weather here in England! Paul 8 Jan 2007 Energy for the Radio Controlled Plane Energy. This is one of the most fundamental issues we have. The amount of energy needed in theory to get our plane through a 30,000ft climb, we can calculate: First you can start with the pe=mgh thing and then you can factor in the effeciencies (or inefficiencies) of all the power system on board. Having done this you end up with a rather shocking figure. We did consider solar power. But wow. Two small problems. First was the cost, and second the amount of wing area needed. I'm sure that there must be something out there solar wise that we can use in the end, maybe on 'Take2', but for now it's back to batteries. I've looked at a lot of batteries. It's a trade study between capacity and voltage of the battery with it's weight. So, LiPo's are the way we're going for now. About 27000mAh with 22.2V. That's a lot of energy... Paul 17 Nov 2006 Welcome to the Radio Controlled Plane Blog! Hello there. These last few weeks have been exceptionally busy. With regard to the rc plane challenge, most of the time has been spent on calculations and trade studies as well as figuring out if it was all correct! The difficulty is that I'm not an aerodynamics graduate (argh) and this project needs a certain amount of accuracy in that department! However, Tom, a friend of my girlfriend has been quite helpful - he studies those types of things up in Leeds University and a good few tips have come from people up there. Anyhow, I'll document all these properly in the technical section so look out for that. Because of all the work on that side of things, the website stayed the way it had been - the rather minimalist thing I'd put up a few weeks ago. What you see now is the new version... I hope you'll find it fun and useful over the course of our project! Paul